Jacob: As a Man he Struggled with God

And, if you'd like to take up your bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 29, please.

My name is Tom Sweetman. I'm 1 of the pastors here. And, it's great to have you and to welcome you, particularly if it's your first time with us. We have been making our way through this series in the life of life of Jacob, which we find in the, in the book of Genesis, And, we've come now to yet another incredibly dramatic story in Genesis chapter 29. I mean, Netflix, if you're watching, you just need to look no further than the story of Jacob.

This is an incredible story But as we're going to see, it's also a deeply theological story. And, there's lots and lots that we can learn about the lord god from this, encounter. So let's pray. And then what we're gonna do, we're gonna do something a little bit different this morning. So we're gonna have The first half of the talk is gonna be the reading plus some comments on the reading.

So we're gonna have a sort of interactive, not quite interactive, but a a reading narrative style. And then after that, we're going to look at some of, some of the applications that emerge from this story. So let's, let's pray and ask the lord's help as we do that. Father, we are so grateful that we can behold the lord Jesus Christ, our great God and savior in his words, We thank you that to look at your words is to see our savior. And we do pray, please now that as we look at this remarkable story that is full of intrigue and suspense and betrayal and humor and excitement that you would help us please to see why you have inspired this and kept this in the Bible for generations, of your people and that you would speak to us through it.

We pray in Jesus' name. Oh, man. So Genesis, 29, and let's look at verse 1. Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the Eastern peoples. Now, literally in the Hebrew, that is then Jacob picked up his feet.

He picked up his feet, and there's a sense about that phrase, which is like he had a spring in his step. So in the previous chapter, and if you were here last week, you remember he's just come out of this remarkable counter with the living god. You remember he was lying there on those wilderness planes, and the heavens opened, and he met the lord and saw this ladder and angels ascending and descending upon it, and the lord spoke to him in a very personal way to ensure the continuation of the covenant promises in him. Jacob is now gonna be the bearer of these promises. That dream has finished, and he, chapter 29, he picked up his feet.

He's like, yes, right. Let's go. You know, he's got a spring in his step. He's ready to go with these promises in his mind. To whatever the lord has for him next.

Verse 2, there he saw a well in the open country with 3 flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away. Now that plural of shepherd is gonna be quite important in a minute. Because you're gonna see that this stone was so large that it normally required more than 1 shepherd to move it.

Okay? Shepard would have to get together in order to move this stone and roll it away from the whale's mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well. So this is scene 1, and Jacob is now approaching the place, or he is now in the place where he needs to be. And so you've got to picture the scene.

Okay? There's lots of sheep, We're in a we're in the fields or the hill hilltops of Haran, and there he sees this well. There's a big well. There's a big stone on the well. And when all the shepherds get there, the stone gets rolled away and the flocks get watered.

Okay. So I don't know how that happened. It was probably on a sort of first come first serve basis, you know, whichever shepherd and his flock is there first. They have first access to the water, but either way, the key thing to see here is that there was a watering time for these shepherds. It wasn't like a tap, which you could just go and turn it on and water your flock when you needed.

The shepherds would gather with their particular flocks at a particular time for the watering. There's a watering time that that happens here. Then when that's done, they roll the big stone back over the well, and that was mainly to stop things falling into it and dying and making the water go all putrid. And then it was, I imagine same time tomorrow. Yeah.

See it tomorrow. Alright, mate. Have a good 24 hours. Yeah. I'll see you back here tomorrow.

And then the next day, they would come and do the same thing. Okay? Verse 4, Jacob asked the shepherds My brothers, where are you from? We're from Haran. They replied.

He said to them, do you know Labour? Naho's grandson? Yes. We know him. They answered.

Oh, then Jacob asked them, is he well? Don't know whether that's like a little joke by the NIV team, you know, is he well? Is he well? We're by the well. Is he well?

I don't know. Yes, he is, they said. And here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep. So a few things to observe here. This is going really well, really well for Jacob.

He is now in the right place. He has just stumbled across people who know the right family And it just so happens that the girl of his dreams is about to walk with her sheep to meet him at this well. This is this this is going really well for him so far. Okay? Now slightly unusual thing about Rachel, like, why is she the 1 who is doing this job?

