"A Lesson from Jacob” Hosea 12:2-14 Pastor Daniel Reese

If you're keeping up with your reading, and you're reading along with us as we go through the book of Hosea,

you'll notice that it seems to be that God is speaking to three different groups of people.

At times he references Ephraim, at times Judah, at times Israel.

This is because that during this time in Israel's history, they'd been split into two kingdoms.

The northern kingdom was known as Israel, or in this text it's sometimes referenced as Ephraim,

and the southern kingdom was known as Judah.

Now Ephraim was the strongest and the largest of the tribes in the northern kingdom.

In a lot of ways what happened in Ephraim filtered out into the rest of the ten tribes that made up the northern kingdom.

It's like I tell my kids often, you are older, right? You are stronger.

You have influence. Your younger brothers are looking up to you. They're following your example.

This is the essence of what is happening in this text.

Ephraim exuded their influence, and many times the other smaller tribes would follow their example,

or succumb to that influence. This is why we see God calling out Ephraim so often.

It's the same reason that God held accountable Adam for the actions of Eve.

It's why we can make assumptions about parents by watching their kids, right?

This is why leadership is so important.

When I was growing up, my favorite basketball player was Charles Barkley.

I liked how he played in the paint. I liked how you never had to wonder what he was thinking.

I liked how he always stood up for himself.

Every game I watched, he seemed to always be in foul trouble.

He threw elbows. He always had the most rebounds on his team,

and he seemed pretty good at talking trash, which at the time was important to me.

He did an interview and eventually a commercial where he stated that he was not a role model.

He said he was played to play basketball, not to raise kids.

It was a controversial statement at the time.

The reality, though, is that he was a role model. I mimicked how I played basketball after him.

I didn't let people push me around. No one was getting a rebound over me, even if it cost me a foul.

So therefore, I spent a lot of time on the bench because I was always in foul trouble.

I learned to make sure that no one was ever wondering what I was thinking on the court.

If a ref made a bad call, I let them know it.

If a player on the other team was playing dirty, I played dirty.

He might not have wanted to be a role model, but he was.

Ephraim might not want to be called out by God, but because of their position, they were.

That's why there's an old saying, it starts at the top, right?

If you are in a position of authority and power, you have a responsibility whether you like it or not.

So many times throughout the book, Ephraim is being held accountable for the actions of the northern kingdom.

But this particular chapter, chapter 12, God also mentions Jacob.

Now, we get the 12 tribes from Jacob. They are his children.

Jacob is the one who unites the northern and southern kingdom, who unites Israel and Judah.

So this morning, we're going to look at the story a little bit of Jacob and see what God is trying to communicate to the Israelites during this time.

But also, what is God trying to communicate to us as we read this text?

In verse 3, it says, God said, in the womb, he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood, he strove with God.

So the name Jacob means heel grabber. It comes with the idea of one who grabs the heel of another in order to get ahead.

It's this idea of using deception to get ahead of the person in front of you.

We saw that throughout Jacob's life.

He stole the birthright from his brother Esau by using deception. He wanted to get ahead.

We learned from Jacob that Jacob wanted God's best, but he didn't want to do it God's way.

He thought that deception would help him get ahead.

Now, at times, we want God's best, right? But we don't always want to do it God's way, do we?

We try to manufacture what others are doing.

We begin to view success as the world defines it, so we start doing what the world does.

This is why at times, at this time in the text, there are two kingdoms.

It's why it says in verse 1, Ephraim frees on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long.

The reality is though, you can never catch the wind.

It's meaningless to try to pursue it, but we try anyway, don't we?

We try anyway. They wanted power. They wanted wealth. They wanted fulfillment.

But it was going to be on their terms. They so quickly forgot what God had done for them to get them to this point.

A few generations before this, all they had to do was to go on a walk around a city and scream loud enough,

and cities would fall down before them.

Before all this, all they would have to do is step into the water and the sea would split,

and they would walk on dry ground. Now look at where they are.

Bad leadership, after bad leadership, failing to acknowledge that God was in their midst,

forgetting how they got to be a nation in the first place, and here they are on the brink of being back into exile.

They're trying to keep the peace with neighboring kingdoms by worshiping false idols.

They're continuing to fail, failing to acknowledge all that God has done for them.

And so God is reminding the people of Jacob, a story they were very, very, very familiar with.

Some of the most generous people out there are the ones who don't have very much.

When you are in need, when you have a need and you're constantly in need,

you are more in tune with the needs of those around you.

