God at Work
1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. —Genesis 28:1-3
God is at work even when the path is tough. Go all the way back to Genesis and you will see this has always been true. The first point to make when we look at the story of any person in the Bible is: God is at work. The Bible is His Word and it’s a record of His work! God is at work right now, right here.
In fact, here’s a verse that describes God’s daily “to do” list: “For the eyes of the Lordrun to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him (2 Chronicles 16:9). His eyes are searching today and He’s asking, “Where’s the person, where’s the one filled with faith in whose life I can work?”
Oh yeah, God is always at work. That’s what Jacob was learning when we catch up with him in Genesis 28. Notice verse 1, “Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him.” Well, you remember Isaac, right? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—the father, son, and grandson God used to start a new nation. Isaac told his son,“You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.”
God sovereignly appointed Jacob, though born second, to get the birthright and the firstborn’s blessing, through whom all the descendants of the nation of Israel would be built. Jacob eventually had twelve sons who fathered the twelve tribes of Israel.
It’s not surprising then that God didn’t want him to have any ordinary random wife. God wanted him to have a treasure, a wife to value and love. So, Isaac sent his son on a road trip: “Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother” (Genesis 28:2).He’s like, “Hey, that place was good enough for your grandfather to find a wife, that place was good enough for me, it’s good enough for you. Why don’t you get over there and get yourself a wife.”
God is working in your life. Deal with it. Trust Him. Always leave room for Him to direct. And when the road gets rough, thank Him for being with you!
Journal
In what areas do I find life unfolding without a lot of hands-on direction from me? How am I trusting God in those parts of my journey?
Father, I realize that You have often steered my life through the counsel and even the commands of others. I appreciate that behind my parents and others in authority in my life, you have often demonstrated control so that afterwards I saw that their directions to me were actually Your directions! Thank You for working persistently, patiently, and so very wisely in my life. I look forward to eternity partly to be able to see all the ways You were working that I never even noticed. But accept my thanks up front! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
