God's Handiwork In the Lives of His People Genesis 29:1-30

The Christian Life as a Work of Art

One of my favorite activities to take part in with Aletheia is to color with her. When I color, I try to stay in between the lines to produce a colorful picture, but when she colors, she's okay scribbling anywhere on the page.

And since I'm 32 and she's 2, my aim is to color to produce a work of art, and the key word there is aim. It doesn't always work out that way. While Aletheia's coloring is only randomness, she scribbles anywhere she wants to on the page, then turns that page and does the same on the next.

One of the most fascinating aspects of life is to reflect on your past. What you learn when you think through the past is how many twists and turns there have been. No matter what age you are, you can take part in this activity of reflection.

The older you are, the larger your story is, and the more twists and turns you have experienced. All Christians should be those who reflect on our lives. As we go through our days, weeks, months, and years, many circumstances in our lives can seem random.

We may wonder if life is a journey where there is no rhyme or reason to the events that happen. We wonder if it is just a scribble on a page and not a work of art that stays between the lines. However, there is an old saying that says, hindsight is 20 -20.

What this means is that when you look back at a time in your life and the circumstances surrounding those times, you gain clarity. A difficult choice at the time now seems like an easy one because you have seen the events that followed play out.

You have seen the bigger picture in how things happened. In your choices as a believer, there was one guiding your choices, even if at the time you did not know where your choices were leading you. As you look at the big picture of your life through reflection, you can see that the events of your life are not random, but rather there is a goal to them.

There is a design. They are sending you somewhere. Every Christian in this room has a life that is a work of art, and the artist of your life is God. He is taking you where He wants to take you, and He is doing in you what He desires to do in and through you.

And when you ponder this, this is a marvelous reality. In our sermon today, as we continue our sermon series through Genesis, we are going to see the Lord guide Jacob to the right destination. And as he arrives at this destination, he meets trouble.

But even the trouble he faces is according to God's good plan for his life. It is a work of art. So I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Genesis 29. We are going to be looking at verses 1 through 30.

And if you are using a red Bible in the pews, it is on pages 27 and 28. This sermon is titled, God's Handiwork in the Lives of His People. And our big idea, our proposition, is the Lord's guiding hand is seen in the lives of His people.

We are going to see two ways how. The first way how is by leading them to the right destinations. By leading them to the right destinations, we will see this in verses 1 through 20. But before we jump into our text today, let's give a little recap of last week's sermon.

We looked at Jacob's encounter with the Lord in the second half of Genesis 28. This is famously known as Jacob's Ladder. As Jacob was traveling north to Haran to find a wife, he went to sleep. And as he was sleeping, the Lord appeared to him in a dream and promised that He was going to bless him.

And in the dream, there was a ladder that stretched from heaven to earth. This ladder was a bridge between God's dwelling place and man's dwelling place. Jacob discovered in this moment that the Lord was always with him and he never knew it.

The thought of being in the presence of the Lord filled him with awe and wonder. And the application for us is that the Lord is intimately close to His people. And the two life truths about His intimacy is that He is always with us to fulfill His promises.

And His presence must fill us with awe and wonder as Jacob was filled with awe and wonder. And this brings us to our text today. After Jacob had this dream and this encounter with the Lord, he's going north to Haran to find a wife.

Remember, he was in the land of Canaan. Now he's going north to this place known as Haran, which is present-day Turkey. And the land of Canaan, of course, is present-day Israel. What we are going to see in this passage is many similarities with chapter 24.

In chapter 24, if you can remember back to that, Abraham sent his servant to this same region, Haran, where Abraham's extended family lived to find a wife for his son Isaac. And what we saw in that narrative is the Lord providentially guided Isaac's path for him to find the right wife.

We are going to see the Lord's providential guidance with Jacob as well today. So let's begin by reading the first three verses and then we'll set the setting of where we are at. Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.

As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it. For out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.

So verse 1 says that Jacob traveled to the east. And as I mentioned, if you understand the geography here, he's going mostly north than east, but he's going a little east, but it's mostly north. And so the author wants us to see something here by mentioning the direction east.

The author, Moses, writes this word for a reason. Throughout Genesis, we have seen the word east mentioned in a negative sense. For example, when Adam and Eve sinned, they were kicked out to the east of the Garden of Eden, so it symbolized the banishment from the presence of God.

In Genesis 4 .16, Cain, after murdering his brother, settled to the east of Eden. And then later on, the wicked people who built the Tower of Babel came from the east. So the negative reference of the location might catch us by surprise here, because, if you can remember last week, Jacob is doing what he's supposed to be doing.

