When God is "in your face."

October 30, 2020 (Friday)

 

Jacob’s return to the Promised Land was intense with emotions. He had to deal with his uncle Laban and the possibility of being attacked by his brother Esau. God seems to have protected him. It was also spiritually intense. God sends angels, wrestles with Jacob, and begins to appear to him on a regular basis. It's a time when God is in Jacob's face.

 

“After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.” [Genesis 35:6 NIV] God reinforces Jacob’s name change from “deceiver” to Israel (“God fights” or “struggles with God”). God then reveals Himself, His character, through another name. “Then God said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Be fruitful and multiply. You will become a great nation, even many nations. Kings will be among your descendants!” [Genesis 35:14 NLT]

 

God then promised the newly named Israel that he would father a large group of nations, the land promised to Abraham, and most importantly kings. I think this is a shadow of the coming of THE King of Kings. All this happened at “Bethel” (house of God) where Jacob first saw the ladder (stairway) to heaven.

 

Rachel’s bitter character is once again realized. Dying in labor, she curses her son. “Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named the baby Ben-oni (which means “son of my sorrow”). The baby’s father, however, called him Benjamin (which means “son of my right hand”).” [Genesis 35:18 NLT] How would you like to be called “killed your momma?” Jacob changes the name to a blessing and loves Benjamin.

 

Kind of like us, eh? We go through life cursed. We may not like it. We certainly don’t want it. But sin’s curse is actively working and the “god” of this age is aggressively blinding us. Let’s face it, we prefer darkness rather than light because our deeds are “evil.” If you think they are not, you are calling Jesus a liar.

The devil keeps us blind to the reality of our lost condition. He uses innuendos (if He were...) to wage a campaign of character assassination against God's plan. Name calling (drunk, glutton, friend of sinners, demon) falls into this lying character. All to keep us from the only one who can save us and change our name, character, and eternal destiny. Jesus.

 

Despite this intense spiritual time, family drama is never far from Jacob. He has established the pattern, now it continues with his sons. “While he was living there, Reuben had intercourse with Bilhah.” [Genesis 35:22a] The irony here is his brothers Simeon and Levi had just slaughtered an entire city for similar behavior against their sister.

 

At this point the story shifts to Joseph. We will pick up on his drama next time.