You know, we're told in more literal translations that she was a shepherdess. Now why is that? And people suppose it was because Labour may not have had sons who were old enough to take this job or that the sons that he had were too young and that, they weren't able to do it. But either way, we're introduced to Rachel as 1 who looks after the sheep and is a shepherdess. And the story is, I I think basically saying, she she is exactly what Jacob needs.

Cause remember, Jacob has never worked a job in his life. Yeah? She's got a job. I mean, that's great. Okay?

She is a carer of sheep. He dresses up like goats. Yeah? So they're very, very different. This is an ideal woman.

We find out from later on, that she's also loved she's lovely to look at. She's caring. She's got a job. I mean, this is exactly what he needs, Jacob. I don't know if there's any husbands in the room who would say my wife is exactly what I need.

You know, I she is everything. I'm not, and I'm so glad the lord would put us together. That's Jacob. You know, Rachel is everything that he needs. Okay?

And so you can imagine him. He's just been told that Rachel is coming. And, you know, he's trying to find a puddle so he can check his appearance and, you know, do his hair in the the puddle and he's smelling his breath to make sure it doesn't stink too badly. You know, he she's she's coming. She's coming.

Right? Verse 7, Look, Jacob said, this is Jacob talking to the shepherds. The sun is still high. It is not time for the flocks to be gathered, water the sheep, and take them back to the pasture. So here is Jacob.

And notice he's now an expert in looking after sheep. Yeah? So he thinks, the shepherds, I imagine, have been coming here every day probably 4 years, but thankfully now Jacob has turned up to tell them what they've been doing wrong all this time. Yeah? I mean, you know, what is what is he doing?

He's saying fellas, it's not the time to be here. Is it? You ought to be out, you know, giving them to pasture, and then we'll then we'll give them some water a little bit later on. Now I I I'm not sure what is going through his mind, and this is the sort of story where you can speculate on almost every single sentence. But remember, we've just been told that Rachel is coming.

And so I wonder if he's saying Guys, you wouldn't mind just, you know, giving us some time alone. Would you, you know, I don't know what your intentions are, all of you, but it would be really nice if you could just You know, move on out of here a bit and give me a bit of a loan time with Rachel so I can get to know her a little bit. It could it could be something like that. So it's a little bit like if you think back to school days, and you're really excited because you've secured a date with a particular girl or a particular guy, and you're there in town and you're waiting for them to arrive. You're at the bus stop, perhaps, or the train station, and then their train pulls in and you see them come out onto the platform.

And then about half a second later, you see they've bought their best friend with them. And in that moment, you're sat there and like, hi, you know, it's great to see you, you know, that's the last thing you wanted to see. Okay? You were hoping for a bit of time alone, and now the best mate has come too. It's a disaster.

Right? So maybe Jacob is thinking like that, can you just get out of the way so I can have some time with this girl? Verse 8, we can't. They replied until all the flocks are gathered, and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well, then we will water the sheep. In other words, mate, I didn't tell you how to do your job.

They're right. Yeah. I'd tell you how to do your job. Please don't come here and tell us what time we should be watering the sheep. Yeah.

That's not how we do it here. We wait for them to arrive. Then we take this out. That's how we do it. Verse 9.

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherd, shepherdess. When Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of his uncle, laban, and laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away. From the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep. I mean, friends, that could not have gone better for him. Okay?

In verse 3, as I said, we're told that normally shepherds were required to move this stone. But when Jacob sees Rachel coming, he goes for it by himself in verse 10, and he pulls it off. And so you've gotta remember that Jacob is not esau. Okay? He, up until this point, he has never lifted anything heavier than a saucepan.

Alright? That's the most he's ever done, taking the lid off a jar of sauce is as much as his strength extends to. Okay? But here, somehow, he's moved this giant stone by himself, and he didn't drop it on his toe. And it it's just gone really, really well.

Okay? Couldn't have gone better. Verse 11, then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. Now that is probably not a kind of Hollywood snug type of kiss. I would think that was more like a greeting.

But I would still want to suggest that was a bit too much, really, there, considering that he hadn't even spoken to her yet, he may have been putting his foot on the accelerator, you know, a bit too much. You know, scene 1 scene 1 was really good. He managed to take the rock off the thing in front of her. That's brilliant. Seeing 2, I'm I'm not I'm not sure.

