JACOB: SOVEREIGN SELECTION

“Fear not, you WORM JACOB, you men of Israel! I will help you”, says the LORD and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel – Isaiah 41:14

The Eternal Potter’s dealings with Jacob present an illuminating example of His inexhaustible perseverance with an unlikable character. God lavished on this lump of clay an unceasing and uncompromising love. Through all the shady and slippery actions that debased his life, God’s love was unrelenting, but never tolerated or condoned his sin. Jacob – the supplanter – was allowed for many years to pursue his self-chosen path, learning the bitter lessons of human independence and the costliness of his selfishness, which became his own chastening rod, as he out-maneuvered himself!

Jacob’s life illustrates not so much the perseverance of the saints as the perseverance of God. The former is possible because of the latter. God knows no unfinished task. God has no abandoned projects. Paul expressed this assurance in these glowing words: “Being confident of this very thing that He which has begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil.1:6). Christian experience is replete with proof of the tenacity and tireless patience of God’s love.

It all began with Jacob’s sovereign selection. Had we been charged with the responsibility of selecting a man to found a nation through which the whole world would be blessed, crooked, grasping, scheming Jacob would probably have been the last choice. So mean was he that he took advantage of his twin brother’s extremity to filch not only his earthly inheritance but his spiritual authority as head of the clan. Even his heredity was not an advantage. His parents showed little nobility of character. Isaac was an undisciplined father mastered by his appetite (Gen.25:28). Rebekah was an indulgent mother with a ruinous and intemperate love, an unscrupulous woman mastered by an unholy ambition for her favorite son.

Could anything great and blessed ever come out of such a family? No, not unless God steps in. And generally that is where God starts, where there is no promise of anything. Into that home the Potter entered and laid His hand on Jacob! Heredity discounted Jacob, but God is not defeated by heredity. God chose a worm that men might see him transformed into a prince. Jacob’s warped personality provided a suitable setting for the display of His grace and the revelation of His unrelenting attitude towards the weakest of His children. If God chose only the strong, the noble, and the brilliant for His service, the vast majority of us would be disqualified (1Cor.1:26-28). Oh, what amazing Grace; what immeasurable Mercy!