Genesis 29:1-14
Three weeks ago, the YOUTH GROUP went on a “Destination Unknown.” If you’ve never been on a DU, or heard of one, it’s a fun activity for the youth group, except for the fact that the group does not know where they are going until they get there. When I was a youth pastor, we used to tape the bus windows with newspaper so the teens couldn’t see where we were going. The most recent DU for our Faith Bible Teens ended up being a destination to a Navy Football game at Annapolis! It was really exciting for them because as usual, the bus broke down on the way!
Does your life feel like you’re on a Destination Unknown? Perhaps you have just lost your job, or you are going through the sorrow of a broken relationship. Maybe there is a young man or woman here who is beginning theif college education. We heard 2 weeks ago from John Fogle, just recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Can you relate to that? Or perhaps your Destination Unknown is the beginning of retirement and you’re not sure how it is all going to work out.
Our patriarch Jacob is on a 1,000 mile Destination Unknown!
His story is told in Genesis 29:1-14
“Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well. Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?” “We’re from Haran,” they replied. He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?” “Yes, we know him,” they answered. Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?” “Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.” “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.” “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.” While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father. As 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. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,” (Genesis 29:1–14, NIV84)
FOLLOW Jacob with me.........
you are alone on your camel
Day after day
Night after night
Your first stop is BETHEL, where you have a personal encounter with God who reveals that he is going to bless you just like he promised.
Then, you continue on your journey and CROSS the JORDAN river, and begin to travel north via the KINGS HIGHWAY.
You pass around the base of MT HERMON. It’s beautiful and capped with snow, even in the early summer.
The weather grew hotter with each step down from the slopes of HERMON.
Within a few weeks, you are in the Syrian Dessert. It’s hotter, but it reminds you a little bit of Beersheba, the home you left several weeks ago.
Your next stop is DAMASCUS, then ALEPPO. This is the same city where modern day Syrian army forces bombed and killed dozens of civilians in the current civil war. On Wednesday October 24, 2012, 20 civilians were killed waiting for bread at a bakery. These places are of great historic significance.
Your FEAR has turned to EXCITEMENT and ANTICIPATION. We learn this from Genesis 29:1. The NIV text says “Jacob continued on his journey.” Literally, he “lifted up his feet.” HE “PICKED up the PACE.” He is now moving with intent, knowing that God was with him!
Finally, more vegetation and greenery as he grew closer to the Fertile Crescent and the town of HARAN.
For two months, Jacob has traveled in the sun and heat.
This “man of the tents” has long forgotten the comforts home.
He is tired.
He is sunburned
And for the past two months, his closest friend was his camel!
He’s had plenty of time to THINK, and now he is at his destination with anticipation, questions, excitement, and perhaps a little fear.
What did God do for Jacob, and what does that teach us about the Destination Unknowns in our life?
When Jacob Arrived, he Discovered that God was There Ahead of Him!
1. God Went Before Jacob to Prepare the Way.
He is in a DIFFERENT PLACE. Genesis 29:1 describes this as “The land of the Eastern Peoples”
Different culture
Different climate
Different customs
I Remember our move from Pennsylvania to Vineland. I had ministered there for five years and knew the congregation, the deacons, the pastors, the people, businesses, the undertaker, banker. Those relationships take years to foster. Moving meant that I had to start all over again. It was a little intimidating, and a certainly unknown territory.
God brought Jacob to the RIGHT PLACE.
He arrives just outside Haran
He comes to “A well in the field” (29:2). Jacob knew about wells. Jacob knew about sheep. He’s feeling more comfortable already.
God brought him at the RIGHT TIME. Genesis 29:4. Literally, at the right time of the day to meet the shepherds who knew Laban, Rachel, and who create the perfect opportunity for Jacob to impress his future wife.
God brought him to the RIGHT PEOPLE
He meets Three shepherds. He starts up a conversation with them and discovers that they know Laban, and in fact, Laban’s daughter was walking toward them!
But there’s something more about the opportunity that these shepherds create for Jacob. You see, these are Mesopotamian shepherds. They seem a little on the lazy side, since they remark to Jacob that they cannot move the stone from the well until others arrive. Jacob was a little surprised at their lack of energy, so he moves the stone all by himself. Jacob becomes that talk of the town, having impressed Rachel and Laban with his drive and ingenuity!
There is another side note to this well experience that might have encouraged Jacob. Remember that his grandfather Abraham send a servant to find a wife for Jacob’s father Isaac and the search ended at a well just like this one. Jacob finds Rachel and I’m sure that she reminded him of all of the wonderful things that he remembered about Rebekah.
God also provided the RIGHT OPPORTUNITY.
