Love God First Series

Remember what we talked about last week? God chose Abraham and his descendants to be a testimony for Him. Abraham passed the “baton” of being in God’s team to Isaac who in turn passed the “baton” to Jacob. Please open your Bibles to the end of Genesis Chapter 28; we read…….

Jacob heard the godly calling from his father and directly from God and he made a commitment to follow God.

Let’s see what happened right after this commitment.

Read along with me Genesis 29 to Gen. 30: 3……………

Remember Jacob made a vow to God at the end of Genesis 28; and so, Jacob’s life became perfect??

Here’s a summary of what happened in Genesis 29:

Jacob worked for 7 years and ended up sleeping with a strange woman and married Leah who he didn’t love.

Jacob worked 7 more years to marry the one he loved.

Jacob had 2 unhappy wives who competed with each other.

Jacob worked 7 more years for his father-in-law;

likely he was trying to escape from his wives.

Jacob and Rachel had a fight and repeated their parent’s mistake.

Jacob ended up with a concubine.

Jacob was chosen by God to inherit the blessings from heaven! What happened to Jacob?

Jacob, after experiencing a vision from God and making a commitment to be God’s man, depended on his feelings rather than faith, and so for over 20 years, he struggled with life.

What is the greatest commandment according to God??

In Deutoronomy 6 and in the Gospels, God tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God with everything!

How do people break this command??

People can love many other things and not love God, and that disobedience brings consequences.

What can we learn from Jacob? What did Jacob do wrong? Jacob made the mistake of loving himself and a woman over the love for God. Let us take a closer look at Genesis 29. Look again at the end of v2 to v3……...

How big was the stone over the well??

God made a point to tell us that it takes a number of shepherds to roll away the stone from that well. Now look again at v10…………….. God doesn’t say if Jacob had help. What we know for sure is that Jacob himself, who we knew was a quiet man not like outdoorsman Esau, all of a sudden acted like Esau, taking charge to move a large stone!

Now, look at what happened before Jacob moved that stone. Look again at v6-10…………….

What did Jacob do wrong here?

You also may be wondering, what happened to God? Why isn’t God involved with Jacob here? You know, we have the privilege of having God’s Word at our fingertips and review the history behind the stories. But do you think it was only by coincidence that Isaac would meet Rachel by a well?

Remember when Abraham sent his servant to look for a wife for Isaac. Where did Eliezer the servant find Rebekah, Isaac’s future wife?? – at a well!!!

How many of you remember great things that happened to your mom or dad?? Don’t you think that Isaac would recall the story of Eliezer and his mother Rebekah at that well?

Look back with me to Genesis 24:26-27…………….

What did Jacob do wrong when he saw Rachel at the well?

Eliezer acknowledged God. Jacob did not acknowledge God’s involvement!

What did Jacob do instead? After seeing Rachel, Jacob moved the large stone, likely all by himself, then, he kissed Rachel and wept aloud! Jacob obviously fell in love with Rachel right away (we note this in v18). And people do crazy things when they fall in love, don’t they? Remember the crazy things you did when you fell in love? We can spend hours talking about those crazy things! Later, I’ll share one with you if you share one with me! But I bet, because we fall in love, we all have a tendency to show off!

Jacob fell in love and became a show off and super emotional!! What about Rachel? Look at the end of v11; she RAN to her father! Rachel’s companions probably thought, “wow, I didn’t know Rachel could run like that!”

I think Rachel fell in love with Jacob.

Was it wrong for Jacob and Rachel to fall in love?

Laban and Leah also fell in love with Jacob didn’t they? And they all did many crazy things!

Is it wrong to fall in love with someone? Absolutely not! Falling in love is part of God’s character! What went wrong with Jacob, Rachel, Laban, and Leah was they forgot to love God first!

I find v35 interesting……………

Why would God now stop Leah from having children? Leah stopped having children after she praised God! God was teaching Leah, dependence on and love for God first.