Jacobs story-part two

Follow-up to Jacob’s story:
Jacob would go on to be the father to twelve sons whose descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel. God made promises to Jacob that he would provide for every important issue in his life. This didn’t come easy for Jacob however, but only because of his own actions. Jacob lived a life of turmoil within because of his actions, even though he knew because we think his mother told him that God had said he would inherit the Promise. (Gen 25:23)
Jacob relied on his own tricks to "replace” his older brother Esau. He took advantage of Esau's hunger to retrieve his birthright for a bowl of soup (25:29-34) and he resorted to gross deception to trick Isaac into passing the inheritance to him (27:1-40).

Does this sound familiar to you, how we all want what we think we rightly deserve, but are you willing to be this deceptive to get it?

Well if you continue with the story in vs. 41-45 you will see that Jacob got what he wanted, but! Esau was so enraged that he decided to kill Jacob, so he had to flee for his life to his uncle Laban's.
While on his way to his uncles God came to him in the form of a dream. In that dream, he reiterated the Promise and also promised to Jacob that he would protect him while he was gone and bring him back safely. Read that again, God was still going to protect him as He had promised. Chapt 28:13-15. We are still in the book of Genesis. Jacob's response in vs.26 showed he was living his life by his own resources, apart from anything God had showed him.
When Jacob got to Laban's land, Jacob fell in love with Laban's daughter Rachel, so he hung around a month instead of the few days he had planned. Little did he know he had met his match, Laban was very manipulative. Laban noticed this, and took advantage of it to get seven years of service for her hand. When the seven years are over, Laban took advantage of Jacob's excessive partying at the wedding feast to smuggle his older daughter Leah into bed with Jacob. When Jacob woke up the next morning, "behold, it was Leah!" Jacob was furious: "What is this you have done to me? . . . Why then have you deceived me?" (kinda funny after what he had done to his own brother) Laban insisted on seven more years labor for Rachel. After those seven years, Jacob and Laban then spent six more years trying to screw each other over who would get the biggest portion of their flocks. (I laugh so hard when I read this because I have seen this kind of stuff in my everyday life at work.)
So because of his own scheming, Jacob successfully turned a few weeks into twenty years. He wound up fleeing for his life from his father-in-law and once again God comes to his side to prevent his father-n-law from killing him.
On his way back home, Jacob realized that he had to travel through Esau's land. God spoke to Jacob again and promised to be with him (31:3). He followed this promise up by sending some angels to reassure Jacob of his protection (32:1, 2).
But Jacob was still scheming rather than trusting. He sent some of his servants to bribe Esau with schmoozing and the hope of gifts (32:3-5). But they returned with news that sent chills down Jacob's spine--Esau was coming to see him with 400 men! For the first recorded time in the text, Jacob prayed to God for protection (32:9-12). But then he came up with a scheme to buy Esau off. (32:13-20).
Alone that night before he had to face Esau, Jacob had an encounter with God that would change his life…
Genesis 32:24-30. God initiates a wrestling match to portray Jacob's life up to now, and to teach him a crucial lesson. Jacob responded by fighting back all night long (32:24). What a portrait this presented, this was perfect presentation of how Jacobs relationship with God had been this entire time. Was it really Esau or Laban that Jacob was resisting? Or was it really God himself? God had a will for Jacob's life and made promises to him pertaining to that will, but Jacob was stubborn always resisting God's leadership at every step.
After wrestling all night, God dislocated Jacob's thigh with a touch (32:25). This showed Jacob who he was fighting with. God had been taking more drastic steps to help Jacob abandon his self-sufficiency and put his trust in Him.
Now crippled, Jacob can only hang on to God (I would of loved to of had a picture of this moment) Now that Jacob's attitude is expressed in a dependent posture, God blessed him and renames him to cleanse him from his old ways and give him a new identity to live up to. God has always been willing to bless Jacob. He has only been waiting for Jacob to ask with a trusting, dependent heart.
Jacob had finally opened his eyes, he had learned the hard way. The next morning, he dropped all his crazy plans and decided he would go ahead of everyone and meet his brother. (33:3), trusting God's promise to protect him. He discovered that Esau had forgiven him, and he went on and followed through his life showing Godly leadership to his family.
It's not so much that we doubt that a personal God exists or that he has a will for our lives. We all know this, ok most of us do, but we too are stubborn and sometimes refuse to listen with both our ears open, we forget to clean the wax build up out, we forget to obey and we make it harder on ourselves, oh how we thrive on being independent. After reading about Jacob I am personally ready to turn all my dependency over to my Heavenly Father. I hope you will sit and talk with God and find direction for your life.
Thank you for following this story, please don’t let this be the only study you get on Jacob however, for there is so much more. Bless each of my followers.