He's not finding a wife from the Canaanites. He was not supposed to do that, because that would have polluted their line. He was supposed to go to their relatives and find a wife there from a more pure line.

So he's doing what he's supposed to be doing, but in what sense here is the direction east being used? And to finally answer this, Genesis 11 .27 -32 tells us, and what these verses state is that Abraham received the blessing of carrying on the family line, and his brothers Nahor and Haran did not.

So in other words, Jacob was going to the non-blessed line to find a wife. So in that sense, the negative reference is mentioned. So he's going to the non-blessed people to find a wife for Jacob. But it was still the right place to go for Jacob, because, as I mentioned, it was not the Canaanite people.

And as Jacob goes to this land near Haran, he finds a well with a stone on top of it. And we'll mention this stone in a little bit. And it's significant as we think about the Lord's provision over him on this journey.

We are told in verse 3 that the shepherds would take the stone off the top of the well and then give their sheep water to drink. And then once they were done, they would put the stone back over the well.

But at this point, they are standing there looking at each other with their flocks with the stone over the well. And what we will see is this is going to frustrate Jacob. Now in verses 4 -8, Jacob is going to find that the Lord has providentially led him to the right place just as he led Abraham's servant to the right place to find a wife.

So let's look at verses 4 -8 together. Jacob said to them, my brothers, where do you come from? They said, we are from Haran. He said to them, do you know Laban the son of Dahor? They said, we know him.

He said to them, is it well with him? They said, it is well. And see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep. He said, behold, it is still high day. It is not time for the livestock to be gathered together.

Water the sheep and go pasture them. But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep. So we see that Jacob asks the shepherds in verse 4, where are they from?

And as he's asking this, he's very curious as to the Lord's leading in his life. He knows the Lord is leading him and he is wondering if this is the door the Lord has opened for him. This is one of the joys of walking with the Lord.

As we go on this journey with him, we are always expectant as to what he is doing in our midst. Because the Lord is always doing things in our midst. The life of following the Lord is a very exciting life.

And when the shepherds open their mouth and say that they are from Haran, he begins to think that he's traveled down the right path. Then he asks the shepherds an even more specific question. He asks them if they know Laban, his uncle.

They tell him they know him. Once Jacob hears this, he knows he has arrived at the right destination and he knows the Lord led him there. His mother, Rebecca, said in 28 .2 that he was to find a wife from Laban's daughters.

So Jacob is acting obediently, finding a wife as he was instructed and the Lord has led him to the right place. He was not to find just any wife from this region. He was to find a relative and specifically one of Laban's daughters.

And he may have figured this out by now, but so he's pursuing his cousin. And this might, obviously in today's, in today our time, this is very odd. But remember, at this point in history, there weren't as many people and this would have been pretty ordinary for cousins to marry.

Now in verse 6, Jacob asks the shepherds if Laban is well and they say he is well. And then they tell him that Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep. Okay, so you can see God orchestrating all of these details.

And he stumbles upon shepherds from Haran who know Laban and one of Laban's daughters is the one who brings the sheep to get water. It's always fascinating if we think about our ancestry, how many things needed to happen for us to be where we are right now.

I know Brianna and I have talked to our parents about that and specifically her parents, her father was kind of up in the air on whether he was going to go back to college for the next semester. He was kind of 50 -50 and he decided, oh, I'll go back.

And he goes back, he meets his wife, my mother-in-law, and of course the rest is history. Brianna is here today. As I think about my family, my parents were air traffic controllers but my dad worked there before my mom and my mom decided to pursue a career in air traffic controlling and then they met and of course our family came.

I wasn't even a planned child. I was the third child and as Mark and I joke, we were both children so we have that in common. But it's amazing to think God orchestrates all the details of our lives. And so none of us are ever here by accident.

And the same is true with your story. The Lord guided your details to bring you where you are right now and the Lord knew you before you were born and he was committed to making sure you were here so that his grace would be shown in your life and that he would be glorified.

And so the Lord guides the destinations of his people. And in verse 7 and 8, in verses 7 and 8, Jacob gets frustrated with the shepherds. The sheep that the shepherds are watching, Jacob insists should be watered since the day is not over yet.

The sun is still out and the sheep are not yet ready to be gathered together so he tells them to water them and to take them to pasture so that they could feed on the grass more. But they insist they need to wait for the flock then they will water and that will be the end of their work day.

