God is with Us in our Trouble - Pastor Tom Loghry

Even through all of the trouble that Jacob faces away from home, God shows time and time again that he is with Jacob.

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   The Bible is supreme. It is without parallel in capturing the human condition in words. One of my favorite lines of scripture in this regard is Job 5, verses 6 through 7, from the speech of Eliphaz to Job. It says there, For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.

Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. We see again and again in our lives, we see again and again in the scriptures, how human beings have a knack for finding trouble. When we look at Jacob's life, we find all sorts of trouble. Already, he has had trouble with his family. He persuaded his brother Esau to foolishly sell his birthright to him for stew.

And he took Esau's blessing from their father Isaac by deceiving their father into thinking that he was Esau instead of Jacob. And all of this is producing all sorts of drama and conflict. Esau wants Jacob dead. Rebekah doesn't want to lose her sons. And both she and Jacob don't, she and Isaac rather, don't want Jacob to marry a Canaanite.

And so, as a result of all this turmoil, they send Jacob back off to the land of their people. The land of Haran. But in leaving Canaan, Jacob won't be leaving trouble behind. Plenty awaits him. But as he goes, he also finds that God is with him. So we're looking at verses 11 through 15 to start in chapter 28, as Ernie read.

Jacob is set off from Beersheba to Haran. It's, about a journey of 550 miles. It would have taken him over a month to complete that journey. At this point, he's several days in, and he's ready to take a nap for the night. And the most comfortable pillow he can find is a stone. I can't imagine wanting to use that for a pillow.

You'd wake up with a crooked neck, but that's the best he could do and so he lays down on his stone pillow and he has this dream, he has this dream in which he sees a stairway resting on the earth, the top reaching into heaven and angels ascending and descending on it. Now, when we think about this imagery, it seems really curious to us.

It seems kind of, I don't know, random. Why would there be a stairway going between heaven and earth? It's at this point that it's important for us to understand the context in which Jacob is living. This is a context in which stairways between heaven and earth already hold great religious significance.

Some of the most major structures of that time were called ziggurats. And they were pyramid like structures that facilitated a connection between human beings and the gods. And this is a model from a museum of that. So you can imagine, this is most likely the sort of visual that Jacob had in his dream of this staircase proceeding upward.

And you can imagine it proceeding upward into the clouds. And God, above that, speaking as these angels are ascending and descending. And what he tells Jacob is this. Is that he's going to have many descendants, as has been told numerous times. He's told that he's going to inherit the land, the promised land of Canaan.

And that all peoples on earth are going to be blessed through his family, through his offspring. Now this is the promise that has been given to Abraham, it's been given to Isaac, it's been given to Jacob. And at this point you must know it well because we've said it again and again. But we have to remember, put yourself in their shoes.

Many years have passed between these visitations. It's from one generation to the next. Jacob needs this kind of reassurance. Because, it's just, he, him and his family are being chosen out of all of humanity. The rest of humanity is given over to all sorts of paganism. Worshipping false gods, false idols.

And so God is really taking them and yanking them out of that. And so he's visiting them in a special way to reassure them that, I am your God. And God makes that very explicit in verse 15. He says, I am with you, and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

Now, as we read these stories, and we know, you know, we know everything that follows, it kind of seems like a sure thing to us, like, of course, Jacob's going to return back to Canaan, and, you know, eventually, yes, his children will go down to Egypt, and they'll come out of Egypt and inherit the Promised Land.

We, we just take this all for granted. Jacob could take nothing for granted. He didn't know what his future would hold. He's leaving his parents. Going back to a homeland that it seems he's never been to before, to find a wife, he doesn't know exactly who he's going to marry, and for all he knows, he may never be coming back to the land of Canaan.

So this visitation from God in which God is giving him these promises holds great weight for him, and it's calling him to have faith. Trust in God as he goes forward, even as he's leaving the land and we see just that sort of response from Jacob. We, we move on to verse 16. It says, when Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it. He was afraid and said, how awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of Heaven. Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey I am taking, and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, so that I return safely to my father's household, then the Lord will be my God. And this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house. And of all that you've given, and of all that you give me, I will give you a tenth.