I'm not sure, really. I I don't imagine there are many women who would appreciate a slobbering kissing guy who's never spoken to them, but is embracing and crying over them and and kissing them. Yeah. I'd so, yeah, I don't know. As a first date, it's kind of gone okay, I think.

You know, the stone thing was good. The kissing thing, I don't know, not so much. Verse 12, he told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebecca. And so she ran and told her father, your dad, I've met this guy at the well. And he's really strong, and he's a bit weird, but he is from our family, and I think he might be the 1 for me.

Verse 13, as soon as Leben heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home. And there, Jacob told him all these things. Now that's interesting, isn't it? You wonder what things what things did Jacob tell laban?

Did he tell him, for instance, about the birth prophecy that the elder will serve the younger? Did he tell him about that? Did he tell his uncle laban about the whole birthright? Situation where he tricked Eesaw out of his birthright took advantage of him. Did he tell uncle Leben about the whole blessing episode when he lied repeatedly to his father in order to get the blessing that didn't really belong to him.

We don't know what he actually told him, but from what's about to happen, it seems that Jacob may well have let on about a number of those types of things. Verse 14, then Leben said to him, you are my own flesh and blood. Now what does he mean by that? Do you think? You see, he probably means, ah, I can tell you really are 1 of my relatives, but there could be something a bit more.

You are like me. You're my own flesh and blood. From what you've just told me, I see something of myself. In you, you are my flesh and blood. After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, laban said to him, just because you are a relative of mine, Should you work for me for nothing?

Tell me what your wages should be. And so this is an open goal for Jacob. He loves Rachel. He loves Rachel. And he is getting on well with the family.

And the father-in-law has just said or soon to be, what would you like? Tell me what your wages should be. Now laban, this is where the narrator steps in, had 2 daughters. The name of the older was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.

And so here the narrator probably Moses steps into the story to tell us a little bit more about Rachel and also to introduce us to Leah. Now Rachel, we already know was a hardworking care in Shepard S, but now we can add to that picture but she had a lovely figure and she was beautiful, hardworking, caring, and lovely to look at. Now we've gotta be a bit careful because a lovely figure can mean lots of things. So just because TikTok tells us that something is beautiful in 20 25, it does not mean that that has always been the universal standard across all ages. There are very many different cultures and ages that have passed in this world.

And a lovely figure has meant very different things in different places. So we gotta be careful just thinking, ah, she had a lovely figure. She looked like a 20 25 Western model. That may be exactly not what she looked like. She may have had an altogether different type of figure, which was considered at this time, to be a lovely figure, a lovely figure.

And so the point of that verse is not to define beauty, but to set up a contrast. Leah was older. Rachel was younger. Rachel was beautiful, and Leah had weak eyes. Now again, it is a little bit difficult to know what exactly is meant by weak eyes.

I mean, some people suggest that they were weak as in just weren't very good at seeing. You know, so she was walking into stuff, dropping stuff, tripping over stuff. You know, she had weak eyes. Some suggest that she may have had a type of deformity in her eye, and that 1 or both of her eyes had the appearance of being weak, in a muscular way. Other people think that the weakness refers to a lack of color and vibrancy because apparently 1 thing that was deemed to be very attractive at this time was bright strong eyes.

And so if you had eyes that were weak or lack color, they could be described as as weak eyes. So hard to know what it means, hard to know. But whatever the difference is, basically, the narrator is sort of jumping in here to say, I need you to know that Rachel outshined Leah. That's the idea. Well, in in whatever way it was, she outshined she outshined Leah.

Verse 18, Jacob was in love with Rachel. And said, I'll work for you 7 years in return for your younger daughter, Rachel. Now why is he saying that? Well, because the custom at the time was to provide a kind of payment for the bride. So that if you as the husband were to either leave her or to die, she wouldn't be left in financial ruin.

There would be some money that was given to the family for this woman should she need to be cared for. So that that was the kind of idea. But for Jacob, it is a bit of a problem because he's got nothing to his name. Remember, he is now a refugee. He's an exile.

He's walked away from his home. He cannot even ring up his dad and say, can you wire Leben some money for the bride price? He's got no real means of paying this thing, which was proper to pay, and so he offers to work. He offers to work. So that in itself is is okay, and it makes sense.

