Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” (Gen 28:15).
Jacob represents the ambitious young man or woman who will spare no effort to achieve what he or she wants, irrespective of whose ox is gored in the process. The Biblical text above is a record of God’s promises made to Jacob on his way to Padan Aram as a fugitive. Jacob was privy to God’s expressed will that he be ahead of his brother Esau. When God wills something, He intends to accomplish it by His own power at His own time. Jacob, however, would not wait for God’s way and time. He swung into action at the sight of the first ‘opportunity’ to claim his inheritance. His unsuspecting elder brother, Esau, fell victim to his opportunism. Though Esau had his own share of the blame for his predicament, Jacob’s attitude betrayed his lack of trust in God’s ability to fulfil His promise. To add salt to injury, he connived with his mother to deceive Isaac, his father, into blessing him instead of Esau. Esau’s anger because of his loss, and his consequent threat to take revenge, led to Jacob’s escape from Canaan. Though Esau, by his actions, did not demonstrate the intelligence of an heir worthy of succeeding his father as one of the patriarchs of Israel, Jacob would have spared himself a lot of hardship by relying on God to give him the blessing.
If we are honest, we will admit that we have, at times, behaved like Jacob. The fallen nature of man is impatient and despises the idea of having to wait for God. The general human tendency is to devise the quickest means of reaching its goal on its own schedule, with or without God’s help. The frustration that accompanies this line of reasoning, if followed, is better imagined than experienced. God is generally so adamant about His choice of a man or woman, that even if the chosen exhibits foolishness that leads him down the valley of the shadow of death, God still watches over him or her with sympathy and hope. That was precisely Jacob’s situation when God made him the promise: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”” (Gen 28:15). Oh! The compassion and mercy of God! This however, does not imply that God glosses over rebellion, for though God accepts us the we are, He never leaves us that way. He refines us until we match His expectation of us. The revelation was so vivid that upon waking up, Jacob confessed : “… “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”” (Gen 28:16). As a result, he called the place ‘Bethel’ which means: the house of God. That Divine reassurance was by no means an approval of Jacob’s methods, but a testimony of God’s faithfulness. Jacob, like you and I, was still work in progress.
God does not abandon His projects. He completes them. Jacob took refuge in his uncle’s house. Laban, Jacob’s uncle, made him a proposition: “Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be? ”” (Gen 29:15). Jacob accepted the offer and specifically requested to marry his uncle’s younger daughter, Rachel, in exchange for seven years of service (Gen 29:18). The idea pleased Laban. The Bible says, “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.” (Gen 29:20). Little did he know that he was about to have his first experience of the pain of being deceived. True to his crafty nature, Laban gave his daughter Leah to Jacob under cover of darkness, instead of Rachel. Of course, Jacob did not suspect a foul play until it was daytime and too late for him to reject Leah. Jacob had to serve Laban for another seven years in order to marry Rachel: the power of love! He may have wondered where God was in all that was happening to him. Like Jacob, God has a mission in your life, irrespective of your circumstances. Let Him fulfil it. Shalom.
