11 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

Genesis 35:16-29

Jacob then encounters another devastating blow in his tumultuous life, his beloved Rachel dies in child birth, the girl he had served Laban 14 years for. What is God doing now? How can this Almighty God be in such tragedy? The truth is that we all die therefore the issue is not why but what. What can God teach me through such times. We don't read much about this time in Jacobs life except that we know that there was one child of around 3 -4 years old. A son that had been given by God as an answer to a cry 'Give me children or I die', a cry that needs to go up from all those who are truly filled with the Spirit of God, those who claim to be 'Christian'. God does nothing against free will and He certainly does nothing except in answer to prayer. Prayer is something that can be praise, thankfulness, gratitude, guidance or even distress as in Rachel's case.

This cry from Rachel ultimately cost her her life. Had she known this would she still have asked for children? The motive of the ask was not one from a selfish heart but from a heart that wanted her maternal instincts to be fulfilled. In a spiritual sense each one of us has desires within us that need to be fulfilled. By the Grace of God, through a transformed life, our desire is to bear spiritual children and to then nurture that life so that it matures into a life that bears fruit.

We are all spiritual, we cannot say "I am not into spiritual stuff", its too late because God created us spiritual. We are a spirit with a body not a body with a spirit. We need God to enlighten and possess that space for His glory. The on going experience will change our lives for ever.

So as Rachel cried 'Give me children or else I die' so we need to echo that cry and be moved so that we have this spiritual desire that 'all mankind might be saved'

Jacobs response to this tragedy was that he would not allow the name of his son born at this time to bear the name of "Son of my Sorrows", Benomi, but he called him "Son of my right hand", Benjamin. What do we do in these difficult situations, do we  give the devil the glory by dwelling in the past or do we give God the glory by pressing through and claiming victory.

Jacob never stayed at the place of his loss, he remembered Rachel and he took the two boys that he knew he was responsible for and moved on to a place that God had predestined for him, a place of reconciliation.

We read that Jacob went on to the place of firm ground, that is the place where Isaac his father still lived, it was also the place where Abraham, his grandfather had settled. The place was mamre which means 'place of firm ground' or 'firmness'.

It is at this place that Jacob, Esau and Isaac where reunited and where Jacob and Esau buried their father.

God has a wonderful way of bringing about repentance and reconciliation. God brings a man or a woman through many trials that causes them to face and challenge who they are and who they are meant to be in God.

It is only in God that we can find true meaning of life and it takes a lifetime to accomplish it.
Are we willing to follow Him who set us free through His Son or are we going to sit on the side lines and miss out on the action?

God wants to bring all of us into an ongoing relationship with Him that not only transforms our lives but also that of those around us.

On reflection let us look afresh at our lives and ask, "Does it reflect what God desires of me and do I honour Him and give Him what He rightly deserves based on what I know He has done for me?".

Lord show me where there are hindrances in my life and help me to address them. Give me this clear vision and purpose in my life that despite disastrous events or my sinful failings I am able to take the necessary steps that will bring me back to you, to the place where I know that I am safe in your loving arms, however great the cost.
Oh Lord thank you for your protection and thank you for your sustained Mercy that keeps me in your way and causes my enemies to flee from before me. Help me oh God to be thankful and grateful for all you have done in my life and in times of need cause me to remember the place where you first met me, my 'God Encounter'

This is the final instalment of "Jacob to Israel, A life transformed"

10 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

Genesis 35:1-15

After all the problems of the previous chapter God is still in control and Jacob is still listening and following Almighty God. How is it that God is so patient with us? What is it that caused Jacob to hold fast to his 'God Encounter' and not give up? The answer is because God had not given up on him.

We find Jacob, in chapter 35, having to move on because of the disastrous actions of his sons. But he is not alone, the chapter starts "Then God said", "Arise, go up to Bethel". God is at work in all our situations and here He is bringing Jacob back to the place where he started his changed life, the place of the 'God Encounter'. God wants to remind Jacob that he has not forgotten him and that He is still interested in his life and surprisingly that of his family. It is comforting to know that God does not give up on us even when we fail Him.

Jacob has really learnt what it is to follow Almighty God. He instructs all his household in Genesis 35:2 to "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments."
We can read more about this 'putting off' and 'putting on'  in Colossians 3:8-11.

What Jacob is doing is calling his household to repentance.

• Put away
• identify what it is that is getting in the way of God working in our lives.
• Purify yourselves
• take action call on God to free us.
• Change your clothes.
• take off the old, the condemned, that which causes the problem and put on new fresh clothes, clothes supplied by God's amazing work of salvation.

