We have to walk through the reality to come into the vision!
In yesterday’s blog we saw how God not only kept but increased His sons/servants in adversity. I want to take a closer look at this in part of Jacob, the Patriarch’s life.
God orchestrated Jacob’s life (his name means the schemer/plotter), so that after stealing his older brother’s blessing he had to flee to his uncle Laban and seek a wife. So his journey (our lives are journeys, not destinations!) began and he stopped for the night with a stone pillow and had a dream about heaven, angels and the Lord speaking to him;
“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your the descendants the Land (Land of God’s Promise) on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the Earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east to the north to the south. All peoples on Earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you where ever you go and I will bring you back to this Land. I will not leave you until I have done to you”. Genesis 28:13, 14, 15
This was the vision God gave Jacob at the beginning of his journey, alone and away from his family and all he knew. God works with us all individually (not like other religions), He has a personal plan created in eternity for us on earth and it may mean coming apart onto Him. On a personal note, a mature apostle gave me Genesis 28:15 back in 1993 and I’ve gone through some good times and some tough times until today.
At the other end of the journey, Jacob left Laban without telling him and began his return to Canaan. Laban caught up with Jacob, but God warned Laban not to ‘say anything to Jacob’. Gen 31:29 Jacob recounts his time with Laban;
“I have been with you for 20 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 20 years I was in your household. I worked for you 14 years for your two daughters and 6 years for your flocks and you changed my wages 10 times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Issac, 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”. Genesis 31:38-42
God is not in a hurry in the refining process, Jacob spent 20 years in this situation. As I said, we’re only looking at this one part of Jacob’s life. God continues to work with us and mould us for His purposes and our destiny.
What if we don’t endure the full process? In Jeremiah 18, God told the prophet to go to the potter’s house and watch him. The potter reshaped a vessel into a different pot because it was marred. ‘ O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does’? Jer 18:6 God can and does change what He wants for us, but our response should always be “Yes” to His work in our lives.
Jacob had to endure God’s Process to live in His Promise.
God bless and keep you today.