Shared by Gabriel

Genesis 25:19–34 tells a story that reveals something deep about the sovereign will of God, a will that operates beyond human strength, tradition, or expectation.

Isaac, the son of Abraham, married Rebekah when he was forty. She was barren, but Isaac prayed, and God answered. When she conceived, the twins inside her struggled so intensely that she cried out, “If this is how it will be, why go on living?”

She sought the Lord, and He revealed a prophecy:

“Two nations are in your womb… the elder shall serve the younger.”

Even before their birth, God had already declared how His promise would unfold.

Esau came first — red and hairy, a strong hunter, a man of the field. Jacob followed, gripping Esau’s heel, and grew up as a quiet man who stayed among the tents. Isaac favoured Esau for his game, but Rebekah favoured Jacob.

One day, Esau returned exhausted from the field and begged Jacob for some stew. Jacob seized the moment:

“Sell me your birthright first. ”Esau, driven by hunger rather than wisdom, replied, “I am about to die; what good is a birthright to me?”

He swore an oath and traded the blessing of the firstborn for a simple meal.

This moment shows us something important: Esau was strong, but not strong in God.

He had the birthright — the promise — yet he treated it lightly. Jacob was not strong, nor the firstborn, yet he desired what God had promised.

He sought the blessing that mattered.

Even the circumstances testify against Esau.

He surrendered God’s promise for temporary satisfaction. And so, the blessing went to Jacob — not because of human tradition, not because of manipulation, but because God had already intended it.

Did God manipulated Esau to treat him lightly? Didn’t Jacob seek God’s promise like it matters more than anything he could desire?

The stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob consistently show that God’s purposes stand above human expectations and traditions. And this is how he chooses according to 1 Cor 1:27-29

1Co 1:27-29 NET27 But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong.  God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something,  so that no one can boast in his presence.

And this is what Romans 8:5-11 said as well

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law–indeed, it cannot,and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 tells us about the parable of the Sower, it reminds us that when we hear the Word of God, we must sow it in good soil.

The parable of the Sower and the seed that same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!”

“Hear, then, the parable of the Sower.

When anyone hears the word of the KINGDOM and does NOT understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in (your) the heart; this is what was sown on the path.

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.

But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Word of God produces fruit in our lives when it is planted in the good soil God intended. This good soil is not our strength or our wealth, but a heart that treasures His Word as the only true source of life, even in seasons of nothingness or the loss of things we laboured in the flesh.

Through it, nothing can hinder the Word of God to grow abundantly in our hearts, neither could anything take it away.

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Herrel, Edie Mae. Parable of the Seed, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59800 [retrieved July 22, 2026]. Original source: Image was donated by Edie Mae Herrel and Dan Herrel, dkherrel@hotmail.com, nancynuss@gmail.com, Patrick.herrel@hotmail.com.