If you’re a Green Bay Packers fan, then the best thing about the Super Bowl this year (2011) was the Packers win! The next best thing was some of the commercials. Here’s one of my favorites – Junior Darth Vader. (Show the Volkswagen Passat: Young Darth Vader video from http://msn.foxsports.com/video/shows/super-bowl-commercials-2011 about a young boy dressed as Darth Vader, who tries unsuccessfully to use his “super powers” until his father intervenes and starts the car with a remote unbeknown to the boy.)
This little guy reminds me of those who think they have some sort of power or ability to make things happen, when all along it is their Father in Heaven who has the real power.
It was like we saw Jacob doing last week, depending on a silly mating scheme to get rich, when all along it was God who prospered him. The only thing he got from his scheme was frustration and pain.
Well, this week, we’re going to see Jacob at it again. Only this time, instead of searching for success and prosperity, he is looking for security and protection for himself and his family.
Now, that’s a worthy goal. Every husband and father wants to protect his family. But the question is: How do we find that protection? How do we find real security for ourselves and those we love?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 31, Genesis 31, where we see Jacob trying to protect is family.
Genesis 31:1-2 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been. (NIV)
Laban had become hostile to Jacob, jealous of his success.
Genesis 31:3-9 Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young. So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me. (NIV)
Jacob finally recognizes the source of his success. It was GOD who prospered him, not his elaborate mating scheme. He continues…
Genesis 31:10-13 “In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’” (NIV)
Jacob tells his wives, “I’ve met with God. He’s the one who helped me succeed. Now, he wants me to leave,” which they agree to do.
Genesis 31:14-16 Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.” (NIV)
There is no love lost between Laban’s daughters and him. They feel like he’s sold them like slaves and squandered all the money he received for them, so they’re ready to go too.
Genesis 31:17-21 Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead. (NIV)
Even though God had told them to go, Rachel and Jacob feel like they need additional security for their trip. Rachel steals her father’s idols, just in case Jacob’s God is not strong enough to protect them. & Jacob resorts to deceit again. Literally, the Hebrew says, “He stole Laban’s heart,” which in the Old Testament is the seat of understanding. In other words, by not telling Laban what he was doing, Jacob stole valuable information from Laban, which would have helped him better understand the situation. Well, what does it get them? Nothing but trouble.
Genesis 31:22-23 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. (NIV)
Laban is in hot pursuit ready to kill! That’s why he takes all his relatives with him. It’s an army, designed to kill Jacob and take everything back. Jacob’s lie didn’t protect his family. It only made things worse! As a result, God Himself has to intervene.
Genesis 31:24 Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” (NIV)
God warned Laban not to harm Jacob in any way, not even with his words. It’s the only way Jacob got away from Laban alive! Derek Kidner, in his commentary on Genesis says, “It was only by divine prospering and protection that Jacob brought anything, even his life, back from exile.”
Genesis 31:25-30 Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps? You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. You have done a foolish thing. I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?” (NIV)
Laban is mad, because Jacob deceived him, but also because his idols are gone.
Genesis 31:31 Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. (NIV)
Jacob lied because he was afraid. He was looking for security in dishonesty. Now, this is probably the first honest thing Jacob said to Laban in 20 years. He continues…
Genesis 31:32 But if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods. (NIV)
You see, Rachel deceived her husband. As he withheld information from Laban, she withheld information from Jacob, and it just might get her killed.
But that’s the way lies work. They don’t protect us; they endanger us. Jacob’s lie didn’t protect him or his family, and our lies don’t protect us either. On the contrary, they only make matters worse. A lie always comes back to bite us, even if it’s not an out-and-out lie, but just the withholding of certain information like Jacob and Rachel did here.
In the cold war days, there was an old joke about the United States and the Soviet Union who were the only two participants in a race. In the race, the United States came in first and the Soviet Union came in last. But when the Soviet press reported it, they declared, “The Soviet Union achieved a 2nd place finish with the United States coming in second to last.”
The words themselves were accurate, but misleading because important information was withheld. The Soviet press did not report that there were only 2 participants in the race.