So, Jacob's response is one of awe, because he takes this dream to signal that this is a special holy place in which God is present. So when he says that This is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven, we have to understand he was taking that very literally, that this was a very sacred space that he was in.

And so his response is to take the stone that he had been laying his head on, he sets it up as a pillar. So when we see a pillar, we shouldn't think of something that's very ornamental. This is probably a very, just plain stone, but he consecrates it by anointing it with oil and he calls this the house of God.

He says this will be God's house. And this lines up with the name of the place, the name that he gives to the place, which is Bethel, which means house, Beth, and then El is short for Elohim, God. So Bethel. And he makes a vow. He makes this vow that if God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey, make all the provisions and that he returns safely to his father's household, then the Lord will be my God. And this stone that I've set up as a pillar will be God's house. And then he promises that he will give a tenth of all that God gives to him. So he's promising to make an offering. He's using that tithing principle.

It's not a rule for Christians today that you have to give a tenth of all that you have, but it's a principle. And this is a principle that Jacob's going to be operating by. He says, I'm going to give as a sacrifice a tenth of all you give me. Now, probably what we're talking about here is not money, but sacrifices.

He's a herdsman, so he's going to be offering sacrifices unto God. And we're going to see his opportunity to fulfill this vow in Genesis 35. We're not going to get there today, but we are going to cover quite a bit of territory, and I'm going to summarize the next three chapters. If I went through every single detail of all these chapters, we'd be covering this story forever.

So, we're going to be doing a little bit of summarization, tracing Jacob's story once he reaches Haran. And I encourage you to open up your Bible, so you can see the text for yourself. I hate not putting the text before you, but it's just so much text. So I encourage you to open up, follow along in your Bible so you can see as I summarize it, what I'm referring to.

So, we're going to be looking at Genesis 29 now. Genesis 29. So, it says in chapter 29 that Jacob arrives in the lands of the east, very close to Haran. And he meets some herdsmen, and they say, Oh yeah, we're from Haran. And he inquires about his family, whether they know Laban. And they say that they do indeed know his uncle Laban.

And then, in fact, as Jacob's there, at this well, with these other herdsmen, they say, his daughter's actually coming. She's a shepherdess. She tends to flocks herself. And there's this interesting exchange that goes on between Jacob and these herdsmen. They ask, why didn't you, why aren't you watering your herds?

They're like, there's this big stone in front of it. As soon as Rachel shows up, he moves this large stone out of the way, so her flocks can be watered. And kind of reading in between the lines here almost seems like it's a kind of a show of, a show of strength. At least he's being very kind and taking care of her flocks, and he's filled with joy. He kisses, I don't think this is necessarily a romantic sort of kiss, because it later says that he kisses, he exchanges kisses with Laban as well. This is just one of a kiss of joy. He weeps that he's made contact with his family. Now, again, Rachel is the daughter of his uncle Laban and Jacob is welcomed into their home. He stays with them, and at a certain point, Laban offers Jacob that he could earn a wage in his household, working for wages. Instead of this, Jacob proposes that he strikes a deal to work seven years in order to receive Rachel's hand in marriage. Now, this might sound weird to you, it's like, is Laban selling his daughter?

Laban is not selling his daughter. You have to understand that in ancient times, it was expected that the husband would provide a dowry in payment. It sounds like, again, it sounds like you're buying the wife. You're not. You're, it's basically posting up a security for the wife so that if the husband was to say I'm done with you, I'm going to divorce you, there would be money in place for the woman. For the, for the daughter to be taken care of if the husband abandoned her in some way. Whether death, divorce, things like that. So that was typical. Now, the deal that Jacob is setting up here with Laban is setting up a very high bride price. He's basically saying, I will give you seven years wages in order to marry your daughter.

