Saying Goodbye

Saying Goodbye...

Question of the day:  What do you do to make yourself remember something? or.. When was a time you forgot something very important?

I completely forgot this week to ask someone to teach this lesson.... so who ever fills in... THANK THEM!!!! I'm so sorry, text me your techniques! 

Last week we ended with God telling Jacob to take everyone and go to Bethel (House of God.)

We didn't take time to delve into what happened there.  So let's read chapter 35 together.  

God Blesses and Renames Jacob

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,[a] because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.[b]

9 God appeared[c] to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:[d] be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.[e] 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Is there anything here that jumps out at you?

So God told Jacob to take everyone to Bethel.  Essentially telling Jacob to return to me.  What happens? 

He is blessed and renamed.  Wait does this sound familiar?

Let's go back to the story just a few pages back in chapter 32  where Jacob is wrestling with God...

26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,[f]for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.

So God is once again telling him his name is no longer Jacob but Israel and he blesses him again. 

Why?

Did it not stick the first time?

Today I find this so comforting. 

We serve a God who is willing to say it again!

How many times do we make the same bad choices over and over again?

Or how many times do we find ourselves questioning things that God has given us assurance of before? 

This morning I am preaching at Erwin Hills SDA Church.  The last time I preached, I found myself crying out and asking God to help me out and give me a word, some assurance, etc.  This morning I'm crying out again! 

Guess what, that is OK with our God.  He KNOWS!  

Jacob was blessed and his name was changed just a couple chapters back, but this is a new day, new questions, new doubts, or even the old ugly ones rearing there ugly head... and God has mercies that are new for Jacob today!

We serve a God where we can cry out minute by minute.  We can over and over again. 

I can remember with my children not always being so patient.  Have you ever said, "I already told you!" to your child? 

How many times have we read that God is blessing Jacob?

It is more than once, it could be said it is often!

Lamentations 3:22-23

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Oh the beauty of this passage.  Do you know that this passage is smack dab in the middle of a bunch of lamenting.  Even in our darkest times, our times of mourning, grief, stress, pain, anger, no matter.... His LOVE NEVER CEASES and is mercies never come to an end!!!! THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING!

Alleluia! 

Let's finish this chapter together.....

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance[f] from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;[g] but his father called him Benjamin.[h] 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Israel in this passage says goodbye to the love of his life, and his father.  

Israel has not had it easy.  

God blesses him again at Bethel, and the next thing you know his beloved wife dies in childbirth, he finds out his son is sleeping with one of his concubines and then his father dies.  Rough.

But what do we see here?  What is notable?

I would like us to read a passage in the next chapter first.

6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)

So when Jacob last saw his brother it was right after his wrestling night with God.  Jacob bows 7 times and then the two brothers hug and wept together.  It was a beautiful reunion.  Now we see that they come together to bury their father.  Then next we hear that Esau is moving his entire huge family because there isn't enough room for both brothers.  

What is significant about this?

If nothing else, this is a beautiful gesture on the part of Esau.  He leaves his land, so that his brother has enough room.  Also they bury their father together. 

Why?

How?

God is in the business of restoring relationships.  

Are there some relationships in your life that need restoring?

Is there someone you have wronged?

Is there someone you are holding resentment toward?

Is there someone you hurt?

Is there someone who hurt you?

God wants to restore those who are willing to come to him!

God takes our broken messes and mends and heals them!

Are you first willing to go to Bethel?

Are you willing to once again, over and over again, go back to God?

Are you willing to let him then do a restorative work in the relationships in your life?

If you are remarkable things will happen.  

See, this story is about the death of two greats in Jacobs life, but it is even more about the beautifully restored relationship with his brother and even greater than that the unrelenting love of God! 

God is Good!

His mercies are NEW every morning!

He will bless you over and over again!

He will give you a new name! A new identity!

He will restore relationships in your life, and He will bring you home!

KNOW LOVE.

LIVE LOVE.

SHARE LOVE.