Why is this happening to me?

[0:00] chapter 25. You're usually used to opening your book at Philippians, but we are starting this new series in the life of Jacob, and we'll be reading from Genesis 25. Genesis 25 is a new section in the book of Genesis. We've already encountered Abraham and Isaac, and now we're about to encounter Jacob, and we will look at his life together. Genesis 25, and we'll read from verse 19. This is the birth of Jacob, and we'll finish at the end of the chapter, verse 34.

[0:35] So let's read this. Genesis 25, reading from verse 19. This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son, Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, Why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples are within you, from within you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the elder will serve the younger. When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment.

[1:44] So they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out with his hand grasping Esau's heel. So he named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau. But Rebekah loved Jacob.

[2:17] Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, Quick, let me have some of that red stew. I'm famished. That is why he was also called Edom.

[2:33] Jacob replied, First sell me your birthright. Look, I am about to die, Esau said. What good is the birthright to me? But Jacob said, Swear to me first. So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. We'll end our reading at the end of chapter 25. Just before we come to consider that together, let's stand and we'll sing together. Our loving Father, we do give you thanks for the service this evening. We thank you for your word, and we thank you, Father, that you're a sovereign God, a gracious God, a loving God. And Father, as we come to you as your children, we pray that you would speak to us now. Help us, Lord, to understand the passage before us. Help us, Father, to hear your voice speaking to us as individuals and as a church. Father, just encourage us in who you are, in our great

[3:40] God and in our great Savior. Speak to us now, we pray. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I don't often go to the cinema. It's not something I do. Various reasons for that, the price. But usually just somebody's crunching away or doing whatever. But one of the things I don't really like about cinema is this, is trailers. You don't get that on Netflix or whatever. You just decide what you're going to watch, and you watch. You don't have to wade through 20 minutes of stuff that you're not remotely interested in. You came to see a particular film, and they try and peddle this other stuff. And I don't know how many times I usually say to Lucille, after that particular trailer's finished for that film, I just say, remind me not to watch that film.

[4:29] Just, I mean, sometimes you get the occasional one. Oh, that looks interesting. I'll maybe watch that next time. Trailers. It's a wee taster of a movie, usually the best bits. That's what I'm saying. Usually if you get the best bits, and you think, well, if that's the best bits, I don't think I'll bother.

[4:48] But they're there to try and give you a wee taster of what's to come, and you think, that's really what I fancy. That's great. That looks interesting. I think I'll see that. Chapter 25 of the book of Genesis in the life of Jacob is very much like a trailer to the rest of the book of Genesis about what God is about to do, or it's an intriguing chapter about how God is going to work in the life of this particular individual, and how his plan will unfold through the life of Jacob, as he blesses Jacob as an individual, but as he begins to put into formation a nation, the nation of Israel. And it's quite an interesting life. I've showed you this wee graph before of the life of Jacob. He's an ordinary person. None of the patriarchs are. We sometimes deify them and make out that they were extraordinary individuals. They weren't. They were ordinary men who struggled to trust in God. And Jacob's life is very much one that's up and down. Over the next few weeks, we're going to start on the down curve when he has to flee from his brother and wondering where he's going and so forth. And then he meets God at Bethel, owns God as his own God, not just a God of his father, but his own God. And it becomes very personal. And then we'll look at the rest of his journey, a life of ups and downs. And I'm sure if you plotted your own life, it would probably be something like that. It would be up and down, maybe more up, more down, or whatever. But it's there are times where you struggle. There's times when things are going well. There's times when you really are close to God, and there's other times when you struggle to get close to him. And that's what

[6:44] I want to do. I want to look at Jacob just as an ordinary person. Sometimes we forget that they're ordinary people. I read an article this week. I think it was basically encouraging us to see people as people. It was a counselor, and he was speaking to somebody who said to them, the 9-11, the tower's that big disaster. And this person says, they felt really guilty because the 250 people that they lost in the 9-11 disasters, the two towers, where she says, I don't see, I never see them as people. I only saw them in the roles that they did in the company, an engineer, an admin person, an accountant, or whatever. And she felt guilty because she never, she can't see them as people, but only in the roles. And this article was encouraging us to see people as people, that we often go through life, just seeing people for how they can make life easy for us, whether it's a bus driver, shopkeeper, whatever, and just to cause us to ask some questions, to show an interest in them. Behind all that they do is an ordinary person. Jacob is an ordinary person, and that's what I want us to look at this evening.

