EVERYTHING GOOD

Hi there, welcome to Don't Miss This, a scripture study podcast with Dave Butler and Grace Freeman. Each week, we point out things in the scriptures that we love and think you don't want to miss. Thanks for listening. Hi, I'm Dave Butler. I'm Grace Freeman. Welcome to Don't Miss This. You guys, we love the Old Testament so much. This is every week that we push record. It's exciting. Today is storytelling time. We should start by making- It's kind of cute to call the scriptures that. Don't you just want to sit down and get cozy and have a story? Yeah. This is why you love the Old Testament, especially the first half of the Old Testament because it just is so story. Speaking of story, let's put our timeline piece on right at the beginning here because that's what's so cool about the timeline is it just reminds you of the story, right? The whole storyline. So here it is. One, two, three, four, five. Wait, why is it looking so cute? It's looking awesome. And now, okay, this is the piece you're going to put on this time. It looks like a color wheel. It's got 12 different colors on it. These are going to represent, this symbol represents the story of Jacob or Israel, who in today's lesson is going to have 12 sons that will become the 12 tribes of Israel. So that is what that symbol represents. And it's going to go right there. And then we'll wait until we get to the end of this row to review the whole thing. I was about ready to just have a review. It's been so good. And this timeline, by the way, if you are loving it and want it, it's a free download. It comes in our newsletter every single week. If it's too big for you, remember, we have this smaller guy, too. And the pieces for this one are just smaller, but you can still add them on each week. And this one's perfect if you're listening. It could go on your fridge. Yeah. Is that like 11 by 17 or something like that? Okay. We can't be in charge of that. Yeah, our friend Kim today said, the other one is kind of big for my spot in my house. I was like, oh, don't worry. We have a smaller one for you. Before we jump into the stories of the scriptures, Grace, did you want to tell anybody a story? Because we have not said anything on this podcast about... Did you see my face? You're like, what story do I have? Well, I needed to say. I was like, oh, no. I know. Everyone, I'm getting married. Best day ever. We are about to jump into a marriage section. There are some, it's really fitting that we held off for today. And in case you're confused, everyone, why we're just barely saying this is because we recorded these really in advance. Yeah, we are in advance to get ready for the wedding. Don't worry, everyone. It's just late. Yeah, we're just, we're recording these in February, the month of love. So it just also feels appropriate, you know? And so, but we're so excited, Grace, for you to get married. Today is your, this is your day. These chapters are your chapters because it is a love story. There's two love stories. One of them is reckless. The first one is great. Okay. So here at the beginning is your time to get into your, your lovey dovey rom-com mood. It really is story time. Yeah. We're having, we're doing story time today. This is Netflix meets the scriptures. This is going to be so great for the entire story. To be honest, it starts out as a love story, but all the other ones, you're going to be on the edge of your seat for real. This is a great, great story time. Okay, buckle up. Last time we did the Old Testament, this was broken up into two different lessons. So this is one. We're just doing the whole big story here. So are you ready? We're going to start in Genesis 24. And here we go. Pop your popcorn. Okay, everyone. So Genesis 24 and what is about to happen is Isaac is looking for his girl. Isaac's looking for his wife. But what happens is Abraham looks at Isaac. Abraham's his dad. And he says something that like to us, we're like, oh, okay, nice. But to them would have been a little bit crazy because he looks and he says, listen, you're not going to marry a Canaanite, which meant that he wasn't going to be able to just like go knocking around on the doors. Like it wasn't going to be like a girl next door type of love story for Isaac. He wasn't going to be able to find someone where he was currently at. And so he kind of like start the love story starts and he's like, wait, I'm going to need to figure out how to find myself a wife. That it's not going to be the girl next door story. I'm going to need to figure out how to go somewhere and find a wife not here. And all of a sudden he's like, okay, here's what's going to be the plan. I can't go, but I am going to have a servant who is going to go to my country where I came from and he's going to go through and he's going to find me a wife. Well, Abraham was like going to make the plan too. Okay. It was going to be a duo plan. And that's going to be an arranged marriage. It felt like it was like, seemed like less love story. That's fine. Everyone read that. That's going to happen in verse number four in verse through verse number four. And so they choose the servant who's going to go on this big journey. And in verse number five, you see the servant who says to him, listen, what's going to happen if the woman's not going to be willing to follow me unto this land? must I needs bring your son again unto the land from where you came from? Like, how is the servant just like, I'm just the servant. I'm not even like, she's going to like, even if I find a girl, she's going to look at me and be like, wait, I'm not even marrying you. Like, what do you mean? You're just going to take me back. The servant all of a sudden is like, wait, is this even a good plan? And Abraham said, listen, beware thou that thou bring not my son to there again, the Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred and which spake unto me and that swear unto me saying, unto your seed will I give this land. He will send his angel before you and you shall take a wife unto my son from there. From the very beginning of this story, you realize that this is not just like a dad and a son and a servant making a plan. This is gonna be the Lord's story from the very beginning. He says, listen, you are not doing this all by yourself. You're not scheming this all by yourself, servant. You're not gonna go there and just hope for the best. The Lord is gonna go, like the Lord is going to go before you. There will be angels with you. This is going to be his plan. And he's like, okay. And can I just say, I love that verse seven, because as a dad in particular, my kids are getting to the age where, you know, my oldest has come home from his mission. He's trying to find, you know, what to do next in his life, like big decisions, the decision to even go on a mission. I have a son who's in Bolivia right now as a missionary. I have a daughter who's turning in her mission papers in 10 days. We can't talk about that. That's going to make me sick to my stomach all week. 10 days from now. I love her. And I just think about this story as one of somebody who's making this big decision. You can see it in the servant and Abraham where they're nervous about this big decision that is coming. This is the move. This is the new job. This is who I'm going to marry, which we might as well say, good job, Grace. in your choice because honestly, I would