Focal Passage: Genesis 31:2-16
Have you ever had to make a decision? Of course you have.
We make them every day, everything from whether or not to turn on the television in the morning to what we will have for dinner each evening. Have you ever had to make a big decision though?
I must confess, there are times when I sinfully envy the person who simply balances the pros and cons and then acts, come what may.
This is because I, like many Christians, have made finding God’s will much too difficult.
I have failed to trust that where God clearly speaks in His word I am called to obey, and where He doesn’t, I am free to make wise, biblically-informed choices, come whatever His sovereign hand might bring.
In Genesis 30, God clearly speaks to Jacob and commands that he return to the land of his fathers.
The pretext for the move is the anger of Laban and his sons over the wealth that Jacob has amassed at their expense, but this was all part of God’s plan to fulfill His promises to Jacob.
The beloved patriarch, in faith, recognizes this and prepares to obey. In other words, his obedience does not procure God’s faithfulness but rather it is in response to it.
Because God has shown himself faithful, I will obey.
Life’s circumstances are often difficult, and sometimes the daily grind is too overwhelming for us to bear.
However, God has shown us that He is faithful not only through the story of Jacob but in the lives of countless others throughout scripture and history.
He has shown us His faithfulness in our own stories as well.
Therefore, let us trust Him and faithfully obey in those moments where we are faced with the clear commands of scripture.
Let us also trust Him to be sovereign and faithful in those moments when the decisions are unclear.
God is with us, and He is directing us. Of that we can be sure.