Jacob to Israel – A Life Transformed – 6

Jacob had fulfilled his contract, serving Laban for 14 years so that he could have Rachel as his wife, he had been cheated by Laban yet he had faithfully served him as requested. God had worked a miracle in Jacob through the ‘God Encounter’ that had changed his character yet God still had more to do in Jacob’s life, God always has more work to do in our lives. He will place these aches and longings in our lives so that He can be glorified. Jacob felt trapped in a job that was not allowing him to serve Almighty God in the way that he felt he should, he also felt the need, quite honourably, to be able to provide for his family. This was his first big mistake since his ‘God Encounter’ because up until now God had provided for him, it may not have been what he had expected or wanted, but God had provided. Jacob was an ambitious man, yet God had a plan for him as He does for all of us. God was providing for Jacob and was looking after him and his large family and wanted Jacob to appreciate this. Our lives and our families matter to God and are in His hands. We need to trust in Almighty God and His plan for us, not in our own ambitious and sometimes honourable efforts. We must not allow ourselves to be thrown off track or be derailed from what God wants to accomplish in our lives. How often do we try to make our situations fit God’s plan when in fact the homing device, the Holy Spirit within us is saying ‘come home’, ‘trust me with all your plans’, ‘my plans are for your good’.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says 

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” 

In Genesis 30-31 we find Jacob in a place where God has blessed him according to the promise from his ‘God Encounter’ some 20 years earlier. By no means has his journey been easy, God had a lot to teach Jacob as He does with all of us.

At the end of Genesis 30:43 we read that Jacob had become a wealthy man. God had blessed him, but some of what he had acquired had been by false means in order to survive. 

Jacob was a survivor, one who never gave up, whose heart wanted to follow and honour the God who had appeared to him on the ladder. Jacob’s heart was after God, he had entered into a contract with God and he was not taking it lightly, he was pursuing it, sometimes too religiously, but nevertheless he was pursuing his encounter.

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