What stood out the most to me was that Jacob is now called Israel because he struggled with God and men…and had overcome both. Do we sometimes struggle with God and/or men? I know I do struggle sometimes with both. I pray that I could have more faith and be more patient with God’s time. Also, I hope that I am able to be more graceful and forgiving to men on a common foundation that God has laid down for men.
I wanted to also note that Jacob was afraid of Laban and Esau. Jacob was scared that Laban would take his wives away by force. Jacob was scared that Esau was coming out with the four hundred men to attack. In the circumstances I would be scared too. Consider Jacob was not physically a strong man or fighter. The most important thing was that Jacob HAD a RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. God always provides your needs!
Have a great night,
Sandj
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Gen 31-33
ReplyDelete-31:27 At this point Laban is concerned that Jacob deceived him? And he says he would have sent them off joyfully? I believe he was still deceiving at this point.
-31:49 the "Mizpah" may the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other - just funny how often Scripture is pulled out of context and used for commercial purchases - I've seen this verse used on broken heart lockets that a couple keeps each side of it. Funny to think the verse was between a father-in-law and son-in-law with so much previous deception between them, and the covenant was to say that they would stay apart from each other and not harm each other. Doesn't sound quite so romantic anymore.
-32 Jacob showed great humility in how he approached Esau
-33 Definitely would rather be Rachel than one of the maidservants - stick me up front to meet the crazy brother while your "favorite" wife brings up the rear, great.
Thanks for the great thoughts! I'm going to bed earlier tonight, thank goodness! :)