Hosanna Restoration Church

I don’t believe there has been anyone except Jesus who can honestly say that they have never doubted God. And in Jesus case, some would say His statement on the cross about God forsaking Him would qualify as doubt. For the sake of this writing, I am just going to go with the fact that doubt is more active than we would like it to be and hope that we can doubt less.

Here we are with Jacob who had a revelation of God as he slept on His stone pillow. He worked for his uncle and because he did not pay attention he got the wrong the wife, then he got the wife he wanted. For the record I do not believe God ever wanted any multiple marriages and certainly not same sex marriage. God blessed and prospered him and then God told him to go back to the land of his fathers and He would be with him.

Did you ever notice how some things with Jacob took a long time to change. He was crafty in the way he got his brothers blessing and birthright. Still He was the one who God favored. His uncle tried to cheat him out of his pay with the goats, but Jacob was a little crafty too. Still He was the one that God favored. And now, God tells him to go home and He will be with him, and Jacob still doubts.

Since it was God’s idea in the first place, did he really need to sneak away from his father-in-law? Probably not, but he was fearful, and that is doubt. Once again, God covers for him and warns Laban to be careful what he says to Jacob. Do you know that God loves you so much that people should be careful even about what they say to you or about you? Certainly Jacob should have been pretty pumped and encouraged that God covered him in his escape, but still he puts up a pillar of rocks as witness to their promise not to harm one another. Another of those customary things, just in case God can’t handle it. Still, reminders are good!

Now Jacob gets ready to move on, and angels of God come to meet him. Wow! I guess God is with him for sure. Certainly he could have no more doubts. But wait, his messengers tell him that his brother is coming with 400 men and Jacob must think the angels of God are no match for them. He prays and reminds God of His promise and then proceeds to figure out a way to appease his brother. This costs him a bunch of time, energy, and expense as he gives away things He does not need to give away. Finally he stays in camp alone and ends up wrestling with God and won’t let God go till he gets blessed. Give me a break. He had already received blessings and promises, how was it going to get better because he wrestled God. God must have been playing with Him. He knew Jacob well enough to know that even though Jacob sought God, he still liked to work things his own way and God was willing to work with Him I guess. God left him with a little reminder of this wrestling match. I wonder if Jacob ever thought it would have been easier to just trust rather than wrestle.

I can see myself in some of this, how about you. We have promises from God and we doubt. God does marvelous things for us and we doubt. God provides for us once and we doubt that He will do it again. We pray and then waste time, energy, and finances trying to make it come to pass. God help us to overcome our doubting and our wrestling, and just trust you. God always gets done what he promises. He did for Jacob and He will for us.