Providence In Blessing & Discipline

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 29. As you're turning, let me encourage you to pray for the church in Arlington. By the way, that fire church is just up the road from us. They're just north of Kenton in that town of Arlington. And I was able to meet Kevin this last fall at the Fire Midwest Regional in Beaver Creek. Sat right next to him and we started talking.

He told me about his cancer and all that was going on there and what was happening. And the young guy they talk about there, Caleb, was just ordained a week ago or two weeks ago, Saturday. And he may be the one that takes over. and so be praying for that church. I hope that we as a church can come alongside them, them being so close to us, we can come alongside them and help them in their ministry.

So pray for them. Well, let's pray and then we will look at what God has for us in this chapter of His book. Let's pray. Father, now open the text of Scripture to us. This is more than just a story. this is your revelation of your character a revelation of our own hearts we pray Father that we would see this in a way in the way that you intended in a way that you intended to teach us of your faithfulness and of the providences that you bring into our lives now help us certainly and surely to pay careful attention to this for your glory and our good in Jesus name, Amen Genesis 29 you follow as we read the first 30 verses.

Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. As he looked, he saw a well in the field and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large and when all the flocks were gathered there the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.

Jacob said to them, My brothers, where do you come from? They said, We are from Haran. He said to them, Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? They said, We know him. He said to them, Is it well with him? They said, It is well.

And see, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep. He said, Behold, it is still high day. It is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them. They said, We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. then we water the sheep while he was still speaking with him Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud and Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebecca's son and she ran and told her father.

As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things and Laban said to him, surely you are my bone and flesh and he stayed with him a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, because you're my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing?

Tell me, what shall your wages be? Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.

Laban said, It's better that I give her to you than I should give her to any other man. Stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is completed. So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.

But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went into her. Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter to be her servant. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban, What is this you've done to me? Did I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?

Laban said, It's not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years. Jacob did so and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.

So Jacob went into Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah and served Laban for another seven years. Well, you read this and ask, is this some sort of Nicholas Sparks novel or what? I mean, the story opens with the bad boy meeting the girl of his dreams. And I mean, he is a bad boy. He's a rebel. He's a fugitive from his homeland.

He is in trouble. but you kind of understand given the crazy family he comes from and but by chance he meets the girl of his dreams and you know what she just can't help but love him oh she just loves him he's a big strong guy who sees her beauty and moves the stone that only three men can and then he helps the girl and he cries and he kisses her and he makes this dramatic announcement i mean this is every woman dream You got a strong guy who willing to serve He a good kisser He tender He's tender. And he's so confident of his masculinity that he's not afraid to cry. The only thing missing here is the kitten.

However, the bad boy is thwarted in his love for the dream girl, but with the persistence of undying love, he eventually gets her. But of course, this is not a Nicholas Sparks novel. This is the Word of God. And it describes for us, or reveals to us, a God who is at work in the drama of human life. It tells the story of how God keeps His promise. You see, God had made a promise that he would bless all the nations through the seed of this man's grandpa, Abraham, and then through his dad, Isaac, and then through him, Jacob.

And in order to fulfill that great promise, he had made another promise to Jacob in the place of Bethel. You remember last week as we saw that Jacob met with God in the place of Bethel, the house of God. and as God in His grace broke through this man's heart and began His work in him and as he left that place, you remember the promise God made him. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. so this gracious God pursues Jacob with a relentless grace that will slowly but surely transform him into the man of God that God wants him to be and in that transformation he will keep both promises both the promise of a seed and all the other Abrahamic promises as well as the promise that I will go with you and I will keep you I will be your God but how will he transform this most unlikely of men how is he going to transform it him well as we read this text it becomes clear he will do it by his providence he will do it by using instruments like Laban and Rachel and Leah in his life now again let me define my terms let's get a proper understanding of that term providence the bible depicts god as sovereign as a sovereign who accomplishes all his purposes as one who will accomplish his purpose nothing will be able to hold him back nothing will hold his hand back he will accomplish his purpose he will fulfill his promises how does he do that he does that in two ways.

