Bumpy Providence

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash
One of the great blessings in modern life is the GPS. I don’t listen to directions very well, mostly because they are entirely absent of street names. When my family moved to Jasper, Alabama, at a time before smartphones were widespread, I would tell people that I had just moved there and needed directions to such and such. Their directions would begin with, “Well, do you know where the old Sonic used to be?” I would reiterate that I had just moved here and thus didn’t know where anything used to be! One time someone used an old fallen tree that wasn’t even there anymore as a landmark! 

Enter the GPS! Finally, no more hazy directions! Everything is laid out clearly on a map to take you right where you want to go. Or so I thought. Abby and I on one trip had to drive through Atlanta. The GPS, ever helpful, suggested that we take a detour off the highways in order to avoid traffic. I pushed “yes” and it took me through some very scary sections of Atlanta. This was a very different path than what brought me into the city! I did get home, but it wasn’t the way I expected. 
The GPS often makes us think that because a journey starts out one way that it will absolutely continue as it should. We often bring the same attitude to God’s plan for us. We think that because it operated one way for our parents that it will definitely work that way for us. Or even expecting the patterns of our own lives to repeat. When that pattern is disrupted, we can often feel like God is abandoning us. Or if this pattern is interrupted by our own sin, we can feel as though there is simply nothing good that can come from this situation now. 
Jacob is about to find out how God works. The path of God’s providence is often bumpy, but we will see God work it out to his good. Today, our main focus will be Trust God with the twists. 
Trust God with the Twists

