To Live with or without God
“If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.” (Genesis 31:42)
Twenty years, twenty long years, Jacob labored for Laban. We know the story, don’t we? In the blazing heat and blistering cold, Jacob labored for Laban. When lambs were lost or slain, Jacob bore the cost and continued to labor for Laban. Though his wages were changed countless times, Jacob labored for Laban. Throughout it all, we find the once deceitful Jacob treats Laban honestly. This should provoke in us all measure of questions. What has happened in the life of Jacob?
First, God covenanted to be Jacob’s God. On that dark night of strange dreams in Bethel, God stood beside Jacob. More than standing, God began a great work in the life of Jacob. He began a heart work. Is this not God’s standard operation? God does not gather up a bunch of relatively good people and help them improve; rather, God gathers to Himself a bunch of rascals and rebels and gives them a new heart, a new life. In Jeremiah 32:40, God promises: “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, that they may not turn from Me.” The Scriptures are replete with promises of God giving us new hearts, of God causing us to fear Him, of God putting hatred for sin in us. Jacob did not embark on a journey of self-improvement; rather, God was His God.
Second, Jacob lived before the face of God. Jacob lived with an awareness of exactly what God had done for Him, and this prompted Jacob to order his life accordingly. If God was his God, then Jacob could leave vengeance to God while remaining faithful. He could leave deceitful ways behind while pursuing truthfulness. Jacob may have been many things in his life, but he now has been washed, sanctified, and justified. What he does not factor into how he lives; rather, Whose he is and who he is definitively shapes how he now lives.
Believer, what of your life? We are all hounded by sin and misery in some shape, form, or fashion. How do you handle it? Do we live as those with God or without God? As those who live before the face of God or turn our face from God? According to the new man in Christ or the old man in Adam? When push comes to shove, does Whose we are and who we are shape how we are to live?
