Hot Pursuit Series

The Kansas City Chiefs are going to the Superbowl again this year! Yea! I can’t wait to watch the game! Now, almost as fun as watching the game is watching the commercials. They are usually some of the best commercials all year.

And one of my all-time favorites was a Volkswagen Passat commercial aired ten year ago (2011). It featured a child dressed in a Darth Vader costume, attempting to use "the force" around the house. Take a look (show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n6hf3adNqk).

With the familiar Star Wars music associated with Darth Vader playing in the background, the boy marches down the hallway and then raises his hands dramatically toward a dryer in the utility room—nothing happens.

Next the young Darth points his hands at the family dog lying on the floor. The dog looks up quizzically—but again nothing happens.

Darth does not give up. Now in the bedroom, he raises his hands forcefully toward a doll seated on the bed. The doll stares back blankly without budging an inch. Darth's arms drop to his sides in frustration, and he slumps in discouragement.

In the kitchen, still in costume, he now stands dejectedly at the counter with his black-helmeted head on his hand. Then his father pulls into the driveway, and Darth runs out to the car as his father walks into the house. He hasn't given up! One more time he raises his hands and points them dramatically at the auto. He waits, hands upraised. Suddenly the car's yellow turn signals light up and the engine starts!

The startled child stumbles backward. We see that the playful father had started the car from the kitchen using a push-button ignition. The amazed child whirls to look toward the house, then back again toward the car (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n6hf3adNqk).

That little guy thought he had the power when it was his dad who made it happen. In the commercial it’s funny, but in real life it can be tragic.

We saw this in Jacob’s life last week. He depended on a silly mating scheme to get rich, when all along it was God who prospered him. The only thing he got from his scheme was frustration and pain.

Well, this week, we’re going to see Jacob at it again. Only this time, instead of searching for success and prosperity, he is looking for security and protection for himself and his family.

Now, that’s a worthy goal. Every husband and father wants to protect his family. The question is: How? How do you find that protection? How do you find real security for yourself and those you love? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 31, Genesis 31, where we see Jacob trying to protect his family.

Genesis 31:1-2 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. (ESV)

Laban had become hostile to Jacob, jealous of his success.

Genesis 31:3-9 Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. (ESV)

Jacob finally recognizes the source of his success. It was GOD who prospered him, not his elaborate mating scheme. He continues…

Genesis 31:10-13 In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’” (ESV)