My friends, a lie is a lie is a lie even if our words are accurate. If we withhold information with the intent to mislead, then we have lied and it will get us into trouble. So…
DON’T TRUST IN A LIE for protection, even if it is a little white lie.
Don’t defend your self with any kind of a deception. Don’t rely on any falsehood as a foundation for your security.
Now, very few people actually start their day with the intention of telling a big, bold lie. Usually, we find ourselves slipping into a lie out of convenience. Maybe we feel a little white lie will serve us better than the truth, or we’re afraid that the truth just might hurt us a little.
Louis Upkins, in his book Treat Me Like a Customer, talked about a company that conducted 3.8 million background checks on people applying for jobs. They found that more than half of them lied on their resumes. These were people that thought a little, white lie was necessary to get a good job, especially in this tough economy. They were looking for financial security, depending on a lie to get it.
Just a few years ago (2006), Duke University concluded a massive study involving nearly 70,000 U.S. college and high school students. In that study, 70 percent of the students admitted to cheating. That was a 14% increase since 1993 and a 44% hike since 1963. A separate poll of 25,000 high school students found that nearly half agreed with the statement, “A person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to succeed.” (“Culture Clips,” Plugged In, June 2006, p.2; www.PreachingToday.com)
They too are looking for security in a lie, but that rarely works long-term. Oh, there might be a short-term avoidance of trouble like Jacob had running away from Laban. But in just 10 short days, Laban caught up with him and wanted to kill him.
No, a lie just doesn’t work to bring the security we’re looking for. So why not try honesty and integrity. It might be scary at first; but in the long run, we’re far better off.
In 1912, Leon Leonwood Bean started a mail order business in Greenwood, Maine, by selling a hunting boot with a money-back guarantee. However, defects in the design led to 90 percent of them being returned. Making good on the guarantee could ruin his fledgling business, but Leon kept his word, corrected the design, and continued selling the boots. Today, L.L. Bean is one of the largest mail-order companies in the United States, in large part because it has continued the tradition of treating its customers with integrity. (Louis Upkins Jr., Treat Me Like a Customer, Zondervan, 2009; www.PreachingToday.com)
If you want real security for yourself and your family, then don’t trust in a lie. More than that…
DON’T TRUST IN AN IDOL.
Don’t depend on a false god to protect you. Don’t rely on any lifeless deity to keep you safe.
That’s what Rachel did, and it didn’t work for her. Remember, back in verse 19, she stole her father’s household gods just in case Jacob’s God was unable to protect her. In addition, these gods also gave her the right to claim her father’s inheritance. They would at least bring her some financial security if nothing else, but they only brought her trouble. They were worthless deities as becomes very clear in the story.
Genesis 31:33-35 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent. Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” So he searched but could not find the household gods. (NIV)
Rachel in menstruating all over these idols, rendering them unfit and unclean (Leviticus 15:20), good only for the burn barrel or the garbage dump. They didn’t bring her any protection at all. They only brought her trouble, bringing the wrath of her father down upon her. And now They are shown to be absolutely worthless.
And the same thing happens to us when we depend on anything but God for our security. We find that that thing is at best worthless, and often harmful to our well-being.
Craig Larson, editor of PreachingToday.com suggests it’s like having a toxic asset. The recent economic crisis (of 2009) has made most of us aware of that concept, because that’s what caused a lot of banks to fail in the last couple of years. Toxic assets are loans in which the collateral used to secure the loan is worth less than the amount of the loan. Normally, banks want people to owe them money and pay off the loan with interest. Most banks consider loans an asset, but when the housing market fell, and people owed more on their houses than the house was worth, those assets became liabilities. Banks called them “toxic assets,” because the so-called asset was harmful to their bottom line.
The same kind of thing can happen in life. Anything we consider an asset can become toxic if it hurts us in life. Sins of the flesh obviously fall in that category. Some people view pornography or take illegal drugs because they find it pleasurable. They think they’re assets, but the opposite is true. Such pleasures destroy people and their families.
Now, those things are easy to identify as “toxic,” but a house or a car can be a toxic asset if it takes over your life and pushes God to the side. A job can be a toxic asset. Money, education, family and friends, physical beauty – all these things can be great assets to you unless you allow them to take God’s place in your life. But when you live for them, or when you put your trust in them for your sense of security, they become toxic assets. They destroy you spiritually, mentally and emotionally, and they never provide the security you are looking for anyway.