So we see here Jacob is frustrated. He's in a hurry. He wants these shepherds to get out of the way. And so we have to ask the question, well, why does he want the shepherds to get out of the way? Well, one author of his reading suggested that Jacob wanted the shepherds to leave the area so that he could be alone with Rachel.

Remember, he's on a hunt for his wife here. And as he thought this could be the wife that God had for him, he's thinking, okay, I want these people here so we can be alone and have a conversation. But Jacob's efforts to be alone with Rachel fails, but he does get to meet her with the shepherds present.

So let's look at this encounter between Jacob and Rachel in verses 9 -12. While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess. Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father. So as Jacob is having this firm conversation with the shepherds, Rachel arrives.

And what the text notes is that she was a shepherdess, so a female shepherd. And as Jacob sees Rachel bring the sheep, he does something kind for her, maybe to impress her. We know how that is, right?

When you first start dating, you really think about the small things, right? And that's what he's thinking about here. And hopefully we keep doing that as we continue our married lives together, but especially early on.

And the kind deed Jacob does is roll the stone away before the other shepherds can. And then he gives water to Rachel's flock. And we should note here the presence of the stone. If you can remember last week, Jacob set up a stone as a pillar to honor the Lord's presence at Bethel.

The Lord may have made sure the stone was there to remind Jacob that he was with him as he promised him. Remember, the Lord said he would always be with him. And this journey that he is going on is going to be successful because the Lord is with him.

The Lord is leading him to the right destination. Now in verse 11, we see that Jacob kisses Rachel. And we should not think of this in a romantic way. This would have been custom for family at this point in history.

However, some might say that this custom was convenient, right? Because Jacob was clearly interested in her. And then we see at the end of verse 11 that he weeps aloud. Jacob is so happy that the Lord led him to the right place.

He knows, this is probably my wife. And think about how long this journey was for Jacob. He traveled 550 miles to find a wife. You don't want to travel that far on foot. He probably had a camel or something.

But remember, this is the day before cars and planes.

550 miles.

You don't want to travel that far for your trip to be unsuccessful. The Lord has led him to the right destination. So we see the Lord's providence all over this, guiding every detail to lead Jacob to the right woman.

And the Lord's weaving hand in your life should encourage you as well. Think about this. This is an exciting life. A life living following the Lord. And one of the most wonderful things to do in your life, as I mentioned in the introduction, is to look back and see where the Lord has sent you and what he has done in your life.

Now, once Jacob wept with joy, he reveals his identity to Rachel. He tells her that he is related to her father and therefore related to her as Rebecca is Jacob's mother. This leads Rachel to run and tell her father this exciting news, that a relative has arrived.

I don't know if any of you have ever had the experience of a relative from a foreign country coming to visit you. Obviously, most, if not everyone in this room is probably from Europe, their ancestors.

But a few years back, it was a neat experience when one of my cousins, one of my distant cousins, came over from Sweden. We had never met her before and she's about my age. So it was neat to meet her and to be able to look back at our ancestors and say, yeah, our ancestors came from the same place and of course she still lived in that region.

And what we are going to read in verses 13 and 14 is that Laban is just as excited as Rachel is that a family member has arrived. So let's look at verses 13 and 14. As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house.

Jacob told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month. So Laban kisses Jacob just as Jacob kissed Rachel. And the text tells us that he embraced him and Jacob told him about his encounter with his daughter.

And the purpose of explaining their encounter was to show Laban that the Lord had providentially orchestrated these details to bring them to cross paths. And back in chapter 24, Laban was willing to give up his sister, Rebecca, because he was persuaded the Lord had led Abraham's servant there to find a wife for Isaac.

Now Jacob is hoping that Laban will be as willing to part with his daughter as he was with his sister. And in the conversation, Jacob is willing to work for Laban as he stays there temporarily. This is what Laban says about working for him in verse 15.

That Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be? Since Jacob is his kinsman, Laban thinks he should pay him for something for his labor.

This gives Jacob the opportunity to get what he desires. Before we get Jacob's response, the narrator, Moses, describes Laban's two daughters. Rachel, whom Jacob had already met, and Laban's older daughter, Leah.

And this gives us a hint as to what type of payment Jacob was hoping for. So here's the description of Laban's daughters in verses 16 through the beginning of verse 18. Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel. So Rachel was younger, and Leah was older, and the narrator notes that Rachel is better looking than Leah. And when pursuing a spouse, attraction is important, but that's not the only thing that's important.

Jacob should have taken the time to get to know these two sisters a little bit to see which one was a better match for him. But his attraction to Rachel has a strong pull upon him, and this leads him to desire her.