When you are constantly relying on God to provide for everything that you need,

you see Him more often, and you notice the needs in others as well.

When you look at all that you have, when you look at all that you've obtained,

we are less likely to release it, because that cost me that amount of money,

because I had to put that much work into it.

This is what happened to Israel, and that is the point of this book.

They forgot their need, and we're looking at all they had accomplished.

They're looking at all their own power, and they were failing to recognize what God had done.

So let's go back to Jacob.

Once he steals the birthright from Esau by using deception, he leaves his land and he goes and finds a wife.

He got the best, right? He got the birthright, just not in the way that was customary for the time.

He had to use deception to get what he wanted.

He failed to trust that God's best was better than anything that he could obtain.

He didn't recognize it, so things eventually will go badly for him.

On his journey, he stops at this place called Luz.

He gets tired from his journey, so he sets up a rock and uses it as a pillow,

which are now known as Tempurpedic, and he goes to sleep.

As he sleeps, the Lord appears to him in a dream, and he reminds Jacob of the promise that he had made to his father,

the promise that he had made to his grandfather.

So think about that. Think about that text right there.

Jacob doesn't do things God's way, but he does them in his own power, and the Lord is still faithful.

The Lord is still with him. He doesn't throw in the towel on Jacob.

He doesn't give up, but he reminds him that his presence will always be with him.

When Jacob awakes, he says in Genesis 28, 16, it says,

Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.

When we suppress God in our life, we're not aware of his presence.

Jacob had been so focused on himself, and what he wanted, that the fact that God was with him,

never even entered into his radar.

How many times have we been working, taking the kids to all their activities,

binging TV shows, scrolling through our phones, and the next thing you know,

it's been weeks before the Lord has even crossed our mind.

You haven't had any needs because you can meet those needs yourself.

You can work hard and often meet them.

You haven't spent time in the scriptures because you're too worn out from the day.

You can't slow down because your kids want to go to college.

You can't slow down because retirement is right around the corner,

and God becomes this piece of your life that you don't give much thought to,

except every once in a while.

We come to God when we have a need, but that's about it.

Jacob, at this point in his life, doesn't have a need.

He's been able to accomplish what he can with his own creativity,

with his own abilities, with his own deception.

How do you suppress God in your life?

How have you failed to acknowledge Him?

For me, it's usually in the day-to-day routine of life.

There have been seasons in my life where I have been so in tune with Him

that everything I saw and everything I heard reminded me of Him,

reminded me of His presence.

My journey here to Iowa for the year and a half before we got here

was one of those moments that I just knew God was leading us to leave Texas.

I saw Him in every single detail.

But the one that came to mind when I was preparing was a time several years ago.

Sina and I had just gotten back from a mission trip to Indonesia.

We were surrounded by idolatry, surrounded by people who were welcoming these evil spirits into their life,

welcoming these spirits into their homes.

They were worshiping all these gods just in case they upset one of them.

I don't know how else to describe it except to say that you could feel the spiritual warfare in that place.

When we got back, there was a crisis at our church.

And so I went over to the house of a lady who was a member of our church.

I pulled onto her street, and as soon as I pulled onto the street,

I immediately could feel the evil that I was about to deal with.

So I'm praying the whole time.

I'm driving down that road.

I'm praying the whole time, and I am begging God in my mind to protect me,

to give me the words to say.

And I could feel in that moment, I could feel His presence.

I was there about 30 minutes, and I could hear God say to me,

as loudly and as clearly as if I was wearing headphones,

and I was the only one who could hear it,

He told me to get home now and go pray over your home.

So I leave to head home.

As soon as I pull off their streets, I could feel the peace of the Lord.

I get home and I tell Sina, we have to pray now.

And so we go room by room praying for God to protect our home,

asking for Him to fill it with His presence.

We get into our boys' rooms and we begin praying over them.

As we were praying for River, who is dead asleep,

he sits up in bed and he lets out this nasty sounding cough,

the sound that I've never, ever heard before.

He then lays down and that was it.

You will never be able to convince me otherwise

that we didn't cause a demon to shudder and flee

when we prayed in the name of Jesus.

That might sound weird to some of you,

but that was a season in my life that I wasn't distracted by anything else.

My focus and attention were solely on Him,

but I can't say that about this week.

We need to be aware when we are suppressing the presence of God.

That was the rebuke against the people in Hosea.

They were living their lives.

They were working.

They were earning.

They were building.

And they were completely unaware of God's presence in their homes,

completely unaware of what God was doing around them.

So after Jacob has this dream,

he renames this place where he had it, Bethel.

