Jacob’s life took many unknown twists and turns. Running for his life from his angry brother; deceived into marrying the wrong girl on his wedding day; ending up with four rivaling wives; a daughter who was kidnapped and raped; two sons that slaughtered an entire village; ten sons that conspired to sell the eleventh son, then lying to their own father that an animal had eaten him - to name a few!
Jacob moaned in his grief, “All these things are against me!” And they were. Any onlooker would agree. But outward events don’t tell the whole story. When Jacob ran for his life, Jesus met him on the future Mt. Calvary and promised to be with him, keep him, defend him, and bring him safely to the Promised Land. His sons that were such a heartache at the beginning, repented, and became loyal to God and to each other. Joseph became the savior of the entire Mideast, and God displayed in Israel His redeeming love for the world. To ice the cake, when you read the last chapter of Ezekiel, there are 12 gates, each one memorializing the twelve sons of Jacob, each leading into the New Temple, to the Throne of Christ.
Like Jacob, unexpected twists in our lives cause us to groan, “All these things are against me,” but the middle of the story doesn’t define the end. When God is for us, all that seems against us will be redeemed by His power. On his deathbed, Jacob testified that God had “redeemed me from ALL evil.” Because of the Cross of Christ, we can rejoice in this same promise… “If God is for us, who/what can be against us?”
It shall yet be said of our lives: “Look what God has wrought!”
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