What If

O.T. #52  "What If"  May 22, 2013
Genesis 27-Part 1
And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. Genesis 27:2

LET IT GLOW

Few people know the date of their death, no do they want to know it. Personally, I would like to know it so I could do those last minute preparations. Unless the Lord blesses me with that
information, it will remain unknown to me. I have had a few close calls, though.
Isaac must have been thinking about death. Look at chapter 27 with me, if you will.

Isaac was feeling his age (137) at the time of this chapter. His health was declining.
What do we know about Isaac?

• His eyes were dim, so he couldn't see well.
• Evidently, he thought death was around the corner waiting for him for he was making preparations. Yet, we know that he lived 43 more years, to age 180 (35:28).
• Isaac depended upon his senses (feeling, eating, smelling).
• His impatience to give Esau the blessing suggests that he was following his own carnal      plans, not God's will. Around here, they'd call it jumping the gun.
• His twins' ages was 77 at this time. (I always thought of them as being teenagers, but not       so.)

For some in Moore, Oklahoma, yesterday was their last day of life (91 as I write). I wonder how many were prepared to meet their God. How many children had heard about the love of a Savior, Jesus? To Him be the glory.
Are we preparing for our last day of life? What if it were today? What would we do differently?
Bringing it on down to where the rubber meets the road, what if a tornado had taken my family or
my life yesterday, was I prepared?
I am always ready to meet Jesus, but is my house in order? Are my loved ones ready?
How about you?

LET IT GROW

Did Isaac forget some important things?

• The words of god to Rebekah, (Genesis 35:23) when the Lord told Rebekah that the elder     son would serve the younger son.  Was he trying to change God's plan?
• Esau had bartered with his birthright, giving it to his brother Jacob in exchange for stew, feeding the flesh.
• Esau married heathen women (26:34). (Recall the pains his father Abraham went to in       order to get his wife, Rebekah from among related believers in God.)

Isaac was intent on treating Esau as the eldest and granting him the blessing of birthright, and so arranged for his favorite meal before bestowing final fatherly blessing on his favorite son. (MacArthur)

Was Isaac blind to his situation, to the truth of the matter?
Do I let my feelings blind me to God's will? To the way things really are?
What if God's plans are different from what I want? Would I accept them and follow them, or
manipulate them to my pleasing?

Tomorrow we will discuss a turn of events on which that Isaac did not plan.

LET IT GO

Ask God to show me His perspective of my situations before jumping in with both feet and doing things my way.

Prepare for the what if's in my life.

Surrender to God, letting Him be in control.