[Discoveries] 09-21-07 Protection from the God of Jacob

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/*... may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. -- Psalm 20:1*/

In this verse, the Lord identifies Himself as the God of Jacob.

We all want protection, so we look to the same God who protected Jacob. 
How did God protect Jacob? He certainly did not protect him from the 
need to flee from his brother Esau. He didn't prevent him from being wed 
to the wrong woman. He didn't keep Laban from cheating him by changing 
his wages ten times. He didn't keep Jacob's wife, Rachel, from dying in 
childbirth. He didn't keep his son Joseph from being sold into slavery, 
his other sons from lying about it, and his son Simeon from being thrown 
into prison.

What kind of protector is this God of Jacob?

To begin with, He is a confident protector -- confident enough to wrench 
Jacob's hip out of its socket when Esau was coming after him with 400 
men. He didn't leave Jacob any power to flee or to fight, because God 
didn't need Jacob's help. He is a just protector. When God saw how Jacob 
was being cheated by Laban, He simply changed the laws of genetics so 
that Laban couldn't get away with his injustice. He is a big picture 
protector. Jacob didn't see any reason for being wed to Leah, or any 
reason for the loss of Joseph. But God had reasons, and those reasons 
came back to protect and provide for Jacob in the end.

God has a plan for your protection -- and for mine. It is a plan that is 
more carefully thought out than our prayer, "Just prevent anything 
unpleasant from ever happening to me forever and always, amen."

In Hebrews 11:21 we are told that Jacob, at the end of his life, blessed 
his sons by faith. This is a different Jacob than the man who disguised 
himself as Esau in order to steal his brother's blessing. He could look 
into the future and see what ordinary people could not see. This was a 
man who had been protected by God.

Be encouraged!
Dwight



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