[8:00] And chapter 25, well, is like a movie trailer. Given us a wee taste of what God will do through Jacob's life, and not just through Jacob's life, but what God will do in history, through the rest of the Old Testament and into the New Testament. And therefore, in choosing this man, God really is powerfully at work. And that should encourage you and me in the sovereignty of God. So I'm calling this wee series that we're about to do, Struggling. And if nothing else, the James passage in this, with a wee thing growing up, that'll prepare you for spring, that you'll be seeing these wee growth things coming. But this wee plant struggling, Jacob struggled. He struggled in his walk with the Lord. And tonight's passage is that question that Rebecca asked, why is this happening to me?

[9:00] Why do things happen to us? Can we make sense of what God is doing? Is there any good in the things that we do in life, or are we just a small cog in a big machine? So I want to note four things, and this is like a trailer tonight. You're just going to get loads of things thrown out at you, and you'll probably think, oh, wish we'd stayed in that one, or he's not mentioned this, and hopefully later on when we tease him out. So you're just getting a wee taster of what God is doing in choosing Jacob. So first of all then, I want us to note the providence of God, the providence of God in chapter 25. The providence of God is God's foresight, his wisdom, and his care of his people, that he cares for his people. In this incident later on, we'll see that God just uses ordinary people through life's circumstances. And I don't know about you, but if you have a daily reading plan, and you've started at Genesis, most of us probably have started a reading plan at Genesis, I'm always amazed, just from Genesis 1 all the way through, that God is working to a plan. He works his counsel out according to the counsel of his own will. His plan is being developed. And you see that despite Abraham,

[10:23] Isaac, and Jacob, and Noah, and all these guys, and the brothers of Joseph, God is still in control. Man intends to do something, but God intends something else. And that really is so, so encouraging.

[10:40] Things happen at a natural level, but they also happen at a divine level. He is in control of these things. And we see this in Joseph. I enjoyed reading Joseph not that long ago.

[10:52] Genesis 45, when he reveals himself to his brothers. I always find that quite emotional when you're reading that. And then he eventually reveals himself to his brothers and says, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourself for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God to the saving of many lives. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish all those things. And that is what God is doing throughout Genesis, and it's very much what he's doing in Genesis 25. So, what is the context here? It's very early on in the Bible. We see God created the world, man and woman, a place of blessing in the Garden of Eden.

[11:48] We rejected God. We rejected his rule over us, and we disobeyed, and mankind is cast from the presence of God, the fall of man. And then God makes a covenant with Noah, and he preserves him. His covenant is he would never flood the earth again. And then God's plan begins to unfold in the chapters of Genesis more and more. He has a plan to restore him back to himself, mankind, to take us back to the Garden of Eden, to have a new heaven and a new earth. He does this by choosing one man, Abraham. And through him and his offspring, the nation of Israel will come into being, but ultimately the world would be blessed.

[12:34] People in Scotland, England, Ireland, and Wales, the six rugby nations and beyond. And this is in the plan of God. I will make you into a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse whoever curses you, I will curse. And all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you. This is the ultimate plan of God, to bring people of every tribe and tongue and nation, ultimately through his Son, back to himself.

[13:07] And armed with these promises, Abraham goes about his life, trusting to a certain extent. He's obedient to God. Nevertheless, he tries to bring about a family himself. And the blessings of God in chapter 12, he tries to do this. And God has other plans. God has to do it his way. But Abraham is a great pioneer of the faith. He's a mighty man of God. He takes God at his word. And his plan is unfolding. But Isaac is different. Isaac's not so pioneering as Abraham was. Abraham gets loads of things from God. Isaac just gets the same things that Abraham was mentioned, given to him. He's not so much a pioneer. But he just receives the blessings that were promised to his father, Abraham. He's next in line. Abraham is active in his faith. Isaac is more passive. Maybe you and I are a bit like that. Our faith is more active than some.

