“God is With Us” Genesis 22-50
We are continuing on in our study of the Old Testament, today looking at the last half of the book of Genesis. We have been learning from the examples of the OT saints, and learning from their examples, both of what to do and what not to do. In Romans 15 we are reminded, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” So these examples we have been reading about are there for our encouragement.
We started out by looking at the idea that God desires for us to share community -- fellowship with God and with each other. But sin ruined that community. Yet, God’s desire was to restore man to that community. Last week we looked at the lesson of Abraham, the man who is called “the friend of God.” Here was a man who walked with God and continued to follow God throughout his life. When God called Abraham to step out in faith, Abraham followed faithfully.
Today, we are going to look at the next three generations: Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. This takes up the last half of the book of Genesis. For most of us, the stories are fairly familiar, but sometimes we get so caught up in the details that we missed some of the basic truths of life application. One of the key themes we see over and over again is that “God is with Us!” He was with Abraham, He was with Isaac, He was with Jacob, and He was with Joseph. And these examples from the OT give us encouragement because they remind us that God is with us today as well! Let’s pray as we begin.
Prayer - of thanks for God’s presence and activity in our lives daily.
Hebrews 13 reminds us, “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.’” One of the greatest encouragements we gain from scripture is the fact that we don’t face difficult days alone. Loneliness is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It’s a feeling that most all of us here can relate to. It’s defeating and discouraging to think that you are alone. But over and over again throughout these chapters of Genesis, the patriarchs remind us that we are not alone.
1. Isaac - God shows us He is with us through Answered Prayer.
Read Genesis 24:1-27
One of the key illustrations we find in the life of Isaac is his search for a bride. In this story, we actually find that God shows himself powerful on behalf of several parties. Abraham, who has faith that God will provide a wife for his son, sees God at work. So much so, in fact, that he tells his servant Eliezar that if the girl does not want to come back with him, he is released from his task. Abraham is that certain that God is going to answer. Eliezar, Abraham’s chief servant, is never said to be a follower of God. We do know that he is circumcised, and as such, living in the house of Abraham, he has certainly heard of God. Here in the story of finding a wife, however, we see Eliezar turning to God in prayer. He prays specifically, and God answers specifically. His prayers are that the girl would not only offer him a drink, but that she would also offer to water the camels. Verse 10 tells us that the servant takes 10 camels, and each camel could drink 30 gallons of water. So, what she would really be offering to do would be to offer to run down to the spring several times and bring up about 300+ gallons of water. This is no small task.
Eliezar gives a specific prayer, and he doesn’t make it an easy one to answer. Many times our prayers are simplistic, “Lord bless the missionaries” and we never know if He has answered or not. As a result, we struggle knowing how to give God thanks for “blessing all the missionaries.” Eliezar’s prayer is so specific that when God does answer, he immediately breaks forth in praise to God for what he has done. Notice down in verse 26 - “Then the man bowed down and worshipped the LORD, saying, “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.”
God shows himself present and active by giving specific answer to specific prayers. Not only does God answer specifically, but God answers in a wonderful way. Notice in verse 15, “Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.” God already had the answer to the prayer ready. He was simply waiting for Eliezar to offer the prayer. Verse 16 tells us “The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her.” Not only does God answer, but he gives an ideal answer. It’s no wonder that in verse 17 it says “The servant hurried to meet her.” Here was the girl.
God answers prayer, and in verse 19 we see that even without knowing who Eliezar was, she offers the service of watering the camels. This showed she had a gracious servant’s heart. God gives Isaac a beautiful, kind-hearted woman for his wife.
Is God at work in Isaac’s life? We see it displayed definitely in the way he answered prayer in providing a wife. In verse 14, when Eliezar makes his prayer, he gives a very interesting phrase. he says, “By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” The word rendered here as kindness is a word that would really be better rendered “covenant loyalty.” God has shown his faithful, consistent loyalty to Abraham and Isaac by answering prayer. In verse 27, Eliezar states, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master.” Here again, we see the statement of this covenant loyalty.
How do we see God at work in out lives? One of the key ways is to look for answered prayers. If you just offer “bless me” prayers, you won’t see God at work. But if this week you will offer some very specific prayers, you will see specific answers. I would remind you, though, that God won’t always answer “yes.” Sometimes he says “no” and sometimes he says “not yet” or “wait.”
God shows us He is with us through Answered Prayer.
2. Jacob - God shows us He is with us through Changing Us.
Hopefully you read with us the story of Jacob this week. A deceitful, conniving, schemer. He barters away the birthright, he deceitfully wrestles away the blessing from his father, he flees for his life, and finds a father-in-law who is almost as crooked as he is. But as we look at the story of Jacob, we also see that over time God is changing Jacob. Even though he really isn’t aware of it.
On the trip to visit Laban, Jacob stops for the night and has the vision of Jacob’s Ladder - the angels ascending and descending. In Genesis 28:16, it states, “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” And that is the story of much of the life of Jacob. Jacob is aware of his circumstances and schemes, but through every situation the Lord is at work, working for Jacob and working in Jacob.
In chapter 31, Jacob acknowledges that God has been working for him. He states in verse 3, “I see that your father’s attitude towards me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.” Jacob is being changed because of the presence of God.
Now, in the midst of this story of Jacob is the story of Leah - the unloved wife. Jacob loves Rachel - in fact, it is funny to look at just how much. In 29:3, when Jacob meets Rachel, the flocks are all gathering at the well, and over the well is a huge stone that takes several shepherds to move. One sight of Rachel, and in 29:10 we see Jacob has the strength of 10 men and moves the stone all by himself.
