The stories of Jacob and his complicated, messed up family seem endlessly fascinating. It’s almost like a modern family TV sit-com…..if only it was a lot funnier! And we also look in the mirror often and we may well see a version of Jacob staring back at us!
This week (see last week’s sermon) Jacob is tricked and his response is clearly not “God is in this place and I did not know it!!” And I doubt he could have said to himself, Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good, for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” Of course, Jacob didn’t have the New Testament! And Jacob HAS laid the groundwork for trickery by using it on his father Isaac and brother Esau. “What goes around comes around….or something like that.” Jacob still gets what he desires but definitely the hard way. And his remaining life story won’t get much easier either as we continue to read to his end.
We are all somewhere in our unfinished story. If things are going well, “great,” if not so much, we are “anxious or miserable.” Or somewhere in between. The range of human emotions contains a lot of different feelings and thoughts!
Nevertheless, we get wise counsel in Scripture, wiser than anywhere else. After all, it does show us The Big Picture and how much faith (“trust”) is at the center of that Picture. (“I trust this movie has a happy ending?”).
If you are like me and Jacob, you too need reminding from time to time: there is more to my life story….and God’s Story!
Let’s listen in this coming Sunday! See you soon!
Pastor Barry