But why does he offer 7 years? Because all the commentators agree, that was a very high price to be willing to pay. If you do the maths, what he would have earned in 7 years was quite a lot, and it would have been considered to be a very generous, large bride price. So why why is he doing that? Mean, it is a bit weird, isn't it?

You think you think if he really fancies her, you'd offer, like, 7 hours, wouldn't you? You you'd say I'll give you 7 hours, you know, 1 whole day, and then she's, okay, 7 weeks. Alright. Alright. 7 months.

7 years. 7 years. Before he's gonna get to marry this girl that he loves, you know, why is he doing that? You see, some people think it could be because he's desperate to secure her, and he knows that he needs to offer high. He needs to be his initial bid needs to be high.

If he wants to secure Rachel, and so he goes in big like that. But it may well be because Jacob seriously is just a rubbish negotiator. I mean, I do I I do mean that seriously because remember, Jacob grew up as a huge mommy's boy. And from what we know about him, his mom did most of the bargaining in his life. His mom was the 1 who negotiated for him, who set plans in motion, who got them, got and and she basically got him what what he wanted.

Okay? And so here, we may well have a man who has been over parented and is now underprepared for people like Leben who were out to take advantage. You know, he's he's never had to work a job, He's never had to make a deal. He's never had to ring up. He's never had to negotiate anything on behalf of himself.

His mom has done all of his dealings. And so you've got a grown man who has been over parented and is therefore underprepared for life in a sinful world where people exploit each other. And he's trying to stand on his own 2 feet, and he's making a dumb offer. You know, could well could well be something about in there? 19.

Leben said, it is better that I give her to you than to some other man. Yeah. Which herd does he mean? Could have said it's better that I give Rachel to you than to some other man. It's better that I give her to you.

Who does he mean? And actually, I think if Jacob is a bit naive here, Leben is is is really out of order, and I think he already is beginning to plan about how he can exploit his nephew Jacob. Now to be fair, Jacob was the 1 who did offer 7 years, but as an older family member, he should not have really agreed to that. It is a it's a huge price. It's a huge price.

To be getting out of your nephew, and it's not gonna stop at 7 years either. It's not gonna stop at 7. It's gonna double that and then some. So it seems to be that Leben is is is pouncing on something of his naivety and his passion for Rachel. And he's thinking, okay, here's a guy.

He's quite strong. He can move stones. He loves my daughter. That's good, but he's penniless. He's penniless, and he's a bit naive, and I wonder what I can get out.

I wonder what I can get out of him. Verse 20. So Jacob served 7 years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. That's 1 of the most lovely sentences in the whole of this story, I think. They seemed like only a few days to him.

Because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to Laben, give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her. Now I'm not sure a father-in-law ever needs to be told that directly I mean, you know, there are a number of alternatives that he could have gone for. Yeah, you know, the time has come, I've been really looking forward to marrying her.

Or, you know, this feast is gonna be great. I think Leben is old enough and wise enough to know what newly married couples get up to. He doesn't need to be quite told it in that way. I don't think my time is completed, and I want to make love to her. I'm pleased for you, mate.

I am pleased for you. But you didn't have to tell me that. Okay. 22. So labor and brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.

But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. And Leben gave his servant Zilpa to his daughter as her attendant. When morning came, there was Leah. It's very hard to know what happened here, I think, and and how exactly this went so, so wrong. I mean, at the time, it was customary for bridesmaids to wear a veil.

Of some kind. And so it might have just been that she was very wearing a very, very thick veil, and Jacob could genuinely not see and not know that it was Leah who'd been given to him and not Rachel. The context is a feast, and with that comes lots of wine. And so some people do suggest that Jacob had been drinking, I think you would have to be very drunk, though, to sort of get this so wrong. It would have been dark.

This is the days before torches and street lights, so it would have been dark and with a veil and with a bit of drink. You can see how it might happen, but it is an absolute car crash, isn't it? It's a car crash. What a disaster. What a how did he end up with the sister and not the woman of his dreams?