He can fulfill his promise by miraculous means. That is, by unaided, direct, divine intervention. God directly intervenes. God keeps the promise of the woman's conquering seed sometimes by miracle. Direct, unaided, divine intervention. For example, he supernaturally intervenes at Babel, confusing all the languages there and in that way keeping his promise of that conquering seed.

He intervenes by means of a dream, a vision directly to Abimelech so that Sarah is not touched. He directly addresses Abimelech in a dream. And he intervenes in Jacob's life with a vision of a stairway to heaven. This is God intervening directly. But He also works through providence. He accomplishes His purpose by providential means.

That is, not by direct intervention, but by using means. Alright? He uses means. God uses a sleepless, or a bored Abimelech who's walking through his palace one day, looks out the window and sees Isaac hugging his wife and then understanding, whoa, that woman is married to that guy and he gives out that edict that anyone who touches them are going to die, right?

No supernatural intervention. There's just a Bimelech who's walking around the palace looking out the windows. You see a family where favoritism plays such a part that it eventually ends up with sending Jacob out to find a suitable wife. And you see here, God working through all this drama to accomplish His will, to fulfill His promises. And so the transformation of Jacob now continues by God's providence.

Now of course, this is not just the story of Jacob. This is your story. And that's what you need to understand. God didn't record this. God didn't put it in our Bibles just so we'd have great history. Just so we'd know all that happened in the past.

He wants you to understand this is your story. How do you fit into the grand narrative of what God is doing? This is your story as well. And God will keep His promises to you. And as He keeps those promises, He will transform you as He works by providence in your life. what do we need to understand well here's the first understand the providence that blesses understand the providence that blesses the first 14 verses i don't want to read the chapter again but you glance through those first 14 verses and we see here the prob that god providentially blesses him with rachel jacob leaves bethel with god with god promises in mind and he travels over the next few weeks to where he wants to be He not exactly sure where he is when he sees this well.

He comes to a well and he finds three flocks, three shepherds, sitting next to that well with a huge stone rolled over the mouth of it. These guys are in no hurry to move that stone, by the way. They're in no hurry. They could move it if they wanted to. There's three of them there. They could move it, but they're in no hurry.

They're going to wait for the other people to arrive. So he asks them, where are you from? And they say, Haran. What luck. He says, do you know Laban, the grandson of Nahor? And they say, sure do.

Can you believe this good fortune? And he says, how is Laban? And they said, Laban's doing very well. Oh, by the way, there's his daughter coming over the hill. Man, talk about coincidence. Right?

Wait a minute. Luck? Good fortune? Coincidence? I don't think so. I don't think so.

In what appears to be the wrong time, because their shepherds are at the well at the wrong time. They're not supposed to be there yet. In what appears the wrong time, Jacob meets the right people and the right girl. There's no chance. There's no coincidence going on here. This is God accomplishing His purposes.

This is God getting the job done. So He says to them, Hey guys, don't you think you ought to be going? This is not the time to gather the sheep. Why don't you water them and go back out? This is the ancient version of, Hey kid, I'll give you a nickel if you leave us alone so I can talk to your sister. That's what's going on here.

Alright? Guys, get out. I'd like for you to leave. But these guys are lazy shirkers. Right? They're not going to leave.

And we all know Jacob by this point. We know if he wants something, he's going to get it. And so that's what he does. He sees this chick. And he's pretty attracted to her. There's no doubt about that.

And he's going to get what he wants. These guys aren't going to leave fine. He's going to get what he wants. And so he moves the rock by himself. Now one thing that ought to come to your mind right now is this. When you think of Jacob wanting to hang around the tents with mom, he is not a sissy.

This guy is big, he's strong, and he can move a rock that it usually takes three guys to move. Jacob is not a sissy boy. Now, let me ask you, do you think he made an impression on this girl? Probably. Probably. And then what does he do?

He waters her sheep. He greets her with a kiss. He weeps with relief. And he makes a dramatic announcement. One writer put it this way. Jacob knows how to operate.