Um, imagine giving seven years of your wages to marry someone. It's a lot. Now, I'm sure, you know, his, his room and board, you know, they were taken care of, but everything he's given, he's giving his whole life in order to marry this woman. And Laban says, sure, that sounds like a pretty good, pretty good deal.

Um, so the wedding day comes. But Jacob discovers that he was tricked into marrying Rachel's less lovely older sister Leah. Now, part of Laban's angle here probably was because Leah's the older daughter, so trying to get her married off first. But, in any case, it's a very deceitful thing to do when a guy's been working seven years to marry your younger daughter.

Now you wonder, you know, how is it possible that Jacob could be tricked. Well, she's likely wearing a veil during whatever ceremony they may have had. It's also probable, or be understood that Jacob probably enjoyed some wine. Might have been a little bit drunk. They didn't have electricity back then. So, in any case, he wakes up in the morning and discovers, Hey! Um, I'm, I've married the wrong woman. This is, this is Leah, not, not Rachel. Nevertheless, Jacob insists that he must marry Rachel. And again, you know, I've mentioned this before, polygamy is common practice at this time. As the Bible describes, polygamy is being a norm at this time.

However, as we see polygamous relationships play out there's nothing beneficial about them. They produce all sorts of conflicts. So, and you'll see this as, as this moves forward. In any case, he agrees to work seven years more in order to receive Rachel's hand in marriage. And so he does that, and eventually marries her.

And then beyond this, he works about seven years more. It says later on, later on he talks about working for 20 years with, for Laban. So he's, he's worked basically like 20 to 21 years now for Laban. Now as he's got these two women in his household, his wives, um, he blesses Leah with children, because the Lord sees Jacob's lack of love for her.

He sees how Jacob's been kind of mistreating her. And on the other hand, Rachel remains childless. Turning to chapter 30, we see how Rachel responds to this situation. She becomes jealous. Rachel becomes very jealous, and she gives Jacob her handmaiden, Bilhah, to bear him children. Now this brings back to mind the whole situation with Abraham and Sarah, and how Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham in order to have children through her.

Once again this is kind of an ancient practice of surrogacy. Very messed up sort of system in which you can just take someone and say, oh yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna sleep with my husband in order that I can have children through you. So, while it's Bilhah's children, it's actually Rachel kind of taking ownership, mothership, of those children because it's her handmaiden that she's given to Jacob.

Surrogacy then, surrogacy now, messed up. But it was the practice of that time, and it produces issues. Because then Leah responds, she says, Oh yeah? Well, I'll give my handmaiden, Zilpah, to Jacob. And you can have children through her, because Leah comes to the point where she's no longer having children. So you, so now you've got four women involved.

They're all giving birth to children. Rachel is so desperate to have a child of her own, that when she learns that Reuben had picked some mandrakes for Leah, in order to promote her fertility, because it was believed that mandrakes, it was a certain type of plant, it was supposed that it would help with fertility, she says, Hey, I'll make a trade with you.

Give me those mandrakes, and you can be with Jacob tonight. And, Even as Rachel's trying to make this deal in order for her to become pregnant so that she can have children, Leah gets pregnant herself, even though she had given up the mandrakes. And, so we see, again and again, just kind of the conflict that's being produced here.

God had seen Leah. He had blessed her. Both in the beginning and now in this case. But then, it ultimately concludes that, it says that God remembers Rachel. Now, it doesn't, in saying that God remembers Rachel, it's not as though God forgot her. God isn't a human being so that he forgets. It's saying that he attended to the desire of her heart.

And so she, she conceives and she gives birth to Joseph. And we'll be spending a lot of time with Joseph in later chapters. So this sums up most of the trouble surrounding childbirth, though Rachel will give birth again later on. Jacob's household is now quite full with two wives, two concubines, and all their children.

And now that, now that Rachel has had a child, her position in his household is secured. And so there should be no reason why he can't leave Laban. Laban would have some reservations about him leaving before Rachel would have, would have had children. She now has a child. And so, Jacob is becoming restless.

