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- Message: Jacob had marked a large stone as a monument to mark his covenant with God. He renamed the town Bethel before showing up at his Uncle Laban’s place.He endured a lot of dishonesty, trickery and unfair treatment in all of those years but God did miraculous things to bless Jacob because of his honor at Bethel. When the turmoil worsened with Laban, Jacob took off with his family. When Laban chased after him God showed up in a dream to Laban warning him not to harm Jacob. After this the two of them built another rock pile monument and agreed that as they parted ways they would never pass those monuments with ill intent towards each other.
- Command: Honor God and stay faithful no matter what turmoil and unfair treatment you have to endure.
- Promise: God will protect us in ways that we could never protect ourselves!
- Warning: Don’t allow corrupt or unfair treatment to change our response. We represent God and we work for him.
- Application: As I read this I thought about seasons in my life that have been unfair and full of turmoil. There was so much temptation to respond accordingly, but God was not going to let me get away with using any of it as an excuse. I felt the weight of my covenant with every decision and although things were really tough God didn’t allow me to use any excuses to act out even though I really wanted to. He was training me and teaching me to rise to another standard. Not to elevate myself as a “good person” but because in order for him to bless me in spite of it all, I needed to honor the covenant I made with him. God is faithful and he will allow us to go through the struggles for our own good, but he will honor the stand we make to honor our covenant with him.
