Genesis 31: Difficulty is not Directional

Welcome to chapter by chapter. It's a four-year journey through the greatest book given to the human race, the Word of God, the Bible. We get to go through it chapter by chapter, seven minutes a day, seven days a week. Join us each day and share it with others so they can join this journey that will be life-changing. We'll stop at unexpected places on the journey and be challenged. Some verses will create awe and wonder and will have chapters that will be instructive and others will find joy and comfort. We will occasionally be convicted and need to change, but all in all, the journey will be worth it. Once in a while, we may take a detour on the journey and hear from some of God's greatest servants on their favorite passages from a chapter of scripture and let them give you their insight. Every journey needs a small detour once in a while. The best way to get the most from this podcast is read the chapter we're discussing before or after. It's his word that transforms. You'll find more and see more than I can ever articulate. Welcome to chapter by chapter and today's chapter is Genesis 31. Our timing, God's timing, many times don't match. When things get bad, we think it's time to move on, but it's not always how God directs. In fact, difficulty is not a good signal that it's time to pack up and find an easier situation. Jacob's frustration and plan in Genesis 30 was six years too early. It says this in Genesis 3025. Now, it came about in Rachel at Born Joseph that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me a way that I may go to my own place and in my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I've served you and let me depart for you yourself. No, my service which I've rendered you. That was Jacob's timeline. It was now." Then we read this from God himself in the next chapter, Genesis 31-3. Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives and I will be with you." God's timing was six years later after Jacob's announcement that he wanted to go. God still needed six more years to work in Jacob. Remember these words, "Defaculty is not directional." Why was Jacob ready to go six years earlier? We're told about it in verse 7. He said, "Your father, he's speaking to the brothers, has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. However, God did not allow him to hurt me. The place Jacob was working had a leader that kept moving the goalpost. That phrase means you never know what Laban would decide upon each day. Every day was a new direction. This inconsistency even affected his wages. He couldn't seem to keep any promises of salary and he couldn't be stable in his commitments. Finally, Jacob had enough, but God needed six more years. Why? Difficulty is not directional. It's cheap providence. We don't pack up when things get tough and the wages have changed ten times. We're the children of God. We're led by the voice of God. Genesis 30 is Jacob speaking about departure and then Genesis 31 is God speaking to it. Man's calendar and God's calendar were six years apart and a lot can happen in six years. Difficulty is not directional, but difficulty, deepens. God needed those six years between those two verses because something was going to happen on Jacob's journey back home. We needed a deeper Jacob. He's going to face his 20-year problem in the next chapter. Jacob will leave Iran and unknowingly will run into his brother Esau who wanted to murder him. God led Jacob by his voice, not as hurt. Jacob left Iran because of God, not because of Laban. This took a long time to cultivate in this patriarch. He ended up in this 20-year place because he moved out of crisis, and not because of God's voice. I've watched people miss the six-year deepening and move on before God's timing. Their new spot needed the six years in the hard place. I know that's tough to hear. It's even tough to say, but I say it from experience. Every ministry place I've been, I've had tough times. That's normal. In every tough moment had me devising my exit strategy. That's normal too, but I thank God in the midst of tough moments and my exit strategies. I was unable to leave, and the reason why is because it was my Genesis 30 voice, not the Genesis 31 voice of God. Looking back over all those situations, thank God I waited for His direction, because those six years equipped me for the next chapter. I remember reading these words from Richard Rohr. He said, "If you do not transform your pain, you will transmit your pain." What does that mean? That someone else has to suffer because I don't know how to suffer. Someone else would be my punching bag, my sounding board, my audience to hear my hurt story. There were too many years ahead for Jacob to leave untransformed by his experience. It's scary how many people I know are transmitters of their pain. God was transforming 20 years of pain and deepening Jacob for the years ahead. Jacob was going to live for 70 more years after leaving Iran. Bible timelines tell us that he was 97 when he left Uncle Laban, died at 147 in Egypt. That means Jacob lived 17 of his remaining 70 years in Egypt. God needed pain transformed because of all that would come in the next seven decades. If Jacob left six years too early, there was a lot of pain to transmit to people. God needed he and Esau to be healed. God needed Jacob in Joseph's story and Joseph needed Jacob in Egypt to start a new chapter for Israel. Jacob's departure from his 20-year job is a challenge to us all. The challenges we don't let hurt difficulty or people direct our paths were spirit-led people. We leave not because people did this but because God said go. How many would have stayed after the second wage change? Jacob says it happened 10 times and it seemed that 10 could be his limit but he stayed until God spoke. Maybe there were more wage changes in those extra six years. You can't determine what people will do but I can determine what I will do and I will follow God's direction. We're not immune from being wronged but we have God's help and presence to protect this against her. Seas Lewis said this with such profundity. He said God who foresaw your tribulation has specially armed you to go through it. Not without pain but without stain. I think God said to Jacob, if you stay longer than six years, there will be stain so it's time to go home Jacob. Thank you for joining chapter by chapter. Every chapter from the greatest book, the Bible, the Word of God. Seven minutes a day, seven days a week. We'll see you tomorrow.