Genesis 28:3 — Isaac to Jacob: “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”
Dignity: the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect. I have witnessed dignity defined. My friend Julie Oliver was physically diminishing as she battled cancer. She was bed-ridden in her home. Dignity is a husband of many years, holding his wife’s hand, praying, reading Scripture, and singing as his wife battles a mean disease. Dignity is a beautiful daughter with her head resting near as she waits with her mom for promised life. Dignity is sons who are present and providing updates that are honoring and considerate to family and friends. Dignity is praying, protecting, and patient in the midst of great sorrow. Dignity is loving friends experiencing life and death with you. It is pretty black and white photos of family and friends at a bedside. Dignity is loving hands tenderly caring for a temporary body. It is tears of mourning, appreciation, laughter, memories, and angst. Dignity is being recognized as created in the image of God and as a precious life from God. Dignity honors and respects the value of each life.
To God be the glory for the life of our loved ones. I am so thankful for our value in Him. “God created man in His own image, . . . male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).
We live in this tension of being capable of many things as even though we are highly dependent upon our Maker, we are given His dignity as we are created in His image. The tension is to walk according to His revealed word or to value our own reasoning about what is good and best. We can seem pretty successful and we can escape some temporary trials with our human reasoning. We struggle with humble reliance on anyone, as we are equipped with many great resources including the capacity to think and feel for ourselves. There seems to be much we can do within ourselves and our own little realms.
Isaac’s prayer for his son is that he will live in the blessing of his Maker. Through God our lives have meaning. Through God we form a community, that can collectively bless many others and, in doing so, restore dignity to humanity. Through God we have a future, a promised victory over our great enemy death, and a land in His kingdom to come.
Isaac has a bigger picture of what is most important for his son than his son has for himself. Isaac longs for Jacob to be restored to the dignity given him by God prior to all his failures and self-centered doings. Isaac sees a way for Jacob to overcome his greatest fears. Mankind longs for God’s dignity to be revealed, as the blessed person is the one who realizes that true dignity comes from identification with the people of God, with the Seed of the Woman.