argue and say the person that you marry is the most important decision that you make in your entire life, right? So there is this like, oh my gosh, these big things are ahead of us. And I just love what feels like a prayer and feels like a blessing. He will send his angel before you. And I believe that. And it's the prayer I have sending Christian off as a prayer. I'll pray twice to send Jane off. Like, please send an angel before her, send an angel before Jack, um, as he's, um, trying to pursue this new career, you know? And I just, I love that seven feels like a parent's prayer when there's some big thing happening in their, in their kid's life, or even if it's mine to just believe in a God who sends his angels beforehand, that you're not making this decision alone. You're not, um, you're not going on this journey by yourself. God will send his angels before you on this. And I just, that hit me today, you know, probably because Jane is about to go put in her mission papers that I'm just like, I need to and want to and choose to believe in a God who will send his angels before her, protect her and make the way bright for her and bless this journey, bless this unknown adventure that the servant's about to have. He's like, I don't know how this is going, I don't even know what's going to happen. I have no idea what's going to happen. And I just love that. It makes me feel like all lit up to think of God's a God of adventure and the unknown, but also the reassurance of angels and blessing in it too. It's going to be a good story, but he's going to be there the whole entire time. Yeah, right. Because sometimes good stories are a little bit scary, but don't worry. It's what makes them good. It's what makes them a good story. You want it to be a good story. And so the servant looks and he's like- And to be hard. You know, like I just was thinking about this morning, just like we actually, if you looked at your life, you're like, do you want it to be easy? And if you ask yourself, honestly, I think you would say no. You know, like in the hard times, like it feels like your first initial response is going to be, no, I want it to be. Of course, I want it to be easy. I don't want any of the hard things. But just like part of what makes life so enriching are the things that are hard to make it through and overcome and make choices. Which is a lesson I think we can just do like a little pause right now for a second. Is I think a lesson that you want for this entire section of Come Follow Me is that God writes really good stories. And really good stories mean that there's going to be really difficult moments. And you want them. Like when I was little, Cinderella was my favorite movie. I loved it. I was obsessed with it. And we had like a, I don't even remember VHS. Is that what it's called? But yeah. With the tapes. Yeah. Okay. Sorry, everyone. I forgot that. Okay. We have Netflix now. And we had the little Cinderella VHS and I loved Cinderella. It was my favorite ever, but I hated the middle part. I hated the stepsisters. I hated when she had to do all the cleaning. I hated when she was a maid. I hated when it was sad. I hated it. And I started realizing I got smart that I was like, wait, I can just watch the beginning part. And then I knew exactly how long to press the fast forward button to get to the part where it starts getting happy. And for like one week, every single day, I would just skip and watch the happy part only and skip and watch the happy part only and skip. And what started happening is I started liking the story less. And I like, we just like kind of started getting bored of it. And I started to realize even little tiny grace started to realize that the reason the story was so good, the reason the end of the story won me over is because I watched the journey the whole entire time. And that is true for the stories God is going to write in our lives. And you see evidence of that as you're going to go through this section specifically of come follow me. And honestly, it's like, we're going to like, see, we're starting the movie at minute one and we're not going to skip the middle. Like it's going to get messy. This entire story is going to have really difficult things, really sad things. When I was reading this section of come follow me, like it honestly, like there were some parts that I really wanted to cry and like for really unexpected people in the story. And that is true about life, that there are going to be ups and there are going to be downs, but you love the whole story. You don't want to skip and just watch the end. You want all of it because you're going to notice things. You're going to see growth that you would miss. You're going to have these instances when you fall in love with these characters and the life that they're living, even in the very difficult moments that are going to make the ending better. and that's true for this section of come follow me. Yeah, well said. So what happens is the servant goes and he's like, okay, I'm gonna start my journey and he makes this plan and he's like, you know what? I'm gonna get my 10 camels because we're going far away. So he gets all the things that he's gonna need and he gets all the riches from his master and he gets like jewelry and good stuff. And he's like, you know what? I'm gonna have to win the girl over. So I need to bring stuff to winter over and he starts his journey. And by the time he gets there, he's like, okay. And he's on the outside of the city by the well and he's like, okay, let's rest my kids, like my kids, my camels, sorry, rest my camels. And we're going to pause. And then he says a prayer in verse number 12. And he's out by the well at the time that all the women would go and get their water. And he kneels down. He doesn't kneel, but in my head he does. And he prays, send me good speed this day and show kindness unto my master, Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water and the daughters are coming out and let it come to pass, verse 14, that the damsel to whom I will say, let down your pitcher, I pray thee that I might drink. She will say back to me, drink, and I will also give your camels water too. Let that girl be the one that you have saved for Isaac. First of all, this is a crazy prayer. Okay. They're like, he gets down by the well and he's like, you know what, God, I'm going to pray that I'm going to ask one of these girls for water. And the one that looks back and says, I don't want to just give you water. all give water to all your camels. That's going to be the girl for Isaac. That is the most specific prayer of all time in the history of the world. And the crazier part is that it really works. And I love the lesson that teaches about prayer. Pray big prayers, pray specific prayers and expect them to work because we believe in a God who wants to say yes. We believe in a God that says knock and it will be given to you. Like ask and you shall receive knock and it will be opened unto We believe in a God who wants to answer that prayer. And so he sits there by the well and he's like, okay. And then all of a sudden he sees the girl and he looks up and he says, oh my goodness. And there she goes. She has her pitcher of water to fill at the well. And verse number 17, I love this part. I would circle this in my scriptures. And the servant ran to meet her. Immediately when he saw her, he said, I'm not going