Surrendering to God
Genesis 27:27–33
I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed. Genesis 27:33

In the midst of this disgraceful episode, when Jacob stole his brother’s blessing, there is a spot that stands out so brightly that one can end only by praising the wisdom and mercy of God, who brought it about. It is the conversion of Isaac from a willful rejection of the sovereign decree of God to an obedient acceptance of it.

I find the change in verse 33, after the blessing has been given. Jacob had returned to Rebekah, and Esau had appeared in the tent to offer the fruit of his hunting. “Who are you?” Isaac asks. When Esau replies, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau,” the light began to dawn within the soul of the blinded patriarch and, as the text says, “Isaac trembled very violently” (v. 33). \What was happening to Isaac? It was the realization that he had tried to box with God and had been defeated, and that he would always be defeated unless he surrendered his own errant will to the Almighty. One commentator compares his self-will to a great edifice built in opposition to the revealed will of God. That structure had seemed quite substantial. Isaac was not going to let it be shaken by that contentious wife of his, Rebekah, or that sniveling sissy, Jacob. But Isaac had failed to reckon with God. When his schemes went awry, he saw that in spite of his arrogance there was nevertheless a glorious, divine will above his own.

The break came almost instantly. In verse 33 Isaac begins by saying, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him?” He ends: “Yes, and he shall be blessed.” “He . . . shall . . . be . . . blessed.” Those words were torn from Isaac’s heart by the most wrenching experience of his life. But though willful and late, he had at last come out on the right side, and God never forgot that he had. This is why, years later, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, God made sure that it said, “By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau” (Heb. 11:20). It is significant that it is all praise and no criticism. Isaac fought God’s will for 137 years. But once his own will was broken, God saw the new Isaac and remembered his sins against him no more (10:17; cf. Jer. 31:34). Oh, the greatness of God! Oh, the happiness of the one who is surrendered to him!

Are you surrendered to God? Has your own selfish will been broken? Before any great work of grace, there must be the internal earthquake that Isaac experienced. If you are not God’s, the earthquake must come and your own ways must crash to destruction before it.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.