And at the beginning of verse 18 states, Jacob loved Rachel. So Laban asked Jacob, what are you willing to work for? Jacob's response comes in the remainder of verse 18. And he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter, Rachel.

So Jacob's willing to work for Laban so that he could take his daughter in marriage, specifically his younger daughter. And to Jacob's delight, Laban will agree that he should give his daughter to Rachel in marriage.

What we are going to see, though, in a bit, is that Laban is a deceitful man, and he has different plans for Jacob than giving Rachel to him. But at first, Jacob would have been pleased to hear Laban's response in verses 19 and 20.

Laban said, It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man.

Stay with me.

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. The period that Laban requires of Jacob is seven years of work, and Jacob is happy to work that much to receive a woman he greatly desires.

Back in 2003, there was a movie named Big Fish. Some of you maybe have seen this movie. And the main character's name is Ed Bloom. And he was a man who lived a very adventurous life. And, of course, it's called Big Fish because he would always exaggerate his stories, just like fishermen exaggerate their fishing stories.

And as he was going through his life, he was at a carnival one time, and he spotted a woman. And the moment he laid eyes on her, he knew this is the woman I'm going to marry. And as the carnival went on, he lost sight of the woman, and she was gone, and he couldn't find her anymore.

But the guy who was running the carnival knew her. And he said, Well, would you tell me about this woman? And the man running the carnival said, You need to work for me to find out information about her.

So he would work for this man for a long time. And then after working for him for a while,.

He would say,.

She loves roses. Not that great, right? And then he would say, She goes to this school. And eventually he got enough information where he was able to find her. And, of course, the story ended well.

They got married.

But Jacob had to work hard for a long period to be with the woman of his dreams. He had to work for seven years. It was interesting. I didn't have to work very hard to get to Brianna because the conversation that you're supposed to have with your father to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage is supposed to be a difficult one, right?

How are you going to provide for my daughter? And so on and so forth. And I was amazed at how easy it went. And I was like, that's it? He's like, yep.

And I'm like, okay. We'll move on.

But Jacob had to work hard. And he was willing to work because he knew that the Lord led him down the right path. He knew that she was the one and there was no other path that he was supposed to go down.

And when you follow the Lord's way as Jacob did, then you are on the right path. In Genesis 24, we looked in detail at discerning the will of God for our lives. And what I explained then was that we know mostly what the path is, right?

Because the Bible tells us. 95 of the time, we know what to do. Because the Lord tells us this is how you're supposed to handle situations in your life. But there's 5 of the time when things come up where we don't know what to do.

And that's where we need to seek wisdom and pray and talk to the right people so that we make the right decision. So the Lord takes you to many places as you travel on the journey through the life of faith.

And whatever paths He takes you down, He will lead you to your final destination. As you think about this, every believer's life ends well because every believer's life ends in heaven. But how you get there is different for every believer.

Whatever story the Lord is writing for you. So this is the first way how the Lord's guiding hand is seen in the lives of His people. By leading them to the right destinations. Our second way how, this morning, the Lord's guiding hand is seen in the lives of His people is using circumstances to discipline His children.

Using circumstances to discipline His children. We'll see this in verses 21 -30. What we are about to see is that this deal between Jacob and Laban is a raw deal. Anyone ever had a raw deal with someone?

Jacob gets one right here. Jacob trusted that Laban was going to deliver on his promise by giving his daughter Rachel to him. But he would find out the hard way that initially this would not be the case.

So let's look at verses 21 to the beginning of 25. Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife that I may go into her, for my time is completed. So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.

But in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went into her. Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be his servant. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah.

So Jacob had worked seven years to take Laban's youngest daughter Rachel as his wife. And by the way, you might be thinking, is this in the Bible?

Yes, it is.

You're seeing it right there. And we'll see. The Lord wants us to see something of this. So you'll see it here in a little bit. So Jacob rightly asked that he take Rachel as his wife. And in verse 22, Laban gathers up all the people to prepare a great feast for supposedly Jacob and Rachel.

But in verse 23, Laban pulls the old switcheroo. Laban takes his daughter Leah and brings her to Jacob.

And you may wonder,.

How does Jacob fall for this? How does he fall for the wrong woman? It's important to note what the beginning of verse 23 says. This happened in the evening. So it was dark outside. These were not only the days before my pillow, the reference to last week, but also artificial lights.

It would have been pitch black and Leah may have been wearing a veil. And remember, they're sisters too, so they might even look alike. And so he's fooled. Now in verse 25, Jacob discovered once it was light that he spent his first night with Leah and not with Rachel, as the deal with Laban said would take place.

