If Only . . .

After Rebekah convinced her son, Jacob, to deceive his father for the blessing, Essau (Jacob's brother) was enraged. And so Rebekah said to Jacob: Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury subsides . . . and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?

It's not like Rebekah didn't already know God's promise to her about Jacob. This is what God said to her a few chapters earlier: Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body . . . and the older [e.g. Esau] shall serve the younger [e.g. Jacob].

Yet Rebekah thought she needed to help God fulfil the promise He made to her many years earlier -- even if it meant using ungodly methods of deception.

The sad story grows even sadder. Rebekah sent her beloved son away, hoping to see him in only a short few months. Jacob was gone for decades. Rebekah never saw him again.

Oh, if only she had trusted God to keep His word. If only she had not taken matters into her own hands.

How much like Rebekah are we?