God loves to do things in a big way: “grace upon grace,” “pressed down, shaken together, and running over.” Here’s another example of His generosity.
You may recall we asked the question two lessons ago, “if the Lord would endorse the blessing his father had given him, since it was taken from Esau by guile?” Today we get our answer. Notice all the promises within the blessing. Genesis 28, verses 13-15, reads as follows: “And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” How many promises did you find? First, there is the promise of the land; second, of the dramatic increase of his family to become a nation; third, that they will spread out to the four compass points; fourth, through his progeny, all the families of the earth would be blessed; fifth, God’s presence would be with him to protect him wherever he traveled; sixth, God would eventually bring him back to the land given him; and seventh, Jacob could count on the Lord to fulfill every promise He had made. No fine print, no escape clause, no exceptions. God would be as good as His word. The next morning, to memorialize the occasion, Jacob took his stone pillow and lifted it up to be a pillar, then vowed, “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 father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God” (vv 20-21). How big of Jacob to let God be his God!