Learn to Wait on the Lord - Jacob Part 2

And find Genesis chapter 28. So, Genesis chapter 28 shouldn't take you too long to find chapter 28 there. Genesis chapter 28 and we will continue our messages on Jacob. We've got this week and one more week, three weeks altogether that we're gonna be looking at the life of Jacob. Now, we started this several months ago actually in Romans and we jumped from Romans to Genesis.

Well, why did we do that? Well, because in Romans, we're told the just shall live by what? Let me try that again. The just shall live by what? Faith.

Faith. That's right. The just shall live by faith. We're saved by faith, not by works. And in order to drive home that point, Paul went back to Abraham and he quoted from Genesis chapter 15 where it says, Abraham did that which was right.

He trusted, he obeyed the Lord, and the Lord counted it to him for what? For righteousness. He believed in the Lord. He trusted in the Lord and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness. Is that just true of Abraham?

No, it's true of Isaac. We look the life of Isaac. We saw, the faith of Isaac. Now we're looking at the life of Jacob. Now, Abraham had some ups and downs as you know.

Just because we're saved, just because we have faith doesn't mean that faith is perfect and sometimes the flesh doesn't get the better of us. Sometimes, sadly, it still does. We have, praise the Lord, the an advantage today and that if you know Christ as savior, today, every child of God is indwelt by who? By the holy spirit. If you walk in the spirit, you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

That's right. A problem is we don't always walk in the spirit, do we? And the problem is we haven't arrived as Paul said in Philippians three but he is pressing forward to the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. No, we haven't arrived but we're growing in the Lord and we need to be growing more and more each day in our faith and our love for Jesus Christ and we see that in the life of Abraham. We see that in the life of Isaac.

We don't see it so much in the first half of Jacob's life as we'll be looking at today. Jacob really struggled. Jacob had to learn his lessons the hard way again and again. Last week, we learned what Jacob's name means. It means supplanter or schemer or deceiver and indeed he was all of that and more.

He schemed to get the birthright from his brother Esau. He lied again to get the blessing and so he found himself in the desert alone running for his life from his brother. Did he get that which was his? Did he do it the right way? No.

He did it whose way? He did it his way. He was not willing to wait on who? Not willing to wait on the Lord and so now he founds himself in the desert sleeping on a rock running for his life. When we do things our way in opposition to God's way, it may look good for a while.

We may even deceive ourselves into thinking it was the right thing to do. But God knows better and in the end, we'll regret it. We're told in Proverbs fourteen twelve, we're told this, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. We're told in Judges, every man did that which was right in his own eyes. What happened when everybody did that which was right in their own eyes?

I tell you what happened, things went very badly in the nation of Israel and things went very badly for Jacob. And things will go very badly for us. If the determining factor for the decisions we make in life is that which is right in our eyes. And not that which is right in in God's eyes. But if we learn to do things God's way, it will go much better.

Isaiah forty thirty one. Just read it, just sang it, we'll read it again but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

Do things your way, you're going to get weary. Things are going to get frustrating, and you're going to wonder, why is this happening to me? But if you learn to wait on the Lord in life, wait for his direction, wait for his guidance, then God will give you strength and you'll soar like the eagle and you'll walk and not be faint. We left Jacob in the wilderness headed for Paddan Aram where he had family and hopes that he would find work there and a warm welcome. He's going across the desert, left his home running from his brother, headed to his family, extended family's area there and hopes to find a warm welcome, hopes to find some work.

Have you ever been in Jacob's shoes? Well, maybe you weren't running for your life. At least I hope not but I do remember the day that I left high school to go off to college and I was kind of a homebody and that was scary. And I was hoping when I got to college, I'd find a friend. Well, I did find a friend.

I sat down beside some fellow that I had never met before. The first week at some meal and I made a friend and he was my best friend and became my best man at my wedding four and a half years later. It's good to have friends and when you leave and you head off to a new place like that, you're you're looking for that. You're looking for a warm welcome. You're looking for success.

A job. I remember leaving college to go to be a youth pastor in Georgia and that again was another big step. Jacob is taking a big step here. He's looking for a warm welcome. He's looking for work.

Before he arrived though, somebody else met him in the way. Who was that? Who met him in the way? The Lord did. The Lord met him in the way via dream, promised to be with him and bring him back to the land of Canaan to keep his promise to Abraham.

Does God ever break his promises? No? Does God ever break his promises? No. Never breaks his promises.