True repentance will cost and requires action. We have to be willing to acknowledge that there are things in our lives which constitute as idols, things that get in the way of us following God. We then have to confess and "get right" which is to bring ourselves back into line with God. We call this being justified, we do this in conjunction with God not without Him. Jesus died to bring an end to Sin and in one selfless act justified us, or in other words made it possible for us to be right with God. That act of justification alone is useless if we as individuals do not allow ourselves to be justified.

Hebrews 12:1-3 talks about laying aside the things that hinder us from having a relationship with God. It calls us to look to Jesus the author and finisher of FAITH and then to consider HIM.

Jacob has called his household to repentance in Genesis 35:2 and in Genesis 35:3 he intercedes for them and leads the way back to Bethel, "The House of God", and to the place where Jacob had his first encounter with God Almighty. By his actions, Jacob assures his household that he will stand in the gap, he will take the initiative and call on God Almighty who had heard his cry and had held faithful to the promise that He would be with him.

We then find this decisive action and leadership that Jacob was demonstrating is the very thing that causes his household to heed his command in Genesis 35:2 "Put away the strange gods among you". Then in Genesis 35:4 they bring all their strange gods and their earrings in their ears and Jacob buries them underneath a great oak tree. When Jesus calls us to repentance the cost is great but necessary if we are to see the hand of Almighty God at work in our lives and situations. The call of repentance will always call us back to the original place where we first encountered God. We know that this ground is secure and that God can reiterate His original calling on this piece of land, He can also refresh us and equip us for the future as this is sacred, hallowed ground, the ground of our 'God Encounter'. Jesus takes all our "strange gods", those things that hinder us from getting to know Him and buries them at the foot of the cross, gone forever out of sight.

Jacob has called his family to repentance, he has dealt with 'the foreign gods' by buying them under the great oak tree, they are gone forever, and he is now set to move on. The cross is not the end of our life it is just the beginning we cannot always live in the shadow of the cross, yes we may need to return to it through out our lives but only to remind ourselves of the wonderful work of Salvation, to refresh ourselves and to equip ourselves for our continued journey.

Jacob had proved his faith, the Faith that had been imparted to him in his 'God Encounter', "Christ in you the hope of glory".

What we find here in Genesis 35:5 is that it would have been useless for Jacob's household to continue their journey had the repentance and justification not taken place. This one act of 'getting right', allowing themselves to be justified was the very act that protected them along the way. We read in Genesis 35:5 that "the terror of God was on the cities around them and they did not pursue them". This demonstrates that when we walk with God, in His ways, confessing our sin before Him then He is at liberty to protect us. Notice I use the word liberty because God does nothing to violate free will. In other words there has to be a partnership, a working together with Almighty God.

Jacob arrives at the place of his 'God Encounter', how many of us have ever revisited that place, the place where we first heard God speak, that decisive, defining moment when everything became clear. We need to hold onto that place as there will be times in our lives when we will need to remind ourselves of God's absolute faithfulness. Times when all seems lost yet as we see with Jacob he returned and built an alter for the second time and called it El-Bethel, God of the house of God.

Jacob has arrived at Padan-Aram, the place where he started out from some 20 years earlier. His troubles are not over, yet there is this kind of acceptance that God Almighty is in control. Jacob has come a long way from the days when he wanted to be in control, to a place where God is now in control.

God has a way with mankind that when we seek after Him He accomplishes within us that which causes us to be able to follow Him, even through adverse circumstances.

God appears to Jacob again at the same place where he had had his 'God Encounter' and blesses him. We can imagine God reminding Jacob of the wrestling match that they had together, you know the one where Jacob got injured, and says to him "your name is now Israel". In other words Jacob, "start living as a prince", "be different", "you have wrestled and prevailed and I love you and care for you".

It's as if God is saying things like "through all the trials of your life I have been with you, I have given good things to you because I love to give, I can't do any thing else, that is what I do, I give and I create".

God then says something that He says to all mankind. "Be fruitful and Multiply". This command was given to the first beings, Adam and Eve, and has been given down through the ages to all who would choose to follow Christ. 'Be fruitful and Multiply' God wants us to exercise that which is in Himself, to give and give and enable others to live.

Jacobs response is one of thankfulness, one of gratitude and worship. He builds an alter and pours a drink offering over it in recognition of the Almighty God who is over all and in all.

9 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

Actions and Reactions

When God deals with us and our spirits are determined to follow Him and His guiding, ultimately we will change. Jacob experienced a place where God had met him and changed his character. This change meant that he would see things in a different light, he would act and react differently.

The incident that takes place here in Genesis 34 is one that most of us will find distasteful and unjust. How we deal with these kind of incidents is entirely dependant on whether we have had 'God Encounters' or not and whether we are willing to allow our hard, conditioned hearts to be changed by Almighty God.

As we have seen previously Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed, in other words he had come through with God not without God.

Dinah, Jacobs daughter is on a night out with the girls (Genesis 34:1) where she is seduced, raped and violated by a young man. Heard this kind of thing before?

