It is difficult to live your life when some tells you that you are going to achieve great things and life conspires against you. There is a kind of bitterness that is hard to explain when one lives with undeveloped expectations. This is the kind of life that Jacob was living. He had talent and there was evidence that God blessed him but it did not seem he could achieve what God said.

Jacob was a twin. His brother was Esau. While Rebekah carried these two, there was such a commotion within her, it was as if they were fighting each other. Isaac prayed to God for her and God revealed to Rebekah that two nations were within here. God told her that the older would serve the younger. That was not how things worked in their society. But it was God who said it. They were born and Esau was born first. But as he made his appearance, Jacob’s hand was holding Esau’s foot as if to say, "hold on, I am coming by you."

The text says Isaac favored Esau because he was an outdoor’s man and Isaac loved wild game. But, Rebekah favored Jacob. I would imagine that all of his life, Rebekah told Jacob what God had told her. You are going to be a great and strong nation. Your older brother is going to be a nation as well, but he is going to serve you. You are special Jacob, you are important Jacob. You have potential Jacob. So, it would be reasonable to think that Jacob grew up knowing that great things were supposed to happen to him.

Esau came in from the field one day and traded his birthright for a bowl of red stuff. That is what the Bible calls it. It was a bowl of soup or stew. Jacob said I will trade you a bowl of my stew for your birthright. Esau was so hungry, he agreed, even swore an oath. It may have crossed Jacob’s mind that if he was that stupid, he deserved to lose his birthright.

Jacob and Rebekah conspired to take Isaac’s blessing away from Esau. They took advantage of Isaac’s poor hearing and poor vision. And Isaac essentially passed on his blessing and his wealth and his position to Jacob and consigned Esau to be Jacob’s servant. But, it did not work out the way Jacob thought. Esau promised to kill his brother. Jacob had to run.

Rebekah got permission from Isaac and sent Jacob back to Haran, to Laban, her brother. Haran was in what we call northern Iraq. Jacob found himself on the run through a desolate desert. On the way, as he slept, he saw a stairway to heaven and angels going up and down the stairway. God spoke to him in that dream: Genesis 28:13 "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants." There is that promise of greatness again. "How awesome is this place!" he said and he called the place Bethel, the house of God.

He went on to Laban and worked for him. Jacob fell in love with Rachel, the daughter of Laban. Laban had two daughters, Rachel, who was beautiful and Leah, who was, well, she was ugly and unmarried. Jacob made a deal with Laban that he would work for him for seven years and then he would be allowed to marry Rachel and he worked with great joy. They had the wedding. The party that followed must have been a wild one because when Jacob woke up the next morning, it was not Rachel in bed, it was Leah! Laban tricked him. He said that the younger daughter could not marry before the elder. Jacob was finding out what kind of man Laban was. So, they struck another deal, seven more years of work for Rachael.

There was constant turmoil in Jacob’s home. There was jealously and strife. Leah, though ugly was quite fertile and bore several children while the beautiful Rachel had none. Life was not happy ever after. Through the years, God did prosper Jacob. His flocks grew and he became a wealthy man. In fact, he became too wealthy. Laban and his sons began to harass him and accuse him of stealing their wealth. Laban was constantly trying to cheat him. It became an unbearable situation. He had to leave. The burdens of life were unbearable. There had to be something better. Nothing in life has worked out and it seemed that everyone did him wrong. His own in-laws treated him like a foreigner. But it was in the midst of this turmoil that God began to speak to him again. God told him to return to the land of his birth. On the one side was Laban other the other was Esau and God said to go home. He secretly packed his family, his belongings and his flocks and moved in the dead of night. There was no going back now. He had to go west, to the land God promised him and to Esau. But things were happening, God was bringing all things together. It was a divine action. God would not let his promises go unfulfilled nor would he allow Jacob’s past to keep him from accomplishing his divinely appointed goals.

We find Jacob in this text praying earnestly, pouring out his heart to God. Jacob had sent messengers to Esau to see if he could come home. All the messengers said when they returned is, "He is coming to meet you with four hundred men." The stress was unbearable. On the one hand, God made his promises, and on the other, Esau was coming with four hundred men. He divided his family up into groups and sent them in different directions in hopes that Esau would not be able to kill all of them. He prays for God’s deliverance and reminded God of his promises. Jacob returned to Bethel, to that rock he anointed as an altar. Up until this point, Jacob had largely depended upon himself. He thought he was going to be a great nation because he was a great man. That was not the case. He was going to be great because God is a great God. On this evening, he came to terms with that. He wrestled with God’s angel and would not let go until he received God’s blessing. This does not mean that he thought that he could beat God. Rather, he was clinging to God, would not let go until God did his work and blessed him.

Jacob’s hip was set out of joint and he limped away when the sun rose. He limped for the rest of his life. But this was the turning point. God was unfolding his plans and finally Jacob trusted God. It was not past hurts that mattered, it was the very present God, a present help in time of trouble. Esau met him with gifts and an embrace. Jacob had come home.

So many Christians struggle in life damaged by their past. To them, life is shattered and broken and there is not a lot of hope for the plans they thought God had made for them. Some are haunted by words that they said in an unguarded moment. Others were injured by other people’s actions and abuses–friends who betrayed them, spouses who were unfaithful, business partners who cheated them. It seems that life has been tangled up by others and they are going no where.

Perhaps, like Jacob, it has become unbearable. There is only one way for us to move and that is toward God. Jacob found out that Esau had long forgotten his temper tantrum. The person who hurt you probably never knew it or has long forgotten. Why be trapped by the past? Why be strangled by something that was so long ago? Why let past personal failures keep you from serving God now?

On the other hand, you may be haunted by past successes. You were successful then, why not now? But, don’t you know that if we have achieved anything in life that has kingdom significance, it was because God was at work in you? We are still helpless to do good, only through the work of the Holy Spirit can we do that which is right.

We who are Christians are washed by the blood of Christ, we are very precious to him. He does keep his promises. The thing is, we can’t achieve God’s plan for our lives our way. We can’t do it by our own schemes and programs. Jacob had to be broken by his circumstances before he learned that it was not his past that was holding him back, it was Jacob himself.

We need a fresh start. We need to forget the past, good or bad, and go back to our source. We need to cling to God in such a way that we understand that is not our power or our might, But God who achieves our victories. Forgetting the past, lest us press on toward the upward call of Christ.