There is an interesting application that can be made of the familiar story of the patriarch Isaac blessing his youngest son, Jacob, instead of his eldest son, Esau. Isaac was advanced in age and “his eyes were so dim that he could not see” (Gen. 27:1). He told Esau to go hunting, bring back some “savory food” that he loved, and at that time he would give Esau the special blessing that belonged to him.
While Esau was gone, fulfilling his father’s wishes and anticipating his promised blessing, Rebekah devised a deceptive plan by which Jacob might secure that coveted blessing. Rebekah prepared the “savory food” for Jacob to take into Isaac (posing as Esau), but Jacob was concerned, “Perhaps my father will feel me” (27:12), for Esau was “a hairy man” and Jacob “a smooth-skinned man” (27:11). To clinch the deception, Rebekah “put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and…neck” (27:16). Now Jacob would “feel” like Esau.
When Jacob went to his father, Isaac was confused. The voice he heard was Jacob’s voice (he knew the voice), but the words suggested it was Esau. Isaac summoned Jacob to come near, “that I may feel you” (27:21). “So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau’” (27:22).
Isaac proceeded to bless Jacob, all the while thinking that it was Esau. His mind, when he heard the words of the man before him, believed the man was Jacob. But his feelings convinced him that what he heard was wrong. Therefore, Isaac was deceived by and acted upon his feelings, rather than relying upon what he heard.
The same thing can happen to us today. Sometimes people let their feelings get in the way of, get in front of and lead them to act in a way that is contrary to what they have heard. Consider some examples.
Some folks can be presented with irrefutable evidence for the existence of God (i.e., their mind can hear it and understand it), but their feelings say, “I can’t believe in a God who lets bad things happen.” Some folks can be presented with indisputable Biblical testimony that baptism is essential for one’s salvation from sins (ex: Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21), but their feelings say, “I just feel in my heart that God is ok with me, and I don’t see what water has to do with it anyway.”
Some folks can be presented with incontrovertible facts about a number of things, but they (like Isaac) let their feelings override what their mind has heard. The Bible is God’s Word, which He gave us to hear, understand, accept and obey. We must not trust our feelings and permit them to overrule God’s truth, which is so plain to hear when we open His book!