A
Weekly Meditation of Pastor Chang (
<The
Characteristics of Spiritual Leaders> (33)
(Learning
from the life of Jacob>
If a piece of iron needs go through burning,
melting, and shaping, then, can become good steel; we human beings are
likewise, need good disciplines, then, can become useful. Anyone who is willing
to be used in God¡¯s Kingdom is the same. Jacob and his son, Joseph, are
likewise. Through the environments, hardship, and terrible trials, they are
shaped to be useful for the purpose of God¡¯s glory. Finally they become the
direct fathers of the Israelites ¨C the chosen people of God. As we know, not
every descendent of Abraham or Isaac automatically become the chosen people of
God, but only the descendents of Jacob, the 12 tribal people.
For example, Isaac¡¯s first son, Esau, his
descendents were called Edomites. Even before Israelites just fled from the
slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, Edom was established as a
strong country already. It was about BC 1450 (Cf. Numbers 20: 14-21.) But this
nation and people were totally wiped out by the Roman army during the first
Century BC and since then the tribe and the nation were totally disappeared
from the human history, although they had more than 2000 years of history.
We need to learn from these good spiritual
characters to increase our faith and spiritual disciplines. Let me share with
you the story of Jacob first:
Jacob was the second twin son of Isaac and
Rebekah, a wit but sneaky person. When he was young, kept seeking the
opportunities to trick and steal the birth right and blessings from his older
brother Esau. Finally he successfully did with his mother Rebecah¡¯s help.
But his brother Esau hated him and determined to kill him when day of their
father¡¯s death. And because of that Jacob needed to flee from home.
When he ran away from home, it was the
beginning of his life turning around to know God. When he was young at home,
probably he already learned something about God and all the history of his
family legacy from his parents. But it seemed nothing to do with him. Under
good protection, he did not need any particular faith of God. Even when he left
home he never thought of God or asked any help from God either. ¡°God¡±
seemed to be a term far away from his mind. Yet the miracle happened, God came
to see him. It has been a pattern: God keeps seeking human beings since the
fall of Adam.
When he left home and reached a certain
place, because of sunset, Jacob stopped and took a stone to be his pillow and
slept. He dreamed. He saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching
to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Then God
appeared before him and said, ¡°I am the Lord, the God of your fathers Abraham
and Isaac¡¡± God kept repeating the promise and covenant that He made with
Abraham and Isaac to him. It means God resets the family promise and covenant
with Jacob from his forefathers to him.
When Jacob waked up, he was shocked and
fearful. He said, ¡°How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house
of God; this is the gate of heaven.¡± And named that place, Bethel (the house of
God.) Then, Jacob made a vow with God. He said, ¡°If God is with me, watch over
me, give me food to eat and clothes to wear, and return home safely, then the
Lord will be my God, and I will give a tenth.¡±
If we take our human point of view to see
Jacob in this stage ¨C a beginner to learn about God, we may think of this man:
sneaky and too realistic. But God is God. He is a patient God. He knows how to
deal with such kind of man.
In fact, if we review our life, are we not
the same as Jacob? We always ask the best from God, but when God asks us for
something, we give a lot of excuses for ourselves. And also not many of us are
willing to put God to be the first priority in our life always. Actually, Jacob
has just really reflected who we are as sinners before God. May the Lord bless
us and keep building us up to have a better relationship with Him always! (To
be continued¡)