Promises vs. Intentions

What promises to do you consider God has made to you personally? The undeserving Jacob was a recipient of a personal promise so bountiful he could not comprehend the full extent of what it included. In response Jacob offered a declaration that the Lord would be his God all the days of his life. He also promised to give God a tenth of all he acquired.

 

Which promises does God expects you to honor? The answer might be all of them because it reflects your person-hood and character. Some individuals make promises in the heat of a crisis and recant them when the heat of the moment dissipates. Have you made promises just to appease God or others with no intention of keeping them?

God is faithful to keep his promises, and he will never be slow in doing what he promises to do. God loves you and wants you to have trust and confidence in him and his word. When you make a promise to God, he will provide what is needed for you to remain true to your promise. Isn’t that good news! 

Hope for the Future

Jacob, a grabber and a deceiver, will grab every opportunity to get what he wants. He’s mentally quick to strike a bargain with anybody, including God when it’s suits his purpose. Yet Jacob is convinced he needs redemption and deliverance from impulsive, shameful behavior, so he promises to honor and serve God and give Him a tenth of his earnings.

 

Why would God take a person of such low character and promise him hope for a bright future? God’s grace is greater than our sins, so He sees far beyond the moment to what a person who has been redeemed will do to fulfill His purposes. Consider Peter, who in anger denied even knowing Jesus. 

  

It is our privilege to seize the day and realize that whatever our past has been, by God’s grace there can be a bright future for us. When to the best of our ability we commit our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ for redemption, we are no longer condemned but saved for eternity. Jacob could now go on his journey knowing God had touched him in a way he would never forget.

Striking a Bargain with God

Making a complete directional change in life is not an easy task. That was the case with Jacob, the man who stole from his brother and deceived his father. Even after the Lord appeared to him in a dream and laid out in vivid language a promise of blessings, Jacob still had to make sure God understood his own terms of acceptance.

God could have dished out severe punishment to Jacob but chose to bless him. Listen to Jacob’s response. “If God will be with me and give me food to eat and clothes to wear so I can return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God and I will set a marker here to be God’s house. What he gives me I will give back a tenth.”

 

Have you made similar bargains with God in moments of crises? God did not insist on conditions for the beginning of Jacob’s redemption. His desire was to give Jacob a new beginning, free of conditions and sin. God’s word: “As far as the East is from the West, I will remember your sins no more.” Christ Jesus will to do the same for you. 

A Clear Path to a New Beginning

Jacob was not a man who made bad mistakes, but deliberately chose behaviors that set a course for his life. We’re aware of those who choose unethical, sinful and criminal activities and claim they were bad mistakes. The murderer of an elderly woman claimed that he never meant to cause pain and suffering, but the jury did not buy his “mistake” plea. 

          While Jacob was not a murderer, he did commit cold-hearted sins against his brother and father. The old cliché of “payday someday” caught up with him, causing him to flee for his life because Esau threatened to kill him. He was running to a safe place to hide, but in a strange, lonely place he had a dream that changed his life.

          In this dream God outlined a plan for Jacob that reflects God’s grace and mercy. God did not mention conditions for his willingness to bless Jacob. Have you been a recipient of such grace and mercy, including a clear pathway for a new beginning you never could have imagined? The impossible is possible with God.  

Rethinking Your Plans vs. God's Plan

Have you ever awakened from a dream that was so vivid you could never forget it? Jacob awakened from such a dream and realized God had spoken to him directly. Listen to his response. “Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is the house of God, the gateway to heaven.”

 

This dream made him rethink his life. At some level Jacob knew what he deserved, but God’s mercy and patience gave him hope for a new identity that he could never obtain on his own. God offered redemption rather than punishment, hope rather than despair. This is certainly what Jacob needed to replace his grabbing, greedy attitude.

Jacob’s dream was from God. The message was profound, never to be forgotten. He took the stone where he had slept and placed it as a marker, poured oil on it and named it Bethel, “House of God”. Jacob’s redemption took a significant step, never to be reversed. He at last was becoming God’s man.  

Hope for Undeserving People

Explaining why God promises new beginnings to undeserving people is grounded completely in the fact that God loves us, otherwise Jacob would have been unlikely to receive God’s help. Jacob lied, stole, cheated and was totally self-absorbed. Yet God appeared to him in a dream when he was desperate enough to hear a voice other than his own.

          Listen to what God communicated to Jacob: “I will give you and your descendants the land where you are sleeping. The people of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I’ll be with you and will watch over you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised,” meaning within Jacob’s lifetime.   

          God reminds us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts; my ways are not your ways.” God assures each of us that he can use a person who has wasted their life, and He nevertheless stands ready to give us a new beginning. What matters is what you’re willing to do now. God is ready to help you turn your life around and make a new start that honors Him. 

Crisis! A Wake-up Call to Change

Trouble comes our way often by our own invitation. It’s not that we intend to behave in ways that invite trouble, but we passively or directly engage in behaviors that invite negative consequences. Those consequences are wake-up calls to make changes in our attitudes and actions. Jacob got a wake-up call on the road to Haran.

In dreams he saw a ladder or stairway extending from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. Can you visualize this picture? It gets better. Above the stairway stood the Lord God speaking to him directly. He told Jacob, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your grandfather and Isaac your father."

Prior to this life-changing dream, Jacob’s life was defined as self-directed and self-centered; he was a cheater and a fraud. In his dream God promised him a new beginning, not because he deserved it but because God saw potential where no one else could. He promised Jacob a future with hope. Is this what you need? God will give it to you.