The stone was too heavy for 3 Mesopotamian shepherds. It was no struggle for ONE Hebrew shepherd! Jacob impresses RACHEL and uncle LABAN
Jacob seems to be a new man after his encounter with the LORD at Bethel. His CONFIDENCE came from the STONE PILLOW that he made an ALTAR. Now, he moves a stone to establish himself as someone to be taken seriously. God is on his side.
JACOB’s Experience is not unique in the Bible
2. God Goes Before His People to Prepare the Way
A. Abraham’s Servant when searching for bride for Issac .... Genesis 24:27 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”"
B. Exodus from Egypt.
1. Exodus 13:21 "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night."
2. Exodus 23:20–26 "“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. " "Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. " "If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. " "My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. "
3. Who was that angel???? Exodus 14:19–20 "Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, " "coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long."
C. Before sending out the spies from Kadesh Barnea......... Deuteronomy 1:29–30 "Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. " "The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,"
D. To the Jews returning from cpativity.... Isaiah 45:2 "I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron."
E. Isaiah 52:12 "But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard."
Of this passage, Warren Wiersbe writes, “When God’s people obey God’s will, they can always count on God’s leading and protection.” Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Comforted, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 130.
These OT promises are an assurance for US TODAY
3. Things to Remember when you are on a Destination Unknown
God is on Your side!
Romans 8:31–32 "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? " "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
Philippians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
God has promised to Go Before Us
Step out in Faith in order to experience God’s Blessings
Disobedience will Keep you from Experiencing His Blessings. Exodus 33:3 (after their sin of the Golden Calf.....) "Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
There is Joy in the Journey when you are Walking with the Lord!
I’ve known Paul and Shirley Bubar since I was a teenager. They are godly Christians who have been on a Destination Unknown for all of their lives. One of the painful chapters in that journey happened in 1996 when their son Dan was killed in a car crash in Hungary.
I grew up with Dan. We attended youth group together. We sang in youth choir together. Dan attended Grace Bible Church in Barrington when I was a youth pastor there. We re-established our relationship. He even visited us in the hospital when our daughter Brittany was in the neonatal unit at her birth.
We were so sad when we heard of his death. We can only imagine the sorrow that Paul and Shirley experienced through those days, months and years since then.
Fast forward to October 2011 (last year)
Paul is in Florida, visiting churches to promote WOL camps and the upcoming Christmas Musical.
The following is an e-mail from From Paul.
It was my last visit of the day at the FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH of MT. DORA, Florida. I had misplaced the street address and couldn’t enter it into my GPS, and almost quit for the day…then I found the church..a large church. I entered the church office greeting the receptionist as usual. She was the church secretary (they are the ones who “run the church” anyway). Seated in the reception area was a 40 plus man in dungarees and sweat shirt, whom I assumed was one of the church workers. I didn’t realize he was the Senior Pastor on his day off and who had returned to the church office to pick up his mail. I ignored him and greeted the secretary…she recognized me from previous years…and I discovered that the pastoral staff was off that day (Friday).
I continued with, “…as in previous years, I am bringing some promotional materials for our Christmas Musical and the Word of Life Camping program…we had nearly 3,000 campers this summer with around 520 kids making salvation decisions!” At that point the man spoke up and said “I’m not too familiar with Word of Life Camps…I am a little familiar with Word of Life overseas, however.” I inquired where overseas? He said, “…in HUNGARY.” I asked, “What do you know about Word of Life in Hungary?”
He paused and said “I knew a man on your staff back in the 90s. It was a very sad thing…he and his girl friend took me to the Budapest airport and then within a half hour he died in a horrible accident. I think his name was Dan. He was one of the sharpest young missionaries I had ever met. I was sent to Hungary by the Southern Baptists. I can’t remember his last name.” I said, “Would his name have been BUBAR?” He paused and said, “Bubar…Bubar…yes, that was his name…did you know him?” I said, “yes, I knew him very well. He was our son.” He stood to his feet and gasped, “Oh my, Oh my, I am so sorry! You will never know how that impacted my life, truly. I was raised in a very protected life and had never known anyone close to me who had died. It was the first time I was confronted with the fragility of life! When I received the word that he had died within only a few minutes after leaving me, I was broken and came to grips with mortality. It was after that I told the Lord he could have my life and I would serve him. It was after that I enrolled at the SOUTHWEST BAPTIST SEMINARY in Ft. Worth. There I met my wife and went on to get my Ph.D at Southwestern. I am in the ministry today because of your son’s sudden death!”
God went before Paul.
Put him in the right church, at the right time, to meet the right person, just so that Paul would know another way that God had used the painful experience of his son’s death.
God is at work, in your life.
If you are on a Destination Unknown, there is someone who DOES KNOW the destination, and he has already gone before you to make sure that everything is ready when you get there.
GIVE your burden to the Lord
Commit to walk with him in faith