[14:17] But Isaac is more receiving what God has done. No great challenges, no great tests that Abraham has. None of them, none of these two individuals were perfect. And if God has a plan to restore the world, you wouldn't choose Jacob. You wouldn't choose the next in line. He plans, he schemes, he's up to all sorts. And that's what we'll see. Here we see the providence and the care of God beginning to kick in to an individual, into Jacob's life. And the trailer of his life is basically this. He's born into a dysfunctional family. His family's not the family of your dreams. The family unit is quite disunited.

[15:06] It's quite complex. It's rife with favoritism. Rebecca favors Jacob. Isaac prefers Esau. Never a good thing in any family when you've got favorites. I don't think you've ever been asked who's your favorite sibling or child or whatever. You just wouldn't answer that question, would you? But if you asked these two, they would tell you, oh, Rebecca, Jacob's great. Not that keen on Esau. And Isaac's, yeah, well, we're like Esau. Not a good family. It's not a family you would choose to be born into.

[15:39] The parents aren't close, as we'll see next week probably, when they're not working together. They're both planning and scheming, having their own things. Jacob lives up to his name as a heel grabber, wanting to get ahead. You will discover in his life that he will struggle to trust in God and take him at his word. He'll bargain with God. If God will do this, then he will be my God. He doesn't buy into the fact that he's Abraham, his grandfather's God and his father's God, that he's still very human.

[16:14] He's grasping in the womb, and he grasps in the passage, with the red, for the birthright. He knows where the blessings lie. And unlike Esau, who isn't really bothered, Jacob does. Jacob wants these things. He lies and tricks his father, and then his brother ends up wanting to kill him, and he has to run away. He flees from the family home. He goes wandering. Then he works for his uncle Laban, and his working life is a great struggle, just trying to. His wages are changed in various things. His love life isn't smooth as well. He falls in love with somebody. He's tricked into working for 14 years, finally, for the woman that he really loves. His family life is complicated. His two wives just bend his ear the whole time, and then they're playing pinball with him, who sleeps with him. And you have that most romantic line in the Bible, you're to sleep with me. I bought you with my son's mandrakes or something. It's just kind of, that's his life. This is his family. And then more craftiness in the workplace, and then he has to run away again. His past sins catch up with him. When Esau, he has to meet him again, who was wanting to kill him. His daughter Dinah is raped, and his son's gone a murderous killing spree. He's Rachel. His favorite wife dies, giving birth, and later on, his favorite son is sold into slavery. No wonder when Pharaoh, when he speaks to Pharaoh, he says, the years of my pilgrimage are 130. My years have been few and difficult. By his own confession, life is not easy for Jacob. He struggles just to walk with God. And his character is different from Esau as well.

[18:13] He does have a heart for God, but he has a heart for himself. And he plans and schemes, he manipulates, he's this constant heel grabber trying to get the best of the other person. And through all of this, God's plan is still on the rails. God is still about to bless the Scots through this man. There's plan for world salvation. We too come with baggage, don't we? Our background, our personal baggage. Like Jacob, we've been affected by our surroundings, by our upbringing, by all that's happened to us. And we might not be like Del Boy, Jacob, as we will see his plan and scheming. But it's amazing how even through the ups and downs of our life, God has been able to work in and through us. He's above and beyond all of these. Whether you're born in Springburn or Chateau Lay, as I was saying this morning, wherever you're born, in whatever school you went to, whatever happened to you when you're a teenager or a youngster or whatever job, career, as you come to the end of your life. You can look at your life in terms of blessings. And God has been sovereign through all of these things. And God chooses these people not because they are particularly impressive. He never has good material to work with, never. But he chooses them. And Jacob especially is fascinating.