to miss my chance. Just in case this is her, I'm going to run to her. And he says, listen, I need a little bit of water from your pitcher. will you share? And she says, just like he prayed, drink my Lord. And she hurried and let down her pitcher and gave him drink. And when she had done, when she had finished giving him water, she said, and not only that, but I will also give enough to drink for your camels that they have finished drinking. Listen, that is 30 gallons each. That is 30 gallons each camel. That's like a rough estimate. That is 300 gallons of water. That is more than like the milk they have at the grocery store. Okay. That is an absurd. It wasn't like she was just doing a little bit. She was doing everything she could. And she was going to also give the camels, not just like, Oh, here, let me like freshen them up. Let me give them enough water until they are full. That's a good lesson. We're going to pause and we're going to come back to that in just a second, but that's a really good lesson. And she hurried and she did that for all the camels. And then there's this story and it starts working out and the servant starts realizing, Oh, she's the girl for Isaac. This is exactly it. this is exactly what Abraham the father had planned for. This is going to be so good. And they have this moment and they go to her house. There's this moment of hospitality and it's really gonna work. And she decides to go back. And then we're gonna skip to the end of verse of section chapter holy 24. And if you go, Rebecca arose, verse 61, and she got all ready and she's ready to meet Isaac. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening and he lifted up his eyes. This is like, this is the rom-com. Okay, everyone, she's all ready. She got all dressed up. He's out there. Okay, he's waiting. He's just meditating. Exactly. And he looked up his eyes and saw and beheld the camels were coming. And then in verse 64, Rebecca lifted up her eyes. It's like slow motion in the scriptures. They really are giving you a rom-com. And Rebecca lifted up her eyes and she saw Isaac and she got off the camel and she said unto the servant what man is that Who is that man that coming to meet us And the servant said it my master And she gets so excited and she covers herself with the veil and the servant goes to Isaac and he says all the things that had happened. And he tells the whole story of the prayer and the girl that he found that was willing to give enough water for even all the camels. And then all of a sudden you see in verse 67, he loved her and you want to cry and it's the best love story of all time. But it makes me just want to pause for just one second. Because that line, like when you hear that line, the greatest love story of all time, like obviously this is going to be a contender. But it almost feels as if all of chapter 24 was written in a way to remind you of a bigger love story. And if you go back to the very beginning, you see a father with a plan who says, wait, I know that there are people out there who need love. And the father says, I'm going to make this grand plan. And the son's there and he says, okay, I'm looking for a wife. And the verse that starts changing my mind and the way I view this story is actually verse number five, because you see the servant, a father who had a plan. And then you see a servant who looked and said, wait, what if the woman is not going to be willing to follow me back into this land? And that word follow me immediately makes me think of a different servant, the servant Jesus Christ, who also there was a father with a plan and a servant who said, I will leave. I will leave this place, the father's house, and I will go far away and I will try to find people who are willing to follow me. And then the servant leaves and he goes on a journey and the servant said, I'm gonna take as much goodness from my father's house that I possibly can. And now all of a sudden to me, the servant is no longer a servant. The servant is Jesus. And he goes and he says, I'm willing to leave the life that I had to go far away and to bring as much goodness as I can and the gifts from the father's house. And I'm willing to go out and find if there's going to be someone who's willing to follow me. And the servant goes on the outskirts of town and he gets next to a well and he says, make sure that I find the people I need to find. And there he finds a girl who says, I will be willing to do whatever the servant asks of me. And if the servant's thirsty, I will give him water. But not only that, I will realize that I will give even more than I even knew possible. That is my favorite part of the story of Rebecca, is that she becomes a disciple that says, I know that there is water, even living water, that is, there is so much of it, it doesn't even make sense. 300 gallons worth. that's the well she was pulling from. She had met the servant and she had experienced life with the servant that would give her enough to make even camels full of this living water. And then you go through and it's the end that is my favorite part. The best part of the love story. When one day Rebecca is going to go back and there's this moment when she says to the servant, who is that man that's coming. Who's going to be him? And I love in verse number 66, when the servant or Jesus looks and he says, and he has Rebecca's back, almost being her advocate and says all that she had done. And then you get verse 67 and he loved her. And I just think that there's just this type and shadow of a girl who has an encounter with a servant who's gonna take her back to the father's house and have her back in the life that she had lived. And in all reality, it is going to be a love story. And it always has been for us, that there will be a moment when we get to meet Jesus and Jesus will stand there and have our back to the father. And it will be a moment that turns into a love story. Oh, it's so awesome. And you just want to just, there's so many great lessons that are in that chapter 24, the story. Can I just say this, by the way, this might be really helpful when we talk about reading other translations of the Bible. When you get to stories like this, this particular lesson, it might be best if you're not understanding what's happening in the actual storyline to get an easier translation of the Bible. one that was translated to be more understandable, like the NIV or the New Living Translation would be great ones to pick from and to do this. And you'll just find these lines in there that will just teach you many lessons. Can I just say one before we move on from this story? I love that in 15, he's saying this prayer and it came to pass before he was done speaking, Rebecca came out to the well. And I just love in the story that God's answering a prayer before that prayer is even done. And I think he does that still. Before we say amen, the prayer is being answered. So Rebecca comes and marries Isaac and it feels like, oh, perfect happily ever after is on its way. And then she encounters a problem, which is she can't have any kids. And that's hard for anybody who is struggling with infertility and can't have any children, particularly in an Old Testament culture where children were considered your heirs. That was your retirement. That was your place in society. It's just, it was way more intense then. And I think what is maybe most difficult for