Learning Things The Hard Way! Genesis 29 Series

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Man basically is wicked, tough and deceptive in nature because of the fall and it often takes God to bring people through tough discipline to build God likeness in them. Guess what: Even when God disciplines us, he does it with love and the end result in mind. That is why the Bible says: Romans 8:28-29 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. It is a fact that man only learns and turns to God’s ways when his face is against the wall, man learns things the hard way.

God had promised Jacob the promises given to Abraham but Jacob acted smart and got the blessings by his own effort. God soon takes him through a training where God indeed blesses him but learns things the hard way.

Jacob was on a long journey from Beersheba to a place called Haran. Midway, he stopped for the night and slept on a rock in the open. During the night, he had a dream about a ladder stretching from heaven to earth. In that dream the Lord himself had spoken to Jacob, reassuring him that God would go with him wherever went.

Genesis 29:1 Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. As a result of the encounter with God at Bethel, Jacob is having a new zeal in his journey. Before that night, Jacob’s heart was filled with fear; now he is walking with renewed hope. Before he was a fugitive, now he is a traveler. Before he was running for his life; now he is running to find a wife.

After many days of traveling, Jacob finally arrived on the outskirts of Haran. In Haran Jacob learnt two life lessons:

I. Finding your right partner.

Finding a marriage partner is one of the most important decisions of life, second only to accepting the Lord as your saviour. Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the Lord.

Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for a man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

It is very natural that children grow into adults and time comes when they need to get married. The question that most people ask is: When should I marry? Whom to get married to? How do I look for a spouse?

The first thing he saw was a well, with the mouth closed and with shepherds and a herd of sheep nearby. Genesis 29:7-8 7“Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.” 8“We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.” Jacob then asked the shepherds if they knew of a man named Laban. They replied, “Yes, we know him.” At that very moment, seemingly by coincidence but actually in the providence of God, a beautiful young woman walked toward the well with her sheep. She “happened” to be Rachel, Laban’s daughter. Genesis 29:9 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd.

This is evidently one of those cases of “love at first sight.” Jacob is head on heels in love. Genesis 29:10 When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. As Jacob and these shepherds are standing around waiting for someone to come and roll the stone away from the mouth of the well, no one seems to volunteer. Then Rachel shows up, Jacob takes one look at her, and suddenly Jacob is Superman! He steps up and moves the stone out of the way for the little lady!

Genesis 29:11-14 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 12He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father. 13As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. 14Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.” His uncle welcomes him with open arms. It had been a long time since Laban’s sister (Jacob’s mother) had gone away to become Isaac’s bride.