Author: Josh King

Because of sin our ears are broken such that we more easily hear a whispered lie than shouted truth.  We look to circumstances and not covenant as the gauge of God’s love.   Our car rather than the cross tells us of God’s love.  The car breaks down , the whisper “He doesn’t love you” is heard, and our heart cries, “why?” 

The “biggest” word in this whole narrative is the first one, “Then…”.  This takes us back to the divine encounter in chapter 28.  “Then” has not only chronological, but also theological significance for God has just promised to be with Jacob and keep him wherever he goes (Genesis 28:15).  This means that everything in this narrative, both halves of it, are expressions of God’s love and covenant faithfulness; both the first half in which everything delightfully seems to be falling into place, and the second half where everything in God’s discipline is seemingly falling apart.  In fact the second half is saturated with more of God’s love than the second.  God will sovereignly use a sinner to sanctify His saint, and He is loving in doing so.

If you are in Christ, God’s only stance towards you is love.  It is wild, radical, uncompromising, unfailing love, but it is love.  It will tolerate no toxic sin in you.  His discipline is an expression of His love, not His wrath.  Do not despise His discipline, esteem it (Hebrews 12:5-11).  It is not pleasant in itself, but one day the night of chastening will end, and the morning will dawn with you discovering that you look a little more like God for He disciplines us unto holiness, and holiness is the greater happiness.  Oh how good it is for us to be afflicted (Psalm 119:67, 71, 75)!

How is it that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:31-39)?  Jesus also, more than Jacob, relentlessly and joyfully pursued a bride.  In His quest for her he deals not simply with some wily Laban.  Sure Satan is the accuser of our souls, but he is not the owner.  He will be defeated, not paid in this transaction.  If Jesus simply had to pay Satan the cost might be cheap.  Oh, what Christ would pay for His bride!  God must purchase us… from Himself.  We stand under His wrath, and He would have us stand under His love and He will compromise none of Himself in order to transport us (Romans 3:24-26).  Justice must be satisfied, His glory manifested, His name honored.  No mere 7 years of labor, but the wrath of God was suffered on the cross for this bride.

May you hear the shouts of God’s covenant love over the whispers of circumstances.

I too was sleeping when God “found” me.  Church was presented to me as an option that morning, “Josh do you want to go to church?”  Why would an eleven year old boy say, “yes”?  God was dealing with my father. There was not a spiritual blip on my radar.  My thoughts likely consisted of sleep, Nintendo, and G.I. Joe.  I’m not sure what my motivation was.  I don’t think it was because I thought church might be “fun”, or that girls would be there. If anything it was simply to please my dad.  I was not seeking God, God was seeking me.  Though I was not converted in this moment, a series of events then began that would lead to my salvation.

C.J. Mahaney was not simply sleeping, he was smoking – weed! No, he was not simply a weed-smoker when he heard the gospel, he was smoking weed when he heard the gospel.

I was smoking pot the first time I heard the gospel.

I am a Christian not because I was worthy or wanting to be saved. No, I wasn’t searching for God.

God came looking for me.

It was 1972.  I was sitting in my bedroom when my friend Bob began sharing with me the simple story of Jesus dying for my sins, a story I had never heard despite growing up in church.

But that night, as I listened, God revealed himself and regenerated my heart. I believed and repented. The cross was for me. Jesus was my Savior.  – In Living the Cross Centered Life

I’ve heard C.J. say that he was not only smoking hash, he was happy doing it.  He was not at that time a miserable sinner.  He loved sin and was enjoying it.

This is the major false premise that ruins “seeker-sensitive” logic. We don’t seek God; God seeks us.

I wasn’t just asleep when God found me, I was dead (Ephesians 2:4-5).

God is the ravenous predator, we are the lucky prey – gloriously and blessedly devoured.

The literary framework of this section is beautiful, the characters in the narrative are not.  Genesis 26:34-35 and 28:6-9 form brackets around the narrative.  They record Esau’s birth to Canaanite and Ishmaelite women.  In between these brackets there are a series of scenes portraying the covenant family.  The family is never all together, they are fragmented.  Scheming and plotting abound, sin is everywhere, no one is untainted.

Isaac is secretive and disobedient to the birth oracle his wife received in Genesis 25:23.  He, like his son, is driven by his appetite.  As Derek Kidner says, “Isaac’s palate governs his heart.”

Rebekah is an eavesdropper.  She manipulates, plots, schemes.  She usurps her husband’s authority.  She has good ends in mind but seeks to accomplish those ends with sinful means.

Jacob goes along with his mother’s plot.  He succumbs to her pressure to sin.  As a 40 year old man he is commanded by his momma.  Initially he seems resistant, but it is not the morality of the plot, but the feasibility of the plot that causes his hesitation.  In the midst of his deception one lie leads to another and he blasphemes (27:20).

If you are tempted to sympathize with anyone it is Esau.  This shows us our wickedness.  You must come to Esau in context.  First, we have seen that Esau has no right to the birthright/blessing by Divine order; God has chosen Jacob (Malachi 1:2-3).  Second, Esau has sold his birthright (25:29-34), and although distinct, the birthright and blessing are inseparably linked.  Thus the blessing is now doubly not his.  Third, he marries Canaanite wives, making his parents miserable.  Fourth, here he is breaking his vow to Jacob.  Fifth, he is unrepentant and blames Jacob wholly for losing his blessing when he was only cheated once, and only cheated out of that which was already doubly not his.  Sixth, his unrepentant attitude toward sin leads to bitterness and hatred and intended murder.  This is the guy we want to sympathize with?  And indeed we should.  We sympathize with Esau not because we also are innocent and cheated, but because we also are wicked and stupid.

Where is the hero in this Jerry Springer drama?  He is behind the curtain.  And all the sin in the covenant family does not thwart his purposes, it only accomplishes it.  He will discipline His people, sin has consequences, yet His covenant love carries on.