Let me start today with a story about C.S.Lewis. During his army training, Lewis shared a room with another cadet named"Paddy" Moore. The two made a mutual pact that if either died during the war, the survivor would take care of both their families. Paddy was killed in action in 1918 and Lewis kept his promise. Paddy had earlier introduced Lewis to his mother, Jane King Moore.
Lewis lived with and cared for Jane Moore until she was hospitalized in the late 1940s. He routinely introduced her as his mother, and referred to her as such in letters. Lewis' own mother had died when he was a child, and his father was distant, demanding, and eccentric.
Jane Moore suffered from dementia in her later years and was eventually moved into a nursing home, where she died in 1951. Lewis visited her every day in this home until her death.
Although Lewis was not a Christian at this point in his life, he recognized the importance of keeping a vow. As we begin to discover the life of Jacob, keeping a vow plays a role in his life also.
As we discovered last week it was decided that Jacob would go to his uncle’s house to find himself a bride. Isaac like Abraham did not want his son to marry a Canaanite but rather a relative from their homeland. Plus Jacob was also escaping the wrath of his brother whom he had bargained his birthright from.
As Jacob is heading toward Haran he stops for the night. Using a stone for a pillow he falls asleep. He begins to dream. Genesis 28: 12 -15 “As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.’”
The promises that were made to Abraham first and then to Isaac were now passed to Jacob. This land would now belong to Jacob’s descendants. All the people of the earth would be blessed through his descendants, here again talking about Jesus. But notice how the promise of God has evolved. First descendants like the stars. Next descendants like the sands on the beach. Now descendants like the dust of the earth. Each promise is showing the impact that his descendants would have on forming the nation of Israel and the church. And how their influence would reach all the corners of the earth.
God made a covenant with Jacob. He told him “I am giving you….I am with you…..I will protect you….I will bring you back…I will not leave you.” Like Abraham God made the covenant expecting no response on Jacob’s part.
But let’s look at Jacob’s response. Genesis 28:20-22 “Then Jacob made this vow: ‘If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.’”
When we begin a statement with “if” we have immediately place conditions on our response to whatever is happening in our life. It’s like little children saying, “If you do this for me, I will be your best friend.” You know tomorrow they will have a new best friend.
Jacob had just encountered God in a supernatural experience. The Bible says when he woke up he stated, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
God had promised to never leave Jacob. Jacob responded with if He doesn’t then He will be my God. God had promised to give to him. Jacob responded with if He provides for me then He will be my God. God had promised to bring him back to his land. Jacob responded with if He returns me safely to my father’s house then He will be my God.
Then Jacob continues to make deals. When God performs at his request then he will build God a temple and will give God a tenth of everything that he receives. Jacob will build a place of worship at the site. He called this site Bethel, which meant House of God. Eventually it would become a major center of idol worship. And there is no record of Jacob ever keeping the pledge of giving to God the tenth as promised.
How many of us are guilty of being like Jacob? God makes promises to us but we seem to be afraid to take him at his word. We prove it by relying on material things and our own abilities to accomplish all of our goals in life. God promises to always be there for us. Can your job promise that, or a family member? Do you depend more on your employer to provide for you than you do God? Do you count on a family member to never leave you, not knowing when death could make that decision for them? There is nothing that the world possesses that is guaranteed. However God’s word is dependable.
2 Corinthians 1:20 “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’ And through Christ, our ‘Amen’ (which means ‘Yes’) ascends to God for his glory.”
And how many of us have made empty vows to God so that He may prove himself faithful? We have promised to do more, to attend church more, and to give more or more often. All we ask in return that He rescues us from some catastrophe.
But when things settle down we fall back into the same routine. We want to do more but our schedules get busy. We miss attending church because we just don’t feel like going today. We can’t give anything or not as much this week because some unexpected financial crisis came up. Plus if we did give we probably couldn’t go out to eat afterwards. We unintentionally say to God if you do A, B, and C for me, then I will worship you.
God never asked Abraham for a vow. God never asked Isaac for a vow. God never asked Jacob for a vow. And God would never ask us for a vow because He knows there is a chance we would not keep it.
Let’s read what Jesus taught on the matter. Matthew 5:33-34 “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne.”
Don’t make vows that you can’t keep. Take God’s word at face value and obey it. You are better off not making bargains with God if you do not intend to keep them.
Jacob left that place and continued on. He soon arrived at a well where he met the daughter of his Uncle Laban. Her name was Rachel. She led him back to her father’s home and Jacob filled him in on everything that had taken place.