[19:49] One of the commentators says this, so the patriarchs, especially Jacob, emerged from Scripture not as lily-white heroes, but as real men of flesh and blood, red and tooth and claw, and with them their failings with which we can all identify. So I'm hoping that that will be seen. And Jacob knew this himself. He knew the goodness of God throughout his life. Hebrews 11.21 says this about Jacob, quoting, by faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff. It's a great way to end his life. He ends worshipping God, leaning on the top of his staff. He recognized, although his life has been hard and difficult, God has been with him throughout his life as he has been with you throughout your life and will be with you. Whether you struggle or whether you're not, whether you're clumsy, whether you sin, as we'll be looking at on Wednesday night, he's in control. He loves you. He cares for you. His plan and purpose for you is never thwarted by even your quirks and your personality and the upbringing that you have had.

[21:04] God can work through even the darkest of times. God is a God of great providence and care, and we will see that. You see it here, and you'll see it in the chapters that lie ahead. Secondly, the grace of God is in this chapter as well. Basically, if God is going to save the world, he's going to have to do it himself. It can't be done through these three individuals, and it certainly won't be done through Jacob. In this passage, you see the reminder of God's grace right at the very beginning. Look at verse 19. This is the account of the family line, that through Abraham's line, things would happen. And if you know your Bible, he was 40 years old when he married Rebecca, and then we're told he was 60 when the boys were born.

[21:59] For 20 years, his wife was childless. If you're going to plan a big family and a big nation, you don't choose somebody that's childless. That's class 101 of biology. I never did biology, but at least I know how babies are made. You need somebody that can produce children.

[22:21] And here is Isaac. He's next in line. And we are told here that he was, it says, Isaac prayed, verse 21, to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife, Rebecca, became pregnant. If there's to be a nation, you see here, it will be by God's grace, by God's intervention. The same thing happened with Abraham. It's no coincidence. The two weren't just unfortunate to marry two women who were childless, childless, or barren. His situation, Abraham's situation was more laughable. Wasn't it Isaac? That's what his name means, laughter. My body's as good as dead. So is my wife. You say we're going to have a chill. You must be joking. And God says, this is what's going to happen. I'm going to do it this way. And despite the fact Abraham tried it himself, we'll do this to him and his wife, planning, you can sleep with my concubine and what have you. Planning and scheming, if the big nation's going to come, and all the nations are to be blessed, we are going to have to do this. And God says, do you think so? It will be by grace. And he opens up the womb of these two women, and they give birth. And so there is that principle here, this principle that it will be by grace. And then you see the birth as well, the nature of the pregnancy. Verse 22, the babies jostled within her, these two babies. And she says, why is this happening? Lord, you've opened my womb, but look at what's happening now.

[24:04] These two babies are jostling. The actual Hebrew word is smashed. They smashed together. It wasn't just a wee, oh, feel the baby. Oh, I can feel that wee thing. World War III is starting in her womb.

[24:19] And there's a very violent struggle. And then you're left with a question. Who's going to come out first? Esau or Jacob? Who's going to be next in line? The third patriarch. And even in this, you see, it's not down to who decides. It's down to God who decides. Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples separated. One people will be stronger than the other. And then we read these words, the elder will serve the younger. In other words, it's not just God's prediction, it's God's decision of what will happen here. God's at work again, and he's going against human tradition, the right of the firstborn. And throughout Scripture, it's how God works. It's what he does.

[25:06] God chooses. He chooses against tradition. Kent Hughes, in his commentary, calls this scandalous grace. It just shouldn't be. It's just not done. You just don't do it that way. But God does it his way.

[25:23] He chooses a grace which is scandalous. And that's what you see here. He chooses what will happen. Paul, how do we know this? How do we know what's happening here? Paul explains to us theologically what's happening in Genesis 25. In Romans 9, he says this, Not only that, Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might stand, not by works, but by him who called, she was told, the older will serve the younger.