Hasn't ever broken one promise that God has ever made. He made a promise to Jacob here in Genesis 28. Look if you would in verse 12, Genesis twenty eight twelve, and he dreamed, this is Jacob, and he dreamed and behold a ladder set upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land where on thou liest to thee will I give it and to thy seed And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the West and to the East and to the North and to the South and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed and behold, I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whether thou goest, will bring thee again into this land. For I will not leave thee until I have done all that which I have spoken to thee of.

So, God comes to Jacob and God says, this is what I am going to do for you. You know, two thousand years ago, God did something else for us. What did he do? He sent his only begotten son to this Earth to die on the cross for your sins and for mine and he said, that whosoever believeth in him should not what? Perish but have everlasting life.

He promised never to leave us nor forsake us. He promised, he said his sheep hear his voice, he gives unto them eternal life and they shall what? Never perish. God has made promises to those who are his children. To those who have come to faith in him by Jesus Christ.

Is God going to keep his promise? Yes, he is. Yes, he is. You can count on it. You can be assured of it.

And you need to live in light of it every day as a child of God. In light of that precious promise that God has made to us. Don't do not forget God. Do not forget his promises. Do not dismiss his his love and his care.

There's nothing more important. Than our God. Nothing more important than his love. Nothing more important than his promise to take care of us. The warmth of friends and family and the security of a good job are wonderful and beneficial to say the least but the promise and presence and protection of almighty God far exceeds them all.

You know, whether I found a friend or not, I had a friend when I went to college. His name is Jesus Christ. And he was with me. When I left, he was with me. When I came here fifteen years ago, he was with me.

And he will be with you. But you need to learn to wait on the Lord. Hebrews thirteen five says this, let your conversation, your conduct, be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. Now, that's good advice, isn't it? Be content with the things you have.

Don't be greedy for things you don't have because it will stress you out and make you miserable. Learn to be content with what God has given you. Good advice. Does the verse end there? No, the verse doesn't end there.

It continues. Why? Should we be content? For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Why should we, why can we be content with the things that we have in life?

Because you have something that the rest of the world doesn't have that is a far greater value than anything else you could possess and that is the promise of almighty God to be with you and to never what? And to never forsake you. What could be of greater value than that? Absolutely nothing. So, be content with what you have in life because you have God and God said, I will be with you.

So, you don't have to be worried and you don't have to be stressed out and you don't have to be fighting, trying to get ahead. Learn to rest in the promises of God. Sadly, Jacob was anything but content and I suspected not fully appreciate what God had said to him. He certainly had not learned to wait on the Lord. So, three points today.

Point number one, Jacob the deceived. Jacob the deceived. Now, in our lesson, in a message last week, we learned about Jacob the deceiver and now, we're going to read about Jacob the deceived. You see, Jacob the deceived. I'll come back to verse on that here in a few minutes.

So, Jacob continued on to pay down Aram where he ran into Rachel, Laban's daughter, his uncle, Laban, and fell immediately in love. Unlike Eliezer, Abraham's servant, who sought the Lord's direction concerning a wife for Isaac, Jacob knew what he wanted. At first sight and quickly arranged the deal with her dad, Laban. He met, this was the deal. He'd work what?

Anybody know? Seven years for Rachel and at the end of the seven years, he would get Rachel as his wife. Look if you would in Genesis 29 and verse 15. So, 29 verse 15 and Laban said unto Jacob, because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for not, tell me, what shall thy wages be? And Laden, Laban had two daughters, the name of the elder was Leah, the name of the younger was Rachel.

Leah was tender eyed but Rachel was beautiful and well favored and Jacob loved Rachel and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy younger daughter and Laban said, it is better that I give her to thee than that I should give her to another man, abide with me. You know, that that sounds really encouraging. You know, well, I guess it's better for me to give it to to you than somebody else. That that don't sound like exactly a compliment but anyway, verse 20 and Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love that he had to her. So, they made a deal.

Jacob's good at making deals and the deals don't usually turn out quite the way he expects them to. You gotta know who you're making deals with and at this point in time, Jacob doesn't know a lot about his uncle Laban. He's going to find out the hard way that he is a lot like Jacob. Maybe even a little more so. Seeing as he had no dowry to offer as was customary, the arrangement seemed understandable.