The man who has violated her seems to then be repentant and wants to marry Dinah. Oh that he had kept his selfish desires and motives in check. This tells us something of the rebellious, sinful nature that is inherent in all of us as a result of Sin that entered the world through Adam. Not that we are in any way as depraved as the young man in our story, yet, nevertheless Sin in us is capable of anything. Sin reproduces what it is.

It is very difficult to right wrongs, no matter how good our intentions. We need to daily ask God for His Grace to enable us to go through life without sinning. A tall order, and one that seems impossible, but through God all things are possible. Whether we subscribe to the possibility of a life without sin depends on our perspective and relationship with Almighty God and whether we believe that He has done what He said He would do by sacrificing His Son who terminated Sin forever. What I do know is that my life is not perfect and also what I know is that God through His Grace sent His Son to die for me and set me free from the power of Sin and Death, so that I could live a life of freedom and power to the glory of God. It is an ever on going process, the question is am I willing to change?

It is through the daily situations and circumstances that I find myself in that I have to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, it is in fact God working in and through me for His good pleasure and purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Sin does not only harm us and our relationship with Almighty God it also damages our relationships with our neighbours and friends.

So back to our narrative.
What does Jacob do when he hears that his daughter has been violated. Genesis 34:5 tells us that he kept his silence and waited till his sons had come in from the field.

What was going through his mind at this point? Did he feel any compassion towards his daughter? I believe he did, from what I read of Jacob I find a changed man.

To understand Jacob's actions we have to understand his circumstance. Jacob is in a hostile place, he is few in number compared to all those that surround him. One false move and he, his family and his livelihood would be taken away. He had no walled city, just tents in the fields, his only protection was his relationship with Almighty God. He had begun to imbibe the 'faith' that was so evident in his grandfather Abraham and too some extent was in his father Isaac. It was this belief and knowledge that kept him going Genesis 35:3 tells us that Jacob acknowledged that God answered him in his time of distress and was with him in the way that he went.

Sometimes it pays to wait, especially wait on God. We see in this chapter that Jacob's sons did not appear to share the same conviction with regard to Almighty God as their father. That may be something to do with the fact that they had not had 'God Encounters'. All of us need 'God Encounters' that move our lives from relying on our parents encounters (if they have had them) to that of our own encounters. If we do not have this kind of relationship with Almighty God then we are in grave danger of making disastrous decisions that will have lasting consequences through out our lives.

The situation here in chapter 34, although awful, could have been used for the glory of God and demonstrate that this God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the living God and did change lives. But unfortunately youthful hot headiness and arguably justified anger got in the way.

The young sons never had any intention of trying to rectify the situation other than through the shedding of blood. They had premeditated to kill those that had offended their family. Retribution and retaliation, this is not Gods way. Jesus demonstrated a different way on a cross.

The sons of Jacob used the act of circumcision Genesis 34:15 (circumcision was the sign that God had established His covenant with His people, it was the outward sign that these son's of Abraham had been set apart to Him), as a way of weakening those that had offended them Genesis 34:25. 

After two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, had seized the moment and destroyed all the males that had been weakened by the physical act of circumcision and "rescued" Dinah their sister, the rest of the sons of Jacob plundered the city and took what was not rightfully theirs thereby bringing disgrace and reproach on Jacob and his family.

Jacob responded to this situation with a very heavy heart indeed. He said "You have made me obnoxious among the inhabitants", "I shall be destroyed, my household and I" Genesis 34:30. The response from his sons was "they had it coming", it was one of retaliation and not forgiveness. Now I know that this story could repulse us and many of us in reality may want revenge, but Jacob realised that revenge was not always sweeter and that acceptance, forgiveness and loving your enemies was far more profitable both to the soul and the flesh. 

Despite all of this we will see that God comes to the rescue yet again.

Almighty God deliver us from all the Sin that stops us from allowing you to work the miracle life changing experience in our lives. Wrestle with us that we may be able to make a difference to those around us and those we meet. Grant us self control together with a peace and knowledge in Your gift of Salvation that we may be able to live a righteous and holy life before you and those we come in to contact with in our daily lives. Give us patience and wisdom to know how to act and react. Grant us your peace, a peace that transcends all logical reason so that we can be your effective witnesses, demonstrating your way, the way that your Son so selflessly demonstrated on a cross. Giving up His right for the greater good of humanity. In the difficult experiences of our lives help us Lord to forgive our enemies and those that misuse us. Help us Lord to be doers of the word and not just hearers so that our actions speak louder than our words.

