Genesis 28:1-22: When You Hit Rock Bottom
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/1041492941/jens-haaning-kunsten-take-the-money-and-run-art-denmark-blank
Jacob is on the run… Taken the blessing and running… but it doesn’t turn out well. He’s at rock bottom.
Jacob and Esau - a story of fighters - a story of hunters. Brothers fighting against each other. Esau seems like the master hunter, but he falls prey to Jacob. In reality, Jacob is the master hunter. He gets what he wants, but getting what he wants leads to misery. Jacob got what he wanted on his terms, instead of trusting God.
You can relate to Jacob. Always fighting. Always trying to get what you want out of life. Always looking for blessing. You’re always on the hunt… Maybe like Jacob, it hasn’t turned out well for you.
You’ve been on the hunt, and instead of getting what you want, you feel like everything has been taken from you. Maybe you feel like Jacob feels in this passage of Scripture: like your world is falling apart. You feel like you are at rock bottom. BUT… Your rock bottom is not your rock bottom.
If you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom there’s good news. There is a master hunter who’s after your heart. God always get who He wants, and God always gets what He wants.
Your rock bottom is the place of God’s presence.
Your rock bottom is the place of God’s presence.
Jacob on the run… Life hasn’t worked out. He got what he wanted, but it cost him his momma. And… it seemed like it was going to cost him his life. When he left his momma, it was under Esau’s threat to kill him.
Jacob running for his life to Laban, Rebekah’s brother. He has the birthright and the blessing of his father, but what good would it do him if he was dead?
Before Jacob leaves, Isaac tells Jacob not to marry a Canaanite like Esau had done. Isaac blesses Jacob again. Esau continues to marry Canaanite women out of spite. (28:6-9)
Jacob has everything (the birthright and the blessing), but he has nothing - no family - and no real relationship with God. When have we seen Jacob seeking God in the story? Jacob, the one chosen by God to bring carry out God’s promise to Abraham, looks nothing like Abe, nor does he look like Isaac. Where’s his faith?
400 mile journey to Laban’s home.It’s dark, and it was the darkest moment of Jacob’s life. Lays his head down on a stone. You know you’re in a bad place when all you have to lay your head on is a rock.
He’s at rock bottom (literally) and at rock bottom God opens up heaven to give Jacob a peak into the heavenly reality. Jacob has been conniving, scheming, deceiving, and running, but God’s been working. Jacob has been fleeing, but God’s been pursuing.
Jacob has been after blessing, but God has been after Jacob’s heart. You’ve been after blessing too, but God has been after your heart.
A ladder? Strange vision… BUT, Jacob had been trying to climb a ladder… He’d been climbing to get what he wanted out of life: blessing.
Trying to do life his way - constantly climbing to get what he wanted -
Climbing for blessing...
Climbing for satisfaction…
Climbing for purpose/significance…
His climbing led to his fall. He couldn’t get up the ladder. Neither can you…
THIS is what life feels like when you try to live life your way: constant climbing AND constant falling.
An amazing vision. Gen. 28 is the reverse image of Gen. 11. Gen. 11 - a tower/ladder the people built - “Look how great we are. We can do it on our own. We’re so great we can even build a tower to God!" Gen. 28 - a stairway to heaven.
This ladder: Angels ascending and descending on the ladder. God’s presence and His messengers surrounding Jacob.
What Jacob did no different than the people of Babel. Gen. 28 - God to Jacob: “Jacob, stop climbing. I’m coming down to lift you up.” God is the master hunter. He comes to us to get us for Himself.
THEN… God speaks to Jacob. Three specific promises: God will be present with Jacob. (He’s not alone.) God will protect Jacob (Good news considering Esau’s out to kill him.) God will accomplish His purpose in Jacob’s life. (Jacob didn’t have to try to get the blessing on his own. God’s plan was to bless him.)
No need for Jacob to climb. Every reason for Jacob to trust and obey.
Jacob wakes up. He’s afraid. He just encountered God for himself. “The Lord is in this place, and I didn’t even know it. This is the house of God!” Jacob’s in the presence of God.
Some of you are climbers. You’re trying to climb your way to the life you want, and you keep falling. You’ve hit rock bottom because you keep doing life your way. God has descended the ladder to bring you to Himself - stop climbing.
Open your eyes and see that God has come down. John 1:51: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angles of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Jesus is the ladder. He is the God who has come to us bringing the presence of God to this broken earth and making a way for us to have a relationship with God. John 14:6. Jesus made a way through His death and resurrection.