I mean, just on that level, it's quite shocking, isn't it? To wake up and see the sister and not the 1 you loved and wanted to marry. There is some dramatic humor in it, but I I don't it's not that funny, actually. It's a it's a disaster. And however it happened, the point is that that Leben and Leah and maybe even Rachel, like, planned this thing together.

I mean, we don't quite know how that must have happened, but surely, at least Leah must have been in on it. Labin might have planned it. She must have been in on it. I would guess unless she was forced into it, and maybe even Rachel knew about it as well. And all 3 of them, the family were working together in order to deceive him.

Now the motives might have been good. Maybe Labour just didn't want Leah to be left behind. You know, he wanted her to be cared for, didn't want her to be left. At verse 25, when morning came, there was Leah. So Jacob said to laban, what is this you have done to me?

I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me? Laban replied, it is not our custom here. To give the younger daughter in marriage before the older 1. Now originally, that sentence says nothing about marriage.

It literally reads, it is not done in our place to set the younger before the older. It's not done in our place to set the younger. Before the old, oh, didn't we tell you, Jacob? Didn't we tell you? Didn't I tell you?

That's not how we do things around it. That might be how it works where you come from. But in our culture and in our family, we don't set the younger before the elder. And you're just wondering that moment if Jacob went. A moment of sudden realization.

See, E saw if you don't know was the older brother. And Jacob was the younger brother. And although god did say that the elder shall serve the younger, that was his plan, the way Jacob worked with his mom to rip off his older brother was not good. He should not the younger should not have done it that way to the elder. And it's almost as if Labour knowing full well what has happened says.

It is not here our custom. To set the younger before the elder. First 27 finished this daughter's bridal week, then we will give you the younger 1 also in return for another 7 years of work. The first 7 years felt like the blink of an eye. But I can't imagine this next 7 days.

And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Leben gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Leben gave his servant Billher to his daughter Rachel was her attendant. Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah, which is such a sad sentence, especially because this boy grew up in a home, which was alive with favoritism. And he knew what it was like to live in a home where mom favored him and dad didn't.

And now we're told that coming into his own home is going to be a similar kind of pain. He loved her. But he didn't love Leah. So that's a story. It's an amazing story, isn't it?

As I say, so much that is entertaining and interesting about it, but there is also so many things that we are to observe here about the lord. Christians do not believe in karma or fate, but providence can have an ironic twist. Right? We don't believe in karma or fate as Christians. We don't believe that there is some impersonal force in the universe, which is just putting the scales right, paying back for wrong, making sure right gets rewarded, and it's all impersonal.

We don't believe in anything like that. And neither do we believe a god in a god who enjoys mocking his people, who looks at them and says, how about a taste of your own medicine? Or you need to learn that what goes around comes around, and he sits over us in a sort of mocking way looking at how he can give us a taste of our own medicine. We don't believe in a god like that. We believe in the gospel.

And in the gospel, we're told that god does not treat us as our sins deserve. He does not look for opportunities to pay back and punish because Christ our lord has taken all the payback that we could ever deserve and all the consequences for our sin and the punishment for our sin and who now just plans about how to bless us in Christ. That's what we have. And yet, in Jacob, and perhaps for many of us, sometimes the lord as part of his fatherly commitment to us will expose us to the type of things that we ourselves have been guilty of to teach us that doing to others as we wish to be done to us is a very good idea. And that if we don't do it, there will be times when we end up reaping the kind of relationships that we have sown.

Reeping the kind of behaviors that we have sown. That is definitely what is going on in the Jacob story. Remember he is the arch trickster, the arch trickster. Okay. This is a man who has taken advantage of his brother multiple times, who has lied into his father's face multiple times, and has tricked his way into a blessing and has now been tricked out of a bride by a parent child combination planning in order to deceive him.

Providence has got an ironic twist about it, hasn't it? In fact, some people suggest that the way that Leah pulled it off on the honeymoon was to wear Rachel's veil. And that would have been a very interesting twist, wouldn't it? We're not told, but if that were true, that would be very interesting because how did Jacob pull off the deception with his father? He dressed up in his brother's clothes.

And so it may well be that Leah dressed up as her sister Rachel in order to deceive him. And I'm sure if I were to ask this room, are there any cheats here? Who've ever found themselves being cheated. Are there any liars here? Who've had times when they've been deceived?

