Date: 11 August, 9.30 am
Speaker: Ps Daniel Tan Sermon Text: Genesis 29:1 - 30:43
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TRANSCRIPT
Blessed Sunday to all.
To all Singaporeans, wishing you a Happy National day.
May the stability that we enjoy cause us to be grateful. The prosperity we have received, make us generous. And the peace we experience, encourage us to persevere in Gospel living.
If you are not a Singaporean, may I thank you for spending this season of life with us. Thank you for contributing to our society and for enriching us with your gifts and talents.
How many of us are familiar with this year’s NDP song – Not Alone?
Not sure if it will become one of the all time favourites, but I thought the lyrics was interesting.
The title Not Alone, reminds us that through the past we were not alone. And our future will be bright as well, because we will not be alone.
Not sure if writer of the NDP song was a Liverpool football club fan.
It begins with:
How do I reach for the skies If I’m feeling low
Don’t know where to go
How do I stand when it’s time when spirits are high
And flags are flying
But then I come to the river that runs through my town
Where our fathers and mothers have watered the ground
And the roads I have walked and the faces I know
Oh I know, I know
The song pictures someone whom I supposed is in not quite a celebrative mood. Somewhat lost maybe.
And then it reflects back on the past. How the Singapore river has been the life-blood of the nation. The experiences of our forefathers whose sweat have watered the ground.
The song seems to urge confidence. That the experience of the past can be an encouragement that we have made it thus far.
I think this song is quite reflective of the situation Jacob is in at the start of Genesis 29.
He has travelled a distance of nearly 900 km.
Jacob began in Beersheba (28:10) which is in the south and Jacob met God in a dream in Bethel (Gen 28:19).
I’m sure in Gen 29, as he reaches the well, he is tired, thirsty, maybe a bit disoriented. He sees three flocks of sheep with their shepherds, and so this must have gladden his eyes.
Maybe there is now some form of anticipation.
As the Singapore River is the life-blood of our trading nation, so too the well is the literal like-giving source for the shepherds and their flock.
And the setting of Gen 29 should give us flashbacks. Flashbacks to Genesis 24.
Genesis 24 is when Abraham’s servant was going to this same part of the world to find a wife for Isaac.
Rebekah, the wife of Isaac is also the sister of Laban, whom Jacob will meet soon.
Since we are familiar with Genesis 24, we will notice the similarities such as :
Both Abraham’s servant and Jacob travelled the same route.
Both ended up at a well.
In both situations, the gracious act of watering the animals were significant.
Both times, there was a divine appointment with the right person – Rebekah (Gen 24) and Rachel (Gen 29)
After the meeting, Rebekah ran and told her mother (24:28) while Rachel ran and told her father (29:12)
By making this connection between Gen 24 and Gen 29, I submit that Moses is wanting the first audience to understand that again this is the sovereign hand of God working things out providentially.
I submit, when we look at Genesis 29, we are to hear the echoes of Abraham’s servant:
Gen 24:26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord 27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”
In providence and in sanctification (Gen 29:1-30)
So the big picture is the sovereign hand of God and I would like to share how that works out in 3 different ways through Genesis 29 and 30.
Firstly, we will notice that the sovereign hand of God in displayed in providence and in sanctification.
· Providence
I’ve already begun the first point in the introduction.
As how God directed the steps of Abraham’s servant so too, God protected Jacob through the desert journey and guided him to be at this particular well, at the right time to meet Rachel.
Not only did God bring Jacob to Rachel, God also brought Rachel to Jacob.
And we see glimpses of a love story right?
Jacob wanted to impress Rachel so much, he was able to roll away the stone all by himself. The text implies that normally this was done by a few shepherds.
V20 also says, when you are in love, what you do for your beloved never seems hard nor long.
Jacob worked for 7 long years, but to him they seem but just a few days because of his love for Rachel.
If we believe in the sovereign hand of God, the implication is that as God directed Jacob’s steps, He will also direct ours.
May I suggest that birthdays are good anniversaries for us to spend the day reflecting on how the Lord has directed our path in the preceding 12 months.
It’s a good opportunity to ask, are we walking in step with God’s direction or are we deviating.
May I offer Psalm 37:23 as the starting point for our yearly review:
Ps 37:23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in His way.
As God has providentially led Jacob, may we also regularly, seek to be sensitive to how God is providentially leading us.
· Sanctification
The first part of Genesis 29 is a great love story. All the way until v20.
