The Story of God: The Things We Do For Love

Have you ever wanted something so bad you could taste it?   That you would do anything to get it… you would work harder, longer, smarter than anyone else to get it, but once you got what you wanted, it didn’t really deliver? Didn’t satisfy? It really didn’t give you the happiness or joy that you were expecting?

Well today, were going to look at a guy who was so obsessed with a woman, so blinded by his passion to have her, that he was willing to do just about anything to make her his wife. His name is Jacob, and his “love story” is recorded for us in Genesis 29, our text for today. So if you brought your Bible with you this morning, let me encourage you to find Genesis 29, where we are going to see to how God works in Jacob’s life through the love of a woman to get him to a place where he’s ready trust in God.

Do you know Jacob? Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, the second born son of Isaac and Rebekah. Jacob, the “heel grabber;” who lived up to that name by taking advantage of his brother Esau in order to steal his birthright. Jacob, the momma’s boy, who loved the easy life close to the tents. Jacob, the liar who tricked his father into giving him the blessing reserved for the first born. Jacob, the coward who ran away from home to escape the wrath of Esau under the guise of needing to find a wife. Jacob, who met God at Bethel, and in spite of all his flaws, becomes the offspring through whom God is going to fulfill His promises to Abraham.

But before take a look at his love story I want to read two paragraphs to remind us of the context of Jacob’s journey to Haran. The first one, from Genesis 27, reminds us why Jacob was on the run: Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides.  When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there.” Genesis 27:41-45 So as soon as Rebekah tells Jacob to run away, she gives Isaac a perfectly good reason to send him to Haran: He needed to go there to go get a wife. Her ploy works, and Isaac sends Jacob with his blessing.

The second paragraph from Genesis 28 reminds us of Jacob’s encounter with God at Bethel: He 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. There 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.  Your 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.  I 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 28:12-15 So there in the midst of his journey, Jacob alone, running from his brother’s wrath, meets the God of his Father Isaac, and receives the blessing of Abraham. But true to his character as a deceiver, Jacob has trouble believing that God will do what He says. So he makes this vow: “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 so that I return safely to my father’s house-hold, then the Lord will be my God and 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

At this point in Jacob’s story, he has little confidence in anyone but himself. He is still very immature, full of himself, and has huge doubts about God. So this is where we pick up his story today and we read in Genesis 29: Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples.  There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large.  When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?”

“We’re from Harran,” they replied.

He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?”

“Yes, we know him,” they answered.

Then Jacob asked, “Is he well?”

“Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”

“Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

“We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. Genesis 29:1-9 Up to this moment, Jacob had done what his mother had told him. He had made it to Haran. He had found his mother’s people. But the moment he lays eyes on Rachel, everything changes: When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.

Well Isn’t that something? Little old Jacob, the mamma’s boy; tent dwelling Jacob, the softy who rarely got his hands dirty; cowardly Jacob, who was on the run from his brother – the moment he sets eyes on Rachel, he rolls up his sleeves, shows off his guns, and he’s like, “Oh, big rock, no problem! I got this” and he moves the stone that normally took three shepherds to move. Aw, the things we do for love.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. He’s found his family. He’s no longer on the run. He’s safe! Then he begins to converse with Rachel and tells her that he is related to her father and a son of Rebekah. Now not only is Rachel impressed that Jacob has watered her sheep, but he’s family. For a young shepherdess, this exciting news. So she ran and told her father. Genesis 29:10-12

At this point, we need to see a big contrast between Jacob’s meeting at the well and the time Abraham’s servant came to this same well to find a wife for Isaac. That story is told in Genesis 24. At that time, his servant came to this same well and waited on the Lord in prayer to reveal the right woman for Isaac. He was looking for a woman who would let down her jar and give him and his camels a drink. And if that were to happen, then he would know she was the one God had for Isaac.  The woman who came to that well and gave him a drink was Rebekah, sister of Laban… Jacob’s mother.

But on this day there is no prayer by Jacob. There’s no mention that God is with him. He’s not waiting for a sign. He’s not waiting for a drink. No, as soon as he set eyes on this beauty he shows of his strength to water her sheep.   He moves the stone by himself. Why? Because as we shall soon see, this was love at first sight!

And As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, (the stone mover) his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.” Genesis 29:13-14

It’s a family reunion! Laban opens his arms and his home to Jacob. But shrewd and cunning Laban already knows that before he’s ever laid eyes on Jacob, he has plans for this stone mover. And so we read, After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” Now, the proper response from Jacob, since he was family, should be, “Nothing!” “You’re family! Family doesn’t work for wages!” So what’s up with Laban? By approaching Jacob with this question, Laban reveals how he sees Jacob. In bringing up wages, Laban actually downgrades their relationship from one of family to an economic relationship.  He sees Jacob for what he can get out of him.  He wants to use him as a common laborer.  And in hiring Jacob this way, he gets a heck of a deal.

But that doesn’t seem to bother Jacob, because he’s in love. Since he came to Laban empty handed, he’s ready to pay the price of love – the dowry for Rachel’s hand. And so we read: Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

The things we do for love. The going rate for dowries in those days was 30 to 40 shekels. The average monthly wage then was about 1.5 shekels. So Jacob’s “bride price” offering was more than 4 times the usual amount. 4 Times! Obviously, he’s played his hand. He’s willing to work seven years for the chance to marry Rachel. And in doing so, he plays right into Laban’s scheme. So Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.”  So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. Genesis 29:14-20

Oh, the things we do for love. Especially Jacob. Look at him. He’s not thinking of God’s promise to bless him. He’s not thinking that God’s promised to be with him. No, God is out of sight and out of mind.   Jake’s got a one-track mind. And its lazer focused on Rachel. And he’s going to do whatever it takes to make her his bride.  Laban knows a sucker when he sees one. But notice how he so casually says, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” Not exactly a sterling endorsement.   But it doesn’t bother Jacob, because Jacob is in love!