He's longing to return to Canaan. But, Laban is not quite ready to let him go. So, looking at verses 25 through 43 in chapter 30.

Jacob expresses his desire to leave, but Laban urges him to stay because he knows, he says he's known by, he's learned by divination, that Jacob is blessed by God. And so as a result, Laban's been sharing in that blessing as Jacob's been part of his household. Now it's interesting that Laban learns this by divination, because this is a pagan practice, whatever the particulars of it may be. God is able to even intervene in, non normative ways that you should be communicating with him in order to get someone the message that they need to hear. And he wanted Laban to know that Jacob is blessed. Jacob is blessed by God. And so Jacob strikes a deal that ends up accruing to his benefit.

He says, Okay, well of all, we've got these herds of goats. Of all the goats, let me have those that are spotted, speckled goats, while you get to keep those which are solid colored. Now it's a little difficult to follow the details here, but it seems as though, and however this gets hashed out, that it doesn't, on the surface, it doesn't look well, it doesn't look good for, for Jacob because Laban ends up making it so that the herd is mostly just solid colored goats.

And Jacob's not left much to work with. And if you know anything about genetics, well, if most of the population is solid, you wouldn't expect that you'd get too many goats with varying colors. Now, the way that this situation all ends up accruing to Jacob's benefit, is because of God's hand of blessing upon him.

And, he uses a very kind of unusual practice, certainly not scientific, but again, something that God used, where he places striped branches, stripped of some of the bark, and from the strong members of the herd during mating, Which resulted in more spotted and speckled goats for himself. And so this is clearly an instance of divine intervention by, by God that this actually works.

Because I can promise you if you do this, it will, it will not work. Ask any farmer. So, but this, this blessing manages to create trouble for Jacob. His brother in laws get jealous, and Laban also seems to sour on him because Jacob's gotten the better end of the deal. And it's in this moment that God gives Jacob direction.

So now we look at chapter 31.

First looking at verses 1 through 26. Again, there's jealousy, there's discord brewing. The Lord says to Jacob, Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you. Picking up that, picking back up that promise, which he gave them nearly 20 years prior, that he's going to be with him.

He can leave Laban's house. He's going to be secure. God's going to take care of him. As it turns out, Leah and Rachel are supportive of this, of this move, because Laban has not been on the up and up in how he's handled his money that should have been reserved for them. So Jacob was giving all, he gave fourteen years labor for their hands in marriage.

Theoretically, Laban should have been setting aside, what that was worth in money, for security for those women. But he had not done that. He had just kept all the benefits for himself. And so Leah and Rachel are like, well, there's nothing, there's no, there's no securities left here for us. Yeah, we might as well hit the road.

So that's what they do. Jacob and his family secretly flee. Now, as you might imagine, Laban eventually notices and he begins in pursuit. But God, once again, comes to Laban. Verse 24, it says that, God comes to him in a dream and says to him, Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. God's basically telling Laban, watch yourself.

I know you want to kill this guy. Don't. Don't do that. That would be a mistake. So looking at verses 26 through 55 they have this confrontation. Laban eventually catches up with them. Laban says, Well, I'm upset that you left with my family, with your family without saying goodbye. Okay, that's understandable.

We can imagine him being a little upset about that, but we can also understand why Jacob left the way that he did. Jacob says, I was afraid you weren't going to let me leave. Jacob also later goes on to talk about how he experienced all sorts of hardships when he was working for Laban and how it hadn't been really a fair deal between them, and he says in verse 42 if the God of my father the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had not been with me, you would surely would have sent me away empty handed. But God has seen my hardship in the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you. So Jacob's saying like listen, I don't owe you anything. Basically, everything I have is due to God and his blessings. Now, there's another dimension of conflict here because Laban's very upset because his household gods have gone missing. Now, the reason why they've gone missing is because Rachel stole them.