Jacob has a great father-in-law who says Jacob, you are my bone and my flesh. You should not serve me for nothing. You should be paid your wages.
And when Jacob said, I’ll serve you 7 years for Rachel, Laban said, yes, it is better that I give her to you than to another man.
But under the sovereign hand of God, God’s providence also comes with His sanctification.
Jacob the deceiver will now be deceived.
God will use Laban to be God’s channel of sanctification for Jacob. God in His sovereignty does allow us to bear the consequence of our sins.
And it seems God’s sanctifying work of Jacob fits his crime.
Remember earlier, we saw that Jacob cheated Esau twice of his blessings as the first born.
He cheated Esau of his birthrights and as well as the blessings of Jacob.
Through Laban’s deception, Jacob now has to marry the first-born Leah. For Laban reminds him, it is the custom of the land that the older has to be married off first.
In this process, Jacob throughout his married life, he will be reminded that he did not respect the rights of the first born.
When Jacob received Isaac’s blessings, he had a disguise on. He worn Esau’s clothes and he placed the skin of goats on his hands and neck.
Isaac was deceived that Jacob and not Esau was in front of him.
In Genesis 29, Jacob is deceived by disguise as well. Under the cover of night, when Jacob must have been giddy with the marriage celebration, Leah was brought to be with Jacob.
Jacob only found out the next morning that it was not Rachel whom he slept with.
As Jacob deceived Isaac, so now he has been tricked by Laban.
One commentator remarked “In Laban, Jacob met his match and his means of discipline”.
If the first 7 years was like a few days for Jacob, I’m sure the second 7 years that Jacob served Laban would have seem like an eternity.
Church, the sovereign hand of God does providentially sanctify us as well.
Heb 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
As we reflect on God’s leading in our lives, would we be able to recognize the ‘Laban’ that God has placed in our lives?
The people whom God has brought alongside us to be His channel of sanctification.
It might even be authors of books we have read or sermons we have heard online. God may be using them as a means of highlighting an area in need of sanctification.
Would we recognize them and would we appreciate them for what they are doing?
Recently I went to see the polyclinic doctor for my regular check up. My cholesterol and sugar levels are being monitored.
Found out the doctor was a believer when she asked me about my profession and I told her that I’m a pastor.
To that she said sternly, then take care of your health. You still have many years left in the ministry. Watch your diet and exercise. Bring your BMI down.
It would be bad stewardship isn’t it, if I stand before God and account for why my service to Him was cut short due to ill health, all because I ate one too many plates of Kuay Chap!
May we be thanking God when we are being sanctified because it reveals to us that we are His beloved sons and daughters.
In posterity and in attentiveness (Gen 29:31-30:23)
When Jacob was on the way to Haran, he met the Lord at Bethel.
In the dream, God reiterated the Abrahaman promise.
Gen 28:13 “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.
The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
So from Gen 29:31 to 30:23, we have the outworking of how God kept His promise to Jacob by giving him many offsprings.
· Posterity
This section is bracketed by the barrenness of Rachel and how it is the Lord who gives fertility.
Gen 29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren …. Gen 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
And I submit, Moses is intending to send the idea across to the Israelites, you are formed, by the sovereign hand of God. Everything happens only according to His will.
Now this truth is highlighted also in Jacob’s reply to Rachel when she blames Jacob of not being able to conceive.
Gen 30:1 She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
Jacob reply affirms that only God can cause the womb to be fruitful. God and God alone is the Giver and Sustainer of life
So if we look at the list of children, we have the following chronology:
Leah – Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah
Rachel (Bilhah) – Dan, Naphtali
Leah (Zilpah) – Gad, Asher
Leah – Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah
Rachel – Joseph
In the naming of the children, we see that their names all reflect the concrete family conditions that surrounded their birth. Examples:
Reuben – because the Lord has looked upon my affliction.
Joseph – asking the Lord to add to her child-bearing numbers.
Also I’m sure you would have noticed especially with Leah, that she acknowledges that it is the Lord who has been instrumental. For she mentions the personal name of God – Yahweh.
Gen 29:32 And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.”
We see it translated in English as LORD. LORD is all in capitals but the ‘ORD’ is in smaller font size.
As God works out His promise to Jacob in giving him offspring, God does it in the midst of sinful humanity.
Firstly we see jealously. There is rivalry between Leah and Rachel. They even get their female servants involved.
Remember how that happened during Abraham’s time with Sarah and we know that it did not turn out well, there was much friction.
