[Text: Gen. 29:1-30) “Good Times, Bad Times”

Scripture Intro: Last week we saw Jacob being sent from home to find a wife. On the way, Yahweh came down to him and promised to bless him and be with Jacob no matter what. Now Jacob arrives at his destination and someone cheats Jacob the Cheater. So where is Yahweh?

[Read and pray]

Jacob had just met Yahweh, the God of his fathers, leading into this story and in that encounter he had heard the promises of God to him. Yahweh restated the promises of Land and Offspring to Jacob and we’ll talk about those promises next week and beyond. But Yahweh said to Jacob, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go…. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

And that promise put a spring in Jacob’s step as he left the land of his father with nothing more than the clothes on his back and a staff in his hand. Literally, the opening verse reads, “[Then Jacob lifted up his foot] and came to the land of the people of the east.” Several commentators take “lifted up his foot” to mean that Jacob had a spring in his step, a happy bounce in his walk as he went forward on his journey. The joy of knowing that God Almighty is with you to bless you does that to people.

Like Jacob, God has made promises to us in Jesus – promises of forgiveness, of cleansing, of righteousness, of His very presence with us by His Spirit – and it puts a spring in our step. We can walk out of church or finish studying God’s Word and step into the world with undiminished optimism. And it’s easy to feel God’s presence in the bright times of life when everything seems to be going our way – when the traffic lights are all green on the way up to Raleigh, when you get stopped for speeding but you only get a warning, when your food comes on time at the restaurant, when relationships are peaceful, when work prospers, when finances are good, when emotions are up and the flow of life is going where you want it to go.

But has your optimism ever been diminished? Have there been times in your life (like maybe right now) when those promises, especially of God’s presence with you, seem to have given way like quicksand under your feet? Is God’s Word true when it’s all red lights and traffic jams, when the tax refund becomes taxes owed, when the officer writes you a ticket instead of giving you a warning, when peace in your house is replaced by discord in a moment’s time, when confidence is replaced with fear about the future, when the bills pile up, when the hope of light gives way to deep darkness and doubt. Jacob had that time at the end of this story. And like Jacob, questions must rise up in our hearts, “Where is God? Where is He now that it’s all gone wrong?”

It takes a little more than just this passage to answer those questions, but that’s why God gave us a Story, one big Story, to assure His people that in the bright times and in the darkness, the promises of God to His people are certain. He will always carry us, both in good times and bad. So let’s pick up with Jacobs part in the Story and see the grace of God at work.

With a smile on his face, Jacob comes to the outskirts of Haran and what we see for the next twenty verses is largely the picture of the good times of life. Those are the times when everything seems to be going your way – when it is easy to feel like God is with you and He’s on your side.

Just look at the progression. Jacob not only survives the 550 mile solo trip with nothing but his staff (Genesis 32:10), but he also:

- goes straight to the right place.

- immediately meets the beautiful girl who would become his wife.

- gets to show off for her by moving a gargantuan stone by himself .

- pleases her father who is thrilled to have him around.

- negotiates the perfect work contract – he gets to marry Rachel!

Verse 20 tells us that all of this, especially his love of Rachel, makes the next 7 years fly by for Jacob. That is life going your way!

It is wonderful when God gives us those seasons in life when the blessings are obvious. Like Jacob, we really can enjoy and celebrate those times in life and take them as seasons of refreshment and let them strengthen our faith, seeing how God cares for His people. Jacob had heard God’s promise to be with him and in the next 7 years he felt the closeness of God. That really is a beautiful thing.

It is in those good times that we often learn important lessons about God’s character and hear with joyful ears the Story of what He has done for us on this side of the cross of Jesus – how his life and obedience and death and resurrection is counted as ours and all we have to do to receive him and his benefits is to direct our faith toward Jesus. Through His Word we hear about our adoption as sons and daughters of God. We hear about the promise of God’s presence with us through the Holy Spirit now and the promise of His presence with us in the age to come! Those lessons are often learned in the times of obvious blessing when our ears seem to work better than other times.