And he anoints his temp-repeated pillow with oil.

Then he says in Genesis 28, verse 20,

Genesis 28:20

he says,

Did you hear what he said?

If God does this, then he will be my God.

Jacob is trusting God when it's convenient for him.

He isn't acting like Job in this moment, is he?

The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

He isn't acting like Habakkuk in this moment where he says,

Though the fig tree does not bud,

although there's no grapes on the vines,

when there's no cattle in the stalls,

I will be joyful and rejoice in God my Savior.

That's not the attitude of Jacob.

Here, Jacob has a relationship of convenience.

If God provides, if God lets me return to my land,

then he will be my God.

He still isn't aware, and he still isn't desperate enough.

Does that speak to you?

Does that speak to any of you in your situation?

Because it does to me.

I've prayed those prayers.

God, if you help me get through college,

God, if you help me find a spouse,

God, if you help me get this job,

if you get me out of this situation,

if you help me overcome this sin,

and I begin to treat God like a genie,

Jacob is about to get a taste of his own medicine in this text.

He makes it to Laban's house,

and he finds himself a wife, Rachel.

I mean, she has a great personality.

She's nice to look at.

He takes her on a long camel ride

to make sure that he can stand her

and make sure she can pass the test, right?

Laban agrees to give Rachel to Jacob,

but Jacob's going to have to work for seven years to earn her.

No problem, right? She's worth it.

I'll take seven years of work for her.

He puts in his time with Laban,

and then he gets a fast one pulled on him.

The deceiver has now been deceived.

He doesn't get Rachel,

but instead he gets Leah.

He has children.

He has to work another seven years,

and he finally gets Rachel.

Once Rachel has Joseph, Jacob asks Laban

to go back to his home country.

He says, go back to my land. Let me go back to my father's house.

He gathered his wealth, and he flees Laban to go back home.

As he gets closer to home, he begins to think about his past.

He begins to remember what he's coming home to,

and he begins to fear Esau.

Still not trusting.

Still not trusting the Lord.

He begins to think that maybe he can bribe Esau with some of his wealth.

Let's just throw some money at the problem.

So he sends goats.

Not enough. Not enough.

He sends cows. Not enough.

Donkeys. Not enough. Bulls. All these things.

Once he sends everything that he has, what does he do next?

He sends his family.

Maybe my wife and children will be enough.

I'll just stay back here and see how that goes.

Right? This is what Jacob is doing.

Jacob then has an encounter with a messenger of God,

and in Genesis 32, he enters the octagon,

and he begins to wrestle, and the fight lasts all night long.

Jacob has nothing left to offer.

So in desperation, he fights with everything he has in him.

And in verse 26 of chapter 32, after he gets his leg messed up,

he says, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

In that moment, Jacob comes to a place of submission.

In that moment.

Sometimes it takes moments like this for us to become spiritually

and physically exhausted before we are desperate enough for God.

Jacob has no one left to deceive.

He's done everything that he can.

If he is going to find favor with his brother Esau who wants to kill him,

it's going to be an act of the Lord.

He has nothing left to do.

He has nothing left but to cling onto a leg

and not let go until he gets God's best.

Or any of us that desperate for God.

Where we finally throw our hands up in submission

because we don't know what else to do except to cling to the leg

of our Father who can help us in our situation.

The Israelites and Hosea weren't there yet.

They were still chasing the wind.

They were still dealing in bad business practices.

God is trying to get their attention by sending the prophets,

but they aren't desperate enough yet.

They aren't ready to submit yet.

They still think that they can overcome their situation by sheer grit and determination.

Does that sound familiar to any of us?

How long have you wrestled with the same sin for years unable to overcome it?

A good friend of mine back in La Mesa struggled for years with smoking.

He didn't like that he had an addiction.

I'm not calling smoking a sin.

I'm calling the addiction a sin.

But for over 40 years he smoked a pack of cigarettes every single day.

It was affecting his life.

He wouldn't travel long distances because he couldn't go that long without a smoke.

My daughter when she was younger would shame him for it.

We had to talk about it. It's fine.

People wouldn't let him ride in their car.

I always reminded him, think about how much money you would save

if you weren't buying packs of cigarettes every single day.

None of that mattered.

He wasn't desperate enough.

Then God got his attention.

And it was like overnight, every time he would smoke,

it'd send his blood pressure through the roof to the point where he had to be hospitalized.

Then he would quit for a few days and then he would begin to test the limits.

Smoke one here, smoke one there,

but every time he smoked, blood pressure through the roof, God would be hospitalized.

