RTW January 10

If God Be With Me

Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the LORD will certainly be my God.”   Genesis 28:20-21

 

 

 

My Takeaways

Something Old

Don’t try to make deals with God. Obviously Jacob is living up to his name:
Supplanter – One who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another (schemer)

Something New

At the top of the stairway stood the LORD, and he said, “I am the LORD, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” Genesis 28:13-15

There is a great contrast between God’s promise and Jacob’s vow. One is totally God-centered; the other is terribly man-centered.

God’s promise (Genesis 28:13-15):

  • I am the LORD God.
  • I will give to you.
  • I am with you.
  • I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken.

Jacob’s vow:

  • If God will be with me.
  • And keep me.
  • In this way that I am going.
  • Give me bread and clothing.
  • So that I come back to my father’s house.

How much better if Jacob had prayed like this: “Because You promised to be with me, to keep me, to provide for all my needs, and to bring me back to the land which you swore to give to my fathers and to me, I will be completely Yours, God.” ~ David Guzik

Something to Do

Declare “Because You promised to be with me, to keep me, to provide for all my needs, and to bring me back to the land which you swore to give to my fathers and to me, I will be completely Yours, God” for 2017.

 

 © RTW is a membership Online Bible study. The material is copyrighted and intended for the sole use of RTW members. Materials are not available for reprinting or distribution. All video teachings are intended for the sole use of RTW members. They are not available for copy and distribution on of any kind. Thank you.  All Rights Reserved.

7 Comments

  1. LET us receive God’s provision and honor Him in obedience – an obedience that is built on this confidence – He is always with me – He provides – He is Lord

  2. Something Old
    Genesis 28:16. “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it.” Jacob said this and he went on to try to make a conditional agreement with God. How often in my own Christian journey have I forgotten and been unaware that the Lord is IN THIS PLACE. He is with me in the situation I am in. He is with me in the good times and the bad. He is with me in the loss and in the gain. He is over all and around all and before and after all. And yet I frequently live my life as if He were not. It is not intentional. I have done my prayer time. I have even talked with Him often, perhaps throughout the day, but then the “problem” looms large and it looks impossible and fear creeps in and I forget…….that He is in this place, too.

    Something New
    Genesis 29:14. The story of the mandrakes has always been mysterious to me. In doing some reading I found that mandrakes were thought to have some type of fertility properties and were rather rare in that area. It is more understandable why they became such an important focus between these two sisters……. competing for their husband’s attention through the ability to bear him children.

    Something To Do
    Genesis 28:15. Remember, and live as if I remember, “And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.”

    1. Thanks for the info on mandrakes, I’ve always wonder about that word myself. By you sharing that piece of info that section made much more sense to me as I read it.

  3. Wow Wendy! Your prayer is my prayer too (has anyone transcribed your prayer into print where it could be shared?) I love your heart ❤️

    My observations from day 10:
    Something Old: Just as God made His promise to Abraham and Isaac, He also visits Jacob and repeats the promise. God remembers His promises, and God constantly delivers on those promises.

    Jacob the schemer, who deceived his father to claim the birthright, didn’t have enough faith to wait and see just how God would bring about His perfect will. Jacob displays the traits of his Grandmother Sarah takes matters into his own hands. Jacob and Rebekah both experience consequences that I am sure that neither wanted due to those deceptions. Jacob has to flee, Rebekah never sees her beloved Jacob again. And when Jacob gets to Laban, the tables are turned on him. After working for seven years he is given Leah as a wife, not Rachel the one whom he loved and wanted. He has to agree to work an additional seven years for Laban, so that Rachel can also be his wife.

    The deceiver becomes the deceived. Perhaps he learned a little empathy for what he and Rachel did with Esau and Isaac?

    Something New:
    Jacob makes his promise of following God conditional upon what God will do for Jacob. God must be with Jacob, protect Jacob, provide Jacob food and clothing, and return Jacob safely to his father’s land.
    It once again demonstrates that Jacob has a selfish nature.

    We too are often like Jacob, trying to bargain with God.

    Something to Remember:
    Always trust God. Always remember that what God wills, God will accomplish. He has promised me everlasting life and agape love. Unlike others, God can absolutely be trusted. I should never place conditions on my relationship with God. What He wills for me is the best.

  4. My Takeaways:
    ” Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows he also reaps.” Galatians 6:7 This certainly held true in Jacob’s life.

    Something Old:
    Jacob is quit the deceiver. He meets his match when he catches up with his Uncle Laban.

    Something New: Jacob married Rachel a week after after he married Leah. For some reason I thought it was another 7 years.

    Something To Do: I so often get upset at an injustice done to me while not noticing the injustices I do to others. Sin always seems to find its way back. I need to be careful in the way I treat others and stop to ask myself how I would feel if the roles were reversed.

  5. I love this lesson and how passionate you are Wendy about being His! This is what I want to be my prayer / declaration as well. I need to let go of wanting to be in some kind of control by putting conditions on my relationship with God.. no if…. when…. no, I want it to be Because… I will….. He has been so good to me and even through the tough times when I was not wanting to have any relationship with God He has never let go of me. I learned so much about His goodness and His grace that I feel this deep desire to be close to Him, to just be His and live my life according to this deep knowing in my heart: I am His… whatever comes, whatever happens, I am His and He will take care of me, one way or the other….

  6. Isaiah 44:5 New Living Translation (NLT)

    5 Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord.’
    Others will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’
    Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands
    and will take the name of Israel as their own.”

Comments are closed.