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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching with Pastor Skip Heitzig. David writes in Psalm 37, if you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. I don't think that means God will give you your heart's desire. Whatever little feeling you have in your heart at that time, I really want that.
Okay, I'll do it. I think what it means is that when you delight yourself in the Lord, the desires that you have are the desires that God plants within your heart. Where did this desire come from?
It came from the Lord. He put that desire in your heart. Now, that desire that you have has to be confirmed. You don't want to act on every desire you have.
It might be impetuous, might be impulsive. What happens are circumstances. He has a desire to go back, but he stays.
But now the circumstances go from tension to friction. And now listen carefully. The circumstances toward Jacob are not favorable.
They're unfavorable. There's jealousy. There's accusation. There's lies. In other words, the nest is getting stirred up for Jacob.
By the circumstances around him. He has a desire, but now the circumstances are against him, so he thinks, it's time to get out of here. I really need to leave. What I feel in my heart is now being confirmed by the circumstances that the Lord has placed around me.
Now keep that in mind. When things turn sour in your life, you're apt to complain. God can't be in this. Don't be so sure. God, why would you allow this to happen? I can just hear the Lord sometimes going, really?
You're going to ask me that? You've been praying for two months that something would change in your life. So now you got fired. It's about to change in your life. You had that old job.
You didn't even like it. Now you got fired. Now you're in a position of looking for a new job.
I'm going to give you a new job. The Lord stirs things up by circumstances and they may not be favorable and that could be the Lord doing something to move you along. The third thing that happens is the word of the Lord comes to him. It says in verse 3, the Lord said to Jacob.
Now the word confirms what he felt in his heart and what the circumstances were telling him. God says, return to the land of your fathers. So when life turns sour, God may have some sweet blessings right around the corner. Don't complain. Don't moan.
Just say, great. What opportunities might God have in store if I trust him and I move forward? So the friction causes him to seek a new direction. Verse 4, Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock. And he said to them, I see your father's countenance that it is not favorable toward me as before, but the God of my father has been with me. And you know that with all my might I have served your father and yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages 10 times.
What would you do if your employer changed your wage 10 times? Not in that direction. Then you go, thank you, Lord.
What if it goes in that direction? Notice what he says. 10 times he's done it. But God did not allow him to hurt me. He called his wives out toward the west, toward the road that would lead back to the land of promise where he felt the Lord wanted him to go.
But before he left, he was smart. He called his wives out and conferred with his wife. Wives.
Honey, number one, and honey, number two. I feel the Lord wants me to go back home. Your dad has spooky eyes looking at me and I think God has spoken to me, so what do you say?
He's with him. He says he's changed my wages 10 times, but the Lord has been with me. God did not allow him to hurt me. Verse 8, if he said thus, the speckled shall be your wages, then all the flocks bore speckled. And he said thus, the streak shall be your wages, then all the flocks bore streaked.
There's something that I noticed this week and it spoke to my heart. He was mistreated by his employer. That's not new to our culture.
It's not novel in our generation. He was mistreated by his own father-in-law but also by his own employer. But notice what he appeals to. There was no HR department back then to appeal to. He didn't level a complaint or sign a petition or go on strike.
He appealed to God and God took care of him. Now I know this is going to sound really simplistic to some. If you want to live your life at the level of the world, God will let you.
If you want to complain and file a report and sign a petition, have at it. What a miserable way to live. Or the most exciting way to live is to simply trust and to trust simply. I've done this. God has increased my flocks. This is how it came down and the Lord has not allowed him to hurt me. So God has taken away, verse 9, the livestock of your father and given them to me.
He's increased. And it happened at the time when the flocks conceived that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream and behold the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray spotted. And then the angel of God spoke to me in a dream saying, Jacob, and I said, here I am.
He said, lift up your eyes now and see all the rams which sleep on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray spotted for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, where you made a vow to me, now arise, get out of this land and return to the land of your family. And then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?
Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us and also completely consumed our money. For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children's.
Now then, whatever God has said to you, do it. Laban was a really bad manager of his personal finances. He was not good at money and it was bad because he took what was the dowry. Remember the dowry was money that was given for the bride and money that was given to the father for the bride was to be kept by the father of the bride as the future basis for the financial security of those women. It was to be kept aside if something happened, if the husband died or if the husband left her, there's financial security provided in advance in a dowry and the father kept it. He spent the dowry. He emptied their piggy banks and wasted all the money.
So they're putting two and two together. It's not like they're going, no, I can't leave. I've never gone to this crazy land that you're from.
