Introduction
Another year has come and gone. And the last few years have been more than challenging for most. As I look forward to 2022, I am wondering what this year will hold for us. One of the thoughts that comes to mind for this New Year is simply this – God's Plan is Best. What do I mean by this? We are drawing nearer to the return of Jesus Christ year by year. And we know that in the last days of the last days (Acts 2:17), God’s plan and purpose is going to come to fulfilment. We may have plans and purposes that we want to see put into practice; like those who make New Year’s Resolutions. I believe that as we begin 2022, we need to take to heart this key verse, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).
A New Year is often the time we look back and forward at the same time. We look back on our spiritual journey as Christians. We hope to learn from the past and not to make the same mistakes. And we look forward to a New Year and all the possibilities awaiting us. This morning I want to take a brief look at the life of Jacob in the Old Testament and glean some divine truths for us to embrace in 2022.
God’s child – Jacob
The story of Jacob is full of promise and intrigue from the time of his birth. Jacob is the grandson of Abraham who inherited the patriarchal promises to Abraham concerning possession of the land of Canaan. Jacob was to be blessed and be a blessing to all humanity (Gen 12:2–3). He is the third and last of the major patriarchs whose experiences with God form the basis for God’s later identification of Himself as the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Jacob was a twin. His brother Esau was born first, with Jacob grasping his heal. These twin boys would later form two nations that would be at odds with each other. This is spoken of by God in Gen 25:23 - 23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” The struggle between Esau and Jacob continues into adulthood. The story spends no time on the early years of Jacob and Esau’s lives. The birth story is followed immediately by the statement that they grew up, discovered their identities, while being favoured by opposing parents Gen 25:27-28 - “The boys grew up, and Esau became a skilful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” Jacob and Esau grew up in a dysfunctional home, but they were all God’s children.
The story of Jacob acquiring Esau’s birth right is as such. Jacob had cooked a stew, and Esau “came in from the field” (Gen 25:29), exhausted and hungry. When Esau asked for the food, Jacob replied that its price was Esau’s birth right. Esau agreed to sell Jacob his birth right, and Jacob gave him bread and stew. There are times in our lives when we make choices based on our appetites. At other times we let our circumstances dictate our choices. I am sure in the moment of Esau’s choice; he had no concern for any future consequence. This is a very hard lesson to learn as Esau would soon find out.
Genesis 27:1–46 reveals the stealing of Esau’s birth right by Jacob and the trickery of his mother Rebecca. Isaac was old and going blind. Fearing he could die at any time, Isaac asked Esau to hunt wild game and prepare it for him so he could eat and bless Esau before he died. Rebekah was eaves dropping and helped Jacob deceive Isaac by preparing food, having Jacob wear Esau’s clothes, and covering Jacob’s arms with goat skins so they would feel hairy like Esau’s. Their scheme was successful, and Jacob received the blessing, even though Isaac expressed doubts of whether Jacob was really Esau as he claimed. Esau returned, and he and his father discovered the deceit. It was now in Esau’s heart to kill his brother after Isaac’s death, but Rebecca learned of his plan and sent Jacob away to his uncle Laban.
Jacob had stolen Esau’s birth right and now his mother had secured the blessing as well, but God had something planned as well. Isaac, Jacob’s father, agreed that Jacob should go “to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel his mother’s father” (Gen. 28:2). On his way there, Jacob rested his head on a stone. In his dream, he saw a “ladder … and its top reached to heaven” (v. 12). Above the ladder, Jacob saw God and heard Him say, “The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants” (v. 13). He also heard God tell him, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you” (v. 15).
It was there that Jacob worked for Laban. Jacob initially received a warm welcome in his uncle Laban’s household (Gen 29:12–14). But when Laban asked what wage Jacob wanted to receive in exchange for his work for him, Jacob asked for Rachel, Laban’s younger daughter, as a wife in exchange for seven years’ labour. Laban agreed to this arrangement. However, when the time came for Jacob to receive Rachel as wife, Laban deceived him by substituting Leah for Rachel. When Jacob confronts Laban over the deception, Laban offered to let him marry Rachel in exchange for another seven years of labour. Jacob agreed, but his preference for Rachel became an ongoing problem in his family.