Seemed like a good one. You know, are many things which seem understandable, reasonable, rational at the time, which later we look back and come to a different conclusion. Ever been there? You know, all this seems like a really good idea at the time but later on, you look back and go, oh boy, I blew that one. Gotta be careful.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean on not unto thine own what? Understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Why we need to learn to trust the Lord, to wait on the Lord, to go to the Lord with important decisions because we don't know how everything is going to turn out and sometimes, when we trust in ourselves and forget to trust, forget to talk to who? Talk to God, things go badly.

I've given this illustration before. I am sure I'm not the only person who's been in this boat but about twenty five years ago, I had a person come to my house. He was selling a vacuum cleaner. A filter queen vacuum cleaner was the name of it and he came into my house and he vacuumed my carpet and he showed me all the dust and dirt that his vacuum got up, that my vacuum didn't get up and he sold me a vacuum cleaner for about three times or four times when I could have gotten a plenty good vacuum cleaner for but it seemed right at the time. It was reasonable.

Well, I got the vacuum cleaner home. I put the filter in it like you're supposed to do and I started using the vacuum cleaner. Well, guess what? I found out that vacuum cleaner didn't work as well as the old one that I had just gotten rid of. There's a trick.

You see, when you do the illustration in the home, you don't put in the filter. When you put the filter in and it restricts the airflow, guess what? Now, the vacuum doesn't hardly work at all. And guess who got taken? Guess who didn't bother to stop and pray?

Guess who ended up with a $1.00 bomb vacuum cleaner? Now, I'm sure you have never ever done anything like that, but I bet some of you have. Last week, I went to a seminar. You know, it's one of those seminar things. You get an invitation in the mail, and you're invited to go to the seminar, and they're going to feed you.

And the seminar was at Red Lobster, and I couldn't pass up Red Lobster. You know, free meal, Red Lobster. And so I went to the seminar, sat there, ate my fish and steak, and it was really good, especially for free. That was awesome. And listen to this guy put on this spiel about this shot that they put in your knee.

This miracle shot that they put in your it's it's some kind of stem cells and they're going to shoot it in the knee and and they showed all these pictures about how your knee is just going to everything's going to grow and heal back together and and it is amazing and it is miraculous and and and I I I went saying to Kate, we're not not going to buy anything, we're not going to do anything. But lo and behold, by the end of the thing, I decided, well, I'll sign up for the guy to come by the house. So the guy came by the house the next day. I talked to the guy about the shot he's going put in my knee. Said, okay, well, I think I'll do it.

It sounds really good. And then I decided, well, you know something? I'm gonna stop for a minute here, and I'm going to talk to the Lord, and I'm gonna talk to my brother-in-law who's a chiropractor, and I'm gonna talk to my chiropractor here, and Imma call and I'm to do some reading. Well, guess what? The Lord led me to a couple articles and a couple of people who gave me good advice.

And so I called yesterday and I cancelled. You know, who knows? It might have helped but it wasn't what it was hyped up to be and so many times things in life aren't. And as Christians, we have an advantage over other people. You see, when you have a problem, when you have a need, when you don't know what to do, you have a heavenly father in heaven that knows it all that you can talk to and if you want to know his will, if you want his advice, he's there and if you genuinely ask for it or willing to follow it, he'll show you.

He'll help you. And fortunately, I avoided this particular bad decision. As we have already noted, Jacob's penchant for jumping into things out of concern only for himself hasn't changed nor his wheeling and dealing to get what he wants. God is not mentioned. Doesn't ever say Jacob asked God what he should do.

Jake, God is not mentioned and although God is working behind the scenes and he is for his children, despite ourselves many times. Although God was working, the blunders that Jacob makes out of selfishness and self reliance rather than reliance on God will come back to haunt him. And it did. The Bible says, behold your sin will find you out. The Bible says, for they what you sow, you will reap.

The Bible says, for they have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. Hosea eight seven. Of course, Jacob refused to learn the easy way and so had to learn the hard way as sometimes we have to as well. What happened to Jacob? Well, he deceived to get his way.

He connived. He schemed. And now it's going to come back on him because you always reap what you sow. We know what God says. We know we should seek the Lord's wisdom in the matter but we just can't help ourselves.

We know what we want and we just have to go there. Watch out. Can't you just hold on for just one minute and seek the Lord's wisdom? He will give it. It will be good.