I don't want to go 300 miles to the west. They say, well, you know what? Our father hasn't treated us very well.
And if God has spoken to you, let's go for it. Now there are some people like Laban. They make money, but they don't know how to keep it. They make it, but as soon as they make it, it leaves no matter how much they make. They just need basic budgetary skills.
Otherwise it's gone. I thank the Lord for my father. My father was very keen at his finances and at saving money so that when I came to a place here in Albuquerque where Lenny and I wanted to buy a home, my dad surprised us and said, well, I've saved up for this day and I have the down payment for your home. He did that with all of the boys. He was thinking in advance a way to prepare for the future, knowing that when you're young and you start off married, you don't have much.
So he prepared for that inevitability. But the gals give him the go ahead. If you want a marriage to work, here's a little principle before we move on. You should consult with your wife. You should listen to your wives.
They may not agree with your decision, but you should at least listen to them. Also a key in marriage, women, is to allow your husband to lead. I've met women who say, all I want in my home is a leader of the home. But as soon as the husband starts to make a choice to lead and make a decision, they go, what a dumb choice that was.
How can I follow that? So while they're barking that he's not leading, as soon as he assumes leadership, they complain about that. It's not fair.
The Bible says, and it's the dreaded word of this generation, wives submit to your husbands just like you would submit unto the Lord. Now I know what you're thinking. You might be gritting your teeth even and saying, are you kidding? What if he makes stupid choices?
That's okay. That's not your responsibility. God won't hold you responsibility for the idiotic choices your husband makes. He will hold him responsible for the idiotic choices that your husband makes. He will hold you responsible for submitting to your husband or not. And as I look at Jacob's life and the lives of his wives, it seemed that God was taking care of him. And again, as I said, if the husband is smart, he's going to listen and consult his wife.
Encourage your husband. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, if you've ever wondered what the Bible has to say about some of our culture's big issues, we have a great resource for you. When you give a gift of $50 or more this month to support the ministry of Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you God Speaks, biblical answers for today's issues. This special resource bundle contains six of Pastor Skip's booklets that address topics like suicide, why the truth matters, heaven and hell, and the church's response to racism. You'll gain valuable insight into what God's word says about the big questions in our culture and get equipped to stand for the timeless truth of scripture.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give $50 or more. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Then Jacob arose. Now they're going to go and set his sons and his wives on camels.
Oh, man. No cars, no trains, no buses, no 747s. Here's a plane ticket. Have you ever ridden a camel? OK, some of you went to Israel and had a little camel ride. I took a camel ride around the pyramids in Egypt and I thought, how on earth did people do that?
Put everybody on a camel. And he carried away all of his livestock, all of his possessions, which he had gained and acquired livestock, which he had gained in Padan Aram to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. Now Laban had gone to share his sheep and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father's.
Now, what is up with that? This is Rachel. This is the wife of the great patriarch, Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
And here's Rachel, who was married to him for all of this time. And he was under this covenant relationship with Yahweh, the God of the patriarchs. What's the household idols all about? The word in Hebrew is terra-fim and they were little statues that resembled people. And it was used, some believed that they were to remind them of their ancestors or that the spirit of their ancestors lived within them.
Others believed that deities would be working behind the statues and so people in those days would actually consult the statues to get direction for their lives. Can you imagine how ridiculous that is? Excuse me, Mr.
Idol, I'd like to know if I should go on this journey or not. Now, why is that ridiculous? Because the idol, the statue has no capacity to hear or to speak. David writes about it in Psalm 115, the idols of the heathen are futile.
They have mouths but they can't speak, they have eyes but they can't see, they have ears but they can't hear, they have hands but they can't touch, they have feet but they can't walk, they have mouths but they can't speak. So you can pray to a little statue, but the statue is not going to say, hey, turn right. The eyes were painted on by a person, so whenever you make a god, you have made a god less than yourself because you can speak, you can see, you can hear and the idol, the statue that you made can't.
It's absolutely ludicrous. But it was believed that these little statues would give direction and would give protection. Now, when I grew up, my mother would place in her car a little statue on the dashboard.
I remember seeing this as a kid, a statue of a saint or of Mary and I'd see it had a little magnet on it and this dashboard was metal in those days so it stuck to it. But as a kid, I even used to notice, I said, now, she's got the statue facing her and yet she's going in that direction. I mean, it only makes sense, mom, turn the statue around and at least can see where you're going. Even I had that much sense back then.
