My husband recently shared a message with our congregation about, "Truth the Foundation of Love". You can check it out in our archives. In his message he was sharing about Jacob and all the deception that was in his family. I will share with you a few of the things he shared that just keep coming up in my spirit. Firstly, it was spoken by God to the mother of Jacob and his Essau, (while they were still in the womb), that the younger would serve the older. Yet, Rebecca never spoke about it. No one ever mentioned it to the boys, as they were growing up. She pretended it wasn't said. Then, she tried to pretend it wasn't so, and even tried to change God's plan by pretending one son was the other one, to trick their father into switching the blessing. When you read on in the story, we find God decides that if Jacob whose name even means "trickery or trickster", likes pretending so well, then let's pretend the woman he lies with is his wife. And you guessed it, it was her older sister. When we lie, we usually have to lie again to cover up the lie. It also is a lot of work.
I found these scriptures about pretending and all of the people who lied about their identity or circumstances had ulterior motives. The people pretended, so that they could manipulate others. They did it so they could please their flesh and get their own needs met.
2 Samuel 13:5 "Jonadab then said to him, "Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; when your father comes to see you, say to him, 'Please let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat, and let her prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat from her hand.'"
2 Samuel 13:6 "So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand."
2 Samuel 14:2 "So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there and said to her, "Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days;
2 Samuel 13:5 "Jonadab then said to him, "Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; when your father comes to see you, say to him, 'Please let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat, and let her prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat from her hand.'"
2 Samuel 13:6 "So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand."
2 Samuel 14:2 "So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there and said to her, "Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days;
The stories never ended well in the Bible for anyone who pretended.
ACTION STEP: Be yourself. If you have been living a lie, come to terms with it today. Reach out to God. He is stronger than the father of lies, the devil; and He can help you. God created you to be an original. No one else can be you. If you need counseling reach out to someone who can help. There is hope. Pain can be a thing if the past. You may not be able to forget the reasons you began to pretend, but you can heal from it. Jacob and his brother finally came to terms with their destinies. In other stories of the Bible, people who continued in their lies often times reaped the consequences. God is merciful. God loves you. God is waiting to help you.
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