But the incredible vacuum cleaner and the unbelievable real estate deal and I could tell you about that but that wasn't my blunder, that was somebody else's. And the miracle shot, well, they might not turn out so well. So, what happens to Jacob? Look if you would in verse 21 of chapter 29 and Jacob said unto Laban, give me my wife for my days are fulfilled that I may go in unto her and Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast and it came to pass in the evening that he took Leah, his daughter Leah, interesting and brought her to him to Jacob and he went in unto her and Laban gave unto his daughter Leah, Zilpah, the maid for an handmaid and it came to pass that in the morning, behold, it was Leah and he said to Laban, what is this that thou hast done unto me? Did not I serve thee for Rachel?

Wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? The word beguiled means deceived. And Laban said, it must not be so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill her week and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years and Jacob did so and fulfilled her week and he gave him Rachel, his daughter to wife also and Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, Bilhah, his handmaid to be her maid and he went in also unto Rachel and he loved also Rachel more than Leah and served with him yet seven other years. So, what happens?

Well, Laban fools Jacob. Here, the deceiver has now been deceived. And he gives him the older daughter, Leah. Her name means, I I read, means wild cow. And evidently, not the prettier of the two.

Instead of Jacob, whose name means you lamb, who was evidently much prettier to look upon. So, Jacob wakes up the next morning after the wedding to find out that he had married the wrong woman and you scratch your head and go, how? I mean, you know, if they were identical twins, you could understand that but he wakes up the next morning. It's like, oh, I married the wrong woman. I don't know.

Maybe he had a little bit too much to drink at the feast the night before. I don't know. That's for another sermon. But here's Jacob. And he had found his earthly match in deceit and scheming.

Uncle Laban, who had pulled a fast one on him and now demands seven more years for the second daughter, Rachel, to which Jacob agrees. Resulting in Jacob having two wives and is that a good idea? No. Why did God only make one wife for Adam? Because that is the formula that God knows works.

The others do not. So, Jacob now has two wives. Not only has he been deceived, but he wasn't content, and here he is, seven more years in service to Laban, now with two wives. How do you think that went? Not too well.

So, we see Jacob the deceived and secondly, we see Jacob the pawn. Look if you would in verse 30. He went in also unto Rachel and he loved also Rachel, next three words, more than Leah and served with Laban yet seven other years. Verse 31, and when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren and Leah conceived and bear a son and she called his name Reuben for for she said, surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction. Now, therefore, my husband will love me.

Do you think that happened? The answer is no. He didn't. He still showed Rachel more love and attention than Leah and so began the discord and so began the contention and so began the competition in the home of Jacob that made life quite miserable. Well, he got what he wanted.

He got Rachel but he got Rachel whose way? His way. He got deceived and now he's in a mess. Leah had four children within the first four years but Rachel was barren. So, Rachel had a keen idea.

She said, oh, I will give my handmade to Jacob and he can have children by her. Now, does that sound familiar? Who else made that mistake? Abraham. Did that turn out well?

No. We're still suffering from that mistake. The Arabs and the Israelites still don't get along in the Middle East. Wasn't a good idea then, isn't a good idea now. You say, well, it was a different culture.

Yes, it was, but culture is no excuse for choosing wrong, and choosing wrong always leads to more foul consequences regardless. So, here we go. Leah, eventually, following Rachel's example, gives her handmaid to Jacob, who has two children by her. So, now, another. Then, Leah has three more children including a daughter making seven.

So now, Jacob has two wives, two concubines, 11 children, and then finally, Rachel has a son named Joseph. So now, he has 12 children. He is still serving his father-in-law who is determined to deceive him keep him there. What a mess. All these mouths defeat an uncle which is trying to keep him there, keep him from going back to Canaan.

What is he supposed to do? Well, why do you think Jacob did? What would have been the right thing? If Jacob had learned his lesson, what would Jacob do? He would wait on the Lord.

He would learn to talk to who? To God. Who promised to be with him, who promised to keep him, he would go to the Lord and would say, Lord, I'm in a mess. I made the mess. Lord, please help deliver me from my mess.

Ever been there? Yeah. Most of us to one degree or another have been there. What's the Bible say? When we get there, it says, says this in my pointers not working.

That's okay. James one five, if you let lack wisdom, ask of who? Ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abrade it not. He doesn't hold back and it shall be given you. God says, if you need wisdom, ask me.

Ask me. Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open to you. God says, if you need wisdom, ask me. Jeremiah thirty three three, God says, to Jeremiah and Israel, call on to me and I will what?

Answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Now, saying that to Israel, was he saying that to a bunch of perfect, obedient children? No, he was saying that to a nation of people who were no goods. They couldn't be trusted. They went to idols.

They were selfish. They were self centered. They were short sighted but God said to them, if you'll call on me, I'll still what? I'll still answer you. If you call, would would God answer Jacob if he called?

Sure he would. He would show him great and mighty things. He'll do the same for you. But you have to what? You have to call.

If you don't call, then you're probably not going to get an answer which means you're going to keep battling alone. When as a Christian, you're not alone and you don't have to battle alone. So, we see Joseph the Jacob the pawn back and forth. Wife, this wife, that wife, this child, uncle, a mess. That leads to Jacob, our final point this morning, Jacob the exhausted.

Look, if you would in verse 25 of chapter 30. Chapter 30 verse 25. Came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away that I may go into mine own and to my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I serve thee and let me go. For thou knowest my service which I have done thee and Laban said unto him, I pray thee or I beg with you.

If I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed thee for thy sake and he said, appoint me thy wages and I will give it and he said unto him, thou knowest how I have served thee and how thy cattle was with me for it was little which thou hast before I came and it is now increased unto a multitude and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming and now, when shall I provide for mine own house also? And he said, this Laban said, what shall I give thee? And Jacob said, thou shalt not give me anything. If thou will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle and all the brown cattle among the sheep and the spotted and speckled among the goats and of such shall be my hire.

So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come when it shall come for my hire before thy face. Everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep shall be counted stolen with me and Laban said, behold, I would, it might be according to thy word. Laban said, okay, we'll do it. So, Jacob said, okay, here we go. This is what my way.

You give me all of the the odds and ends of the cattle and the sheep. You can have the the best. I'll take the worst and and then eventually, I'll take what's mine and go and if I take anything that was yours, well, you can have my hide over that. So, here's the deal that Jacob made. Now, does it sound like a reasonable deal?

I think it does. I mean, you know, he isn't telling Jacob, Laban, he's going to take his best. He says, you let me have the ones you don't want. I'll leave the ones you keep and and God will take care of me and that sounds like a good idea. But it wasn't in didn't turn out as easy as Jacob thought.

Who's he making a deal with? He's making a deal with Laban and how does Laban do with deals? Well, he doesn't keep em. How does God do with deals? He always keeps them.

Only God knows what this could've looked like if Jacob had chosen to trust and rely on the Lord in the first place rather than taking matters into his own hands time and time again but Jacob still hadn't learned. God was still trying to teach but Jacob had to learn the hard way. Have you ever noticed when you're not listening to God, you seem physically tired all the time, emotionally drained, and spiritually empty. God causes you to have to have to work twice as hard as it seems to succeed. And when you get there, it just doesn't seem satisfying.

Well, that was Jacob. Did he succeed? Yeah, he did. Was it real satisfying? No.

No, his home was still a mess. Couldn't get along with his father-in-law. Couldn't get away from his father-in-law. No matter how hard he tried, it just wasn't satisfied. Ever been there?

You work real hard, you succeed at some things but it just life does not seem satisfying. So, Jacob made further deals with Laban for his livestock. He worked very hard and Laban continued to change the terms of the agreement time and time again attempting to keep Jacob dependent. But Jacob wasn't going to be bested by Laban. No, he he he used selective breeding and these rods he planted in the ground.

I think that was a bit iffy to overcome the schemes of Laban. Eventually, Jacob's herd became bigger than Laban's. You think that made Laban happy? No. No, Laban wasn't happy at all.

You know, Jacob was smart. Was he smart? Jacob was very smart. Jacob, was he a hard worker? He was a hard worker.

He worked diligently to make this happen but in the end, it was not the scheming of Jacob or even the hard work which made it happen. It was the blessing of God despite Jacob. And something that Jacob finally acknowledged here in chapter 31 and verse one. So, if you look in chapter 31 verse one. And he heard the words of Laban's son saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our fathers and of that which was our fathers hath he gotten all this glory.

So, now, his brother in laws hate him because he's taken all of their inheritance and Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban. Behold, it was not toward him as before and the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred and I will be with thee. Now, I I doubt that this is the first time the Lord said, do this. It's the first time that Jacob what? Listen because things were not going well and they had finally got to the point to where Jacob listened.