But what about when it all goes wrong? What about when your perfect plan, perfect life, perfect family, perfect relationship turns out to be anything but perfect? In Jacob’s terms, where is God when you go to sleep beside Rachel only to find that she is Leah in the daylight?

Things had seemed so perfect for Jacob, but v. 1 might be the first indication that some troubles were on the horizon for Jacob. Moses writes that Jacob “came to the land of the people of the east.” That isn’t the normal designation for the land to which Jacob had come. It’s often called by its proper names, either of the specific cities themselves or Mesopotamia, the name of the larger region. Often, when Genesis refers to the east, it is highlighting the reality that the people of that place are far from Yahweh, not geographically (of course), but in their hearts. So, Jacob arrives in a place where the people, despite how polite they seem, are seeking to live life outside of a relationship with Yahweh their Creator.

And a handful of ironies begin to confront Jacob. The good times disappear as quickly as they arrived.

- V. 15 - First, the promise of God was that “the older (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob).” But now Jacob finds himself serving another man, Laban, who abuses his position over Jacob.

- V. 18, 25 - Second, Jacob had chosen the beautiful younger daughter over Leah, the older (and apparently less attractive) sister. But Jacob learns that the right of the first-born cannot be easily disregarded as he wakes up next to Leah after 7 years of waiting for Rachel!

- V. 25-26 - And finally Jacob, who had deceived his own father, finds himself deceived by his father-in-law in the switching of Leah for Rachel.

If I were in Jacob’s shoes, I think I (like a lot of us) might start questioning whether or not God was actually with me now that everything was starting to go wrong. But it seems as though, over time, Jacob understands that God’s promise to him is still in effect. And it seems to me that Jacob learned from this time that while God is allowing these things to happen to him, the presence of God was a transforming presence to transform Jacob through these dark times.

- Through his service of Laban he learns humility, which is something we’ve not seen in Jacob before.

- Through the older sister, Leah, replacing the younger Rachel, Jacob understands the wrong he did to Esau in taking the blessing through deception.

- Through Laban’s deception, Jacob begins to understand the ugliness of sin and a life of self-service. That lifestyle isn’t compatible with the redemption God is accomplishing through Jacob’s family!

I say I believe he learned these lessons for a couple of reasons. (1) Jacob is respectful even as he asks Laban for the reason for the deception. He’s remarkably restrained for a man who just woke up next to the wrong woman after waiting for seven years. (2) Jacob doesn’t put Leah away. Yes, he still loves Rachel more than her, but he respects Leah’s right to be married first (even if Laban should have told him about that custom A LONG TIME before he did, which, rather conveniently, was AFTER the wedding night).

But most significantly, even though it would be years later, as Jacob reflected on his life he said he wanted to go and worship “…the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” (Genesis 35:3 ESV)

“…the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone,” Jacob said. Even in the east country where the people had no fear of Yahweh, even in the good times when everything went his way, even in the bad times when life itself felt burdensome - yes, in blessing and in blessed discipline for his sin, Yahweh who had promised to be with him…was with him!

For us, like for Jacob, the times of obvious blessing come and go in this life. Seasons of peace give way to trouble. Seasons of light are give way to darkness. But that is not because the favor and blessing of Yahweh have left you. His steadfast love for His people in Christ, people to whom He has made promises, cannot fail and cannot be removed from you. No, in the times of darkness we must hold on to what we have learned in the light and those lessons often become dearer to us in the darkness than they ever were in the light! No, for the people of God, redeemed by Jesus, seasons of obvious blessing are not replaced by curse or punishment, even when we sin. Obvious blessing is simply replaced by hidden providence and loving discipline that, in the end, will be shown to be a part of God’s salvation as well as He draws near to His people.

And how is it that Yahweh can draw near to sinners? He can come near and be with us because he turned his back on His only Son on the cross. Jesus’ cry as he shouldered our sins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” remains the source of your hope. Yahweh is with you in good times and in bad because Jesus experienced abandonment for you. His moment of deep despair has become the bright source of hope and joy for humanity because through it we again have the hope of what we were made for – enjoying the very presence of Yahweh.