her is back before she leaves in chapter 24, verse 60, she gets a blessing from her brothers and her father. And it says in that blessing, thou art our sister and be thou the mother of thousands of millions. Remember when kids were considered the blessing, the greatest blessing from God to have kids that number thousands of millions would mean God is going to be so over the top good to you is our blessing for you. And to have gotten that blessing and to have expected that, and then to have had such a hard time having kids, it's almost like somebody who's gotten a patriarchal blessing that has promises in it that seem amazing and wonderful and beautiful, but then they look at their life and they think to themselves, but I'm not having any of these promises happen for me. So she struggles with this. And eventually, years and years down the road, she conceives and is pregnant. And right away, she feels a struggle inside her. And obviously, this is before ultrasounds. And so she knows and consents, there is a struggle inside me. And so it says, she went to inquire of the Lord in verse 22. This is chapter 25, verse 22, which I love the way verse 22 is worded. You just have to take out one word to make it apply to anybody who reads it. It says, and something struggled together within her. Because if it's not children, if it's not that struggle of how come my blessing says this and it's not happening or whatever it may be, so many of us feel a struggle within us. And the answer is, go inquire of the Lord. And so she does in 22 and finds out, you have two nations in your womb, and one will be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger, which was going to be untypical for the time. If you're not familiar with this idea of birthright, it's going to be coming up here in this story. And a birthright was a double portion of inheritance that was given to the oldest son. And they were given that double portion of inheritance to take care of the mom and any of the unmarried sisters in the family, to carry on the family business and to lead the family spiritually. And normally it was that older brother. But in this, she has this kind of answer to her prayer that says, hey, something different is going to happen inside your family. It's not going to be the typical normal family, like dynamics, but the younger brother's going to end up being that birthright child, going to lead out the family. So obviously she's wondering about this. She has these twins. One of them's name is Esau. That is the older one. That name Esau means hairy because he was apparently had a lot of fur on his back, okay, when he was born. And then she has a second son whose name is Jacob. And Jacob is a name that means heel grabber because in the story, as he's being born, as Esau is being born, Jacob is holding on to his heel. Now, I don't know whether that was actually happening in the delivery room. It might be more of a biblical way of describing what his personality is going to be, that he's always kind of trying to like pull other people down so that he can get ahead. That he sort of has this name that means kind of a, I'm trying to always one up you. I'm trying to sneak my way into, I think we wrote in the journal, just supplanter, like to take someone else's place sort of is the vibe of what that name means. And so you see that kind of personality right from the very beginning, okay, that that's what he was going to be like. And then in that chapter, you see it kind of happened. And they grow up and Esau was out hunting and he comes back from the hunt and he's starving. And he's just like, I'm so hungry. And he comes to Jacob in verse 30 and he says, please give me some of that red pottage, whatever that is that you are eating. I'll do anything for that. And Jacob says, okay, sell me your birthright and I'll give you a bowl of this food. And it says in there that he's just like, well, I'm about to die. That's how hungry I am. So who even cares about a birthright at this point? And he sells his birthright to Jacob. And normally we look at this line in verse 34, where it says Esau despised his birthright. And we should say, Esau, you should probably take care and, you know, think of that spiritual responsibility with a little bit more tenderness of heart. And, you know, oh, he shouldn't have given up his birthright for a bowl of soup. And that's a great lesson. But I would like to point out in the story, in addition to that, a brother who did his brother pretty dirty here. Jacob, your brother is starving. And you conned him into the worst business deal in the entire Bible. that he says, I'm going to trade you my double portion of inheritance for a bowl of red lentil soup. I don't think I would pay anything for a bowl of red lentil soup ever in my lifetime. You know, if it was like a, you know, a cheesecake or something, maybe, but like red lentil soup. And, and it really is trying to show this, you know, on one end you're seeing, well, Esau obviously didn't care about it, but sometimes I read this story and I think, well, Jacob clearly didn't care about Esau. And, and he kind of was that supplanter, that heel grabber and tricks him essentially into cons him into making this sale that he never should have made. Well, and I think there's about 8 million things, lessons that you can learn. Like, it's so funny to me that this is four verses because I think it's such a powerful story on so many levels. And one thing I just want to say so quick about it that I've been thinking a lot about is when I read this story, it really is true that usually we're like, Esau, what a fool for doing that. And it made me really pause this time because I was like, wait, this time when I read these chapters, I felt so sad for Esau. I felt like actually really heartbroken about it. And it started right here because what I started thinking is I think a lot of the times, not even just for Esau, but when we talk about people today, I think we still do the same thing that we look at the choice we made and we're so disappointed in the choice that for we forget to like wonder, well, why did they make that choice? And we look at and we're like, oh, well make a better choice. That was so foolish of you. That was so dumb. Why didn't you just make a better choice? And this right here, this moment with Esau, I think teaches such a like big lesson on like, wait, like really the problem wasn't the choice Esau made. Really what I wanted to think is like, well, why didn't Esau know his privileges? Why didn't Esau really understand what he had been offered? Why didn't he really get that? And then all of a sudden, Jacob steps into the story and it was so easy to help Esau make a bad choice because Esau didn't even understand from the beginning. It made it so easy for Jacob to be like, yeah, okay, well, sell me that. You're hungry. Sell me that then. And Jacob did satisfy the need. Jacob did satisfy the need of Esau. He was hungry. He gave him what he wanted. What Esau didn't realize is that there were bigger needs. There were bigger blessings in his birthright. And this is probably going to be like, I don't want this to come off the wrong way, but I so quickly thought about like my everyday life. And I was like, oh, the problem is I'm really good at looking at the choice that I made. And be like, but that was a dumb choice, Grace. Why couldn't you have just made a better choice