Genesis Series #55 July 28, 2002
Title: 5 Ways That God is Active in His People’s Lives Part 2 of 3
Email: pastorsarver@yahoo.com
Website: www.newlifeinchrist.info
Welcome to New Life in Christ. Today we continue with message #55 in our verse-by-verse study of the Book of Genesis.
Read Genesis 29:31-30:23
Opening Prayer
Two weeks ago I shared on Genesis 28:10-20 which deals with Jacob’s dream of a stairway reaching to heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. I pointed out that one of the purposes of the dream was to reveal to Jacob and to us that God is actively working even when we are unaware of it. In the dream the Lord promised Jacob that he would be actively working in his life wherever Jacob went. Chapters 29-31 of Genesis are a historical record of God fulfilling this promise. In these chapters we see 5 ways that God was actively working in Jacob’s life and not only in his life but in all of God’s people’s lives today.
There is a new TV show on The Learning Channel station. The show is entitled, "While You Were Out." The premise of the show is that one spouse will secretly contact the shows interior designers and carpenters and arrange for a room in the house to be totally redesigned while the other spouse is at work or on a trip. The unsuspecting spouse, who was away, then returns from work or the trip to discover that his or her spouse has been actively working even though they were totally unaware of it. This in a sense is how God works in our lives. Often we are oblivious to his activity until after the fact, but God has been actively working nonetheless. Last week I shared on two of the 5 ways God actively works in his people’s lives.
1. God actively works in his people’s lives by guiding them.
2. God actively works in his people’s lives by disciplining them.
Now let’s look at the third way God is working.
3. God actively works in his people’s lives by prospering them.
In this passage and the rest of Chapter 30 we see that God prospered Jacob by providing the two most important things that he lacked: children and flocks. God still does the same today for his people but it must be kept in mind that the word "prosper" does not always mean money, wealth, or possessions. God prospers us by providing us with what we need to fulfill God’s plan and promises. Jacob needed offspring and flocks but the Christian today can prosper in other ways. For example, we can prosper in our ministries. We can prosper in our relationship with the Lord. We can prosper by our growth in Christian character. The point is that God is actively working to provide all that we need to fulfill his purposes.
I look back on my own life and can see how God has provided for me. When I first came into full time ministry here in New Life in Christ my salary was $200 a week. It is obvious that this is not enough for family to live on, but God provided in a couple of different ways. First, I had a small amount of funds that came from a stock sharing plan that Publix had provided. This was not much but it was enough to get by for a short time. About the time that this money ran out an administrator/bookkeeping job opened up at the church daycare when Wendy Peterson got married. Since the duties were here at the church, I was able to take that job and continue my responsibilities as assistant pastor and get paid for doing both. By the time the daycare closed Pastor Sid had retired so I had received a pay increase and no longer needed income from the daycare. Here is the point, God provided for every need I had at the appropriate time in ways that I did not anticipate or plan.
3. God actively works in his people’s lives by prospering them.
Now this family looks like great candidates for the Jerry Springer show. Marrying two sisters was not a wise thing to do (Genesis 30:1) and was specifically forbidden later in Leviticus 18:18. Nevertheless God work through this dysfunctional family to produce 11 sons who, along with Joseph two sons, who each counted as half-tribe, would become the 12 tribes of Israel. I believe that the primary lesson of this chapter is that God actively works, even in the worst of situations, to prosper his people, but we also learn some other valuable lessons from the actions of the characters in the story.
One positive standout in this story is Leah. Even though she was not the most beautiful woman, God was going to bless her tremendously. God knew that Leah was not loved by Jacob as she should have been, so he had compassion on her and blessed her with being the mother of six of Jacob’s sons directly, including Levi and Judah, and two more sons indirectly by her maidservant. Even though she never won the affection of Jacob, she did move from an attitude of pity to one of praising God anyhow. In Genesis 29:35 she recognizes God’s blessing on her life despite an unloving husband and said, "This time I will praise the Lord." Genesis 30:17 says, "God listened to Leah" which indicates that Leah was prone to turn to the Lord to seek his blessing unlike Rachel who turned to superstition.
Jacob stands out in the story for his failure to exhibit leadership in his family, the same as Abraham had done with Sarah and Hagar. Jacob is directed by the ploys and plans of his wives (Genesis 30:16) and the end result is a very messed up family. The same thing is true today. When Christian husbands and fathers abdicate the leadership role they have been given by God, then the family will not function correctly.
Rachel may have been beautiful but she lacked the godly characteristics of Leah. Rachel blames Jacob for her barrenness instead of going to the Lord for answers. (Genesis 30:1-3) She also turns to superstition as a means of resolving her barrenness instead of to prayer. This is what this segment concerning the mandrake root in Genesis 30:14-15 is about. Such plants were thought to magically induce pregnancy. Later it is Rachel who steals idols of false gods from her father’s house. (Genesis 31:19) Nevertheless, God in his grace and mercy blessed Rachel with two children her own, one in this chapter and one when they returned to the Promised Land. Keep in mind Rachel had these children as a result of her praying instead of her plotting as it shows in Genesis 30: 22 where is says, "God listened" to Rachel and opened her womb.