I love the story Bernie May, Wycliffe missionary since 1954, tells of the years he spent in Peru flying over the Amazon jungle in a single engine airplane. At the urging of a friend, he always carried a gun for protection.
He says, “I kept the pistol for ten years. Whenever I had to spend the night in the jungle, I would unwrap it and keep it in my hammock. I never needed it. In fact, I never fired it. But it gave me a great sense of security. I knew if I were attacked by a savage jungle cat, or if a huge anaconda or boa constrictortried to squeeze me to death, I was protected.”
Then, after ten years, he was assigned to the United States where later he became Wycliffe’s USA director. But before leaving Peru, Bernie resolved to shoot the pistol just once.
He placed a tin can on a stump outside his house, backed away a few feet, took aim and squeezed the trigger, but all he heard was a “click” as the hammer fell on a dead shell. He tried it again – another “click.” A third time – a third “click.” In fact, every shell in the magazine was bad.
“Disgusted,” he says, “I went back into the house and got the extra box of bullets. One by one, I loaded them into the chamber. All I got was clicks. Fifty clicks… Every shell was a dud. For ten years I had put my trust in a gun that wouldn’t shoot.” (Bernie May, In Other Words, March 1990, p.8)
That’s the way it is when we put our trust in anything other than God, whether it’s a gun, our money, or even our relationships. At best, they prove to be useless sources of security just like any other idol. At worst, they can bring serious harm to you and your family if they take the place of God in your life.
So if you’re looking for real security, then don’t trust in a lie, and don’t trust in an idol. Instead…
TRUST IN THE LORD.
Rely solely and completely upon God. Look to him and him alone for your security. That’s a lesson jacob is beginning to learn. Look at him as he finally levels with Laban.
Genesis 31:36-41 Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “What sin have I committed that you hunt me down? Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us. “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. (NIV)
This is the first time in 20 years Jacob has told the truth to Laban. Before this, all Jacob did was resort to deceit and manipulation to get what he thought he deserved. Now, he is finally being honest; and now, he finally acknowledges the true source of his success and security.
Genesis 31:42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.” (NIV)
Jacob now knows that it was God who protected and provided for him all those years, and he begins to look to God to protect him in the future.
Genesis 31:43-47 Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.” So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. (NIV)
Both of those words mean “witness heap.” In other words, they are calling on God to witness the covenant they are about to make, and they are depending on Him to protect them from each other.
Genesis 31:48-49 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah (which means watchtower), because he said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. (NIV)
I’ve seen this on greeting cards, but this is no greeting you want to receive. In its context, Laban is saying, “I don’t trust you, so I’m going to ask God to keep an eye on you when I can’t.”
Genesis 31:50-54 Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there. (NIV)
Jacob is beginning to fear God more than people. He worships God, and then he eats with his relatives. This meal seals the covenant between Jacob and Laban, because those who eat together in this Middle Eastern culture are bound never to bring harm to one another.
Genesis 31:55 Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home. (NIV)
Laban went home with a kiss and a blessing, and Jacob learned that true security comes from God, not from deceptive schemes.
It’s a lesson we need to learn, as well. Our true security comes from God and God alone, so we must learn to trust Him. Don’t trust in a lie. Don’t trust in an idol. Trust in the Lord. Then and only then will you be truly secure.
Five-year-old Jessica became a bit frightened as lightning flashed and thunder cracked just as she was stepping out of the bath tub before going to bed. The lights began to flicker as she was getting into her pajamas. She remembered other times when they had to light candles after the electricity had gone out. This time, she asked if she could “please sleep in mommy’s room.”
Then, before kissing her mom good-night, she prayed: “Dear God, I hope it doesn’t thunder and I hope the light don’t go out.” She paused briefly, then she continued, “But I thought it over, and you can do what you want. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
That’s what it means to trust God. It’s letting Him do whatever He wants with my life, my family, and my business. And whenever we do that, whenever we turn it all over to Him, trusting Him to do what’s best, then and only then do we find true peace.