Isn't that a great phrase? Jacob knows how to operate. He knows how to present his actions to the best advantage. capping the feet of strength with one of service, and this in turn with a dramatic announcement. It is a superb entry. I'm saying, men, keep your daughters away from a guy like this, right? This guy is a smooth operator.

Of course, we should expect that, shouldn't we? Well, of course, Rachel takes off to tell her dad Laban that Jacob has arrived, and Laban comes running, bringing him then to his house and he stays for a month before he begins to work for him. Now do you see the providence of God in all this? Do you see the providence of God? Now I believe the writer wants you to compare this well with the well that Abraham's servant came to in Genesis 24.

In fact, it may be the same well. It may be the same well. But you ought to compare what happened at the well the first time with Abraham's servant when he came looking for a wife and Jacob as he's at this well looking for a wife. First of all, the servant arrived with a well-laden camel train. But Jacob arrives on foot, empty-handed. The servant prays for help.

But notice Jacob is prayerless altogether. He doesn't pray at all. He relies on his own ingenuity, tenacity, and strength. The servant comes praying and asking God to reveal Isaac's wife to him, whereas Jacob stumbles on his good fortune. The servant uses a test to confirm that this is God's leading, and a test that will tell him something about the character of the woman.

Jacob seems to care more about beauty than anything else. The servant praises God after the woman passes the test, but Jacob tries to impress her. What's the point? Jacob is not ignorant of God, but he certainly is not used to walking with God. nevertheless God arranges these events in order to bless Jacob in order to give this undeserving man what he needs to accomplish the purposes of God all of this is an undeniable display of the providence of God there's no luck there's no good fortune there's no coincidence going on here.

God is behind it all. Orchestrating the events so that he would keep his promise to Abraham and to keep his promise to Jacob That he would go with him and be with him and keep him and bring him back to the land These are providential blessings This is a blessing from God Even though he doesn deserve it, God is richly blessing this man. Why? He comes along at the wrong time and meets the right people and the right girl.

I mean, he stumbles on this well. Notice he goes to the east. He doesn't even know where he is. And he comes to this well, which to all intents and purposes, looks like the same well that Abraham's servant came to. And who's there but people who know Laban, the guy he's looking for. He stumbles into the right district.

All those things that happens by God's providence. And these are providential blessings. And they're part of the transforming work of God in Jacob's life, even if Jacob doesn't realize it as such. And so you see the providence and blessing as God brings Rachel into Jacob's life, beginning the whole chain of events that will eventually end up with descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Right? That promise of having descendants numerous as stars in the sky has to start somewhere. here's one of those beginning points God blesses Jacob with his first sight of Rachel as undeserving as he is God will use this blessing to bring about the promise of a seed that will bless all the nations now for a moment now you survey the course of your life survey the course of your life do you see God's providential blessings in your life you think how's God blessed you he hasn't come directly and all sudden manufactured food in front of you has he no but has he given you much food obviously he's given you jobs he's blessed you with many things you have so many things in life all of it by the providence of god has god blessed you through his providence and frankly right now i'd love to just sit here for the next 15 minutes while you think about it all right but more than that do you see the blessings in your life that actually brought you to him was it not the providence of god that brought someone into your life that loved you enough to share the gospel and introduce you to jesus whether that was a parent right you grew up in a christian home what a wonderful blessing from god in this providence or or maybe you are as pagan as a pagan could be and a co-worker came alongside you and saw your heartache and shared Christ with you and you embraced him in faith or maybe someone brought you to church where you've heard the gospel over and over and finally capitulated and surrendered to Jesus as king the providence of God in his blessings he blesses you greatly by his providence he doesn't bless you by suddenly appearing in your backyard and producing as if by magic all these things he's worked in your life all these years blessing you over and over by his grand his glorious his gracious providence but god extends to you his providence in more than blessing there's more to this story than rachel isn't there it's not just about rachel Jacob meets Laban his match and his means of discipline God will transform this man not only through blessing but also through discipline so what's the next thing we need to understand we need to understand the providence that disciplines we need to understand the providence that disciplines in this chapter you find the beginning of god's loving providential discipline of jacob do you notice how laban comes running when he hears about jacob you notice he comes running that should make something go off in your head because laban has run to this well one other time before when you could look back at Genesis 24, with Abraham's servant at that well, what happened? Do you remember the story?

