Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob: A Legacy of Faith

Hey everyone, I apologize for the lull in posts over the past few weeks, but life can get busy.  I'll be doing two posts over the next few days to try and catch everyone up.  There's so much to discuss.  I'm finishing up Exodus tonight but I want to go back and touch on the patriarchs in this post if I may.

We often equate these three men with immense faith and trust in God and rightly so.  However, I think we need to remember that they were men, just like us.  They had their struggles, they had their short comings.  Just look at each of them:


Abraham

• Disobeyed and showed distrust in God by lying about his relationship with Sarah to Pharaoh.
• Did not trust God's timing and gave in to his wife's offer of Hagar so as to produce an heir.
• Lied a second time concerning his relationship with Sarah

Isaac

• Followed in his father's footsteps by lying about his relationship with his wife Rebecca in an effort to save himself.
• After the prophecy concerning his sons, he still tried to bless his first born to follow customary norms, instead of God's plan.

Jacob

•  His very name meant supplanter
•  Deceived his blind father into blessing him instead of his brother

Now, I don't note these shortcomings to bring an unfavorable light on these guys, but simply to show that they were still human.  However, each one of them was still part of God's promise.

What does this mean for us?  It means that we don't have to be perfect to win God's favor.  We don't have to figure it all out and get it all right before God will use us.  It means that God still works in our shortcomings.  He is a God of mercy and forgiveness.  He can work in spite of our getting in His way.  There is nothing we can do that can keep Him from being faithful to His word.  He promised to make Abraham a great nation and He is faithful to that promise.