Jacob began to work for his uncle. During that time he fell in love with Rachel. After a month had passed Laban offered him a chance to request a wage. Jacob asked for Rachel in marriage. Without being prompted he offered seven years of service for her hand. Had he depended on the promise of God to return him home those seven years may not have been necessary. Laban may have been inclined to give Jacob her hand for his service of one month.
The seven years ended. Jacob took his bride into the marriage tent. The next morning he awoke to find Leah, Rachel’s eldest sister, was the one he married. The one who was accused of deceiving his brother and his father had been deceived.
Let’s look at Laban’s character traits here for a moment. Remember we first met Laban when Eliezer went to get a wife for Isaac. He had planned to leave the next morning after Rebekah had agreed to go with him. But Laban tried to delay her leaving by ten days. It could have been a ploy to extract more valuables from Eliezer.
He has pulled this same ploy with Jacob. Using their customs as an excuse to indebt Jacob for another seven years, he promises him Rachel. At the end of the week long wedding celebration he entered the wedding tent with Rachel and married her.
Due to his loving Rachel more than Leah, God allows Leah to have a child, and then another, and then another, and yet another who was named Judah.
Rachel is livid that her sister is fertile while she remains barren. She concocts a plan to build her family. She gives her maidservant to Jacob so that she would have a child to raise. Sounds like a repeat of a story told a long time ago. In fact it worked so well that her maidservant had yet another child.
When Leah realized she could no longer produce children she went into a competition mode. She gave Jacob her maidservant and the maidservant gave birth to two more children.
Jacob had quit being intimate with Leah so she traded some mandrakes to Rachel for the privilege of being intimate again. She would bear him two more sons and a daughter.
Rachel would finally become pregnant and have a child. She would name him Joseph. In the seven years since marrying Rachel Jacob had fathered thirteen children.
After completing his seven years as agreed, Jacob went to Laban and asked to be released. But Laban, being true to his character, attempted to delay Jacob’s departure.
Genesis 30:27-28 “Please listen to me,” Laban replied. “I have become wealthy, for the Lord has blessed me because of you. Tell me how much I owe you. Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.”
Understand that Laban is not offering Jacob a cash out on his way out. Laban is offering Jacob a chance to become independently wealthy himself while remaining with Laban.
Jacob had forgotten God’s promise to provide for him, to protect him, and to bring him back to his homeland. Instead Jacob went back into his deceiver mode and saw a way to get wealthy at Laban’s expense.
Genesis 30:31-32 “‘What wages do you want?’ Laban asked again.
Jacob replied, ‘Don’t give me anything. Just do this one thing, and I’ll continue to tend and watch over your flocks. Let me inspect your flocks today and remove all the sheep and goats that are speckled or spotted, along with all the black sheep. Give these to me as my wages.’”
Laban knew a good deal when he heard one. Jacob wanted the sheep and goats that were blemished. This would be a chance to clean out the imperfection while still maintaining a large herd. So he agreed. They separated the flocks.
However the schemer had a plan. Using old shepherding methods he made sure that the strongest females when ready to reproduce did so with spotted or black males, increasing the chances for spotted or streaked offspring. The weak females were not given that opportunity. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong animals went to Jacob. From selling his livestock Jacob was able to purchase slaves, camels, and donkeys. Like Abraham and Isaac, he became wealthy. And like them he earned it through deceit.
When Laban and his sons realized that Jacob had become wealthier that they were, attitudes changed. Jacob began to feel threatened. So the time came for God to intervene.
Genesis 31:3 “Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.’”
So Jacob informed his wives of God’s command for them to leave. In doing so he revealed his tendency to be disobedient to God.
Genesis 31:10-11, 13“One time during the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the females were streaked, speckled, and spotted. Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’
‘I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get ready and leave this country and return to the land of your birth.’”
God had commanded Jacob to leave during the breeding season. But he ignored God because there were profits to be made. Again we must look at ourselves in the mirror and discover if we have been guilty of ignoring God because it’s not profitable to our desires.
As we have seen Jacob is not one to show his faithfulness to God. In the twenty years of service with Laban there is no reference of Jacob praying, worshiping, or even acknowledging God.
In Isaiah 41:14 God refers to Jacob as a “worm.” Not a very flattering statement. Yet in spite of Jacob’s actions God will remain faithful to his promises.
As we see from Jacob’s life so far God’s faithfulness to us is not based on our faithfulness to him. His promises to us remains true even when we allow the world’s influences to drag us down. Even though I know that He will prosper according to his plan, I don’t want him to ever think of me as a weak, mud-burrowing worm. I hope you don’t either.