After God revealed that Rebekah was to be Isaac's wife, what does he do? He slaps on these incredibly gold armbands. You remember that? And then she goes home to tell her dad and her brother Laban, and Laban comes running. Why did Laban come running? It's like, whoa, we got a rich guy coming by.

Now he's running to the well again, and I think the writer wants you to see that. Why? Because there's a guy there whose strength is worth his weight in gold. There's somebody over there, man, I could use a guy like that. I could use capital U, capital S, capital E. I could use a guy like that.

So he invites him home, as he should. This is his nephew. you. This is blood. This is kin. He invites him home. He spends a month there.

And I would guess that after about a month, Laban has a pretty good idea that Jacob is attracted to his daughter, Rachel. I don't doubt it one bit. You don't live in someone's house where you're in love with the guy's daughter and, you know, you figure it out. You'll be able to figure it out. Now, what's It's interesting. And for reasons unknown. sent Jacob off.

Isaac, this incredibly rich man, sends Jacob off without a penny. I wondered about that as I was reading last week. I thought, here's Isaac. He's really rich and he sends Jacob off without a smidge of that wealth. I don't know why. No one knows why, but that is unusual and because he doesn't have anything jacob has no bride price he can't do what you're supposed to do and that is i want to marry your daughter here pony up all the money right that's how it worked and so he's reduced to the place of a hired hand since he doesn't have the bride price now by the way laban is suitably ambiguous about this arrangement it's better to give her to you than to any other man.

But you notice, he doesn't say when. Right? He's one of those guys, you've never done this right. You say things just enough to give him the idea, but not enough to give him the details. That's what Laban does here. Of course, you know the story.

He works the seven years, and Laban substitutes Leah for Rachel on the wedding night. Now let's cover a couple things here that everyone always asks. What does it mean by weak eyes? Right? What does that mean? What does that mean?

Well, no one knows what that means. So I'm just going to tell you that right now. There's been lots of suggestions like she had poor eyesight. Right? And, you know, it wasn't like she was ugly because she wore glasses. They didn't have glasses then.

So she... Can you imagine living in an era where no glasses? I mean, I wouldn't be able to read hardly. I'd have to have my face right in the middle of the book for me to read. I wouldn't be able to tell who you were. You'd have a mass of colors.

Maybe she had poor eyesight. Or one suggested that they weren't the right color. Another suggested that she didn't have the sparkle in her eyes that people of the East typically like. Now, the big question. You've always wondered, Wait a minute. How could this guy go to bed with a woman and wake up the next day and realize, hey, I got the wrong woman here.

All right? Face it. You've all asked that question, haven't you? Yeah, you have. My kids all ask that question. Hey, Dad.

What? All right. Let's put together a few things. First of all, it's a wine feast. it's not just a feast with lots of food the hebrew word seems to indicate it's a wine feast so jacob probably the groom was not in complete control of his faculties the bride is veiled and i don't you know i thought about this too well she's veiled you ought to be able to see her weak eyes but that's not the kind of veil they wore they wore a veil that covered them completely a good example of that would be what muslim women in in some of those really hardcore Islamic countries wear?

Okay. Can't see anything. And then, they don't have electricity. There's not really bright lights in the tent. So you've got a groom who's a little tipsy, a woman who's veiled, and it's completely dark. The point is, it says, behold!

That's the Hebrew word that kind of freeze frames it. When you see that in the text, behold! That's a Hebrew word that wants you to stop. At that point and say, boom, get this picture in your head. So it says, behold, he wakes up and it's Leah. What a shock.

I mean, this guy's really shocked, I'm telling you. You can imagine that, right? And he demands that Laban keep his commitment of giving him Rachel. By the way, the narrative says nothing about how Rachel felt towards Jacob. it's not i'm sorry says nothing about what leah feels towards jacob i mean i was a kid i always thought poor leah she loves jacob but he doesn't love her maybe not maybe she doesn't love him at all doesn't make any difference it does indicate that leah is the unloved daughter she's not loved by her father, obviously.