We begin this chapter fresh off his dream at Bethel where God has promised to be with him and produce the same blessings as promised to Abraham. Scholars note that the Hebrew here points to Jacob’s outlook on his future. Where it says “went on his journey” the Hebrew is delightfully phrased that Jacob “picked up his feet,” which is a lovely way of saying that he had a “spring in his step” of sorts (Ross, 501). Life is good! 
But there is trouble on the horizon. It notes that he came to the “people of the east.” We’ve mentioned this before, the direction “east” is a symbol of sorts of moving away from God. We first see this all the way back in Genesis 3:24 where Adam and Eve are banished “east” out of the Garden. We will see this direction reverse in the New Testament when wise men come “from the east” to meet and worship Jesus. for the moment, Jacob is heading east, heading into hard times. 
But that trouble looks pretty far away for now, as things begin to fall into a familiar pattern. Jacob approaches a well where he is about to meet (one of) his future wives, Rachel. Right away, we should start thinking about how Isaac’s wife, Jacob’s mother, was discovered. Rebekah, too, was found by a well which Abraham’s servant just so happened to be at right at the time that he was supposed to be there. It looks like a repeat of Genesis 24! 
But there is one component of this story that is conspicuous in its absence: prayer. The servant before anyone came to the well, he was covering everything in prayer. This is something that is clearly missing in this narrative. 
Does this mean this is why everything goes wrong for him? Not necessarily. On the one hand, we have examples, particularly in the book of Joshua, where a lack of prayer is a big part of the reason for a lack of success (Joshua 9 and possibly chapter 7). However, we don’t look at our prayer lives as a formula to follow to get what you want. God does many things despite our prayerlessness, as I believe J.C. Ryle once said, but I think we rob ourselves of a lot of joy by not praying specifically to the Lord and see Him answer. 
In any event, Rachel comes up and Jacob is ecstatic. He rolls away this huge stone all by himself, kiss her and starts crying! Lot of feelings happening right now! She runs off to tell her father Laban, who, as we shall see, is always looking for a deal. 
After a month long stay, Laban opens the negotiations for the future. Jacob wants to get married, and in that culture, you needed to have something to give the family for a bride price. I know that sounds like a property exchange to our modern ears, but the loss of a daughter in that time was, in fact, a measurable economic loss. She is a shepherdess here, so to give her to Jacob did, indeed, mean that Laban would need someone else to help with the sheep. 
However, Laban is milking this for everything it is worth. At least one scholar points out that this was beyond even what could be required of a Jewish slave. Six years of labor was the max for that, and he is proposing seven years (Rick Philips). Jacob doesn’t have a whole lot of choice, though, as he has nothing at the moment being homeless and broke (Matthews). Fortunately, he loves Rachel so much, that those seven years fly by as if they were a few days. 
Rachel isn’t the only character entering this mix. We get a little narrative aside introducing us to the oldest daughter, Leah. There is some discussion as to what is meant by Leah’s eyes being “weak.” Some translations put it “delicate” to try to give a positive spin on it, but I think that the text is trying to be comparative here (Matthews). We are trying to draw a contrast between Leah and Rachel. Beautiful eyes were a sought after beauty standard in the ancient near East, and unfortunately, Leah struggles here. Rachel, however, is given top marks for physical beauty. 
This passage gives us many points of comparison not just between Leah and Rachel, but also between these sisters and Jacob and Esau. Rachel works out in the fields, similar to Esau, but Leah’s contribution to the family isn’t mentioned. Perhaps she is a woman of the tent, like Jacob (Matthews). There is also the way that they are differentiated. Most other places in the Old Testament refer to daughters by “first” and “second” daughters rather than “older/younger” (Matthews) which, I think, draws further comparison between Esau and Jacob. 
All of this sets up Laban’s big deception of Jacob, giving Jacob a taste of his own medicine. The question could be reasonably asked, “How on earth does Jacob not notice a different woman on his wedding day, and in particular on his wedding night?” Well, unlike our marriage conventions, the bride would have likely remained veiled the whole ceremony and into the wedding night (Matthews). Wine also would have been freely flowing during the feast after the wedding, so Jacob’s senses were not at their best, especially at night. Here, everything that Jacob used to deceive his father is used to deceive him. Lack of sight, good food, different clothing, and dulled senses are all used to trick Jacob into consummating the marriage with Leah, thus making the marriage irrevocable (Matthews). There is no annulment option, Leah is his wife now, full stop. 
Jacob is obviously upset, yet Laban says that this is cultural convention! It is just not how things are done around here. The oldest goes first. Ouch. However, Jacob is told that Rachel can be his wife at the end of the week if he serves anotherseven years afterwards. Once again, Jacob is in no real position to argue, so he agrees to these terms and marries Rachel after the week is complete. 
All of these twists and turns are things that God works through. Was Laban wrong to deceive Jacob like this? Yes it was, and Laban is going to get his own just desserts later for this. Was Jacob wrong to marry multiple wives? Yes, as God always intended to have a marriage be one man and one woman. While it hadn’t been set down in official law yet, Scripture never approves of polygamy and in fact goes out of its way to show how these marriages always lead to conflict. We will see how this works in that last part of the chapter when we get there next Sunday. 
Despite all of the sin, God is going to work through even this polygamous marriage built on lies to bring about the twelve tribes of Israel. Ultimately, all of this will produce the Savior of the world, Jesus Himself. While Jacob is getting something of a poetic justice here, Jesus would bear the ultimate occasion of being sinned against. He would be murdered on the cross for crimes He didn’t commit, and endure our just punishment for sin. He didn’t betray, yet was betrayed. He didn’t lie, but was treated as one. He didn’t murder but endured its punishment for you and me. He endured the consequences due to us Jacobs so that we might go free. Unlike Jacob, Jesus wasn’t stuck in that situation forever. But He paid for all our sins with His death, and having done so was raised from sin’s penalty to eternal life again. 
So what is our takeaway from this here? We need to trust the providence of God even when there are twists in the road. But what does that really look like? We can tend to think that this means that we are simply to become passive people resigned to our fate. “Well, God is in control, so whatever happens, happens. Nothing I can do.” No. This doesn’t mean passive resignation but prayerful participation. Look how Abraham’s servant went about finding a wife for Isaac. He brought the camels, brought the gifts, traveled the miles, talked to the families, but every single step was covered in prayer. Nothing was assumed to be “I got this. I don’t need to bother praying about it.” Bother praying about it! Yes, God will work despite your prayerlessness, but whey wouldn’t you want to participate in His work? We don’t pray to change God’s mind, but to change ours to reflect His! If nothing else, a prayerful approach to life reminds you that there is more to consider in your decisions than how much time or money it costs. 
I want you to try something this week. Pick two or three things that you just normally do without thinking. Maybe it is safety on your commute, productivity at work, creativity in a home project, your use of social media, how you play basketball, how you go to sleep, your interactions with your children, the things you worry about when you have a rare moment of quiet, and pray very specifically for those things this week. Jesus does tell us to pray for our daily bread, doesn’t He? Just see how differently you view those things after praying for them for a week. If you want extra points, write them down and see how God answers them. I’m not promising you’ll have an answer within a week or that it’ll be the answer you want. But I am promising that if you will take the time to notice, God’s bumpy providence is leading you towards Himself. 
How to do this practically? I like a system that John Piper has used and one that I use every time I preach. It is called APTAT. 

Admit. You admit that you are not able to do the thing that Jesus has called you to. 
Pray for help. 
Take Hold of a Promise (find a promise in Scripture relevant to your situation). 
Act. Do what you know you need to do! 
Thank. Thank God for how He worked in that situation. It is a very simple thing, but I have found great comfort in it.