If anyone needed a therapist, it was Jacob. He was a hot mess.
There are many Jacobs in the world. I’m referring to the one the pages of Scriptures call both blessed and stressed. Maybe not in the same exact words.
Jacob would do just about anything to be blessed. Little did he know that “when you pray for rain, you must deal with mud too”. His dictionary on blessing read different of what God had in mind.
Here’s a free walking tour through Jacob’s four significant seasons that sum up his life. Each begins like a race with the startling of a gunshot- a problem that propels Jacob to pick up the pace toward a beneficial outcome. And yes. Only we can say that looking in hindsight. Because “when you’re in the bottle, you can’t read your own ingredients”.
My fellow sufferer, (as Dickens would say) follow my annoyingly-red umbrella, and let’s pick up pace through Jacob’s highlights and lowlights.
Season #1 “Hurting others”
His name said it all, Jacob 
, “the deceiver“. He snatched his brother’s heel pre-birth. He stole his brother’s birthright as a youngster. And helped himself to his brother’s blessing in his 70’s. I too pictured him in his 30’s fleeing to Harran. Nope. He was in his 70’s*. (Since Jacob died at the age of 147. His 70’s would be our 40’s.)
Midlife crisis? Lack of maturity? Or a people-pleaser junkie obeying an over-controlling mother? Whatever the excuse, he hurt others assuming he deserved the blessing more than his brother who was no saint himself.
The blessing of this season: Being forced out of a toxic relationship with his mother, and his brother was beneficial to his growth. We don’t have to like it to benefit us, as my mentor would say. Only after hitting rock bottom, Jacob experiences God and is recorded to pray.
Season #2 “Tasting his own medicine”
When Jacob made the 400-mile trip to uncle Laban, he was not heading for a family reunion. He was running away. Not running toward.
His uncle’s name Laban means “white”. Today, “laban” is a drink in the Middle East- “fermented milk”. His uncle was rotten milk too like Jacob.
Mr. Fermented Milk gave his nephew the wrong wife. Made him work for 14 years. Kept them as captives. Took his best sheep. Changed the wages ten times. Pursued Jacob and his family for seven days. Claimed all Jacob’s possessions as his. And accused him of much. (Genesis 29-31)
Jacob experienced deceit himself. As a young woman said after manipulating her boyfriend “I’ve tasted my own medicine… and it’s bitter!”
The blessing of this season: Amid corrupt circumstances, saints grow. He prays again. He makes decisions on his own. Jacob becomes a breeding expert of sheep and goats. Jacob’s priorities changed from blessing himself to blessing others. (Gen. 28:20, Gen. 30:43) Pastor Tyler Staton said it well “Proper stewardship of suffering, allows my soul to grow up.”
Season #3 “Living with unbearable loss”
Twenty years later, Jacob returns home and makes amends with his brother. Previous seasons were hard. But now they will be unbearable. He loses Rachel, his first love. Then Joseph, the apple of his eye. Rachel, he could bring roses to her tomb at Ephrath (Bethlehem). Joseph, there was no tomb. There was no closure. There’s a shortage of joy, not only food.
The blessing of this season: Suffering increases our capacity for joy. Daily annoyances are mosquito bites, next to significant pain, trauma and tragedies. Can you imagine the joy to meet Joseph? “As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time. Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.” Gen. 46:29-30
Season #4 “Finally. Blessed!”
He started his life as Jacob (deceiver), finished it as Israel (fighter). He ran away from home with a staff, and returned with a large family, workers and a couple of Tesla’s.. only if he named his camels that. He lost Joseph, and gained Joseph and his two sons.
Jacob was a hot mess, and so were his “12 bundles of joy”, yet the Lord’s plan to send Messiah through his offspring is not thwarted by human failure.
To be blessed, or not to be blessed?
As Pastor Tyler puts to words what we all think “suffering is not evenly distributed to all people, but when it’s endured thoughtfully it gives way to compassion and it reveals what is real and what is counterfeit in our lives… It’s suffering that allows my soul to grow up.”
“Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. All power to him forever! Amen.” 1 Peter 5:9-11 NLT
Estera Wieja describes in an article blessing this way “It is not a recognition of riches, rather a humble confession that we are not self-sufficient. We do not control or dictate the power of blessing – it is all God’s.” As Isaiah puts it best “… All that we have accomplished, you have done for us.”
__________________________
Notes:
* Chad Bird works his way backward to clarify this issue. “Jacob was 130 years old when he left for Egypt (Gen. 47:9). At that time, Joseph was 39 years old (41:46; 45:6, 11). Joseph was thus born when Jacob was about 91. Joseph was born in the 14th year of Jacob’s time with Laban (30:25; 31:41). Therefore, Jacob was about 77 years old when he fled from Esau.”