Blessing Assailed but Not Overcome

And Isaac . . . blessed [Jacob]...
GENESIS 27:27-29
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Blessing Assailed but Not Overcome
Eventually the outcome was in accord with the prophecy. For how much Jacob suffered immediately after the beginning of the blessing! . . . But this must be accepted and waited for with faith. Thus Jacob concluded in faith that nothing would ever be lacking in his household. And eventually the outcome was in very beautiful accord with this; when the blessing followed, he became richer than his father-in-law, Laban, but through trials. He was tried but not forsaken. For the blessing is assailed but not overcome. It is battered and jostled but not felled. Thus the psalm states (Psalm 118:13-14): "I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation." The Lord bestows a blessing mixed with patience and adorned with reminders of the holy cross, in order that we may be instructed in our trials and learn that our life depends not on bread alone but on every word of God. In the end, however, God surely and without fail supplies us with bread after we have been disturbed in faith about whether we are willing to believe God in His promises. For He makes a promise; but He tests us and withdraws His blessing, as though no blessing should be expected. But He really reflects on and is aware of the blessing when we feel the curse. Consequently, the blessing can be assailed and repressed; but, as is said about truth, it cannot be overwhelmed and subdued.
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