And then the narrator brings us to verse 21. Seven years zoom by, and we read: Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.” Literally, in Hebrew, Jacob says, “I have finished my years so give me my wife so I can have sex with her.” You say, “well that’s crude.” It is. Robert Alter, a Jewish scholar on Genesis, says it is very “out of character” for ancient Middle Eastern authors to state something in such a crude or blunt way. And so for years translators try to smooth it out. But literally what he said was, “Let me have her so I can have sex with her.” It’s written that way to show us that he was burning with passion for her. For seven years Jacob been thinking about one thing.

Jacob does here what a lot of people who deal with deep disappointment in their lives do: The search for the answer to their life’s problems is in finding that one, true love. Someone who will fulfill you and make your life worth living.   That’s how Jacob sees Rachel. If he can be with her, then all that he’s gone through will have been worth it. But there’s a problem. He’s made Rachel into an idol. He’s made Rachel his source of happiness, satisfaction and life. His obsession with her reveals one glaring flaw – with his worship of Rachel, there’s no place for God.  She’s his idol.  He can’t live without here.  And so he demands that Laban give her to him.  I can only say that if my son-in-law approached me and asked for Kayla’s hand this way, I would have said, “No Way!”

So now it comes time for ceremony—and in comes Laban, with Jacob’s bride that he has worked for seven years now, wearing the traditional veil that covers her face. And boy do they celebrate. Their wedding feast was literally a big drinking party. So Jacob is so happy that this day has finally come that he just pounds down the booze. Then after the party he takes his veiled bride to his tent, in the dark, and they spend their first night together… Then we read, When morning came, behold here was Leah!

What? Can you imagine the shock when Jacob rolls over expecting to look into Rachel’s beautiful eyes, and then locks eyes with weak eyed, Leah? Talk about confusion, shock and dismay! Jacob launches out of his tent, furious, and confronts Laban! “What’s the deal, Uncle?” “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”

Laban replies, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.” Genesis 29:21-27

Ever wondered why Jacob didn’t say back, “Well, that would have been a great point to make… seven years ago.” But he doesn’t say a word. Why?

Because the moment he says to Laban, “Why have you deceived me?” those words stick in his craw. And he realizes that this is the exact same phrase Isaac had once said to him. And when Laban says, “it’s our custom to honor the firstborn” Jacob remembers how he had stolen the right of the firstborn from his older brother.

Jacob the deceiver has been deceived. He’s gotten a taste of his own medicine. In fact, Genesis 29:25, Jacob literally says to Laban, “You ‘ha-Yakobed’” me; you “Jacobed” me. At that very moment Jacob is brought face to face with who he really is. And who Jacob really is, is a man who is powerless and still without the woman he loves so he says nothing. He finishes the week with Leah, and then Laban gives him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant.  Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years. Genesis 29:28-30

God chose to bless Jacob. But before Jacob could trust God to bless Him, God needed to change Jacob’s heart. And the way He did this was to show Jacob the emptiness of His ways. Jacob needed to see himself the way he really was – powerless. He had come to Haran and fell hard for Rachel, then gave the next seven years of his life working to win her hand. But neither his strength nor his passion prevailed. For God allowed Jacob to be duped by the fraud of Laban to reveal to Jacob that HE was the REAL fraud. Not once did Jacob trust in God’s promise. Not once does Jacob pray or wait on God to give him a bride. Not once. Instead, he relied on his own strength and determination to get what he wanted… and comes up empty.

And sometimes God will allow you do the same. He will allow you to do whatever it takes to get that one thing you believe will satisfy only to show you that you are powerless to get it. For Jacob, he believed this one relationship would do it for him.  But what about you?  What do you think will do IT for you?  What one thing do you believe you cannot live without?  For you it might be a relationship – with your spouse or your child; or maybe its money, or success, or the praise of your peers…

But whatever that IT is, it’s an an idol – and it will never be able to give you what you long for. That’s what Jacob needed to learn. He’d spent the first part of his life deceiving others to get what he wanted; but that didn’t work out to well. Now, he’s poured out all his strength and passion for Rachel to get her, but that doesn’t work out either.

You see, sometimes we’re just like Jacob. We go after what we want with all our strength and all your passion and still come up wanting. Has that been your experience? Are you like Jacob? Or have you come to the place in your life where you recognize that you really are powerless, and you need God?

You see, all of life comes down to this: We either trust in what we can get for ourselves… or we can trust in what God wants to give us. Jacob was still learning that lesson. But are you? Aw, the things we do for love.

But here’s the good news is this: God’s love for us is greater than anything we can do for ourselves.  His proved His love for us at the cross by giving His One and Only Son to die in our place, so we can have a new life with Him. God has already given us everything in Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the only one who can truly satisfy your soul. And sometimes, like Jacob, we’ve got to come to the end of our schemes, our strength, our passion, ourselves, in order to recognize that God is all we need.  At this point in his life, Jacob was still learning this lesson.  But what about you?

Let’s pray.