Are there any people here who enjoy a little bit of gossip who have heard their own names being whispered? In a gossip context. Are there any Jacobs here who've ever been Jacob? I'm sure there would be not a few of us with our hands up in the room. It's not that god wants to pay us back.

But it might be part of his fatherly commitment to us to help us see that treating others as we wish to be treated is a right way of living. Secondly, The god who isn't mentioned in this story is everywhere in this story. The god who isn't mentioned in this story is everywhere in this story. It's just amazing, isn't it? You know, in which in which of the 30 verses do we see god's name?

Nohere. Nohere. Not until verse 31. It doesn't appear. And yet, just like the book of Esther, the unmentioned god is absolutely everywhere.

In the details. See, in verse 2 and 3, it's very interesting. The word well is mentioned 5 times. They're at the well, the well, the stones on the well, put the stone back on the well, well, well, well, well. And you wonder what is all this thing about wells?

But actually, if you know the bible story, the well is a place in which god provides for his people, a place where god steps into the world to provide water for animals and water for creation and water for people in general. And water for his people in particular that the well is a place where people get provided for. You see, where does Abraham's servant meet Rebecca at a well? Where does Moses meet zipper at a well? Where does Jesus meet the Samaritan woman in John 4, not just at any well at Jacob's well.

Jacob's well. That's where they meet. And so it's a plate. Whenever you see well, you think god is in the details here. He's doing something.

He's providing a wife and life and water and eternal life and living water that will bubble up. That's that's what he's doing. He's there in the details. And then think of Jacob. I mean, what are the odds here?

He stumbles across the right well, At the right time, in the right place, with the right family, he moves the stone, he gets the girl, and it's all god. It's all god. We are not in a secular world where things just happen. And coincidences occur and everything is chance. We don't live in a world like that.

We live in a world where god is in the details, providing for his people. And brothers and sisters is crucial that we get that. Because most of our lives are not spent in heavenly dreams, hearing directly from god. Most of our lives are spent in fields, trying to find water. Aren't they?

Most of our lives is not heaven open, and I'm having a dream, and I'm knowing god is with me. Most of a life is spent in the field working hard to move stones and get water for your family. That's where most of life is. And if we think that god only speaks and works and guides in the big spiritual moments, we will miss the many thousands of ways that he provides for his people and cares for us every day in the details of life. We're gonna be looking at the sky, saying, where is god?

I thought we had a plan for my life, you know, where is god? And we're not gonna realize that every single meal and every drink and every item of clothing and every Sunday service together and every new day of mercy is from his hand. And he is in the details. In Genesis 28, it's an awesome moment, and god is so clearly with Jacob. But he's also there in verse 20 in chapter 29, working in the details to provide for his people.

And, you know, if we we will we will rob ourselves of much joy and assurance in the Christian life. If we don't see that the unmentioned god is everywhere working in our lives to provide for us. So that's the second thing. The unmentioned god is everywhere here. Thirdly, and lastly, Long disappointing seasons have a glorious purpose.

Long disappointing seasons have a glorious purpose. You see, to be honest, it is quite easy to see that god is in the details when those details are going well for you. Isn't it? You know, water from the well? God is in the details.

You know, a new wife God is in the details. But what about when things get very shady and very dark and very disappointing? Is god still in those details, or does he only belong to the details which sort of prosper us in in some way? This story shows us that long disappointing seasons have a glorious purpose. See, in total, Jacob is gonna spend something like 20 years of his life working for Leben.

20 years of his life. The first 7 might have been okay. The last 13 almost certainly weren't. And so what is going on here? I mean, heaven opens up.

He meets god. He finds the right family. Rachel is there. God's got a plan for my life. I mean, we heard the verse in our prayers, and it's true, isn't it?

God's got a plan to prosper me, not to harm me. Here it is. I've got a wife and I've met god, and it's all great. And then 20 years of exploitation and work and disappointment and difficulty and what looks like silence from god. Is he still in those?

Details. 20 years is a long time of our life, isn't it? 20 years to spend in a disappointing season when god was meant to be with me. Maybe some of us can sympathize with that. There's a great moment in your life.

You get converted, and you're born again, and god is your father, and you know the blessings of heaven. And then for 20 years, you have to live with family or friends who think you're mad. And it's a waste of time. And something of the preciousness of what you enjoyed is now lost because of act 20 years of difficulty. What happened?

