Begin and End in Faith

Jacob vowed “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God….” Genesis 28:20

Are we setting conditions for our worship to God that is based on our material blessings? Human beings are naturally given to the love of things. This is not a bad thing. God likes nice stuff too, New Jerusalem is described as “shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal”. However our praise of God should not be conditions of the reception of blessings only. Jacob did not need to make such a vow. He only had to look that the blessing his father’s Isaac and Abraham, but he wanted evidence in his own life.

Jacob’s is a dying man before his actions please God. “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped,” Hebrew 11:21 Verse 6 of this chapter tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Jacob is a grandfather and he comes to understand the faithfulness of God.

God is looking for the young to worship him too. In my last blog I said, “the circumstances of Jacob’s visitation from the Lord were a closed past and a completely uncertain future.” He had just had a supernatural visitation from God himself. But for Jacob a visitation from the Lord was not sufficient to call the Lord his God. He wanted some stuff first.
How many of us have had supernatural experiences with the Lord as young adults or even children that we dismiss as ‘vain imagination’ when in fact it was the Lord revealing himself to us. We are called to worship the Lord with all of our strength among other things. Proverbs 20:29 reads, “The glory of young men is their strength.”

King David is a man who referenced his faith from a young man, as he grew in opportunity to praise God. To paraphrase, what is a giant Philistine compared to a bear and a lion? What made David’s faith great was not that he killed a bear and a lion but that he knew that without the help of the Lord he would have killed neither. The prophet Daniel is a young man when he “resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine.” He is an old man when he says to the King. “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else.”

I was 29 years old before I committed my strength to the Lord. I am ashamed that I did not at 19 or even 9, but God has been faithful to me. I have resolved myself to live before him the remainder of my days. He has indeed blessed me materially but it is by faith I bless my children each night before they sleep. I am confident that the Lord will bless their future. I pray that they see the hand of the Lord and call my God their God at the beginning of their journey not just the end. I pray that prayer for your children and grandchildren as well.