8 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

Genesis 33

Jacob still has this nagging feeling that his brother, Esau is out for revenge, Genesis 33:1 says that 'he lifted his eyes and saw Esau with 400 men'. His immediate reaction is to divide his children according to their mothers, placing the maidservants in front, followed by Leah then Rachel. This time, unlike before, when he ran away from danger he faces it as a changed man and goes before his family to meet his brother Esau placing himself in a very vulnerable position. What happens next is nothing short of a miracle. God has not only been at work in Jacob's life and changed his nature and name, He has also been at work in Esau's life, not to the same extent, as Esau's heart was not God centred. But God had been at work to allow and enable this momentous reconciliation to take place. We must never underestimate or limit how God would want to work. Jacob was exercising the faith and trust that he had put into Almighty God, he moves forward with limited mobility, as a result of the wrestling match, to embrace one of the great moments in his life. How many times do we enter into situations without the knowledge that God is in control? Moving forward before the right time would have been disastrous for Jacob, yet here we find that God has gone before and is still in front preparing the way.

The meeting was sweet, we read that Jacob moved forward with his face to the ground in total humility and Esau 'ran to meet him', 'kissed him' and 'threw his arms around him'. What a transformation in these two brother's lives. One moves from murderous intent whilst the other from twisted self preservation.

This story shows us how important it is that we set our hearts after God. Through Jacob's willingness and tenacity not only was his life transformed but also that of his brother's. How this reunion must have thrilled the heart of their old father Isaac, just as Repentance and Forgiveness thrills the heart of Almighty God.

7 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

Genesis 32

Jacob had taken a leap of Faith, maybe it was in desperation but never the less it was a leap of Faith. He had finally taken control of his own life, moved on the promises of the God of his fathers and begun to experience that this God was now his God. In chapter Genesis 31:42 as part of his rebuke to Laban he recognises and acknowledges that God had seen his affliction and the labours of his hands and had come to his aid. God always comes to our aid, He did the same when His chosen people were in bondage and slavery in Egypt (Exodus 3:7-8). He says to Moses from the burning bush "I have seen their affliction, I have heard their cry, I know their sorrows and I am coming down".

God knows our need He hears our cry and He is coming down, what a fantastic promise.

This is exactly what Jacob was experiencing, God had been watching over him, He knew his troubles and He had heard his cry and He comes down and meets Jacob who is on the way to his fathers house. Jacob immediately recognises that these angels that meet him in Genesis 32:1 represent some kind of security, a reassurance that everything will be all right and he calls the place Mahanaim meaning two hosts or two camps, a joining of God and man and ultimately a place of refuge and security. God has come down and provided that place for each and every one of us in the person of Jesus. When we meet Him we are in a place of safety.

Jacob was on a mission from God, he was returning home, back to the place from where he had fled, back to the place of conflict that had been bought about by his own selfish making. He was going there because God had told him too (Genesis 31:3). God always brings us back to the place where we went wrong, the place where we disobeyed and disappointed God so that we can put right the wrongs. The great news is that God has come down and gone before us.

Jacob is destined to meet up with his brother who he has not seen for 20 years. The last time he saw Esau was when he was so mad that he was all set to kill him. As far as Jacob knew this was still the case. Sometimes we have to confront our situations with fear and trembling, yet with the knowledge that we are in God's will and that we are participating in His great plan for us. Jacob knew that God had spoken and told him to return to his own country where he might be killed.

God always steps in to our situations and provides the refuge, but this place is a lonely place, it takes place when we are left alone with God.

Jacob sends messengers ahead of his company to try to prepare the way. A cunning plan, a plan that Jacob thought might protect him from the wrath of his brother. There is still some of this cunning old self life left in him, even after 20 years since his 'God Encounter'. There is always some of this old cunning self life left in all of us. This cunning self life that God wants to release us from and the only place He can do that is in the lonely place of solitude. A place that Jacob would later find himself.

The messengers return with scary news, Esau is coming to meet you and he has 400 men with him. Jacob's immediate reaction is one of fear, so he divides his family, servants and flocks into two groups with the sole aim of at least retaining some of his acquired wealth. He then does something quite amazing, he calls on Almighty God and confesses his weaknesses and reminds God of His promise. Jacob has begun to recognise his weakness, his flaws. He has now come to a place where he understands that he cannot go through this ordeal alone (Genesis 32:9-12). It is in this weakness where Jacob finds strength and a God given answer of pure genius, the dividing of the company into two groups. The dividing of the company would not be the easiest of decisions as he would have had to decide who of his family would go into which group, who should he split up, who should he place in a position of responsibility etc etc. Jacob was able to do this because he had learnt the secret, "Those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings of eagles,they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" Isaiah 40:31

Jacob sends droves of presents in the form of livestock to go before him and his family with the specific instruction that they are to say "they are a present from your servant Jacob and behold he is behind us". Jacob is no longer seeking to be master but is prepared to be a servant. If we want to be great in God's kingdom then we must first learn to be a servant.