So as you might expect, Jacob is furious with his uncle Laban. He did not want Leah as his wife. He wanted Rachel. And this is what he says to Laban in the remainder of verse 25. And Jacob said to Laban, what is this you have done to me?

Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me? And this is Laban's response in verse 26. Laban said, it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. So Laban defends himself by appealing to the custom of the time.

And you may be wondering, why would Laban want to do this? People who do bad things almost always have a motive for why they do the things they do. Selfish motives. Laban's motive was that his older daughter would get married.

And secondly, that he would get more labor out of Jacob. So let's see how he gets more labor out of Jacob in verses 27 through 30. This is what Laban says.

He says,.

Complete the week of this one and we will give you the other also, Rachel, in return for serving me another seven years. Jacob did so and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter, Rachel, to be his wife.

Laban gave his female servant, Bilhah, to his daughter, Rachel, to be her servant. So Jacob went in to Rachel also and he loved Rachel more than Leah and served Laban for another seven years. So Laban tells Jacob, if you work another seven years for me, then I will give you Rachel, the woman that you desire to be your wife.

And the deal is that if he completes the week-long feast with Leah, this marriage or wedding celebration, then he can also marry Rachel as long as Jacob works for another seven years. But only this time, he's going to work another seven years because he's going to get what he wants on the front end.

Obviously, Laban will not be able to pull that a second time. So what we just looked at together is a messy situation. Like I mentioned, how do we put this together? What could possibly be the application?

Sometimes you read a Bible passage and you're wondering, this isn't anybody's life verse, right? And we see that here. I remember when I first came here,.

Barbara asked me,.

Seth, what is your life verse? I didn't go to this verse, did I? I went somewhere in the New Testament. But this is a messy situation.

And what you'll notice.

Is that what Laban did to Jacob closely mirrors what Jacob did to his father in chapter 27 when he deceived his father to receive the birthright.

Right?

Jacob, he's a deceiver, right? The whole first part of his life, he was known as a deceiver. And one author I was reading has said that Jacob gets a taste of his own medicine right here.

Jacob deceived,.

And now he was on the receiving end of being deceived.

So not only do we see.

The Lord's providence in this passage as He leads Jacob to the right place, but we also see the Lord's discipline upon His child, as if He's saying, what you did before, you need to learn from that and you need to change in the future.

And remember, at the end of chapter 28, the Lord promised that He would be with Jacob wherever he went. And sometimes the Lord's guiding hand in your life is like giving you a kick in the butt. And we need that to happen to us from time to time for the Lord to take us where He wants us to be.

Sometimes the discipline is painful. So when Jacob experienced being on the receiving end of being deceived, he can see how bad it is.

Right?

When we sin against someone, we don't know how bad it is. But when we receive someone's sin, it stinks, right? When we're sinned against. And that's what Jacob experiences right here. The Lord used this in his life to change him so that he would no longer cheat,.

But do right.

And one of the things that I'm ashamed about from my past is that when I was in school, I was willing to take shortcuts in classes that I didn't like in high school and even in early college. And in one particular class in college, we had these online quizzes and we weren't supposed to use the textbook.

And I used the textbook. And the Lord brought me under conviction during that period. And thankfully, I turned from those sins at that time and pursued the path of integrity and holiness. But just a few years ago, actually, I was thinking back to that and I felt led by the Lord.

To actually reach out.

To one of my professors.

And say,.

You know what, I'm sorry I did that. I wanted to explain to him what I did. And it was really a neat experience because he was so gracious to me.

And said,.

You know what, you're forgiven.

I'm so glad you told me. And what a pleasant experience that was. But the reason I explain that is that the Lord, He takes us from where we were to bring us to where we are now. He says, you're not that person anymore.

You're a new creation, right? And He sends you on a new path, on the holy path, the better path. The Lord is in the business of changing His people that they would turn from the sins that they once committed.

And so I ask you the question, what sins in your life has the Lord pointed out to you in the past and you hopefully have turned from? Or what sins is He pointing out right now that He desires for you to kill and pursue holiness?

The Lord desires to discipline His children.

For their good.

The author of Hebrews writes this in Hebrews 12, 5 -11.

He says,.

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure.

God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom His Father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them.

But He disciplines us for our good that we may share His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

So you can see the Lord's design in discipline. As we think about our lives, when you come to faith in Christ, we have a long ways to go to reach the point of growing in holiness and reaching places of maturity.