Now, this throws us right into the deep end in terms of the cultural context of what's going on here. It's not a monotheistic culture. Worshipping one god is not the norm. The norm is to worship many gods. And, in order for Rachel to have the ability to steal Laban's gods, which is kind of a funny concept, it kind of makes a mockery of these gods to begin with, that you could steal the gods, they were probably small statuettes. We often think of idols as kind of big, but these are small statuettes that would have been kind of set up in the home. Well, Rachel steals them. And, Laban's upset because he feels like, well, if I don't have these, they're not gonna bring favor to my household.

Now, he should know better. He's already heard about how God, the one true God has been blessing Jacob. And it's by virtue of Jacob being in his household, and God blessing Jacob, that his household has been blessed. Not because of these little gods. But, nonetheless, he wants them. He feels like they can bring him some benefit.

Rachel may believe that herself, too. I mean, she's his daughter. ,They don't give them back to him. She keeps them concealed. It's her time of the month. She has them hidden under her. She says, sorry, dad, I can't get up. And so he never finds them. Very tricky. Lots of deceit and trickery going on here. In the end, Jacob and Laban strike a peace between each other. It's not a friendly peace, though. We read this in verse 48. It says, Laban said, This heap, and they set up a stone, some stones. This heap is a witness between you and me today. That is why it was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah, because he said, May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.

If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me. Laban also said to Jacob, Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you, and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me.

May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us. So again, this is kind of like a line of demarcation. This is not the sort of relationship you want to have with your father in law. It's like, you stay on your side, I'll stay on my side. If we violate this deal that we've made with each other, well, we might not be able to get each other because we'll be hundreds of miles away, but God's going to judge between us.

And they're not just saying that, oh, like, lightly. They're being serious when they make that vow that if any of us breaks this, you're going to come under divine judgment. And so it's on those terms that they part ways.

Jacob's life is messy. It's full of deception and drama. It's full of trouble. What stands out above the fray, above the chaos, is God's sovereign hand. When things seem to be going sideways, whatever the reason may be, God intervenes. We see God's sovereignty. We see God's grace. It's worth remembering that God gives Jacob this undeserved grace, not just for his sake, but for our sakes.

Remember, all of this is working together to produce the nation of Israel, the people from whom Jesus Christ would be born as our Savior. We see here, God's grace for us. In truth, we are no better than Jacob. Our lives are often just as messy, full of trouble, for all sorts of reasons, sinful and otherwise.

But our God is just as good now as he was then. He blesses us beyond what we deserve. And because we have become God's children in Jesus Christ, through faith, God's word to Jacob is our family promise. Remember, he tells Jacob, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this land.

I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Our father is with us, watching over us. He takes care of the flowers of the field and the birds of the air, yet he cares so much more for his children. He's working all things together for the good of those who love him and who have been called by him.

He will complete the good work that he's begun in us. He will never leave us or forsake us. Jesus, the Son, our Savior, will be with us to the end of the age. And so, as we read this text, it should encourage us to move forward with the confidence of Jacob as he left Bethel, believing he would one day return because of God's word.

That same word holds eternal promise for us as we look forward to Christ's return, the resurrection of the dead. And the new creation that will be introduced in full in that coming day. Let us pray.

Dear Father,

thank you for your grace. We see it throughout human history. We see it throughout the, the text of scripture. And you have always given us much more than what we deserve. Father, we pray that you would help us to move forward with the faith of Jacob. As you met him in that moment of probably not knowing what his future held, Father, but receiving your word of promise.

Father, help us to have faith in your promises that you've made to us. Of our forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and the future that we have. Father, keep our eyes off of worrying about our future as it relates to what the next week holds or the next year holds or what the headlines foretell father. Let us instead look to the words of scripture and what they say is in store for us, what is in store for us in Jesus Christ. Help us share in that faith. And Father, help us move beyond our own sinfulness. The sinfulness we do see in the text of Scripture. Help us be the sorts of people that you desire us to be as we follow your Son.

In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series entitled Israel Arises. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.

Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)