Genesis When Jacob and Esau were born, God made promises about his plans for them. But as parents, Isaac and Rebekah gave in to favouritism and became indifferent to Esau’s life choice about who he marries. Isaac’s spiritual state seems as bad as his physical state. Now we see the harmful effects of ungodly parenting leads to their son Jacob being estranged for 20 years. It may be that Rebekah tries to “help God's promise come true” in her own strength (like her father-in- law Abraham did with Hagar). She suggests Jacob lies to his father. He does. Four times. He take’s God’s name in vain. We don’t need to be told this was wrong, you just need to see the impact on Esau and Isaac’s heartbreaking conversation and Esau’s vow to murder Jacob. Rebekah fixes the consequence of her last trick with another trick: convincing Isaac that she’s concerned that Jacob needs to find a wife. How does this story show us any hope of knowing God might redeem this family? For more about Christ Central Church Portsmouth visit: https://christcentral.church​​​​ Or via socials: www.facebook.com/christcentral.ch www.instagram.com/christcentralchurchportsmouth To connect with us email: [email protected] or give us your details at https://www.christcentral.church