[26:03] However, Paul links that to God's choice, election. God has chosen the older to serve the younger. This is not just something that the midwives can explain away. This is God. Paul says this is what's happening here, that God's purpose in election might stand there. It's not by works. It's not anything they've done, but God simply chooses Jacob above Esau, and he understands the spirit of Genesis. God does this, not just in that incident, but throughout Scripture. He chose Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over his brothers, Ephraim over Manasseh, David over his brothers, and Jesus, a simple carpenter born in a small town called Bethlehem. It's the same with you and I, scandalous grace. If God wants the people of Western Hills, or people in your life to be saved, who has he chosen? God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world, the despised things, the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one can boast in him. None of us can boast, Lord, this church is so blessed to have me as a member, or your kingdom is so blessed to have me. We are saved by scandalous grace. Why should God ever choose you and choose me, and put his plan of salvation into our hands, the message of the gospel, that others might be saved through weak, you and I, with whether you come from Springburn or whatever, whether your credentials are impressive or not, he chooses the weak things. He delights to take the weak and despised things and use them in his service to bring glory to his name and to bless us. And like Jacob, he makes us alive. Jacob was given birth by God himself.

[28:18] You and I have been made alive. We're looking at this in James, aren't we? He chose to give us birth. We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus. So, God chose you and he chose me before we had done anything good or bad. So, here in Rachel, Rebecca's womb here is this, not just a family incident, not just a wee glimpse into the maternity ward, but something that God is doing, and he's doing it by his grace. Isaac will be God's choice, next in line. It seems unfair. Why doesn't God choose everybody?

[28:58] The question is, why does God choose anybody? That's how I always answer that question. Why doesn't God save everybody? When you come and you realize your sin, it's a miracle God has chosen anybody. Even one person would be a miracle of scandalous grace, but he saves many multitudes, more than the sand on the seashore. It's a miracle of grace, and that's what you see happening here.

[29:26] Thirdly, you see the conflict of God's people. These two nations in the womb, two people struggling with each other. It's a prediction, a prophecy of what will happen between Esau and Jacob as individuals, but also in the nations that they will come to represent, Edom and Israel, two nations that were bitter rivals throughout the whole of the Old Testament. You remember when Israel eventually come out of the the wilderness, they're entering into the promised land, they're wandering in the wilderness on the way to Canaan.

[30:04] They have to skirt around Edom, descendant of Esau, because they won't allow them to pass. These are relatives in that sense, but here you see conflict. During the monarchy period of Samuel and Saul and David, there was conflict between Edom and between Israel. Sometimes they worked well together, but most of the time Edom rose up against Israel. And at the fall of Jerusalem, when the nations were taken into exile, you remember Judah and Israel, Edom sided with the Babylonians. They helped the Babylonians to take God's people into exile. So, understatement to say there were two nations, conflict here. And we could go on. Even today, nations fighting against the nation of Israel.

[30:59] Israel, even today, the spiritual Israel, the church, those outside of the kingdom of God. And there is conflict. You will always get conflict between God's people, God's chosen, and those who aren't. And these two individuals were different in appearance. Esau, red. His whole body was like a hairy garment. So, they named him Esau, which means hairy. And if the world was choosing anybody to be a leader, to head up a nation, you wouldn't have chosen Jacob. You would have chosen Esau.

[31:39] Esau is a hunter. He's out in the field. Jacob likes to stay in the house and cook. If you're a bloke, you go, I'm going for Esau. He's a warrior. He's a, I mean, they did this when they were choosing a king, didn't they? We don't want this guy. We want the big 10-foot Saul guy, the warrior. Let's go for him. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

