At the End of Our Rope (Genesis 28, 32)

Genesis 28, 32

Some people need to hit rock bottom.  They need every second and third chance taken away.  They need their safety net removed.  They need to feel the pain of the consequences of every action that they have been spared from.

That may mean leaving a rebellious teenager in jail.  That may require leaving an unfaithful and abusive husband.  That may lead to severing ties to friends who are harming themselves and others around them with the choices they continue to make.

And maybe the safety net needs to be removed from us.

Consequences of sinful actions reap destruction (Gal. 6:7-8).  But those consequences are also God's warning siren that the sinful life a person is living isn't right.  When all their tricks fail to impress those who have been burned by their results over and over again, when all their friends abandon them, when they have spent every last dime looking for crumbs to eat or a family member to sympathize with a situation they have put themselves in...and find none, pride sometimes begins to falter.

This is where we meet Jacob.  He cheated his brother out of his birthright and his blessing.  He fled for his life and made a promise to God hastily one night wanting protection and a safe return home, but he never changed his swindling ways.  He has spent 20 years trying to out-cheat his uncle of all he had.  Then he was basically chased out of his father-in-law's land protected from his consequences through the divine hand of God.

Now God is driving Jacob to fulfill the promise he made to God by returning home.  Home...where a betrayed brother has had 20 years to build anger upon anger and grudge upon grudge for unrighteous actions left unreconciled. 

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Angry family behind who won't take him back.  An army amassed by a another who has sworn vengeance ahead.  And a God who is holding the deceiver to his word...forcing him to fulfill his commitment and face the consequences of the events he has set in motion through his scheming.

Finally, Jacob is at the end of his rope.  He finally admits that the situation is too big for him.  He shares his fear with God.  He reminds him of the promises that he has received from God, but for the first time admits that he is unworthy to receive any of them.  This isn't the knifing Jacob who used every opportunity to live up to the meaning of his name "Deceiver".  This is a desperate Jacob who understands that his ways are not God's ways, they have led only to this moment on the precipice of destruction.  He actually needs God...and desperately needs Him to change the man he has become. 

So alone at night, he wrestles with God and is transformed.  He walks away from the struggle a changed man.  He is no longer Jacob "the Deceiver", but Israel "he who prevails with God".  God is no longer One to barter with, but rather the One on whom all future success rests.  And peace and rest, maybe for the first time in Jacob's life, is finally felt.

But he had to come to the end of his rope to get there.

Vying for Position (Genesis 30-31)

Genesis 30-31

How far would you go to get ahead?  Would you cheat on your exams to ensure your success?  Would you pull down a fellow co-worker so that you would be lifted up?  Would you ensure your position by giving special favors to your boss or swindling your customers?

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Sometimes we think that if we are clever enough or desperate enough, we can take an easier road to success.  Let Jacob's life be a cautionary tale for any who think that this life is filled with any type of peace.

Jacob has lived his life so far as a deceiver.  Now it is permeating every facet of his family.

Rachel and Leah vie for Jacob's love in the bedroom to produce offspring.  Leah purchases his services with her son's mandrakes.  Mandrakes were believed to help in fertility.  Therefore, what we really have is Rachel trying a man made solution to the problem of her infertility.  She believes that she can afford to hire her husband out to her sister, if it will let her get her foot in the door in the childbearing process.  So Jacob is thrown around between wives and their maidservants in a desperate act by all the women to secure his love.

While Jacob is being treated as a male prostitute in his own home, he is busy trying to out-swindle his uncle of his possessions.

It is entertaining to read how Laban and Jacob move and counter-move to gain advantage of one another.  Laban tells Jacob that he can have all of the spotted, speckled and striped goats and every lamb that was black among his flocks.  He then gives all of these that are currently in his flocks to his son (not Jacob), so that Jacob would have a disadvantage in receiving anything concerning the types of livestock promised him.  Jacob then tries to lure the livestock to come down and breed in a certain area with certain food that was believed to cause the livestock to produce the type of characteristics that would be given to Jacob.  If the livestock seemed strong, he would have them breed.  If they seemed weak, he left them for Laban to have.  Laban sees the success of Jacob and with every success changes the rules so that he might have the advantage again.

Eventually, because of Jacob's continued success, Laban becomes bitter and angry toward Jacob.  So angry that Jacob fears that something bad may happen to him if he stays in Laban's company.  This attitude seems confirmed when Jacob receives a dream from God telling him to go back to his homeland.  So he sneaks away, but not before Rachel steals the household gods, which were used to both confer blessing and inheritance.

Laban chases down Jacob and confronts him.  He tries to find the gods but is unsuccessful because of another deceit by Rachel.  And had God not intervened in a dream given to Laban, I truly believe that the lives of Jacob and his family would have ended right there.

Make no mistake, God doesn't protect Jacob because of Jacob's righteousness, but because of His own righteousness.  Jacob, because of his deceit, has stripped away any semblance of peace.  His work is not a pleasant place to be.  His home is not a refuge from conflict.  Because he has trusted in a twisted combination of his own scheming and God's faithfulness, he has received both blessing and cursing for his actions.  In the end, however, the consequences of his actions cause such discord for his family that I'd bet he'd take it all back if he knew what it was going cost.

Is doing things your way instead of God's way worth all the peace you will sacrifice to get what you want?  Personally, I don't think so.