This is the first of two installments concerning Jacob’s Depending faith. I hope that this will be especially meaningful to you and that you will look forward to next week! By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. Hebrews 11:21 The Holy Bible records that Jacob blessed both of the sons of Joseph and worshipped God while he had to lean upon his staff. Jacob reveals to us his dependence upon that staff as he relied on it for support. The staff was his provision, propensity and prop. In his waning days, Jacob gives us the picture of a Dependent Faith upon the Lord. Yet in Isaiah 41:14, the Old Testament scriptures tell us what the Lord said to Jacob: “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” While God calls Jacob "thou worm" in Isaiah, in Genesis He called him a "prince". This in itself should be extremely encouraging to all of us today in that that a worm of a man became a prince of the Lord. The name Jacob is defined as meaning, “he grasps the heel", “he cheats”, “supplanter”, “twister”, “cheater”, “con-artist”, “liar”, “deceiver”, and “a deceitful person”. I believe these definitions convey to us what Jacob's character was like, but despite all those descriptions of who and what Jacob was, God chose this man to be a prince. God made a worm into a wonder! A preacher of yesteryear once said, “God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us!” Jacob, despite his circumstances, developed a Dependent faith. He had to because we know it was certainly not something he was born with by any means. We can find tremendous encouragement in the fact that as Jacob developed a dependent faith upon God, we can too! God did not love Jacob because of what he was, but rather for what he could be. As the Lord searches our hearts, He examines the intentions of our labor as opposed to the actual tasks themselves. The Lord never gives up on us easily, praise His name! Based on Jacob’s description and profile, he was clearly a Wretched man. While a person can never completely escape their upbringing, let us take a moment to examine Jacob's home and childhood. Jacob had a Carnal Father and according to Genesis 25:28, his father's love was for Jacob's older brother, Esau, but only because of the meat Esau provided him. That’s carnality! Before we judge Isaac however, we should recognize that circumstances are just as bad today with some people choosing a church because of their programs or preferences as opposed to the content and substance of the preaching. Jacob’s father was interested in things of the flesh and we have seen it time and time again in society. Too many fathers today are interested in their sons or daughters more for what they can surreptitiously re-live through them or for how they can boast about them around the water cooler. The truth of the matter is that these children are growing up feeling alone, as if they are not wanted unless they can win an award, a ribbon or a shiny trophy. That may sting a little, but could this be true in your life? Jacob also had a Conniving Mother as we read again in Genesis 25:28. Jacob's mother, Rebekah, made Jacob a "mama’s boy". Despite Jacob being given the name "surplanter" and "deceiver", it was his mother’s idea to deceive his father Isaac into giving his blessing to Jacob rather than to his older brother, Esau. Finally within their home, Jacob lived with the rivalry of a Contemptible Brother. Reading Genesis 25:29-31, we learn that Esau surrendered his heritage for a bowl of red pottage in a moment of hunger, presenting himself as weak and indulgent to say the least. Hebrews 12:16 reads, “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” Esau had no care for the things of God, but rather for the satisfaction of his physical needs, the fulfillment of the flesh and for the things of the world. In a nutshell, Jacob’s home and heritage were against him. Now picture with me, if you will, Jacob's life. Jacob’s nature was to cheat, deceive, connive, lie and double cross. Failure seemed to follow him wherever he went and even the hour glass of time was against him as he was 70 years old before God made him a prince. One redeeming factor for Jacob was that deep down in his heart he had a desire, a thirst and hunger to know God. Yes, he failed and yes, he floundered and although his family did not help him, he had a desire to know God! His older brother Esau did not share this desire, so God chose Jacob for what He could do with him. Paul said, “For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” (2 Corinthians 8:12) Some people today cannot be used of God, not because they are wretched, but because they are simply without the desire to know God and be used of Him. We must wonder if every night as he laid down to sleep, Jacob didn't go to bed crying out to God, “I want to do what's right! I want to do better! I want to know and serve you, Lord!" There is no doubt that Jacob hated who he was, so much so that every night he cried for himself, yet every day he continued to flounder shiftlessly in his ways. Beloved, God cannot do anything with us until we know who and what we really are. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Romans 7:18). “By faith Jacob...worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.”
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