[32:03] And he chose the guy who liked to stay in the house and make stew, not the warrior guy. He chose this. They were very different in appearance. They would act differently as well. The two of them had a very different mindset as we see in the account here. Jacob would think and plan. He would know what he wants. He would know what's best. The birthright is worth having. I'll have that. Esau is more carnally minded. He's not really interested in the firstborn. He's not really interested in what this means before God. He's more driven by his appetite. I'd rather have the stew, given the choice, birthright, God's way, doing what's the privileges of that. Or I could have this lentil and stew, I think I'll go for that. Thanks. And he despised, that's how this passage ends, he despised his birthright. There are people today who despise the things of God, who don't think things through, who are not thinking, well, is there a life after this? Is there God? How do I please him? What does God want of me? They're driven by their appetites. If you're a Christian here, we're looking at the book of James, you know the birthright, the being born of God, you know all the privileges that are yours. And it's like that today. So here we see Esau and Jacob, very different in appearance, very different in outlook as well. Jacob knew a good thing, whereas Esau was very much of this world and driven by appetites as well. Esau, sorry, Hebrews also explains to us these two different mindsets. Remember when the writer of Hebrews is writing to mostly Jewish congregation who are saved, who might want to go back to Judaism and reject Jesus and the gospel. And this is the account that the writer to Hebrews brings them back to. In other words, don't be like Esau. And we read in Hebrews 12, see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral or godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the eldest son. Afterwards, you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. Very serious. Jacob chose that which was spiritual and Esau rejected this. He was very carnally minded. Hebrews presents Esau as a type of backslider or an unbeliever, worldly minded, rejected God.

[34:56] And believers and unbelievers will always have conflict. And so here is not just a trailer of what's happening. Here is a theology of how God works in his providence, in his grace, and in his conflict.

[35:13] Lastly, here is part of this wee trailer, is the victory of God's people. We will see in the life of Jacob that all's well that ends well. I think one of the commentators has written a wee book, and that's what he's given the book on the life of Jacob. All's well that ends well. Throughout his life, it's not so great, but it ends well because of the providence of God, because of the grace of God, and even despite the conflict of God's people. Life is one of great difficulty for Jacob. It's a great struggle, but it ends well. Despite the fact that he says, the years of my life have been few and difficult. It ends incredibly well for Jacob. If you've been reading Genesis, I'm now into Exodus. But Genesis 48, you remember Jacob looks back on his life, and when he's told, your father is ill, Jacob, Joseph was told, your father is ill. He took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. When Jacob was told, your son Joseph has come to you, Israel, Jacob rallied his strength, sat up in bed. He said to

[36:25] Joseph, God Almighty, who appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me. He said, I am going to make you fruitful, increase your numbers. I will make you a community of people.

[36:39] I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants. Then he says, I never expected to see your face again. Joseph, that is. And now God has allowed me to see your children too. Then he blessed Joseph and said, May the God before whom my father Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day. He owned, he recognized God's blessing on him, the God who led him, who promised him throughout his life, who would be with him and walk with him.

[37:16] And the God of his forefathers proved faithful to Joseph as well. And then when you end, we are told it's his funeral. I love reading, because I've studied the life of Jacob a few times, Genesis 50, such a great picture. So Joseph went to bury his father. This is his funeral. All Pharaoh's officials accompanied him, the dignitaries of his courts, and all the dignitaries of Egypt, besides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers, and those who belonged to his father's household.

[37:54] Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company. What a funeral that was. All these dignitaries from Egypt.

[38:09] Here's this one guy who steps out with just a staff. His brother's trying to kill him. And God uses this man and all his weakness to bless him. And it ends very well for Jacob. He praises the Lord.

[38:24] So, I'm finished. That's a trailer. You could stop at any one of them. And we'll pick these up as we go on over the weeks. His encounter and his love life, his work life, his leading, his guiding, his bargaining, his planning, his daughter being raped, all these horrendous things that come his way.

[38:45] And yet, God's with him throughout this. And the Lord blesses him. May the Lord speak to us over these coming weeks as we look at this ordinary, failing, weak man of God, and yet how God wrapped up his plan of salvation in him. And he's able to bless and to lead and to guide us, whether we come from a dysfunctional family or not. Let's stand and we'll sing grace unmeasured, boundless, free.

[39:14] I'll sing grace unmeasured, boundless, free. I don't know how the unknowness is, if you know the rest can be at the rest.

[39:25] Hmm cold. okay. Okay, well verse three, let's play hahaha.

[39:37] Here we go. Let's go. Okay, well verse four.

[39:48] Next game yeah.