Gen. 29:1-30

What is God doing?  God is fulfilling His promise to His Son (Psalm 2:6), that He would rule over His enemies from the throne in Zion.  This promise is being worked out in history.  It involves an unconditional covenant with Abraham by which God will give him descendants and a land.  The ruling Son of God will come to earth through Abraham, and He will ultimately rule in Abraham’s land.

How does a person, any person, receive such a promise from God?  It is by faith!  One must take God at His word.  Abraham did this and as always faith was evident in his righteous life.  Abraham’s life was a journey of faith, culminating on Mt. Moriah when he gave his only son Isaac back to God.

The promise to Abraham has now been made to Jacob (28:13-14).  Jacob will also live a journey that will bring him to a genuine faith in God.  Jacob believes in God’s promise.  But he does not trust God to do as He says.  Jacob has sought to gain the birthright himself.  He bought it with food from the profane Esau.  He tricked his father.  And now, he has not entered into a covenant with God but rather has made a bargain with God.  IF you do as you say, THEN I will worship you as my God (28:20-22).  Is Jacob a man of faith?  We can say he seems to believe in God, certainly.  But does he walk by faith?  No, he does not!  He is a man who knows God and God’s promises and yet lives by his own ability.

In today’s passage we see God begin to do His work in Jacob’s life to bring him to the place of righteousness.  Jacob goes on his way, meeting Rachel as she cares for her father’s sheep.  He is welcomed into the home of Laban, and after a month makes another bargain, this time with Laban.   

Note some issues in the way Jacob goes about getting a wife:

·        There is no inquiry of God (unlike Abraham’s servant in Gen. 24).

·        Jacob’s choice seems to be external (v17).  Looking at externals is always man’s ways but is not God’s way (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7; Matt. 16:23).

·        Jacob works for a wife, unlike his father who received a wife from God.  (Perhaps Jacob does this for a dowry, having nothing else to give Laban.)

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!  It is hard not to see the justice in Laban’s deceit of Jacob.  It’s the law of the harvest in action.  The deceiver is deceived!  God is beginning to do His work in Jacob’s life.

Have you not seen this in your own life?  Take a minute to review the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21).  Do you not see things there that have been and are part of your life?  What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed?  For the end of those things is death (Rom. 6:21).  

Let us not have to learn from experience.  Let us learn from Scripture, from the experiences of God’s chosen ones like Jacob.  Those who believe in Christ enter into an unconditional covenant with Him.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit  (Gal. 5:25).