Bible Meditations for Busy People

GENESIS 31
Measuring Jacob’s spiritual growth.
Jacob labored long and hard in Laban’s service: 14 years for each of his wives and 6 more for the flocks. It was 6 years prior that he first voiced his desire to return to Canaan. He demonstrated great patience in the face of hardship and difficulty. No longer was he the rash scheming trickster who could not wait for God to grant him Esau’s birthright. Rather he was forced to work patiently for his livelihood. This showed that he had grown in godly faith and trust remembering the promise the Lord made to him at Bethel. He knew the Lord was with him and had blessed him as well as Laban. He waited for God to speak. When He did, Jacob discerned God’s voice from his own desires. He did not hesitate to obey.

Nevertheless, when he acted, he feared that Laban would take back all Jacob had including his wives and children. His fear was justified but his failure to trust God was not. He fled in secret but Laban caught up with him. Laban did not hurt him because he feared what the Lord would do to him. He was not a true believer in the Lord but respected His power. With bullying threats, boasting and false tears, he showed that he did not really care emotionally for his children or grandchildren. He felt tricked and wanted to save face. He made up an excuse to justify why he came after them: the theft of his household gods or teraphim. These were small portable idols used in divining the will of the gods and perhaps were also associated with inheritance and property rights. Rachel may have stolen them to ensure Jacob’s rights to the property and herds he held or just for protection and blessing. Her theft and lying demonstrated that she was not much different from her father: she behaved faithlessly.

GENESIS 32
Wrestling with the Lord.
When Jacob left Laban, he knew he could not go back. He then grew fearful at what was before him: Esau. He did not know what to expect but assumed the worst: his brother still bore a grudge and was going to kill him. The Lord encouraged him with a vision of the heavenly host. The Lord was with him and would protect him from all harm. This allayed Jacob’s fears but only briefly for when he learned that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men, he panicked. He divided his party and possessions into 2 groups. Then he called upon the Lord for help and reminded him of His promise of great blessings. He took a large portion of his herds and flocks and sent them to Esau as gifts hoping to appease his wrath.

Jacob divided up his family and servants with the rest of his goods and sent them across the Jabbok. He was willing to sacrifice all his goods and all the things he held dear, but he was still afraid. His guilty conscience plagued him and heightened his fear. He had gravely wronged Esau and expected only the worst. He did not fully trust God because he still felt guilty. He had not completely surrendered to Him. It was then that the Lord appeared as a man or angel and wrestled with him, all night long. He hesitated to surrender himself totally to God, and the Lord forced him to submit to His will. He left Jacob lame but with a new name. He was no longer Jacob, the heel-grabber, the deceiver, but Israel, he who has prevailed in his struggle with God. Strengthened, he confronted his worst fear.

Many people believe that it is not easy to surrender all they hold dear to put God first, that is, before all their possessions and relationships. Many Christians willingly sacrifice things as Jacob did. But this is easy compared to submitting one’s will to God’s. This means we no longer have control over our lives for we surrender all our goals, plans and ideals to serve God and promote His kingdom. The process by which this happens is a lot similar to having a wrestling match with the Lord. We will come out lame and ostensibly defeated but in reality we will new persons in Christ, we will be exactly what He desires us to be.

GENESIS 33
Keeping harmony in our relationships.
As Esau approached Jacob’s entourage, he did not know what to expect from his brother. Although it appears that he had long ago forgotten and forgiven the wrong done him, he brought 400 armed men because he did not know if Jacob had done so. Perhaps he thought that Jacob had come take the birthright by force. But Jacob had been changed in his wrestling match with God. The night before he trembled with fear, but now he ran ahead of his party to greet his brother in deep humility. It was then that both men realized they had nothing to fear. In fact, they did not even bring up the past events that caused them to separate. They both had learned to be content with what God had given them and saw no need to bring up old hurts. But Jacob must have felt a little leery of his brother for he lied to him, and did not go into Canaan. He stayed on the other side of the Jordan in Shechem outside of God’s will.

Perhaps if Jacob had apologized for his wrongdoing, he would not have felt the need to lie. Psychologists would have us believe that we must always confront people with the wrongs done to us in the past, to get things out in the open in order to get closure, in order to satisfy ourselves and move on. This did not happen in the case of Jacob and Esau and yet they met and parted amicably. This would indicate that often it does great harm to us and others to bring up or dwell on past wrongs done to us by others, or that we have done to them. Many wars have been fought and countless murders committed because people were unwilling to let go and trust God for the results. In His hands alone rests the right to administer justice and exact retribution.

GENESIS 34
Partial obedience creates trouble.
This sordid tale shows how corrupt were the men who were the ancestors of the nation of Israel. Of course Shechem was at fault for the rape of Dinah. His father was as well for not apologizing. To be fair, the Shechemites did try to make amends through the marriage proposal, but they were tricked by Jacob’s sons who wanted revenge. They were at fault for this and the murders they committed, but also because they failed to look out for their sister. What was worse was that they cloaked their vengeful and murderous plot under the guise of religion. They were insensitive to the sacredness of God’s covenant. Dinah too was at fault because she went into the town unescorted.

Jacob also shared culpability for this shameful incident. He was outside of God’s will, and put his family in jeopardy in a place where they could be tainted by worldly influences. They were unprepared to resist this because as they grew, he failed to provide them with spiritual resources and strength. Rather than godliness and righteousness, they learned deceit and trickery from him.

The whole incident shows us disobedience or even partial obedience to God can affect others adversely. The effects of our disobedience and past sins can have adverse effects on or family especially the sins of the parents on their children. This is because children learn by observing their parents poor example as well. But others can be hurt by our sins. The financial disasters that affected the whole world in 2008 resulted from the greed and deceit of a comparatively few number of people. The sexual sins of many have brought sickness such as AIDs on the entire world. Sin does have consequences which cannot be lessened.