instead of pausing and be like, well, why did I make it? What's the root of that instead of the fruit of it? Like we look at the fruit of the choices we make. Like, oh, yeah, well, just don't sell your birthright. Like you were just hungry. Like that wasn't worth it. Yeah. And then there's going to be consequences because of that. Yeah. Which you start seeing. And it's just like, wait, why didn't you actually just go to the root of the problem first? And if Esau really knew his privileges, Jacob's words wouldn't have meant as much. He would just be like, no, no, no. Like, I know I'd rather just be hungry for a little while longer. And I think that that is the same truth that we experience every single day with Satan, that we're really quick at like, just like making a choice. And then Satan is going to give us something to satisfy the need. He's going to say, great, you're hungry. Let me give you something. What we don't realize is that there's something bigger and there's greater needs If we looked at the root of things, it would change things Anyways, that was like a side note, but there you go But I love it because I actually love that in this story There is, I mean, earlier in this year we had these big epic stories, right? Of creation and the ark, right? Noah and the ark and the Tower of Babel And these ones that are these big sweeping stories but I love these because they really get into kind of the nitty gritty of people's lives. And I don't think you can read this and say, Jacob's a good guy and Esau's the bad guy, or Esau's the good guy and Jacob's the bad guy. It's showing just the complexity of human lives, that this story is such a great reflection of anybody who's reading it. This is like everybody's story as they read it. We've already seen happy, lovey-dovey rom-com stuff, and then disappointments. And my life's not measuring up to what I thought it was going to be. And now you get this, like, I'm trying to get ahead in life, and I don understand my privilege Like there just so much richness to these stories And that should just give you a glimpse into God heart that when he decided he wanted to tell his story he didn just say I want to give you the big picture He decided to tell his story through individual's lives. Yeah, right. And you see some of the messiness. You get into chapter 27. And this is a story that you might be familiar with. But Isaac, the father, is now going to give this blessing to Esau, which kind of goes along with the birthright. They sort of like were the birthright was the promise of it. And the blessing was sort of the declaration of that. But a big deal for him to give his son this blessing. So he has his son go out hunting and go get the best meat you can find and let's cook it up really nice. It was going to be a big moment. Yeah, because this is like, you know, yeah, it's a wedding reception kind of feel. Like go get the best clothes and the best things, you know, for this really happy, proud moment. And you kind of find out in here, I mean, there's a little bit of complicatedness, if that's a word, because Rebecca, remember, has this kind of prophecy given to her that the younger one is supposed to serve the older one, you know. So do we kind of help bring that about? But they seem to do it in sort of a sketchy way. And Isaac, we kind of think probably knows that, right? that that is also supposed to happen. We maybe assume that Rebecca and Isaac would have talked about that and Isaac gotten that confirmation for himself, but he seems to really favor Esau. You found that in the end of the chapter that they were born, that Isaac really loved Esau and Jacob was sort of his mom's favorite. And Esau was into the hunting and all these kinds of things. And you can kind of just see that playing out where a dad sort of favors the kid who does the things that the dad likes to do, you know? And you kind of just have like this really complicated emotional thing going on. People are trying to do what's right, but also do what's right for them. And when Esau goes out hunting, Rebecca takes Jacob and says to him, listen, your other brother went out hunting. I have a plan. I want you to go get me, you know, an animal from the farm and I'm going to cook it up really nice. And then I'm going to take some of the fur from the animal and I'm going to actually put it on your skin and on your neck because your dad is blind. So at this time, Rebecca, the mom and the son are about to trick their old blind dad into giving a blessing to him, which just feels so wrong. You know, when you like describe it like that. You're just like, and I think it's interesting that Jacob is in a costume. There's something about that that's really compelling to me because when he goes for that blessing, the father actually asks him, he says, you kind of sound like Jacob, but who are you? And Jacob answers back, I'm Esau. He's in hiding. He's trying to be something that he isn't. And I'm just going to give you a spoiler right here that Jacob hasn't learned a lesson that he is going to learn later, which is that God cannot bless who you pretend to be. And he's pretending to be this favored son of Isaac and they trick him into giving him this blessing. And I want to just pause that for just a second. The blessing is just beautiful in verse 28 and 29. God give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth. Dew of heaven would have been the rains of heaven, the greatest blessings. He's blessing him with the greatest blessings that he can think of for him in 28 and 29. And Esau comes back home and he gets there and he says, hey, dad, I have the meat that I made. And the dad's like, what are you talking about? I already, you were already here. I gave you that blessing and realizes in 35, your brother came with subtlety and took away your blessing. Isn't he rightly named Jacob because of that? Because he supplanted me these two times and he took away my birthright and now he's taken away my blessing. And Esau asks his dad in 38, do you only have one blessing? Please bless me also father. And it just this heartbreaking, emotional moment. And I think it's awesome to pause here and remind ourselves that the father does have a blessing for Esau also, that we might be quick to say, well, you sold that, buddy, and you lost that chance to have a blessing. And yet he gets one that is almost identical to his brothers. And I think it's important to remember that, that even if we fault Esau for not regarding his birthright, he still gets a blessing from his father. And, and I think that's a foreshadow to what we're going to see with Jacob because Jacob now is, is like his mom says, Jacob, you got to run away because your brother genuinely wants to kill you. So go. Well, and that part's so interesting to me. It's so that I've been thinking about that so much lately because it's so crazy to me. He puts on a costume, which automatically like put, like he knew he was asking for something that like he shouldn't be like, it was already messy and complicated. It was already sneaky. And then the father blessed him. And then it's so interesting to me. You see it immediately. And then you see it bigger after, but in verse number 30, the first thing that happens after Jacob gets that blessing is he, um, is he runs away. Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac. And I've just been thinking so much about, we do the same thing as Jacob with our father in heaven. And we, we put on costumes and we try to pretend we're someone we're not, because then we think we deserve the blessing. But the result of that is so interesting that God was like, the father's like, okay, here, have this blessing. And Jacob knew he didn't deserve it. So he ran. And I think that that is such a human experience to say, no, like, let me pretend. Let me pretend to be who I'm supposed to be. Let me try to get this. Let me be sneaky. Let me lie about who I am. Let me try to figure this out. And at the core, Jacob still ran. Because the only reason he put on a costume is because he was worried about who the father was. He won't give me, he, Jacob already from the beginning of the story was promised to be the one that his younger brother served. That's true. That was from the very beginning. Jacob didn't know how it was possible unless he was scheming. He didn't know how that promise was going to be fulfilled unless he felt like he needed to lie. And then when the father was like, okay, here's this blessing, he still ran away. Yeah, yeah. You know? And what happens next is the most remarkable part of this story in chapter 28, because he runs out of that place. His mother says, get out of here. You've got to go because your brother is furious with you, which leads you to believe that there, this wasn't just an innocent, you know, little family quarrel. Like the fact that Esau wants to kill his brother means he did him really wrong. Something happened here that infuriated Esau and was bad enough that a mom who would never say this line to one of her kids, you should run away. I mean, I was just saying to, you know, Jack, my oldest the other day, I was like, how long are you going to live with us? You know? And Jenny's like, he can stay here forever, David. You know, a mom wants her kids to stay at home. And so, you know, it is, this has fractured the family relationship, whatever happened here. And he runs out and he gets to this place. This is chapter 28, starting in verse 10. He runs out to, to towards this place called Haran and he lights upon a certain place. A certain place means a no name place. It's not even on the map. He's just out in the middle of nowhere. And he stayed there that night, it says, because the sun was set. Not because it was nice or convenient or a holiday inn, but because the sun set and he had no choice. And he took of the stones of that place, it says, and put them for his pillows and lay down to sleep. This is a boy who has, no pun intended, quite literally hit rock bottom. He is sleeping on stones in the middle of a no-named place because the sun was down. And what the reader wants to say when they get to this part of the story is, well, make your bed and sleep in it. You brought this upon yourself. You scammed your brother. You tricked your old blind dad. You lied. You deserve to be sleeping out in the middle of the desert. So what happens next is so fascinating because he dreams this dream in verse 12. And in the dream, there's a ladder or a staircase and the top of it reached to heaven. And there were angels ascending and descending on it. And in 13, it says, behold, the Lord stood above it. And I want you to look at the footnote of above it. If you have a Bible with footnotes and see that the Hebrew could also mean beside him, right beside him. And I just want you to think for a second of this vision of a ladder or a staircase and angels and God right there next to him and think, what does somebody use a ladder for or a staircase for, to climb up or to climb out. And angels of help and blessing and the Lord himself is there. And he says to him, I am the Lord God of Abraham, your grandpa, and the God of Isaac, your father, and the land where you're lying on now, I will give it to you and your seed. And if you remember from a couple of lessons ago, this is the kind of language of Abrahamic covenant. This is the kind of language that God speaks as a blessing type of language. And then you get to 14 and you see more of it. Blessing language. Your seed will be as the dust of the earth. It will spread to the north, south, east, and west. And through your family will all the families of the earth be blessed. This is a blessing you give to the good kid. and yet here in the middle of the desert, in this low spot that Jacob finds himself in, God shows up and he shows up in his most undeserving part of his story and he comes with ladders and he comes with angels and he comes with promises for him. And he says to him, these promises, and if you open up your journal, this is the page that you wanna write down. these promises that he gives to Jacob, which if you don't know the story, feels like, of course, he would give these. This is Jacob, like the Jacob from the Bible, you know, like the most famous, one of the three patriarchs, right? But when you know like where he is, it makes the character of God shines so remarkably that he was willing to meet him out in that desert place in his low moment and give him these promises. And 15 is where you find the five promises. He says, listen, I am with you and I will keep you, which means to protect or guard you in all places wherever you go. and I will bring you again to this promised land for I will not leave you. And then until I have done all that I have spoken, I'm not giving up on you until I have fulfilled every single promise that I said I would make. You're currently not on that trajectory, Jacob, but I'm here with angels and I'm here with ladders and I'm here with promises to get you to that place. And I love what Jacob says in 16. He woke up from his sleep and he said, surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. Because none of us would have expected God to show up in a place like that. In this place, Jacob says, after what I've done, I never would have thought to find God and his angels and his promises here. I'll never forget when I was in teaching a Sunday school lesson in the prison and it just so happened to be this lesson in scripture and got to this verse where Jacob said, and was so surprised that God would ever come to a place like this and to a boy like him. And there was an inmate on the back row who raised his hand with tears in his eyes and said, like the way he's met us here too. In a place no one would have thought he would come. And to a bunch of boys that no one would have thought he would have promised or brought angels and ladders with him. And that's the God we worship. To a boy undeserving, headed in the wrong direction, homeless, houseless, and hopeless by his own doing. And God shows up with these promises in mind for him. And I think it's beautiful that it says, and Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stones that he had for his pillows, and he set them up for a pillar and turned them into an altar. And the stones of that place, which were the symbols of his sin and his mistakes, the shambles of his life, God turns into a holy altar. Let's take the pieces here of your broken life and let's turn them into something beautiful. And a spot, I'll tell you a spoiler, Jacob's going to bring his family back to this place at the end of the story. And he's going to say, I have to tell you a story of what happened here, the story that I met God in the most undeserving place and he, and he turned my life for good. And Jacob in 19 is