Poor Jacob, they were both throwing themselves and their servants at him for family planning reasons.
Secondly, we see that limited and self-serving human wisdom was involved as well. Leah and Rachel both thought that the mandrakes were good for fertility.
Since Gen 30:9 tells us that Leah has ceased bearing children, Reuben’s discovery of the mandrakes might be his way of helping his mother to be fertile again.
Gen 30: 9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children ….14 Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
And Rachel felt that way about the mandrakes as well and thus she bartered it for Leah to spend the night with Jacob.
Ironic right that Rachel has the mandrakes which she thought would make her fertile, but instead it is Leah who conceives even when she had already ceased bearing children.
This can only be the sovereign hand of God at work.
I wonder how the Israelites would have received Moses’ account of Genesis 29 and 30.
This is about the birth of the nation, this is how the 12 tribes were being formed by the Patriarch Jacob.
Yet, hearing the rivalry of Leah and Rachel, the birth of the nation of Israel did not have an impressive start.
Instead, it happened through a polygamous relationship between Jacob and his two wives and their maidservants.
That would hardly be of good reputation in any society. (pause)
May I add, we see here also the ongoing journey of sanctification for Jacob.
He could scheme to get the blessing, he could work hard for Rachel but after 11 children, he still didn’t have any offspring with Rachel.
And I submit it is significant that no where did Moses mentioned that Jacob prayed for Rachel like what Isaac did for Rebekah.
Gen 25:21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren.
I submit, God is seeking for Jacob to depend on Him and not on his limited human wisdom.
What a gracious and sovereign God we have. God blessed Jacob because of His own promise and God did it in spite of the sinful condition that Jacob and his family were in.
Today, we may not be striving for acceptance through child-bearing.
But many of us strive for acceptance through success and recognition in the various aspects of our lives.
If we are honest with ourselves, we know we usually count only on our human wisdom.
May we heed instead the wisdom from Proverbs -
Prov 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
May our hearts learn to yield to God’s perspective on things. And at the same time, trust in His leading. Let us pray that we will seek to be all that He has purposed.
· Attentiveness
Besides posterity, we see that the sovereign hand of God is also very attentive.
Gen 29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was hated … Gen 30:17 And God listened to Leah … Gen 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her
Scripture says, God saw and God listened to Leah. God also remembered and listened to Rachel.
Though they were jealous, though there was rivalry, yet God graciously was attentive to their plight and their cries.
God sees that Leah is unloved. God listened to the pleads of barren Rachel.
Today, God is every attentive to us as well. He knows what we are going through.
He remembers us and He listens as we pour out our grief and our sorrows.
If you are in a very challenging situation, remember Leah and Rachel. They cried out to God and He was attentive to them.
Today, you and I can also cry out to God confidently for the Psalmist says - Ps 34:15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
In provision and in timing (Gen 30:25-43)
God’s promise to Abraham was not just land and offspring but also wealth.
As we put Genesis 24 and 30 side by side we see the same gracious provision from the Lord.
Gen 24:35 The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys.
Gen 30:43 Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
Now we notice that Jacob became wealthy in spite of Laban and not the because of Laban.
When they made the agreement that the striped, speckled and spotted goats and sheep was to be Jacob’s, Laban put them under the charge of his sons and set a 3 day distance between him and Jacob.
In chapter 31, Jacob tells us that Laban had cheated him of his rightful wages and changed it ten times.
We get the picture - Jacob had the short end of the stick. He was placed in a position whereby his wealth is not naturally to increase.
Yet, Laban recognize in 30:27 that God has blessed Laban materially because of Jacob.
Even though Jacob also used human wisdom to get the striped, speckled and spotted animals, they did not reproduce because of that.
It was not because he took the fresh sticks of poplar, almond and plane trees and peeled white streaks in them and placed them in the watering hole that more spotted animals were produced.
No, Scripture makes it clear it is because God was the one who enable that to happen.
Gen 31:8 If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. 9 Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
I submit this is the same as the mandrakes. Human wisdom says it brings fertility but Scripture tells us differently. So, it is with what Jacob did with the rearing of the flock as well.
God’s sovereign hand was at work in providing Jacob with wealth. God did it in the most impossible of situations.
Laban actively opposed and the type of flock destinated for Jacob was supposed to be of the rare kind.
Yet, God enabled Jacob to become so wealthy that he acquired male and female servants and also camels and donkeys.