You know, that's a lot of times a problem. It's not that God's not talking. It's that we're not listening. Verse four, and Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto unto his flock and he said unto them, I see your father's countenance that is not toward me as before but the God of my father hath been with me. Indeed he had and you know that with all my power, I have served your father and your father had deceived me and changed my wages 10 times but God has suffered him not to hurt me.

And he if he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages, then all the cattle bear speckled. If he said thus, the ring straight shall be thy higher than bear all the cattle ring straight. Thus, God has taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me and it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived that I lifted up mine eyes and saw in a dream and behold the rams which leaped upon the cattle with ring stake speckled and grizzled and the angel of God spoken to me in a dream saying, Jacob, and I said, here am I and he said, lift up now thine eyes and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle or ring straight, speckled, and grizzled for I have seen all that Laban doeth under thee. I am the God of Bethel where thou anoints the pillar and where thou vows to vow unto me now arise, get thee from this land, return unto the land of thy kindred and Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? The answer to that is no and we, are we not counted unto him as strangers?

For he has sold us and hath quite devoured us our money, also our money. For all the riches which God has taken from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now, then, whatsoever God has said unto thee, do. So, Jacob finally gives God the what? The credit.

And we see the hint of wisdom and learning the lesson from Jacob but Jacob isn't done fighting God yet. God will keep working on him. Jacob will quit keep fighting. But God isn't going to give up on him. He made promises.

You know something? If you find yourself in Jacob's position, know this, God's not going to give up on you if you are his child. But please quit what? Please quit fighting him. Please start listening to him.

Please learn to wait on the Lord. Learn the lesson so that next time you'll pass the what? Pass the test. Finally, after twenty years in service to Laban, Jacob in exasperation pulls out in the middle of the night, taking his family, his livestock with him, not allowing land to say goodbye to his family, or giving him opportunity to stand in Jacob's way. Jacob's departure marks a sad but necessary end to this part of the story.

He's going back where God told him. He needed to go. Did it have to be this difficult? I don't think so. If he had learned to wait on the Lord.

You say, well, it wasn't Jacob's fault. It was Laban's but you forget the verses from earlier about the reaping and the the sowing. What you sow, you will reap and indeed he did. You've also heard it said it takes two to tango. Jacob, I I don't use a lot of dancing illustrations but anyway, I remember that from a kid.

Jacob could have sought to overcome the evil of his uncle with good. Isn't that what the Bible says we're supposed to do? He could have shown him the love and grace of Christ. He could have demonstrated greater faith in the Lord. Instead, he got caught up in the fight and he missed the opportunity.

Sometimes, we do too. We look back and go, man, I, there was an opportunity and I missed it. Why? Because I was thinking only of who? Who was thinking only of myself?

And this is part of Jacob's problem. He's consumed with himself and he misses opportunities. Instead, because of strong willed selfishness and yes, he had a lot of stuff, but the stuff only laid made life more messy and stressful. His father-in-law despised him, his wives competed over him, his children no doubt were caught in the middle and suffered for years because of it. Still, God blessed him in some ways.

For his promises sake. As he does for us also. But it didn't have to be this difficult. God isn't going to revoke your membership in his family. He's not going to leave you nor forsake you.

But your response and my response to him is going to determine often times how difficult life will be. And how many blessings we will miss out on. Tired of being exalted and weary? There's one who can give you rest. Who's that?

Just Jesus. Jacob will find this rest in next week's message. How about you? Matthew six thirty three, but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. That's God's way.

What's man's way? God, you take second place over here and I'll work on amassing all this stuff. I'll do it my way. And that just doesn't work. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Wait on the Lord. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord. For your goodness to us, for your promises to us. Lord, help us to live in light of those promises. Help me us to remember those promises. Help us to remember you and be grateful what what you've done.

To rest in you on trusting you for what you will do tomorrow. Help us Lord to learn. To walk in obedience. To come before you in prayer. To seek your face.

And trust you to lead. Lord, we struggle so often like Jacob. We struggle with what we want and what we think is best and how we want to do it. Lord, forgive us for trusting in our own sight more than trusting in our God so many times and thank you for your patience with us and Lord, we pray most of all, if there's one here today that's never trusted Christ as savior, that is trying to struggle to get ahead in life without the Lord, That is trying to struggle to work their way to heaven without forgiveness in Christ Jesus. I pray that you would help them to see today that you already made the way.

You already did the work. You sent your son to die on the cross for their sins that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Lord, I pray if they're here today and they've never trusted you as the Lord and savior of their life that they'd come as we give this hymn of invitation today. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.