Last week (http://rivernyc.org/prayer/ ; Preview), we read the story of Jacob and his twin
brother Esau’s birth and how Esau sold his birthright as the first born to Jacob for a bowl
of soup. The plot thickens and the rivalry between the brothers goes on until toward the
end of the life of Isaac, their father, another drama of deception and scheme plays out.
At the urging of his mother, Jacob deceives his father, Isaac, who were blind and dying
and who wanted to bless his first son, Esau, into blessing Jacob instead. Esau is angry
and vows to kill Jacob once their father passes away. Their mom decides to send Jacob
away to her brother’s house to save his life. You can read the full account from Genesis
27 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2027&version=NIV ) .
This week’s story is what follows the drama.
Genesis 28:10-22
10
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a
certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking
one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to
sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway [d] resting on the
earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were
ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it [e] stood the LORD,
and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the
God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which
you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,
and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and
to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your
offspring. 15 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."
16
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is
in this place, and I was not aware of it." 17 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."
18
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. 19 He
called that place Bethel, [f] though the city used to be called Luz.
20
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will
watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat
and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father's house,
then the LORD [g] will be my God 22 and [h] this stone that I have set
up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will
give you a tenth."
In this story of Jacob, he has come to a pretty low point in his life. Yes, he got the
blessings from his dad, but in reality, he is running for his life from his own brother. So
much for the birthright that he bought from his brother with his bowl of soup. He is
fleeing from his father’s house empty-handed. The double portion of inheritance that was
supposed to come his way, will never find its way to him. He says good bye to his dying
father and his mother, both of whom he will not see again. Jacob is losing everything in
his life, except for the blessing that he got from his father – even that was intended for his
brother.
One would think that it is about time that he realizes that perhaps scheming is not paying
off for him. But here we find him still at it. When God unexpectedly shows up in his
dream and promises all that Jacob ever wanted, Jacob says, "If God will be with me and
will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes
to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD [g] will be my God
(verse 20, 21)”, in short, if you do all that you promised, then I will follow you.
Interestingly, God seems aware of where Jacob is at. As he talks to Jacob, He calls
Himself, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac”. He
doesn’t call Himself ‘your God.’ Not yet. It will take 20 years, a journey to the land of
Haran and to come back for Jacob to be at a place where he is “twice born”, a
transformative experience triggered by a failure, a crisis, or a season of suffering that
profoundly marks your soul like a trial by fire. Charles talked about this in his talk,
Confidence with Self-awareness last week at length. (http://rivernyc.org/sunday/archive/ )
A few observations about being “twice born”. First, experiencing hardship doesn’t
guarantee transformation. Look at Jacob. He has gone through a terrible time in his life
and ended up running for life. But he doesn’t have that “limp” yet. He is still trying to
scheme and bargain his way out of his jams. He is not ready to face his limits or admit
that life is bigger than him.
It is very possible to go through hard things of life without any transformation, just with
scars, or worse an open wound that persists and doesn’t heal. I have seen both; those
who get transformed and become greater by their trials and those who don’t. Jacob has to
go on longer trying to scheme his way through life before he realizes that life is bigger
than him and he needs help from God and others, and it’s not about his scheming.
But at the same time, something has happened. It is not a complete transformation but
maybe the beginning of the journey toward transformation, to become ready to have the
second birth. God spoke and Jacob engaged with Him.
This brings us to another thought; we cannot choose to be born the second time just as we
couldn’t the first time. It seems pretty certain that life will bring hardships, losses,
sorrow, failures and disappoints. But when and how it will come, and whether we will be
transformed is out of our control. It comes by the grace of God.
If that is true, then how shall we prepare for our journey? How will we know to start the
journey when the invitation to be transformed comes as Jacob’s did? How shall we live
so that when the death and resurrection of the cross comes to us, we will not resist?
For Jacob, the good thing he did was to engage God. Perhaps we can engage God by
asking ourselves a few questions. Let me suggest a few below.
1. To learn from failures and disappointments it seems important that we face and
acknowledge them first. Are there failures and disappointments that you have
experienced recently or keep going back to?
2. How did I respond to it?
3. What does God say about it?