going to name that place Bethel, which means the house of God. This is a holy place because God showed up here. I mean, it's just, this is a remarkable story and so beautiful. And you're, I hope you take the time to write those promises in your journal and then to answer these two, where do you see these promises in his story, which we're going to get to in a second, but more importantly, where do you see them in yours also? Where do you see God showing up with ladders and angels and promises and fulfilling these? He says, listen, no matter what you've done, this is still intact. I will be with you and I will keep you close and I will not leave you until I've done what I said I would do. It so tender to me that in the end he brings his family back to that place because in all reality that place should have been like if you look at the story and what led up to that place and him sleeping on those rocks that should have been a night that he never wanted to speak about again that should have made that should have been a night and a story that he would try to erase from his memory that he would never want to bring up and if people said oh what were you doing on that day. He would try to make up a lie to cover up, to ignore that that had ever happened. Yeah. And where was your dad? And where was your mom? And where was, where was uncle Esau? Why were they not there? And he's like, uh, how about we get dinner instead? Okay. And instead God showed up and changed it. And it just reminded me of this conversation I had the other week and I was catching up with someone and, um, I was just like, how are you? And they like gave me like the class again. So like, Oh, like really good. And I was like, Oh, like why? And then they stopped and they sat there for a second. And then they said, actually, I need to tell you about something that happened to me. And I was like, okay, like, great. Like, tell me. And they started saying how, um, the past little bit of their life, they had, um, been making some really like detrimental choices to their life. And the longer it went, the more they just kept kind of making those choices and they couldn't help it. And they tried not to, and it still kept not working out. And the longer it went, the worse they got until one day they just realized their life had turned into a mess. And it was the consequences of their own choices, but their life was a disaster. And it was a Sunday and they sat there and they thought, I don't even know what to do anymore. And then they figured, well, I might as well just go see a bishop because I don't even know where else to begin. So I might as well just try that because this was their rock bottom. And they went and they met with the bishop and they sat there and they talked and they talked and they talked and they walked out of the bishop's office and, um, they almost went to their car and then they said, and then I decided to just go to the bathroom and I went and I sat on the bathroom floor. And, um, and right when they sat down there, it was just quiet. They were the only one there and they just paused and they thought, this seems too good to be true. Everything that bishop just told me, the chance for redemption, the chance for forgiveness, the chance for a better life, that seems too good to be true. And they sat there on the floor and they said a little tiny prayer, a really honest one, and just said, is that all real, God? Is everything the bishop just promised is possible. Could that possibly be real? And then their answer just came overwhelmingly that it was. And they looked at me in the eyes and they said, it was a physical feeling I felt. The feeling of forgiveness was physical. It was unlike anything I've ever felt in my entire life. And then they looked at me and they said this, that's everything that's good about God. That's everything that's good about the church in those meetings with the bishop. And I just paused and I sat there for a second and it reminded me of this story of Jacob because all of those experiences should have been experiences that they never wanted to bring up again. That moment when they had to own up every choice that they had made, that should have been something that they wanted to hide and never speak about it again. And there they were telling it to me like it was the good, like the most good news they could ever possibly imagine because it was, because Jesus showed up in that moment. And I just thought about Jacob bringing his family back to those stones. And it would never be a story that he brought up with shame. It would only be a story that he spoke with goodness because that is the gospel. This is the gospel. Chapter 28 is the good news of the gospel. It is not just lived in the middle of the desert with rocks. It is lived on the bathroom floors of church buildings and in jail cells. That is where this is seen. The good news of the gospel takes moments in stories of shame and turns them into the most remarkable and beautiful and most good stories an individual can share. Yeah. And, and let's, let's get to the end of this story. And I don't even know how many minutes this is right now, but I would like you to notice it's probably a lot of minutes. And I want you to notice how much time God spends on this story that Genesis one through 12 was like 4,000 years. And all of a sudden he slows it down to like the prayers of the servants, the details of this story, because this is it. This is the good news right here. And he wants us to see it and experience it. And I know I will be criticized for pointing out the parts of Jacob's story that are messy. And maybe he's been seen and put on this pedestal. And I'm going to show you why that may be, that we can still include this part of his story. This part of his story does not disqualify him from the promises and from the admiration that we're going to see in him. So in summary, I wish we could really, really go into all of this, but you can when you read. Chapter 29 is hilarious, okay? Because he goes and meets this girl, Rachel, and falls in love with her. And it is clear as day that he falls in love with her for her looks and her beauty, okay? The words in the Bible that she is well-formed and well-put together, and he is just so into her. and her sister, bless her heart, is called tender eyed. She's tender to the eye, you know? And it's this wild story where Jacob says, promises Rachel's dad, I'll serve for that girl for seven years, which was unheard of. Okay, two, maybe. Three, wow. That's gonna hit headlines. Seven, he's like, I love her. He just met her. Who's gonna serve seven years for a girl that they just met and say, oh, it's because her personality, dad. No, this is clear. because when the seven years are up, he says, I mean, there's this line that's just like, you can put on a Hallmark card or whatever. Yes. Good. They seem but a few days for the love he had for her, which is so cute until you get to 21. And when Jacob says, give me my wife for my days are fulfilled that I may go in unto her. Y'all is a church podcast. So I'm not going to tell you what going under her actually means, but this is crazy. And then the dad, truthfully, it's the middle of the night wedding. The dad does a switcheroo. He dresses up Leah, the other sister, the tender-eyed one, as Rachel to go into the honeymoon tent. And Jacob wakes up the next morning and sees that it's Leah