Or maybe for some of us, it's a wedding day. And the wedding day is so full of hope and optimism. And god has provided for me, and it's gonna be great. And she's my Rachel. And I'm her Jacob, and off we go into the sunset.

And then 20 years of hard work and disappointment and perhaps even realizing that this was not as good as I thought it was gonna be, man. I mean, 20 years. Or maybe there's a time in our youth that we look back to, and we felt so optimistic about what god was gonna do. He met us at some conference perhaps, and we knew he had a great plan for our lives, and we were gonna find the right person, and life was gonna go well. But 20 years later, that right person hasn't turned up, and life isn't what we thought it was gonna be, and it's been disappointing and hard.

Or a job, I mean, go on to these things. You get a new job and it's everything you want it to be. The boss is like a dream boss, and he's gonna let you work where you want and do what you want, and he's gonna build into your career. And then 20 years, and you look back at your house, actually pretty pretty disappointing. Is that it?

I'm never gonna get that back now. It's 20 years. And it was pretty hard, and it was pretty, pretty disappointing. And, you know, without stories like this 1, that's going to be a difficult theological puzzle for us that. We're not we're not gonna quite know how to deal with that if we don't have stories like this.

You see, look back with me at chapter 28 verse 15, if you will in your bibles, it won't come up. But here's god's promise to Jacob. 28 15. I am with you, and we'll watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you.

I will not leave you. Until I've done what I have promised you. And so the question is, was god with Jacob only in the first 7 years? Or was god with him in every day of those 20 years? He seems to say here, I will not leave you in the 7 and in the 13.

I will not leave you. When god's plan for Jacob became clear in chapter 28, was that plan only active in the first 7 years? Rachel comes. God's got a plan for my life? Or was his plan working in all 20 of those years?

Was god only working to bless and transform Jacob in the first 7 years? Or was he planning to transform and bless Jacob in all 20 years? In other words, what does that promise apply to? In 28 15, I will not leave you until I, what does that apply to? Which part of life?

Just the 7? Or the 2 decades. And so brothers and sisters when god says to us in Romans 8 28, and we know that in all things, all seasons, all places, all times. That god works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those god 4 knew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

When god says that, we see that for the Christian, even long disappointing seasons have a glorious purpose. Now does that mean they're pleasant? No. They may not be pleasant. Being lied to is not pleasant, and being deceived is not pleasant.

And being tricked is not pleasant. And I can imagine, although it's never happened to me, I can imagine that waking up with the girl of your dream sister is not pleasant. Not what you would have wanted. Yeah? But it does mean that in everything, God will be working to transform us into the image of Christ.

That is the good that he is doing to transform Jacobs and yous and mes into the image of Christ. Yes, on conversion day, but also on every other day. Yes on marriage day, but also on every other day. Yes on new job day, but also on every other day. Yes in our youth, but also for all of our lives.

God is gonna be with us. And you know, this is where the this really is where the prosperity gospel can be so fatal to our Christian experience. I don't mean just the sort of crass version which says love Jesus and he'll make you rich. But a more subtle version where we believe that if we follow Jesus life is just gonna be 1 long victory with blessing and prosperity and no hardships and no difficulties, See if we believe that and it may not be our fault. Some some of us may have been just been taught that.

If we believe that, we will not be aligned with the teaching of the Bible, and we will not be prepared for those 20 years which may well come. And so, yes, when heaven opens and things are good, we wanna see god's hand in that and rejoice. But let us also look for god's hand in the disappointments, not seeing them as a sign of god's rejection. But rather as part of his commitment to us to make us like Christ in all the hardships and disappointments of life. And I think if you can just take away 1 thing from the last however many minutes it's been.

If you can just take away 1 thing, it would be this. If god can use long disappointing seasons in Jacob's life for a glorious purpose, then he can do it in hours as well. To pray. Let's pray. Father help us to understand these things with our minds.

Help us please to believe them in our hearts. Help us to be confident that you, the god of the ages, is working in the details of our lives to provide for us. And even when things are long and disappointing, help us to trace your kind hand. In working in us and working for us to make us like Christ, and we ask it in his name.