Jacob’s Story

“Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.  This is the account of Jacob.”  (Gen. 37:1)

For some reason, the first verse of Genesis 37 popped out at me this time around.  I always thought this was Joseph’s story, but there in plain letters it states that the account is about Jacob.  So I went ahead and read, then came back and pondered the events from Jacob’s point of view. 

Life hadn’t treated Jacob quite the way he had expected.  After stealing the firstborn birthright and blessing from Esau, he fled from home to find refuge with his uncle Laban.  Although he admittedly mixed deceit with a growing faith, Jacob spent 20 years laboring for his uncle and emerged richly blessed with wives, children, flocks, and great possessions.  His trickery got him into trouble again, though, and again he found himself fleeing.  After reconciling with Laban and then Esau, followed by an incredible encounter with God, Jacob must have thought perhaps the tide of his life was turning.  He would soon be home, back in Canaan, in the land of promise.  Then his beloved Rachel died.  He made it home in time to see his father but then Isaac died, too.  With his heart full of grief, his eyes must have turned to his sons.  There, he saw the beginning of God’s promises truly being fulfilled.  After two generations of infertility issues, twelve boys must have seemed like a good start to becoming a great nation. One in particular made his eyes light up.  The land of promise stretched out all around.  Surely life’s twists were over, and he could begin to live happily ever after.

However, things weren’t going so well with the boys.  Jealousy, sibling rivalry, and plenty of dysfunction abounded.  One thing led to another, and with Joseph’s apparent death, the remaining joy of Jacob’s life was gone. 

How many of us can identify with Jacob’s life?  We stumble through our youth, making mistakes that we carry with us into the rest of our lives.  Yet holding onto God, we see evidence of His presence and grow in our faith.  Life takes its twists and turns, but we begin to know the presence of God and see glimpses of promises being fulfilled.  Encouraged, we think the worst is over.  Then something hits us so hard it takes our breath away and wonder what is left to live for.  How could God ever redeem this?

Or maybe, for others, a lifetime of wrong choices finally turns around when we become a Christian.  Confident in God’s work and word, we expect our problems will quickly be worked out, all to the glory of God.  Instead, things go from bad to worse.  How can this be?

What Jacob couldn’t yet see was the real end to the story that was still being written.  If his sons had continued on their current path the outcome could have been a third generation of warring nations (Isaac vs. Ishmael, Jacob vs. Esau) but God had other plans in mind.  This would be the generation that would develop into the promised nation, but not if differences could not be worked out, and not if the entire family perished in the coming famine.  And as we learned last Sunday, this family could not solve the problems they were having.  There was a Savior yet to come.

Doesn’t this give us hope as well?  We know the truly happy ending of Jacob’s story, but we can’t see the end of our own.  How will God redeem the work He is doing in our lives and in the lives of those around us?  The Savior is coming, and our story…His story…won’t be over until He has had His final word.  We can’t control the outcome, but we can trust Him to fulfill every promise.

by Leah

Tags: hope, Jacob, Joseph, trusting God