and flips his lid, which bless her heart, you know, Leah. And this is crazy. because then the dad says to Jacob, oh, you're sad that I dressed up one of the kids as the other one to trick you? Oh, that's interesting that you would be upset about something like that. And Jacob's like, oh. And then he makes Jacob serve another seven years for Rachel. Then the girls fight over who can have kids and whose kids are better than the other. And then the kids start growing up, we're going to see, and they're just a mess. Every single one of the kids is a mess. Everyone's a mess in this whole story. There's jealousy and there is like, you know, and this is what I want to say. We put the thing on there. These 12 kids that are such a mess and these ladies fighting with each other and the father-in-law and all of this business. This is the 12 tribes, everyone. Yay. This is like, well, these are the heroes of the book. and you read it and you're like, this is crazy and ridiculous. But what I love is this about the messiness of the story is I'm not going to tell my kids to be like any of these people, you know, like when I read this story to them at night, that none of them act like heroes in this story. And it leaves the hero spot wide open for who the true hero of the story is. because in verse, excuse me, chapter 32, Jacob hears that Esau is on his way and that stirs up everything in him, all the past, all the, everything, just stirs up all, tragedy does that. Tragedy gets to the root of the soul really quickly and he starts to examine his life and it says he goes out alone and he prays God of Abraham and God of Isaac. Help me. I'm not worthy in verse 10 of the least of all these mercies and of all the truth. Please deliver me. I will do good. That's 9, 10, 11. In 24, he's left alone and he wrestles. And I love that it's this wrestle. Was it an angel? Was it God himself? or was it him wrestling like Enos in prayer with God over what he's done and the promises and how he hasn't lived up and just, ah. And this is fantastic because the writer of this story crafted it perfectly. In verse 27, this holy being asks him, what is your name? That's the second time he's heard that question. The first was from his dad. Who are you? What's your name? And he says, I'm Esau. Who he was pretending to be. And finally here in chapter 32, he says back in 27, I'm Jacob. I'm the heel grabber. I'm the supplanter. And he just opens up to God and says, this is who I am. This is what you have to deal with, Lord. And once he stops hiding and pretending, God gives him this blessing. And he says, from now on, I'm not calling you Jacob, but I'm calling you Israel. For as a prince, you have power with God and with God, you have prevailed. That name Israel, it's the, it's the whatever, the poster of the, of the week, the word of the week, which could be translated, let God prevail. or I like this translation better, one who prevails with God. Jacob was trying this whole life to do everything on his own and pulled up the image of who he thought he should be. And finally here in chapter 32, he says, this is who I am. I need your help. Will you please help me. And God comes in and says, of course I will. And he says, from now on, we're going to call you Israel, one who will win with God, one who will prevail because we do this together. This word Israel means grace. It means doing this with God's help, but grace is a girl name. So he gave him the name Israel. And do you know what? All of his descendants have proudly taken that name upon them. And when they do, and they call themselves the children of Israel or the house of Israel, which you may call yourself, what you're saying is, I'm someone who needs God's help. I'm someone who needs God's grace. I'm someone who's not going to make it on my own. This is who I am. This is where I am. And allow that grace and deliverance to flow into your life, to be so honest about what it is that you need and the help that you, that you want. And, and it's just, it's, it's, it's so, so beautiful. And, and he then, then the next chapter just shows what happens after years and years of everything being broken. 33 is this reconciliation of the two brothers. They cry, they hug, they say, sorry, everything seems to get put back together. It's almost like the way of the Bible showing us like, and when you bring God into the story, you find grace in verse 15 and you find help and reconciliation. And then this is so cool. I just found this, this time reading verse 20, he says, and he put an altar in that spot and the spot where everything was forgiven and the relationship was healed. And he called it El Elohe Israel, which means God is the God of Israel. And he finally becomes his God. Although the story you'll notice that Jacob keeps saying like, oh yeah, you're God, you're God, you're God. And here he's finally like, God is my God. He is the God of Israel. And it's sweet how it all comes together. But can I just remind everybody of something when you read this and you're like, yeah, He is the God of Israel. When Moses, in a couple lessons from now, is going to meet God on the mountain, he's going to ask God his name. And God is going to tell him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of, and if you know the scriptures, you filled that in yourself, Jacob. and it's interesting to me that God wouldn't say to Moses, oh, I'm the God of Israel. Remember the kid who's like, you know, because from this point on, he's going to kind of become a hero, you know, he's going to be admired. But I love that God says, yes, I'm the God of Israel, but I'm also the God of Jacob because I'll meet Jacob in the wilderness place with pillows, as rocks as pillows. And I'm going to meet him there where he is. And I'm going to bring promises and angels and ladders. And his story will be beautiful because it's a redemption story and because it's a rescue story and because it's a story that's full of grace. He is the God of him when he gets his act put together. Yes. But he's also the God of Jacob when he was confused and worried and wondering and trying to figure things out. He is the God from beginning to end of our stories. And this is the good part of the gospel. What is said and written here is the good part of the church. And it's the good part of whatever else your friend said. It's just, it's, it's this, it's a beautiful story. And, and how brilliant to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to always remember and remind ourselves like, oh, we call ourselves the house of Israel and the children of Israel all the time. And to remember this story that God takes the broken Jacob within us, and he gives us the happily ever after and the fulfilled promises. That's what we say when we say, I'm the house of Israel. I'm the house. I'm the children who need grace. I'm the people who need divine help. That's who I am. When I say I'm Israel, that's what I mean. So good. We love story time. You know, such good stories. Okay, long story, but so, so good. And it just keeps getting better and better. So we will see you next week. If you want to follow along in everything we're doing, you can find us on Instagram at Don't Miss This Study, at This Week's Grace, and at Mr. Dave Butler. And if you want to subscribe to the app or get our weekly newsletter, all of the information can be found at don'tmissthisstudy.com. See you next week.