You Haven’t Ruined Your Life

by Autumn Dickson

My first message of this week was about Rebekah and Jacob tricking Isaac into giving Esau’s blessing to Jacob. Rebekah had received a revelation that the older would serve the younger, and she took matters into her own hands to make that happen. It worked, and Jacob was blessed. Unfortunately, Jacob also had to run for his life from Esau. He was sent to his uncle’s house far away to keep him safe.

It had been prophesied that the younger would rule over the older, but there was also some favoritism going on. The bible literally tells us that Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. Rebekah went above and beyond to make sure Jacob came out on top.

Unfortunately, the opposite seemed to occur. Rather than ruling over his father’s house, Jacob ended up exiled. He was anything but a ruler for a very long time. Jacob’s uncle tricked him, and Jacob had very little power to protect himself. His wages were unfairly changed up on him. He was separated from his family, not a ruler of his family.

When Rebekah sent Jacob away to live with her brother, I wonder if she regretted what she did. When she was separated from Jacob, did she wish she could do things differently? I wonder if she asked herself whether she had made a mistake and ruined everything. I don’t know about Rebekah, but I think I would have had those feelings.

I wonder if Jacob ever felt a little bitter. I wonder if he was angry that the ruse had upended his life so thoroughly and ironically did the opposite of what it was supposed to be. Did he regret listening to his mother and tricking his father? Did he feel that everything was ruined?

Have you ever wondered if you ruined things too much? I’m not just talking about sinning so deeply that the atonement of Jesus Christ can’t reach you. I’m also talking about mistakes or sins that seemingly messed up what we believed we were supposed to become. Maybe there was a promise in your patriarchal blessing, a revelation that you felt strongly about that seems to have fallen flat, or a direction you never anticipated your life taking that led to heartache rather than increased ability to go out and serve.

One of the beautiful things about this story is the fact that the Lord can lead you there and make things come together even after mistakes and pitfalls and detours and even sin. Rebekah and Jacob tricked Isaac. They deceived him, and they did so in the name of a revelation given to Rebekah by the Lord. And honestly, I don’t know if that makes it better or worse. I guess she was trying really hard to follow the revelation, but we also need to be supremely careful about doing wrong things in the name of getting to the “right” destination. As in, we shouldn’t need to do wrong things in the name of getting to the right destination. I digress.

They sinned. They weren’t evil people, but they did sin. And yet, despite this sin and interference, the Lord still helped them get where they needed to be.

Jacob prospered and returned home and reconciled with his family. Esau likewise prospered independently. Esau’s descendants ended up serving Jacob’s descendants (Edom and Israel). Things turned out how they were supposed to, and no damage was permanent.

When I was dating Conner, I was very con