Making God Our God: Genesis 31:4-18

Opening oneself to God may be a decision made in the moment, but learning to align our heart with His is the work of a lifetime.  Following God is a process that requires growth.    Growth takes practice.  Practice takes time.

Jacob does something amazing in this passage that illustrates his growth.  The first thing he does after being told by God to return to Canaan is to talk to his wives.  Jacob doesn’t give them marching orders; Jacob invites them into the discernment process.  Jacob isn’t deferring to them; he welcomes their input.  He isn’t asking for permission; he treats them as equals in the decision.

In the past, Jacob thought of himself first.  He looked at the world as his playground and found a way to get what he wanted.  It started with the birthright.  Then Rebekah helped him get the blessing that should have been his anyways.  Then he wanted Rachel.

There’s nothing wrong with figuring out what you want and going and getting it.  We call that drive.  Sometimes it becomes our motivation.  Other people brand it as living with purpose.  Those can all be good things, but it is important to recognize they are not automatically good things.  Going out and getting what we want can be good, but it is not good by default.

What makes this decision a very good decision for Jacob is being rooted in God’s purpose for his life.  God blessed him so when he returned to Canaan he would have the resources to allow his family to thrive.  God gave him sons and daughters so the family of Abraham would take its first big step into becoming a nation.  God is forming Jacob’s identity, and Jacob aligns himself to that identity.  When Jacob goes to his wives and invites them into the decision to leave, he is following God’s will.  That’s what makes this decision a very good decision.

We see Jacob’s alignment to God in his words.  Jacob testifies it was God who made the striped and speckled animals grow in strength and numbers.  It was God who permitted him to overcome Laban’s schemes.  It was God who kept Jacob safe from Laban and his sons.  For the first time in his life, Jacob demonstrates he has taken the God of his fathers as his own personal God.

His wives respond.  They acknowledge God’s movement in their lives.  They recognize they no longer have any inheritance in their father’s house.  They recognize their fate now lies with Jacob.  They acknowledge their fate lies with Jacob’s God.

Jacob has more room to grow; however, this story completes the portion of Jacob’s story where Jacob takes God as his own God.  This process took at least a decade and a half.  Opening oneself to God may be a decision made in the moment, but learning to align our heart with His is the work of a lifetime.