Jacob sends all that he has on before him over the brook Jabok and he is left alone, a place where God wrestles with him. Jacob is a very tenacious man he fights back and wrestles, he agonises with God and comes to terms with the fact that this could be the end, and in some ways it is. It is the end of the old man Jacob and the beginning of the new man Israel. All that he has he has placed in God's hands. The 'God Experience' that happened so many years ago is now finally beginning to become a reality. Instead of the 10% Jacob promised to God he has placed all he has into God's hands, his family, his wealth, his livelihood and above all himself. God wants all of us. He wrestles and wrestles till the break of day and utters words that some of us might find quite challenging "I will not let you go until you tell me your name". Do you want to know God like that. Charles Wesley the great poet and hymn writer supposes God's answer to Jacob's question and pens "My nature and my name is love". God deals with us on this ground of loneliness and wrestles with us through a nature and a name that is love.

Do we wrestle with God like that, have we got that kind of tenacity that demands to know who God is and are we prepared to hold on to Him until He reveals to us personally who He is?

This is when it all changed for Jacob, he had finally come to an end of himself and accepted that God knows best. Just like Abram to Abraham Jacob became Israel, his nature and his name had been changed by the Grace of God but Israel bore in his body the living proof that he had wrestled with God and prevailed. What a legacy, what a testimony to have this proof that God had touched him and he had prevailed. What is it that God has done for us in response to the wrestling that we have done with Him?

Oh God move on us so that we may bear the testimony of your loving Grace so all may see how great thou art.

6 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

In Genesis 30 - 31 we find Jacob in a place where God has blessed him according to the promise from the 'God Encounter' some 20 years earlier. By no means has his journey been easy, God had a lot to teach Jacob as He does with all of us.
At the end of Genesis 30:43 we read that Jacob had become a wealthy man. God had blessed him, but some of what he had acquired had been by false means in order to survive.

Jacob was a survivor, a man who never gave up, whose heart wanted to follow and honour the God who had appeared to him on the ladder. Jacob's heart was after God, he had entered in to this contract with God and he was not taking it lightly, he was pursuing it, sometimes too religiously, but never the less he was pursuing this encounter.

Jacob was experiencing a backlash to his success, from his brother-in-laws, the sons of Laban. They were jealous and felt that Jacob had robbed them of their inheritance, in truth it had fallen into Jacob's hands due to their lack of desire and understanding. They had assumed that what was their fathers would be theirs. In much the same way we can never assume that SALVATION, the blessing from God which is rightfully ours, will automatically be given or shared with us. There has to be a spirit within a man or a woman that says 'I am committed Lord', "I submit myself to you and to your ways in order that I can gain your promised life. Remember that God gives unconditionally to those who diligently seek Him.

'Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you'

Jacob now had no option but to flee, or had he?  Could he have faced Laban and talked it through?  I don't believe he could as Laban had not entered into any kind of experience with Almighty God like Jacob, he had not had a 'God Encounter' that had changed his life or character which meant that he was on a different level, a carnal level and not a spiritual one. The two can't mix, spirit can only understand spirit Romans 8:5-10 So Jacob runs away and the issue is bought to a head.

Laban pursues Jacob for seven days and during that time God appeared to him (Laban) (Genesis 31:24) and said to him do not speak good or bad to Jacob, in other words:-

• do not challenge him
• undermine him
• chastise him
• rebuke him
• agree with him

What God was saying to Laban was "you leave him to me, I am almighty God and Jacob is my property I will deal with him in my way and my time".

It is reassuring to know that God has a plan that includes you and me. A plan that He will accomplish. A plan that culminates around the cross where God allowed His Son to die so that you and I could enter into a relationship, so that you and I can have 'God Encounters', encounters that shape our lives and draw us into a closer walk with Christ through the continued outworking of the Holy Spirit that seeks and saves that which is lost.

Jacob is able to continue his life's journey not knowing that he is about to have another 'God Encounter' that will again dramatically change his life for ever.
Sometimes it's best not to know in advance how or when God is going to show up but just to live a life that trusts in Almighty God and His PLAN for each if us.

5 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

Jacob starts to ask questions of himself and his family. He starts to realise that his life is becoming more complicated between him and Laben and his brother-in-laws and so life becomes restless.

We are now in Genesis 30

There is a sense that the Spirit of God within us is always restless, the 'God Encounters' will always serve as a homing device that draws us back to God Himself, yet we seem to fail to recognise that it is God working in us to accomplish His plan for us.

Jacob had this experience whilst working for Laban. He had faithfully served Laban even though he had been cheated and mistreated, the goal posts had always been moved by Laban his employer and made worse by the fact that Laban was his father-in-law. 

• Do we feel mistreated in our work place? 
• Do we feel this need to flee. To run away and change our circumstances? 
• Do we have the desire in us that wants to return to our Heavenly Father where everything will be OK?