His wife would lecture him better than any lecture I've ever heard.

He finally came to the realization that he couldn't touch another cigarette

if he wanted to stay married and if he wanted to continue to live.

Sometimes we will wrestle with God over the sin in our lives

until he brings us to the point of submission,

until we get busted, until we are broken.

He's about to do that to Israel.

But not before all the warning signs come.

Even through all of their sin, God is still gracious and loving.

Even through all of their sin, He's still sending warnings.

So after he's broken and humbled, Jacob goes to meet Esau.

And it goes pretty well.

And we get to chapter 35 of Genesis, we see that Jacob returns to Bethel.

He returns to the place where God reminded him throughout all of Jacob's sin

that God would never leave him.

It says, starting in verse 1, in chapter 35 of Genesis,

God said to Jacob, arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there.

Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you where you fled from your brother Esau.

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him,

put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.

Then let us arise and go up to Bethel so that I may make there an altar to the God

who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.

Do you see the change of heart from the first time he was in that place?

It went from a, if God does this mentality to get rid of everything that isn't of God

and let's worship him because he has been with me every step of the way.

In good times and bad times, wherever I go, let's set aside everything that isn't of him

and let's go build an altar and worship.

He returned to Bethel, the place where he initially was unaware of God's presence in his life.

To now a place where he is always aware of God's presence in his life.

Where are you in the story of Jacob?

Are you at a place in your life where you want his best?

You just don't want to do it his way.

Are you even aware of his presence in your life?

Is your relationship with God a matter of convenience that makes you look good?

Because you're rubbing elbows with people in the church.

Or are you ready to return to Bethel because you are physically and spiritually broken?

Isaiah has some words that might help us in chapter 6, verse 6.

He says, so you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice

and wait continually for your God.

This is another good reminder that we can't do it on our own.

We cannot do it on our own. We can't even return on our own.

We need God's help to return. We need God's help to love.

We need God's help to wait.

Did you catch that?

Maybe this morning you need to finally ask God for some help.

Maybe in your mind's eye you need to cling to him and not let go until he blesses you.

This is a warning. He will get your attention eventually.

Maybe it will be in a hospital bed. Maybe it will be after an all night wrestling match.

Maybe it will be in the moment of desperation where you have nothing left to offer.

Or maybe you are in exile now and you are just ready to come home.

Now we know how this is going to end for the Israelites, right?

We know the story. They are going to be led into exile.

They are going to be conquered by the Assyrian army.

They are going to cry out for a deliverer once they are being oppressed by the Romans.

They will soon realize that their own abilities are not enough to protect them forever.

That does not have to be your story.

We can learn from them and take into consideration the words of Hosea and ask God to return.

We can ask God to help us hold fast to love.

To hold fast to justice.

We can ask God to give us the patience to wait on Him and He will be faithful.

So where are you in the story of Hosea?

Are you ready to return?

Are you desperate enough to hold on to His leg and ask Him to bless you?

Or are you still trying to do it your own way?

See, not just saying a song, right?

Like, are you even aware of His presence?

He is not going to fail you.

He won't.

But are you trusting in that?

Are you trusting, nope, I can get myself out of this desperate situation.

I can work hard enough and get that thing paid off.

I can use whatever clever deception I have to get me through this.

Or you finally just willing to throw up your hands and submit to Him and say,

I am not letting you go until I get your best.

So wherever you are on that journey, wherever you are in the story,

my plea to you from Hosea is to return.

Return to His presence.

Be aware of who He is around you.

So I am going to pray for us and we will have time to respond and sing a song.

If you want to just sing a song and go about your day and call it good,

that is your prerogative. But maybe this moment,

you take time to just respond to what He is saying to you.

If you are in exile right now and so many of us are,

so many of us may be walking through the wilderness.

This is your call to return home.

This is your call for a new start.

Don't be like the Israelites calling out for a deliverer,

and then completely miss Him.

This is the time. Let's return to Bethel. Let's pray.

Father God, I pray that you speak to our hearts.

I pray God for those in this room that are just suppressing you

and are completely unaware that you were there, that you were in their midst.

God, I pray that your voice will be heard loudly.

I pray that you will speak.

God, I pray for those of us that just kind of treat you like the side piece of our lives.

And we give attention to you on Sunday, but no other time.

I pray God that you will bring us to submission.

Bring us to the point where we can understand that we can't do anything without you.

And I pray God that you will just speak to our hearts.

I pray that you will welcome us back as we return to Bethel.

Father, I pray that you speak.