What Jacob learned at his rock bottom was that God was present, coming for him. Your rock bottom is the place of God’s presence. He has come for you.
If your rock bottom is the place of God’s presence:
Don’t let despair keep you from seeing the truth. (For some of us, your rock bottom is the place of despair, not the place of God’s presence. You’re miserable, and you’re making all those around you miserable because you choose to stay in misery. Temptation to think: my life can’t get any better. That’s never true. The enemy wants you to think that so you’ll give up.)
Don’t try to get up on your own. (Temptation to think: How can I get myself out of this mess. You doing things yourself is what got you into your mess. God is standing over your right now, reaching down to you.)
Don’t repeat the mistakes that got you to rock bottom. (Temptation to go back to what we know instead of staying close to who we know. Jacob’s making progress, but he’s going to fall some more. How do I not repeat the mistakes? Remember the pain, learn the lesson, apply the lesson.)
Won’t try mac and cheese ice cream… You also won’t try it God’s way...
Your rock bottom is the place where God reminds you of His purpose.
Your rock bottom is the place where God reminds you of His purpose.
When Jacob is at rock bottom God reminds Jacob of his purpose.
Jacob had done life his way, apart from God, but it didn’t change what God wanted to do through Jacob.
Good news: you might be at rock bottom, but your rock bottom experience doesn’t disqualify you from God’s purpose for your life.
Think about it: Jacob will be named Israel. Wandering in the wilderness, Israelites wondering about their heritage, and Moses reminds them of the story of Jacob. “Look where we came from! Wow! God can use anybody to accomplish His purpose.”
And that’s the point… God can take a wretched sinner who has hit rock bottom and change that sinner’s life and use that sinner for His glory. The Messiah came through the family line of Jacob! A scoundrel like Jacob!
Temptation at rock bottom: “No way God could use someone like me.” Truth: You are a prime candidate to be used by God.
God wants to take broken, normal, everyday, messed up people and hold them up and say to the world, “Look what I can accomplish!”
You’re at rock bottom. God is reminding you this morning of His purpose, so:
Since you know God wastes nothing, don’t waste His redeeming grace. God doesn’t look at Jacob’s mess and say, “What a waste. I wasted my time on him.” No, God works in the mess. Since God doesn’t look at you and say, “What a waste...” Don’t waste His redeeming grace.
Such grace God has given you… It would be a waste:
If you choose to NOT let God use you.
If you choose to stay at rock bottom - if you choose to stay the same.
If you choose to not repent of your sin.
If you choose to stay bitter at the world and bitter at God.
Jacob wakes up the next morning, sets the stone upright as a memorial, anointed the stone with oil, and named the place Bethel.
Seems like Jacob gets it. An encounter like this with God should change everything, but then Jacob makes a really dumb statement. “If God will… then I will...” What? God had just revealed His gracious purpose! God should have taken the ladder and hit Jacob on the head.
Jacob essentially saying, “If God comes through for me, I’ll come through for Him.” This is NOT the language of faith. Jacob is a work in progress. He doesn’t get it yet.
But, some of us are bargainers as well. Some of us bargain with God quite often.
If you know God has a gracious purpose for your life, your life can’t be full of if/then statements…
Your life is full of if/then statements....
If God gives me a better financial situation, then I will give more generously.
If God wouldn’t give me so much to deal with in this life, then I could free up some time for ministry ministry in the local church.
If God would give me a more attentive spouse, then I wouldn’t be looking outside my marriage for fulfilment.
If God would give me more loyal friends and family members, then I wouldn’t talk behind their backs.
If God would would give me an easier life, then I wouldn’t be so anxious, and I wouldn’t worry os much.
In other words… we bargain. We say, “If God would just come through for me, then I wouldn’t sin so much. I’d quit running. I’d quit climbing. I’d quit bargaining. I’d finally trust Him.”
What are we thinking? The message of Christianity is that God has already come through for you. He’s already been faithful to you, and He will continue to be faithful to you. He’s faithful to hard-headed Jacob.
Get a new if, then statement. “If God has come through for me in the work of Jesus, then I have every reason to trust and obey.”
Stop climbing. Stop bargaining. Simply live for Jesus. Today, confess your sin to Him. Today, give your life to Jesus OR make a renewed commitment to walking by faith.