THE UNSEEN HAND

1. Who said that God cannot change our situations in our favor!

a) 4So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5He said to them, "I see that your father's attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, 7yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me. (Genesis 31:4-9 NIV)

@1. Highlights:

a) Laban's selfishness

i) Laban was completely unscrupulous (not honest).

ii) Laban broke wage contract with Jacob again and again (the Bible says 10 times!)

iii) Jacob said to Laban, 38"I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 40This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. (Genesis 31:38-41 NIV)

b) God's unseen hand upon Jacob

i) God would not permit Laban to do Jacob any harm.

ii) 22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad." (Genesis 31:22-24 NIV)

iii) Jacob said to Laban, "42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you." (Genesis 31:42 NIV)

iv) Do we want God's favor? A definite and absolute "Yes".

2. Why did God do the way he did for Jacob? What caused God's unseen hand to move the situation to Jacob's favor and made Jacob wealthy?

a) God remembers Jacob's vow and is a covenant keeping God?

i) 10"In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. 11The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I answered, 'Here I am.' 12And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'" (Genesis 31:10-13 NIV)

ii) God gave Jacob creative ideas to multiply, to increase, to be productive and having abundance.

b) Jacob made a vow after having an encounter with God.

i) 20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21so that I return safely to my father's household, then the Lord will be my God 22and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." (Genesis 28:20-22 NIV)

ii) God collects vows because he causes it to happen.

c) Jacob dreamed that a stairway reaching from earth to heaven, and he saw the angles of God going up and down upon it.

i) 10Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12He had a dream in which 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. 13There above it stood the Lord, and he said: "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." (Genesis 28:10-15 NIV)

ii) 16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." 17He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven." 18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. (Genesis 28:16-19 NIV)

@1. Highlights:

#1) Notice the angels of God going up and down upon the stairway... from earth to heaven. Angels on earth, they are ministering angels.

#2) God is in control. He gave each continent of the world a supervising angel or guardian angel.

#3) 8"When God divided up the world among the nations, he gave each of them a supervising angel!" (Deuteronomy 32:8 TLB)

d) God's instruction to build an altar, the highway to heaven.

i) God instructed Jacob to move to Bethel and build an altar to worship him...

The highway to heaven!

ii) Jacob instructed all those in his household to:

#1) Destroy all their idols and earrings (God hates idolatry and accursed things). These things can entice us to fall.

#2) Wash themselves with water... represents the word of God cleansing our body, soul and spirit.

#3) Put on fresh clothing... represents the garment of righteousness, illuminating the glory of God.

iii) What did the people do?

#1) The people gave to Jacob their foreign gods and ear rings and were buried beneath the oak of tree near Shechem. The power of darkness was completely broken over their lives. There was new hope and beginning in the lives.

iv) What ensued after that?

#1) And the terror of God was upon all the cities they journeyed through, so that they arrived in Luzon (Bethel) in Canaan (destination).

#2) God appeared to Jacob and blessed: changed his name Jacob (grabber) to Israel (one who prevails with God).

#3) 9After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel." So he named him Israel. 11And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. 12The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you." 13Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. 14Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel. (Genesis 35:9-15 NIV)

#4) God caused Jacob to be fertile and multiply and to become a great nation.

#5) Jacob built an altar and poured olive oil upon a stone pillar at the place where God had appeared to him. Jacob named the place Bethel (House of God).

3. Do we want God's unseen hand to be upon our situation, our lives? Do we want God to work in our favor?

a) 2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." 4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. (Genesis 35:2-5 NIV)

i) Destroy all idols.

ii) Wash ourselves with God's word and the blood of Jesus.

iii) Put on fresh clothing of praise and righteousness.

4. Prayer focus

a) Pray for God's unseen hand to turn our situations in our favor and into a blessing.