Jacob felt all these things and had got to the point where he felt that he had to return home, return back to his own place and country Genesis 30:25.


Jacob had fulfilled his contract, serving Laban for 14 years so that he could have Rachel as his wife, he had been cheated by Laban yet he had faithfully served him as requested. God had worked a miracle in Jacob through the 'God Encounter' that had changed his character yet God still had more to do in Jacob's life. 

God always has more work to do in our lives. He will place these aches and longings in our lives so that He can be glorified. Jacob felt trapped in a job that was not allowing him to serve Almighty God in the way that he felt he should, he also felt the need, quite honourably, to be able to provide for his family. This was his first big mistake since his 'God Encounter', as up until now God had provided, yes it may not have been what he had expected or wanted. Jacob was an ambitious man, yet God had a plan. He was providing for Jacob and was looking after him and his large family and wanted Jacob to appreciate this. Our lives and our families well being are in God's hands. We need to trust in Almighty God and His plan for us, not in our own ambitious and sometimes honourable efforts. We must not allow ourselves to be thrown off track or be derailed from what God wants to accomplish in our lives. How often do we try to make our situations fit Gods plan when in fact the homing device, the Holy Spirit within us is saying 'come home',  'trust me with all your plans',  'my plans are for your good'.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

4 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

In the last article we looked at the place that God met Jacob, "The Awesome Place" and we asked the question How do we respond to such an incredible God?

Genesis 29-31 gives us Jacob's response

Jacob journeys on (Genesis 29:1) in response to:-

   1. His obedience to his Father
   2. Running for his life
   3. His encounter with God
   4. His commitment to the encounter

Jacob arrives at a well, an oasis, a place where water is plentiful and a place where shepherds water their flocks. I imagine that Jacob must have been thirsty. 

This well of water would have probably been the same one that Eliezer had visited years before (Genesis 24) and where his thirst was quenched by Rebekah (The future bride of Issac). Rebekah is a parallel to us, the church, the bride of Christ and I would like you to note that the bride of Christ is always willing to quench the thirst of those who are thirsty.
Although Jacob had been bought up in a God fearing family, he had rebelled and run away yet God in His infinite wisdom and goodness reaches down and leads him to a well, a place of refreshment.

God will always lead those who have set their heart toward Him. Jacob had this encounter with God on route to Haran and had made a commitment to give the God of his Father and Grandfather a chance. What have we done with the 'God encounters' in our lives, have we committed ourselves to continue our journey to the place God has marked out for us or do we stay in the desert?

Thank God that Jacob had the desire and strength to complete what was in Gods plan for him. He arrived at the well, the place where God strengthens and refreshes. God had bought Jacob to this place in order to use him. God wants us to be used by Him and for Him, it is in our willingness to be engaged in helping to water the flock that we will be refreshed.

Jacob's life is changing because of his encounter with 'Almighty God'. God had a plan for this rebellious, scheming youth who had spent most of his young life getting what he wanted, by hook or by crook.

God has a plan for all of us, he wants to transform us from sinners to saints, to set us free from the power of cancelled sin so that we can be of use in His kingdom.

Jacob was now willing to serve, we read that after he had served Laban for a month, he had made such a good impression that Laban said  'Why should you serve for nothing, what shall I pay you?’ Wouldn't that be great if our boss came to us and said 'well done what pay rise do you want?’

God is in the business of rewarding, and remember Jacob had vowed a tenth of all that he accumulated he would give back to God.

Jacob by this time was totally besotted with his cousin Rachel, beauty beyond compare, so much so that he was willing to serve Laban for 7 years so that he could wed her. What a commitment not just on a physical level waiting for the person you love for 7 years but also on a spiritual level where Jacob had begun to realise that his life was in Gods hands not in his own. Before his "God encounter" Jacob would have tried to manipulate the situation for his own end.

Do we realise that when we have 'God encounters' as Jacob and the ladder or life struggles like being cheated by Laban, they are for the sole purpose of transforming our lives so that we can be of use to God?

What is it that keeps us and makes us stay where we are?

1. Is it fear of the unknown
2. Security in our current surroundings
3. Just plain ignorance.

Do we know that we are in the right place with God?

1. In our lives
2. Our marriages
3. Our work place

3 Jacob to Israel, A life transformed

Genesis 28:10-22.

