A Blessed and Dysfunctional Family

 

Genesis 25 – A Blessed and Dysfunctional Family

 

After Isaac was born and Sarah died, Abraham took a second wife named Keturah.  She gave him 6 children and 9 grandchildren.  Besides Ishmael and Isaac, he had children from his concubines, all of which he gave gifts to and sent away so that Isaac would inherit all that he had.  Abraham was 175 years old when he died and was buried with Sarah.  Ishmael had 12 sons and lived to be 137 years old.  Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah and after much prayer she gave birth to twins, Jacob, and Esau.  In a time of desperation, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob which he later regret.  When a family is in pain, the family members hurt deeply.  Parents grieve when their children rebel.  Siblings may struggle with rivalry.  There are as many types of family problems as there are families.  Usually, they feel they are the only ones who ever suffered in that way.  But even the great families of the Bible had problems.  For instance, with Jacob and Esau, the problem could be defined as sibling rivalry or Esau’s impulsiveness, or Jacob’s greed, or even Isaac and Rebekah’s parenting.  One might suggest that Jacob and Esaul learn to get along, or that Esau learn self-control, or that Jacob practice generosity, or that Isaac and Rebecca improve their parenting skills.  When we look back further we can see patterns develop in families. In Abraham’s family their sins and failures lie bare for the world to see.  These people knew God, and sometimes it did not make a difference in their behavior.  From Abraham to Joseph, every generation was both blessed by God and full of sin.  Abraham failed to wait for the son of promise and bore Ishmael by a servant.  The results haunt his descendants even to this day.  Isaac and Rebekah lived at odds with each other in their marriage.  Their differences led to deceit and pain in the lives of Jacob and Esau.  In these lessons, we read of unfair comparisons, favoritism, divided loyalties, competition, greed, and envy.  Yet these people knew and loved God. Even though they could not live up to their faith, they lived by it.  When God spoke, they listened, and they did their best to pass that reverence for God to their children. They clung to the promises God made to Abraham.  They believed fully that God would remain faithful.  Did they Love God? Certainly.  Did they make mistakes in their daily living?  Who does not? Yet God reported their failures to us in the Bible to offer us hope.  If He kept His promises with them, He would keep them with us.  Today’s families are no more perfect.  Except that we have God’s Word to teach us and people around us to help.  We need only to trust God to keep His promises.