Day 7/30 – Manipulation

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Manipulation
Day Two Hundred Eleven

“Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.” Genesis 27:15

Rebekah and her son Jacob came from a family of manipulators. Rebekah’s brother Laban manipulated his nephew Jacob by making him work 14 years for Rachel rather than the agreed upon seven years. Jacob said Laban changed his wages ten times. In each of their lives they manipulated by deception. Rebekah had Jacob deceive his father, causing him to think that he was blessing Essau instead of Jacob, and Laban deceived Jacob, causing him to think he was marrying Rachel, when in reality he married her sister Leah.

God gave to Rebekah a promise to the effect that Essau would forfeit his birthright to Jacob. Knowing of her husband’s affection for Essau, she thought it necessary to manipulate the situation so that Jacob received the blessing. The blessing that mattered could only come from God, and He gave it to Jacob. When you compare the blessing Isaac gave to Jacob (thinking he was Essau) with that given to Essau, you find they are not all that different, other than serving his brother, and even that Isaac promised Essau would one day be reversed.279 You can participate in God’s plan or you can try to manipulate it; Rebekah chose manipulation.

God wanted Jacob to have the blessing and He gave it to him. Rebekah should have believed instead of manipulating the situation. As a result, the family was ruptured. The brothers were estranged, forcing Jacob to flee for his life. Rebekah never saw Jacob again. Isaac, who was blind, had to live the rest of his days with a woman he could not trust. Manipulation is never a good idea. You yield to the temptation only when you refuse to believe that God is in control and will work all things according to His will.

279 cf. Genesis 27:40

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Psalm 51-53 Romans 2 (New King James Version)

Psalm 51-53
A Prayer of Repentance
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51
Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just [a]when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
5
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8
Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9
Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
14
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
18
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19
Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
The End of the Wicked and the Peace of the Godly
To the Chief Musician. A [b]Contemplation of David when Doeg the Edomite went and told Saul, and said to him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.”
52
Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
2
Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3
You love evil more than good,
Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
4
You love all devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.
5
God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6
The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
7
“Here is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his [c]wickedness.”
8
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
9
I will praise You forever,
Because You have done it;
And in the presence of Your saints
I will wait on Your name, for it [d]is good.
Folly of the Godless, and the Restoration of Israel
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath.” A [e]Contemplation of David.
53
The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
There is none who does good.
2
God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3
Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
4
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon God?
5
There they are in great fear
Where no fear was,
For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;
You have put them to shame,
Because God has despised them.
6
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back [f]the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
Footnotes:
• Psalm 51:4 LXX, Tg., Vg. in Your words
• Psalm 52:1 Heb. Maschil
• Psalm 52:7 Lit. desire, in evil sense
• Psalm 52:9 Or has a good reputation
• Psalm 53:1 Heb. Maschil
• Psalm 53:6 Or His captive people

Romans 2
God’s Righteous Judgment
2 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your [a]impenitent heart you are [b]treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the [c]Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
The Jews Guilty as the Gentiles
17 [d]Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest[e] on the law, and make your boast in God, 18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.
Circumcision of No Avail
25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your [f]written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose [g]praise is not from men but from God.
Footnotes:
• Romans 2:5 unrepentant
• Romans 2:5 storing
• Romans 2:9 Gentile
• Romans 2:17 NU But if
• Romans 2:17 rely
• Romans 2:27 Lit. letter
• Romans 2:29 A play on words—Jew is literally praise.