This is the place where God meets Jacob.
Jacob describes the place where God met him as an "Awesome Place"  (Genesis 28:17)

Likewise the place that God meets us is an "'Awesome Place"

This "'Awesome Place" is a place of:-

1.Revelation (Genesis 28:12-13)
God reveals Himself to a man or woman when they are alone. Jacob was running from his brother's wrath yet at the same time gong to a place at the bidding of his father. As we have seen God knows what He is about when He intervenes in our lives. We may not like it and it may be through circumstances that are beyond our control, but God is on the throne and knows when to intervene.
Revelation came to Jacob in the form of a ladder reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending (Genesis 28:12), notice they were going up before they came down. It is as if God was saying you come to me and I will give you rest, trust in me and my plan for you and not in your own schemes and plans.
The revelation of God to Man is one of personal revelation (Genesis 28:13). God speaks to the individual and says "I will be God to you" and "I will give". This is the very heart of God that He wants to establish His covenant with us and "Be God to us". and He gives all of Himself to us. The land on which we lie, the place of our deepest trouble and our most desperate situation is the place that God wants to give us for our possession. God does this so that in and through the work that He does in us "all the families of earth will be blessed". Those we meet on a daily basis will be encouraged and see the salvation of our God. God wants the willing heart, the one that has reached rock bottom and is desperate for Him to step in so that He can work out His plan of salvation to all nations.

2. Promise (Genesis 28:14 - 17)
A promise that He will give (Genesis 28:13). The heart of God gives and gives again. God wants us to be reliant on His generous giving spirit. He wants us to begin to understand, accept and experience something of this generous spirit that says 'to you and your descendants'.
 A promise of fruitfulness (Genesis 28:13-14). This is not necessarily material fruitfulness. Where God primarily meets mankind is on the spiritual level and if we never allow God to carry us to Himself and rescue us spiritually then we will never really bear 'fruit that will remain' (John 15:8) and therefore never be fruitful.
A promise that He will be God to us where ever we go, where ever the sole of our foot treads He is there, sticking like glue. We can experience Him in good times and bad, in the 'ups' and 'downs' of life. This is a promise that He will bring us back to the safety of Himself Genesis 28:15.
A promise that He will never leave us until He has accomplished all that He has spoken to us Genesis 28:15. 
What a faithful, loving God who, despite all our failings and anxieties, all our 'ups' and 'downs', all our deceitful misdemeanour's, puts Himself at our disposal and promises to undertake, protect and above all never leave us.

3.Commitment (2 Fold) (Genesis 28:15 God's) (Genesis 28:18 - 22 Jacob's)

God's commitment is that "I will never leave you until I have done what I have promised". We need to hang onto this promise and commitment through all that life throws our way.

Lets begin to believe and stand on the promise that God has given us.

Jacob's promise was that he would trust Almighty God, this God that had appeared to him, this God that he had allowed to intervene in his life, a life of running away. The promise that Jacob made can be found in Genesis 28:20. Jacob puts his trust in the ONE GOD and places all of his future at God's disposal. "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,and I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Jehovah be my God"
Jacob was prepared to give God a chance, a chance to change his life. Changed lives do not happen in an instance they take a lifetime to work out.
May we allow God to intervene in our lives?
May we give God a chance?
May we put our faith in a God who prepares the way for us to bring all to Him?
And like Jacob may we participate in relationship with God by dedicating what we have received from Him back to Him?
"Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."

'House of God what an Awesome Place'

How do we respond to such an incredible God?  In our next post we will look and see how Jacob responses. 

2 Jacob to Israel a life transformed

Over the next few weeks I want to re-publish a series that I wrote a few years ago on the man Jacob. We will call this series "Jacob to Israel a life transformed" We will start in Genesis:27 and go through to Genesis:35 and look at how God transformed a man from himself to Himself.

So as we move from Genesis 27 we find that there is still a scheme being executed between Rebekah and Jacob and now as we enter Genesis 28 Isaac has been included in the scheme and is called upon to bless Jacob and send him away to his brother-in-law Laben to acquire a wife.

The blessing that Isaac gives Jacob is words of encouragement, he is empasising that God wants to bless him and interestingly he blesses him with the promise given to his father Abraham, that 'in him all nations of the earth will be blessed'. Issac recognises or God moves in his heart to bless this wayward son with a promise that “all the nations of the earth will be blessed”. God is not limited by our behavior, He does not give out blessings for good deeds, He blesses because of His justice, He can’t do anything else, and here we have a clear picture of that justice in Issac. We are not given any indication that Jacob sort to do good, it appears that he and his mother were only out for them selves, yet I believe there was something in the heart of Jacob that wanted to pursue righteousness yet he, like most of us, sets out to manipulate circumstances and situations in order to try to acquire the blessing outside of the acceptable way of acquisition. Gods blessing can only be given by God in His time. God wants to find people who are willing to pursue the quest and believe the promise of salvation and recognise that it is God who causes us 'to be fruitful and multiply'. There is nothing that we can do to merit Gods favor, yet God loves and cares for us by His mercy and acts by His justice. Here in this story we find Issac blessing Jacob even though he has deceived him and robbed his elder brother of his birth right. There is something here which makes us think about the mercy of God, a father who continues to love and care for our well being despite our failings. He loves us beyond that which is reasonable. The heart of God is that we 'inherit the land in which we are a stranger' Genesis 28:4. God wants us to possess all that He has promised, not just the things that we think we are able too, but all that He has in His completeness. 