And she certainly is not loved by Jacob. She's the unloved daughter. Now when Jacob makes his demand, Laban responds with anger. He says, why would you demand such a thing? Don't you know that it's not right to marry off the younger one first? What a hypocrite.

Right he acting as if he looking out for the interests of his older daughter And so he says okay complete the bridal feast for the week and then you can have Rachel. But you've got to give me seven more years. Right? Wow. By the way, imagine that week. It's a week of celebration.

They had week-long wedding receptions, if you will. Can you imagine that? Laban probably spends the week bragging, feasting, and laughing with his friends as to how he pulled the wool over Jacob's eyes. No doubt that's part of this whole celebration. And so the next week, Jacob marries Rachel and begins another seven years of servitude. Now let's stop and let's look at this, shall we?

Let's look at the instrument of God's loving discipline. That instrument is Uncle Laban. Let me say it again. The instrument of God's loving discipline is Laban. He uses deception to get what he wants. He deceives Jacob into thinking that he has worked for Rachel, not Leah.

And he could have told Jacob when they made the marriage contract. He could have told him right then, right? Oh, by the way, in our country, the oldest has to be married before the youngest can. But he doesn't do that. This guy is a deceiver. His family, to him, is nothing more than an economic arrangement.

As Jacob's closest relative, he should have helped Jacob. That was the custom. You help your relatives. Should a relative work for nothing? Yes. Why?

Because you're going to help him. You're going to give him something to help him start his own household. But instead of helping Jacob, he exploits Jacob for economic advantage. And let's not lose this. Worse than that, he uses his daughters as if they're animals in his flocks. They are commodities to be used in trading and bargaining.

Don't forget that. This is his view of his daughters. They're to be used for his economic advantage. He exploits the obvious weakness of Jacob. Jacob loves Rachel. He'll do anything to marry her.

And he knows it. And he's going to exploit that weakness. Can you imagine using your daughter like that? Can you imagine using your daughter like that? He is shameless using the unloved Leah to advance his economic fortunes. That to me just, doesn't that strike you?

I'm going to use this poor girl who's not loved by me and certainly not loved by Jacob. I'm going to use her so I can get seven more years of labor out of this guy. He is a hypocrite playing the part of the angry father who's looking out for the interests of his older daughter. And all of this serves his insatiable greed. This is the instrument of God's loving discipline.

Notice the method of God's loving discipline. Notice the method. You reap what you sow. You know what you see here? You see the deceiver being deceived. Isn't that amazing?

Jacob deceived his father through Isaac's inability to see. Laban deceives Jacob through his inability to see. Don't miss that part. Previously, we saw two brothers exchanged by a trick before a blind man. here you see two sisters exchanged by a trick under the cover of darkness Jacob is cunning, deceptive, heartless, greedy and ambitious and guess who else is that? only more so just as Jacob took advantage of his brother's weakness so Laban takes advantage of Jacob's weakness.

You know what you see here too? Through deceptive means the older will now serve the younger. And last of all Jacob begins a marriage and he begins a family with strife rivalry and favoritism You see you reap what you sow But don't lose heart at that. And this is what I want you to see. Turn to Romans 8 while I'm talking here. Here's what you need to see.

I think in Galatians, where Paul says, you reap what you sow, he's talking to people and saying, If you reap to the flesh, if you sow to the flesh, you will reap eternal destruction. Okay? So what does that mean for us as Christians? It means this. You'll reap what you sow, but it will not be a reaping where God gets you for what you've done. He can't.

We're His beloved people, right? He's not going to do that to us. How do I know that? Because when I look at Romans chapter 8, this familiar but incredibly powerful passage, verse 28 to the end of the chapter. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose.

Does that mean? Does that mean also the things that I reap because of what I've sowed? Is that working for my good? Yes. Even that works for my good. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things.