He must have more than sufficient sheep and goats so that he could sell them to earn money to hire servants and buy the camels and donkeys.
3 weeks ago, our missions partner Somsart had a motorcycle accident. The costs of his operation was around S$6000. That is the equivalent of ten months of a university graduates pay there.
Unlike many of us, hospitalization insurance, Medisave are not something that is readily available.
We thank God that amongst a few members, the money was raised for him.
Church, this is one way God is looking after Somsart and his family and providing for their needs.
This weekend, Ps Luwin is there ministering with him. He still can’t drive, but he is able to interpret.
Church, one key way that God in his sovereignty provides for His children is through the faith community.
He enables many of us to earn more than we need so that when we pull our resources together, we can meet the needs of those within Hermon and our partners overseas.
· Timing
In God’s sovereign hand is also His timing.
I’m not sure about you, but I’m not sure if I would have the patience of Jacob.
According to Genesis 31:41, Jacob worked 20 years for Laban.
Gen 31:41 These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
14 for Leah and Rachel and then another 6 for the flock.
Remember Laban was God’s instrument of sanctification for Jacob. And I think it continues here as well.
Remember the prophesy that the older (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob)?
Well now Jacob is learning servanthood for 20 years to Laban.
Do we trust God’s timing for His plans for us?
Would we trust God’s timing if we like Jacob were cheated ten times on our wages?
If God says our period of sanctification is 20 years, would we rebel, would we bargain?
In the first place, do we even acknowledge that everything we have – our health, our talents, our experiences, our opportunities – they all come from the gracious sovereign hand of God?
I’m not sure what you are waiting for right now. It may be for a life partner, for healing, for a career move, for closure of some kind.
May God’s word encourage you to keep trusting in God for your situation.
Ask God to help you appreciate the truth about His sovereignty.
Ask God to help you to appreciate the truth that He is ever attentive to our cries.
Ask God to help you to appropriate the experience of learning to rest in His timing.
Church, each of us are intricately known by our Sovereign Creator. The Psalmist says:
Ps 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Our time belongs to God. He holds it in His wonderful hand. Let’s thus trust Him for all our tomorrows.
Conclusion
We thank God for the freedom of religion in Singapore. And that we have be His salt and light in Singapore.
At the upcoming National Day Thanksgiving service, the sermon will be on Christ, Culture and Country.
I’m sure it will provide us deeper insights into the sovereignty of God in the lives of believers in Singapore.
The service is open to all believers.
Let me end with a testimony of a Singaporean athlete, who seeks to reflect God’s sovereignty in her life.
From the internet, I found that there are 500 professional ranked singles women badminton players internationally. About 339 Million people play this sport in the world.
On that list of 500 as of 6 Aug 2024, one Singaporean is at number 19. She is Yeo Jia Min.
At the ongoing Paris Olympics, she became the first Singaporean badminton player to advance to the knockout stages at the Olympic Games since 2012.
She played her heart out but lost in the round of 16. The fact that she is in the top 20 in the world is already a tremendous feat.
From the article that Salt&Light wrote about her, may I quote a few details:
Jia Min is open about her identity as a Christian on her Instagram profile, in which she declares “Jesus is King”.
As a member of Athletes in Action SG, which brings Christian ministry into the world of sports, she regularly mentions God in her social media posts.
As an encouragement to all parents here, Jia Min shares that her relationship with God was a result of her own mother’s faith.
When she was young, her mum would go into her room at night and share about Jesus. Subsequently Jia Min developed a personal relationship with Him when she started going to church at 15.
According to Jia Min, “From my struggles in losses, injuries, missed expectations, or difficulties in training, my mum taught me how to lean on God, trust Him and start having a relationship with Him. I started to learn more about Him and how to live life with Him every day, not just on Sundays,” she said.
She further shares,
“I believe that our talent is God’s gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to God.”
And may I add, that is a significant way God grants us wealth today. He gives us talents and opportunities.
“I truly believe that our worth is not in our achievements and medals, but we are worth much more as a child of God. It gives us freedom to enjoy the process and to enjoy what we do because we do it for God,”
“But sports isn’t my everything or my identity. Knowing that God is in control of everything helps me embrace difficult or unexpected events.”
Jia Min is an Olympian. For each of us, our paths are different. Yet, we all have the same identity as Jia Min. We are a child of God.
As fellow heirs of the promises of God, may the testimony of Jia Min encourage us regarding our identity in Christ.
Acknowledging that the sovereign hand of God is at work in us.
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