I have often wondered how Jacob approached Issac on this occasion after deceiving his father and robbing his brother. He must have felt completely unworthy to kneel before his father, who notice in Genesis 28:1 'called him' to himself, Jacob did not come pleading for forgiveness, Isaac decided to forgive no questions asked, this is exactly how God deals with us, He calls us to Himself for His own sake. Jesus says 'no one comes to the Father except the Father call him'.

I want to draw your attention to the fact that it is Issac that calls Jacob to himself and it is Isaac who takes control of his son's situation, a situation that is far from satisfactory and one that is in danger of ending Jacobs life if his elder brother gets his way. The situation that Jacob finds himself in is one brought about about by his own selfish manipulation. I want you to note that it is God who will always steps into our messy situations in order to help us to move on with our lives and ultimately bring glory to His name, it is God who is in charge as Romans 8:28 says 'And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose'. God will always provide the way of escape if we are repentant. We noted earlier that Jacob came without argument to Isaac for the blessing and went without protesting to Padan-Aram. However if Jacob had not gone Esau would have killed him and therefore rendering Gods promise to Abraham and Isaac useless. God is in control of our lives not us.

Isaac's words to Jacob are 'don't take a wife from here' and 'arise go' So Isaac had created a way of escape from Esau, away from the trouble and turmoil which would have hampered Jacobs life which would have limited God's dealings with him. Isaac's blessing also created a way of buying time for Jacob so he could encounter God (Genesis 28:15-16) in a way that enabled Jacob not to be yolked or joined together with those who did not believe or trust the ONE TRUE GOD (2 Corinthians 6:14). God wants us to be wholly committed to Him and not joined or dragged down by distractions. Thank God for His great Mercy that reaches us where we are and provides the way of escape.

1 Jacob to Israel a life transformed

Over the next few weeks I want to re-publish a series that I wrote a few years ago on the man Jacob. We will call this series "Jacob to Israel a life transformed" We will start in Genesis:27 and go through to Genesis:35 and look at how God transformed a man from himself to Himself.

So lets start with some background, Jacob is one half of the twin sons of Issac and Rebekah. Jacob is the younger brother whilst Esau is the older brother. Esau is a hunter and only appears to be interested in himself and his well being. He does not appear to have much interest in the spiritual just in satisfying his own self. Esau is tricked out of his birth right, that is the heir to all that is rightfully his as the elder son, by his younger brother Jacob who by all accounts is not much better. Jacob appears to be a mummy's boy always helping out in the kitchen. The Bible tells us that Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob (Genesis 25:28). As we read through the chapter it becomes apparent that there appears to be a dispute going on as to who is going to inherit. Esau rightly assumed that all was his as the elder son, Jacob believed he had an equal share being only a few minutes younger. Jacob, by all accounts, being encouraged by his mother, began to manipulate situations and circumstances for his own benefit. It would appear that Jacob had not learned from the stories he had heard about his Grandfather Abraham, who had spent a life time waiting Gods time. It is worth just stopping and reflecting here on our own lives and how many times we try to force Gods hand before it is Gods time. 

Issac is now an old man and ready to die, interestingly he does not die for another 20 years or so, but the text tells us that he was old and that he was not sure if the time of his death was imminent, but he was preparing for it anyway. He calls Esau and asks him to go hunting for him, Rebekah, his wife, overhears and gets Jacob in on the act and together they conspire to deceive Issac and so rob Esau of what was rightfully his. Jacob means schemer or twister, in essence he was a young man fully intent on getting what he wanted and what he thought was his by right. Jacob only thought about Jacob, just like all of the fallen human race before him and since him. I want you to take note at this point at how low he had fallen, to the point that he is prepared to deceive and lie to his ailing father. It is only when we recognise how fallen we are can God begin to work the work of restoration and transformation in our lives.

So back to our story, Jacob brings the food into Issac and he is asked by Issac "How have you done this so quickly?" to which Jacob replies "The Lord your God brought it to me" Genesis 27:20 . Firstly what a lie, secondly, and more importantly, Jacob used the words 'your God', not 'my God'. How many of us only know God by proxy, by experiencing through someone else? We will see later how the God of Abraham and Issac became the God of Jacob. All of us have to know God personally, not by proxy. We will never be able to be any use to God unless He is our God

Jacob's lie and Rebekah's deceit caused no end of problems, so much so that Jacob had to run away. The truth is God is bigger and greater than all that we do or say and He makes Himself known to the willing heart in His way and His time. Are we prepared to stop and listen or are we still running?

We will see how God deals with Jacob in the next post.