Law – Genesis 28 – 31

I don’t know what to make about Jacob.

Of all the three patriach’s of faith, he is just someone that I just cannot quite get.

Read on and see if you feel the same way…

Bible Passage: Genesis 28 – 31

The last we left Jacob, he was about to leave his homeland because his elder brother was waiting for the chance to kill him.

And today, we read that Isaac blessed him before sending him away to his wife’s family to seek a bride. Then during his journey, we read about how God appeared to him in a vision and promised that He will be with Jacob wherever he goes.

Jacob arrived at his uncle’s house and there, the schemer was out-schemed and he worked for 14 years before he could finally marry the one that he really wanted. And during that period, his wages was changed time and time again and his father in law certainly did not treat him very well.

Troubles seem to follow him even though God promised to be with him.

What do you do when you are faced with trouble? Do you resort to scheming like Jacob? Do you ever try to ‘help’ God solve our problems?

When you look at the life of Jacob, you will find that he had the tendency to do just that.

At the face of his manipulative father-in-law, at times Jacob behaved in a very principaled mannner. But at other times, he was exactly like Laban, scheming and spinning his own style of deceit.

You read that God eventually told Jacob to return home with the promise, “I will be with you” (31:3). But instead of trusting God and making a clean break from Laban, Jacob began a whole series of schemes to prepare for his departure.

He complained to his wives till they turned away from their father, stole his possessions and all of them sneaked away without saying goodbye! When caught by Laban, Jacob sought to justify himself and got angry (31:36-42).

Much of this could have been avoided if Jacob had simply trusted in God’s promise. But Jacob chose to complicate matters by turning Laban’s daughters against their father and maybe his scheming ways rubbed off on his wife (and later we also see in his children).

Are we like Jacob when we find ourselves frustrated and desperate? Even though we know God’s promises, we create for ourselves our ways to solve the problem simply because God’s ways seem to difficult and unreal.