Note, He gave up His Son. He'll graciously give us all things. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn Christ? Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, who was raised was at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us. Are you ever going to sin so much as a believer that Jesus won't intercede for you anymore? No. How do I know that? He'll graciously give me all things and He sacrificed His Son as a guarantee for that. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

So tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of god in christ jesus our lord what's the point the point i'm simply trying to make is we often will reap what we sow but what we reap god will use for our good don't reap i mean don't sow the wrong things okay just don't do that but if you do it can get pretty uncomfortable it It can get hard.

It can maybe even times get miserable. But God is not using that to get His pound of flesh. God wants to teach you through it. He wants to teach you. God can use evil and hardship, trials and heartache to serve His good purposes. He can do that.

He can use a Laban that will help you. And by the way, again, part of preaching is what do you leave out there's a whole section here of looking how Jacob responded he's been cheated but he doesn't respond like Esau do you notice he's a man of integrity that Laban knows I'll give you Rachel but you got to serve me seven years and what does he do he doesn't pack up in the middle of the night and leave does he no he knows he's a man who will keep his word so God has been at work and God is at work in Jacob's life through this evil man called Laban now let me ask you this question are you looking at hardship and evil in your life and starting to doubt God's love for you are you starting to shake your fist at God because things are hard for you do you think Jacob could have had the same response as that I mean, think about this. He leaves Bethel.

And he's saying to himself, God, You promised me that You would go with me and keep me wherever I would go. And this is what You give me? Right? Isn't that the promise that's ringing in his ears as he leaves Bethel where God has met with him? I will go with you and I will keep you wherever you go is this what you mean of going with me I get 14 years of hard labor This is you keeping me?

Right? And God replies, Yeah, Jacob. That is how I keep you, and that is how I go with you. That's exactly what's going on, Jacob. because this is what you need. And I know you. And I know what you need.

And my providence doesn't just give you blessing. My providence also brings discipline. Have you done the same? Do you think that God's providence in your life means only blessing and no discipline? Is that what you're thinking? And when hardship comes, you're ready to throw in the towel and say, well, God, I didn't sign up for this.

What kind of a God are you? I see. I'll take your blessings, but I won't take your discipline. Wow. What does that say about you? Right?

Do you know why we start getting angry with God? Because we don't see our own sin. God, look, I'm doing a good job. Why aren't you blessing me? Oh, really? You know, Jacob had to become aware of his sin, didn't he? and God in a very dramatic way showed Jacob just what kind of a man he had been.

Jacob should have seen that he was reaping what he had sown. And God made that clear to him, not to make his life miserable, but so Jacob would learn and that he would begin to grow. We often find ourselves grumbling, saying, God, how could you do this to me? Because we have a very inaccurate view of ourselves. By the way, instead of asking, God, I thought you loved me.

How can you be doing this to me? You should be saying, God, why haven't you crushed me yet? Because my sin is a front to you. But you haven't crushed me. You see? No. expect both blessing and discipline expect both blessing and discipline as god works in a transforming way in your life but then that is not just how god works in us that's how he works for us you see he had a son who came and he blessed that son in everything that he did you think about that the son had god's blessing every step of his life he did nothing wrong and there was blessing for him but even though he never sinned he suffered what you might call disciplining providence in his life by the way do you remember that jesus was handed over to death by a greedy ambitious shameless hypocrite for economic advantage.

But the discipline that Jesus experienced was not because of his sin. The discipline he experienced was because of yours. You know what that means? It means this. That because of that death all of God's providence that brings blessing and discipline. Either one.

It means that that's coming from a Father who loves you. And every part of His providence is an expression of His love. He who did not give up His own Son, how will He also along with Him not graciously give us all things? You see? so this morning look at your life do you see the providence of God because of his great love for you in Christ Jesus you should be able to see his providence and blessing but also because of his great love for you in Christ Jesus you must see his providence in discipline and in both know that he loves you Father, thank You for Your Word.

For the story of a man pursued by Your relentless grace so that Your providence is going to change him and keep Your promises to him. Oh God, I pray that we would look at the course of our lives and thank you for the providence that comes from the hand of a loving Father, both in blessing and discipline. We thank you now in Jesus' name. Amen.