But what about Leah - the unloved one. She is the surprise wife - the wife who Laban knew he needed to scheme to get rid of. The one feature mentioned is that she has “tender eyes” or “weak eyes.” Maybe she is going blind and Laban needs to marry her off quick. Maybe the one outstanding beauty is her eyes. But her sister just won the Miss Mesopotamia beauty contest. How can Leah compare to that? But she CAN bear children. She hopes that she can win the heart of her husband by bearing children.
In Genesis 29:32 she cradled her first born son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery.” Reuben means “behold, a son”. It sounds like the Hebrew for “He has seen my misery.” She states, “Surely my husband will love me now.” But he doesn’t!
Soon after, in verse 33, she conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was not loved he gave me this one too.” She name him Simeon, which means “one who hears.”
As if two sons were not enough, we read in verse 34, “Again she conceived, and she gave birth to a son she said, now at least my husband will become attached to me, because I have born him three sons, so he was named Levi,” which means “attached.”
In verse 35 that she had a fourth son. This time, she said, “I will praise the Lord.” And she name him Judah, which means “praise.”
Four little boys all in a row. Finally, with the fourth son we see Leah take a change to looking for Jacob’s love to appreciating the one who always had loved her.
Leah had hoped, first with Reuben, then with Simeon, and now with Levi that each new son would make a difference in her marriage. That somehow Jacob would begin to love her as he loved Rachel. But all her efforts with God’s help proved fruitless. He still loved Rachel and Leah was still unloved. Many people go to great lengths to win or keep the love of a spouse who does not respond to them.
How do you live in a relationship where you are unloved? We have a clue right here in our text.
It comes to us as Leah bears her fourth child. She names him Judah which means praising. She explained that name by saying, “This time I will praise the Lord.” For the first time in naming her son, she turned from expressing her yearning for Jacob’s love to accepting Gods’ love. Leah’s focus had changed from what she lacked to what she possessed. True, nothing had changed with Jacob. He was still starry eyed over Rachel. Leah could not change him. But she could change herself. She could change her focus. She could recognize the hand of God in her life, giving her significance.
God shows us He is with us through Changing Us.
In the stories of Jacob and also his wife Leah, we see the presence of God shown by how he changes them. In the return trip home, Jacob prepares to meet his brother Esau once again. And the brother who was once fleeing for his life is actually thinking of his family and trying to provide for their safety. We see Esau, who had wanted to kill his brother, has also been changed by God working in his life. In 33:4 it says “But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.” Esau, who wanted to kill him, has had a heart change. So much so, that in verse 10, Jacob replies, “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably.”
Where has Jacob seen God at work? He has seen it in the change in his own life and the life of his brother.
God shows us He is with us through Changing Us.
Take some time this week to look at the ways that God is changing you. Are there some areas that you have made good progress in? Maybe controlling your temper or spending wisely or using good speech? Are there areas where you still need God to work? One of the ways we see God’s presence is by the way he changes us. Take the time this week to invite God to work on a specific part of your life to make you more Christlike.
God shows us He is with us through Answered Prayer.
God shows us He is with us through Changing Us.
3. Joseph - God shows us He is with us through trials.
We find this illustrated through the life of Joseph. Joseph grows up as a favorite son. But he has a less than ideal family situation. In fact, as we read through scripture, we find all these “heroes” of the faith but we also find terrible family dysfunction.
Noah, the most righteous man of his generation, gets drunk and curses his grandson. Lot, when his home is surrounded by the residents of Sodom who want to violate his visitors, offers his daughters instead. Later on, Lot’s daughters get him drunk and get impregnated by him, and we are told that Lot is the “most righteous man in Sodom.” Abraham has sex with his wife’s servant (at his wife’s request) and then he sends her and their son off into the desert. Jacob marries two wives and ends up in a fertility contest with both his wives and their maids. Jacob’s firstborn son, Reuben, sleeps with his father’s concubine. Another one of Jacob’s sons, Judah, sleeps with his daughter-inlaw (she is disguised as a prostitute and he does not know who she is).
Why all these failures mentioned? The purpose of scripture is not to show that Abraham or Isaac or Jacob is a hero - but rather to show that GOD is the hero. God is the one to be trusted. And in the case of Joseph, we see that no matter how bad things get, God is right there with Joseph.
Joseph is sold to slavery, but 39:2 tells us “The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.” Joseph resists temptation and is thrown into prison, but 39:21 reminds us “But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warder.”
In the darkest days of his life, Joseph is very aware of the presence of his God with him. In fact, later on, as he talks with his brothers, he sees that God is actually the one who was orchestrating all these bad things. In 45:7 Joseph declares, “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” Was God bringing evil to Joseph? No. But God used the evil schemes of evil men and women and overcame it by bringing about good.
God shows us He is with us through trials.
In the difficult days, we should look for the hand of God at work. Look for his strength to overcome. Look for his purposes. What does He want to bring about through us? What does he want to teach us about ourselves? The knowledge that God is with us should bring us hope.
In Genesis 48:21, Jacob talks with Joseph before he dies and tells him - “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers.” Jacob’s dying reminder to Joseph was to have hope. Whenever we are aware of the presence of God in our lives, we have hope.
Today, in your life, are you aware that you do not walk alone? God is with you. From the example of Isaac, we are reminded to look for God to show his presence in answered prayer. From the life of Jacob, we look for the presence of God to be seen in the way he changes our lives. From the life of Joseph we are reminded that even if things get difficult, God can use the difficulties to bring great blessing. We don’t walk alone, we have hope, because our God is with us.
Let’s pray.