She didn't want to listen. And Jacob stole away, verse 20, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee so he fled with all that he had and he arose and crossed the river and headed toward the mountains of Gilead. If you were with us a couple of weeks ago in Israel, you remember the day we were going to Beit She'an and going then down the Jordan Valley toward Jerusalem? As you're going down the Jordan Valley, on the left-hand side or the eastern side of the Jordan River were the mountains of Gilead, a landmark. That's where he was headed, 300 miles to the west of Iraq. By the way, something else. There's a town in northern Iraq called Nuzi, N-U-Z-I, and there have been archaeological excavations and they found documents, tablets at Nuzi, that talked about household gods, little terra-fem, they're called in Hebrew, that whoever had them proved that they had the legal right of the inheritance of the family and probably that is why she took them because she was the daughter of Laban, but this having these things would in the future prove that all that he has was under the legal jurisdiction because she had the household idols, that's revealed in the documents found at Nuzi.
So just a little FYI on that one. So Jacob, notice how he leaves Laban, middle of the night, didn't tell him, he flees, which was his M.O., right? That's how he left home in the first place. That's how he left his brother Esau and his dad and his mom under the stealth and the cover of night. And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled, and then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days journey and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. Okay, Jacob had a three-day head start, but he had lots of flocks and lots of people that he was driving across the wilderness, so at best he was maybe going 20 miles a day, and that's a good pace. But Laban, without the flocks and without the huge entourage, he had some men, but he could drive it hard all day long, and one evening he saw the encampment of Jacob, and he camped there that evening and was getting all ready to get in the next day and confront him. I believe that Laban wanted to kill him.
And you'll see why in just a moment. Verse 23, he took his brethren with him, pursued him for seven days journey, overtook him in the mountains of Gilead, but God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said to him, Be careful that you speak to Jacob, neither good nor bad, or literally from good to bad. Don't let this conversation be impassioned with your own desire.
Don't let it go from good to bad. I believe he had fully intended to kill Jacob, and you'll hear some of the language that he uses in the confrontation. Now, from verse 22 onward is the second part of the chapter, it's the earthly confrontation. After the heavenly confirmation, he goes, now the earthly confrontation, he catches up with him. So Laban overtook Jacob, verse 25. Now Jacob pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done that you have stolen away unknown to me and carried away my daughters? Like captives taken with the sword.
Oh, he's so melodramatic. Why did you flee away secretly and steal away from me and not tell me? For I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp. Yeah, sure, you would have. I'd have thrown a big party, man.
Cake and music and really cool stuff. You have deprived your own family of a party. And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing. It is in my power to do you harm. Bullies love to throw that out. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Be careful that you speak to Jacob, neither good nor bad.
Of course, it doesn't sound like he's listening. And now you have surely gone because you greatly longed for your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?
What a great question. How would you like to have gods that could be stolen? What a worthless god. I can't find my gods. Did you steal my gods? My gods have been kidnapped. Not much of a god if you have to watch it, if it can't watch you, if it can't take care of you, keep you from getting lost, you have to keep it from getting stolen. Why did you steal my gods?
I can't get over that verse. Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid. That's an honest statement. For I said perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force. Fear is an awful taskmaster. Fear will keep you from fulfilling all of the potential God has for you.
It's a self-imprisonment. 63 times the Bible says fear not. And that's worth a study by the way.
Go to your concordance or your computer and type that in fear not. And notice all the times the Lord commands His people not to be afraid. One of the most notable ones is the daughter of the synagogue in Capernaum. She fell sick. She was at the point of death. The ruler of the synagogue came to Jesus in Luke 8 and said, Oh Lord, please you've got to come and heal my daughter. He had just a little bit of hope and the hope was in Christ alone, but he just had that thin thread. Daughter's about to die. But then the hope vanished when somebody came to him and said, Don't even bother the master.
Your daughter is already dead. Now at that moment, great fear filled that man. Jesus turned to him and said, Do not be afraid. Only believe. Do not be afraid. Only believe. The cure for fear is faith.
In fact, they're mutually exclusive. If you are a fearful person, you don't have faith. If you're filled with faith, you won't be filled with fear.
One cancels out the other. Don't be afraid. Only believe. Jesus healed that young girl.
We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you God Speaks, biblical answers for today's issues, which contains six of Pastor Skip's booklets to help you understand what the Bible says about big issues like racism, the importance of truth, suicide, and heaven and hell. To request your copy of God Speaks, biblical answers for today's issues, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskip.com slash store. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