And the presence of Yahweh changes everything. From the hope of our adoption, to the motivations for our obedience; from the feeling of acceptance and love that is ours from God in Jesus to the way we look at money and sex and work and everything else – everything changes when God is near.

Everything changes because the presence of God, now experienced through faith in Jesus and belief in the Gospel, is both a comforting and transforming hope. It comforts us because even in the dark valleys of life we take comfort that we have a God who is with us because of Jesus. We are not forsaken in the bad times! Jesus himself says,

(speaking of the Holy Spirit) - “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18 ESV)

And again,

“…Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5 ESV)

And again,

“…I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 ESV)

His presence is a comforting presence, but the presence of God also is a transforming presence as He shows us our sin, like He did for Jacob, so that it can be recognized and abandoned as the death that it is. When God shows you that you are a sinner, you don’t have to be afraid of rejection or resist such immeasurable grace. It is deep love that leads Yahweh to transform His people. Yes, for a little while the discipline is painful but it results in abundant life!

And remember that Jacob was chosen by God BEFORE his sin was being rooted out. This isn’t Jacob getting his life right so that he can be saved! This is God saving Jacob and THEN transforming him – slowly over time – and molding him into a new man, even through the consequences of Jacob’s sin.

Now, don’t hear what I’m not saying. Not all suffering is the result of your sin that needs to be rooted out. (Repeat) But it’s not as if God is unable to act in those circumstances for some reason. When Paul writes, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 ESV), notice that he does not call all things good. He says God takes all things – even horrible, hurtful, bad things, things that are our own fault and things that are the result of living in a sinful world – and he WORKS in them and turns them into salvation for us in the end.

(Pause) There is a “gospel” that says life for believers is everything sunny all the time. It says if you only work up enough faith, if only you perfectly obey the Lord, then God will bless you with everything you could ever want and the trials of life others face will not be yours.

That is a lie.

The true Gospel is that Jesus came to live and die and live again because we will always be in need of a Savior, from the first moment as an infant Christian right on through eternity. Through good times and bad, through light and darkness, through obvious blessing and hidden providence, you have a God in Jesus who graciously gives men the ability to rest in Jesus so that God and men can be together once again.

So, when the times are good, don’t get confused and forget the Source of blessing! When Israel entered into the Promised Land and all of their enemies melted in front of them, they entered into a time of peace and rest and blessing as all of life, spiritually and physically, flourished through the blessing of Yahweh. But they grew fat and happy and forgot that their blessing was really in the presence of Yahweh with them. Beware of the danger of being comfortable.

But you, who sit in darkness, remember that a Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Jesus has broken into this world and he has made promises to you. Though you can’t see him right now, believe the promise that Jesus gave to you saying, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He will carry you safely to the end of this season and to the end of this age into the fullness of your redemption when you see him face to face and you are with him (and he is with you) forever.

Transition to the Lord’s Supper:

So, in what situation are you truly alone? In what situation does your faithful Savior not shoulder the burden that you bear? Do not believe the lie that you are alone – that is not how Jesus deals with you! In the good times and in the bad times Jesus has won for you the presence of God. That is the reality that we celebrate in this meal!

Before us is the visible, tangible proclamation of the Good News that through his death, Jesus has opened the way for God and man to enjoy each other’s presence forever. How gracious of him to illustrate that reality for us in a meal – God and men sitting down together at table – the universal sign of love and acceptance and fellowship. In this feast Jesus draws you to himself repeating the words he spoke on earth, promising to be with you in good times and bad, to keep you in him, to cover over your sins with his blood and perfect love. If you welcome Jesus and believe his promises with a heart of faith, then take this bread (tearing off as much grace as you need) and take this cup and let Jesus’ own Spirit strengthen you and nourish you for whatever times the Lord has in store for you.