God blessed Jacob with many sons and at least one daughter, Dinah. (Genesis 30:21) Jacob may have had other daughters but Dinah is mentioned because she plays a significant role in another story later in Genesis. God has certainly provided Jacob with the offspring that he had promised.
3. God actively works in his people’s lives by prospering them.
Read Genesis 30:25-43
The point of this part of the story is to show us that God can prosper his people even though they may be treated unfairly and deceitfully. This is what happened in this situation. Laban did everything he could to shortchange Jacob, but God still prospered Jacob. It is the same with us. People and Satan will do everything they can to hinder God’s blessings on your life; they will lie, cheat, falsely accuse, slander, and treat unfairly but God will still see that your needs are met and that you prosper in whatever way he intends.
In this story Jacob has worked for 14 years for Laban and still has no property of his own. He decides that it is time to head back home (vs. 25-26) but Laban realizes he will be losing a good thing. Laban had not been too successful until Jacob came along but since that time his prospered greatly. This leads Laban to wonder whether his prosperity was due to Jacob’s presence or due to some other reason, so he uses divination to find out (vs. 27.) Divination is using occultic means to derive information. Reading tea leaves, tarot cards, astrology, and Ouja boards are examples of divination. These activities are expressly forbidden in the Bible (Leviticus 19:26.) It is important to understand that just because the Bible acknowledges a certain behavior does not mean that such behavior is approved of. God will sometimes even use such people’s behavior for his purposes. In this case, God insures that Laban understands that Jacob’s presence is the reason for his prosperity. This leads Laban to strive to keep Jacob in Haran and gives God the opportunity to prosper Jacob despite Laban’s unfair treatment.
Jacob agrees to stay under the condition that every spotted, streaked, or dark-colored animal of the flocks which has already been born or will be born in the future will be given to him as payment for his work. This deal actually favored Laban since usually less than 10 percent of the flock would have fit into these categories. Nevertheless, Laban was a deceptive scoundrel and therefore secretly removed most of Jacob’s animals to a place far away so that Jacob would not be aware of the theft (vs. 34-36.) Laban knows enough about genetics to know that spotted or streaked animals are not likely to be born if the only breeding stock is pure in color.
Jacob has been treated unfairly for 14 years. He finally gets a less than stellar contractual agreement with Laban and then Laban cheats him out what is rightfully his anyways. Despite all this, God prospered Jacob; he will do the same for us!
3. God actively works in his people’s lives by prospering them.
Unfortunately Jacob had a habit of turning to deception and his own resources for a remedy to unfair treatment instead of trusting God to provide. In this case he intends to use superstitious herder’s tricks using striped branches to insure that the flocks produce striped offspring. The idea was that the females would have offspring that were like whatever they were looking at whenever they conceived. The scheme seems to work as the flocks do produce an abundance of streaked and spotted offspring which made Jacob a wealthy man. In Genesis 31:10-12 Jacob is told that in a dream that his prosperity had nothing to do with his ingenuity or schemes but had everything to do with God actively working in his life.
3. God actively works in his people’s lives by prospering them.
Now let’s look at the fourth way God was actively working in Jacob’s life.
Read Genesis 31:1-16
4. God actively works in his people’s lives by prompting them in the right direction.
In other words, God will use various means to encourage us or prompt us to do his will. He will close doors, put the pressure on, and remind us of what his will is for our lives. God’s will for Jacob is to return to the Promised Land. Every sign Jacob gets prompts him in that direction. Jacob learns that Laban’s sons are angry and this inclines Jacob to leave the area. Jacob notices Laban’s attitude has become unfavorable toward him which also prompted thoughts of leaving. Jacob talks all this over with his wives and they agree that their father has acted unfairly and that there’s no reason to stay (verse 14-16.) Jacob also had a dream which God reminded him of his vow to return to Bethel and instructed him to leave at once. All these circumstances and revelations are God’s way of prompting Jacob in the right direction to fulfill his will for Jacob’s life.
4. God actively works in his people’s lives by prompting them in the right direction.
Probably most of us have examples of how God used seemingly bad things to get our attention and prompt us in the right direction. It was only after this church experienced a small split that I was prompted to affiliate with Calvary Chapel. Another example of God using circumstances to prompt us in the right direction is a story that one of our elders Ken Tatje told me. Ken told me that it was only after being unfairly fired from Publix that he pursued the teaching career which was God’s will for his life. The point is that God knows how to get us going in the right direction.
4. God actively works in his people’s lives by prompting them in the right direction.
Leaving Haran was no easy decision since it was very risky. There’s a strong chance that Laban and his sons would interfere and forcefully take Jacob’s wives and children or worse and there was a chance the Esau was still angry and would kill Jacob on his return to the Promised Land. Next week we will see how God actively works in his people’s lives to protect them from such dangers.
Conclusion: God had promised to be with Jacob and he has promised to be with us. We may not always be aware of him but he is actively working in our lives.
1. God actively works in his people’s lives by guiding them.
2. God actively works in his people’s lives by disciplining them.
3. God actively works in his people’s lives by prospering them.
4. God actively works in his people’s lives by prompting them in the right direction.
Closing Prayer
