Tracie Mark
“If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on so that I come back to my fathers house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Genesis 28:20-22
If You will God, I will. It sounds like Jacob was trying to bargain with God, doesn’t it? Or could it be possible in his ignorance of how to worship and serve God, that he treated God like a servant who would perform a service for a tip? Either way, he was pledging his love and loyalty to God if and when and only AFTER God did something for him.
How often have we treated God the same way? Like a genie in a bottle perhaps, there simply to be served after our three wishes have been granted? I’ll be the first to admit that I have been guilty of this. Maybe not in an outward declaration of “God if you do this for me, I will……,” but in an inward lack of trust by holding onto all of my heart before I surrendered control of it to Him until I saw the fruits of a promise He had made me years before.
In truth, I think in some ways we are all more like Jacob than we care to admit. Jacob could very well have been pledging his future to God, by saying, “because You have blessed me, I will follow You.” Whether or not he was bargaining or pledging, God still blessed Jacob, but He had some very difficult lessons for him to learn that would change his character from that of one who deceives, to one who leads.
The decisions we make every day have lasting consequences. I still bear the fruit of some of the terrible decisions that I made 15 years ago. But I have also developed a stronger sense of the value of weighing all the options and thinking things through before I make a decision. One of the ways that I accomplish that is by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me into the right solution.
One of the standout points to me regarding Jacob is that he was continually blessed by God not because of his personal character, but upon the character of God. Even in the absurdity of pledging his loyalty ONLY IF God blessed him because God is absolutely good, He still blessed him!
My hope for you today is that you would be like Jacob solely in the way that you allow God to refine your character through your circumstances, not in spite of them. Pledge your life and your loyalty to God JUST BECAUSE He is God and He is worthy whether He does anything for you or not. Praise God we do not serve a God who loves us according to an “I will if you will,” basis! He freely gives and we freely receive. How much more do you think He would freely give if we only loved Him as unconditionally as He loves us?
Go all in today. Take that leap of faith and give God your everything!!!! If you can learn to give God your all, and love and worship Him from a place of a relationship instead of obligation or expectation, trust me, He will throw open the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing that you cannot contain it!
Decide today, to live not in expectation of what God can do for you, but to live in expectancy of what the God of the universe will do for you because He loves you.
Love Him because He loves you.
Watchmen On The Pod 