The story carries with Jacob becoming the father of the nation of Israel. Jacob had 12 sons and 1 daughter through Rachel, Leah, and their maidservants, Bilhah, and Zilpah. The narrative says that since Jacob did not love Leah, God blessed her with children first (Gen 29:31). Leah bore six of Jacob’s 12 sons. Rachel eventually bore Jacob two sons. Both Leah and Rachel gave their maidservants to Jacob as concubines, and each concubine bore him two sons. As Jacob builds his family, he also is faithfully building up his wealth, which he eventually passes onto his children. There is so much more to Jacob’s story involving his return encounter with Esau, his twelve sons especially Joseph and his eventually journey to Egypt.
God’s Plan is Best
What a good thing for Jacob that in the middle of carrying out his own plans in life, God found him at the right places. God seems to step in at the right time to make sure that His plan is carried out. And God brought the right people into Jacob’s life to produce the offspring and the Nation of Israel. The manipulation to obtain Esau’s birth right had not been the honourable thing to do. The trickery of Rachael and Jacob to steal Esau’s blessing was outright deceitful and sinful. Despite all their sinful actions, God was making sure His plans and purposes were going to be fulfilled in and through Jacob’s life.
I am reminded of our opening Scripture - “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Looking back on our spiritual journey over the years, we will see that at times, we have held on to our own way too much of the time. When we come to the end of ourselves, it is then that God can begin to take charge of our circumstances. We cannot enter the profound truths of God until we relinquish control. God does not need our help in fulfilling His plans and purposes, He needs our obedience. When Jacob came to the end of his plans, God had a better plan. Jacob was a diligent worker, and he would go through any hardship if he could have his own way. In numerous situations, he had his way; all the while, he was ignorant of how gloriously God had saved him from calamity. We must remember that Jacob was to receive the blessings of God and pass them onto his children and his children’s children.
God has a plan beyond anything that we could ever ask for or imagine. He has a plan for each one of us. Our past is never to limit God in our present day, and nothing in our present can limit the blessings of tomorrow. Tomorrow should be filled with holy expectations. Tomorrow is an opportunity to receive God’s blessing. God never intended His people to be ordinary or commonplace. He intended His people to be blessed.
Many things have happened in our lives in the past several years. One of the challenges is not to let those circumstances dictate to our lives. Jacob experienced twenty-one years of wandering, fighting, and struggling. In spite of the challenges, the God of Jacob did not allow his life to be destroyed. He blessed his with children and did not send him away empty-handed.
There is a way that God blessed and establishes His people. In our human planning, we may experience success to a certain extent, but we also undergo tests and trials that at the end of the day, can sour our successes. But when we follow God’s ways, even though it may involve hardship, we are blessed with joy and peace. I realize that through the love of my Father and, intimacy with Jesus and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, there is a refreshing, an inner peace and calm and glow. We find a security in God where you can know that God is with you all the time; He will never leave or forsake us. There is a place of experiencing God’s blessings daily, so that we can pass these blessings to a lost and needy world.
In Conclusion
Here are my takeaways for 2022 considering the life of Jacob. There is good; there is better; but God has a best, a higher standard for us than we have yet attained. Be encouraged:
· You are God’s child…
The promises of God are yours for the taking.
Walk in your God given identity. I am loved. I am appreciated. I am blessed. I am favoured. I am forgiven. I am gifted. I am capable. I am courageous. I am an overcomer.
I could go on and on…
· God’s plan is best…
The life of Jacob was one of struggle and striving on his part. He needed to learn one lesson.
The key here is surrender. Flesh and blood and human effort cannot inherit the kingdom. Let us learn to walk in self-control as a fruit of the Spirit while giving up our wills to God.
Let us allow the grace, the blessing of God to overtake us in our journey with God this year.
We do not know what 2022 will bring. But we do know who is in control. God!
Not our failures or fears. Not our circumstances. Not our struggles. God is in control…