Wishy-Washy Promises

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Jacob sets off on his journey. In the previous verses, Jacob sleeps with his head on a stone and dreams of God appearing to him as a staircase rises from the earth to heaven. On this staircase, heavenly beings, angels are going up and down. God stood beside Jacob and promised he would return to his home once he had heirs.

It is a place where Jacob experiences God. The story picks up as Jacob wakes. Jacob recognizes the sacredness of the experience and the sacredness of the place. Once he has a moment to gather his senses, and experience fear, Jacob responds to God’s promise. If God provides food and shelter, if God proves dependable in everything, then this will be his God. It is a conditional commitment on Jacob’s part. Jacob’s commitment is dependent on God proving reliable. This something only proven in hindsight. He has no way of knowing for certain whether God will prove reliable. As he looks back at his life, he might be able to see moments where God was present. Viewed another way, those same moments might be luck or the result of hard work. Jacob requires God to provide for his every need. Does having his needs met prove that God exists and God is faithful? Many people who lack enough food and clean water, have faith in God. Many people who are well-fed deny the existence of God.

I think Jacob, has missed the point. God’s promise to him is unconditional. His response should also be unconditional. Jacob has left himself wiggle room to avoid keeping his commitment to God. How often do we bargain with God? “I’ll do such and such if she doesn’t die.” Statements like this become difficult when the person we love dies anyway. It threatens our relationship with God because we believe that God has not been faithful. We believe that God has let us down.

“If I get through this, I will change my life.” God is always calling us to be the people we were created to be. A conditional statement like this means that if we can be trapped, waiting for God to act to so that we are motivated towards change. In reality, change might be the way God can act to resolve the challenge. Eventually, we might come to believe that God has let us down and we end up wallowing in self-pity.

As the Jacob story unfolds, we see him continuing to use trickery and manipulation to get what he wants. For the time being, he’s holding and wait and see what God does before he decides whether this is his God.

After making his wishy-washy commitment, Jacob continues his journey. He finds a well which Laban (his uncle) happens to use. The shepherds are waiting until everyone has arrived. There is a large stone over the well which requires everyone’s assistance in moving. Rachel arrives, Jacob is smitten and uses his mighty-man strength to move the stone all by himself.