Daily Scripture Reading Genesis 28:16 - 29:12

It is easy for Christian parents who serve Jesus and raise their children in church to assume that their children will also serve Jesus as Lord. Likewise, we often read the stories about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and assume that Yahweh was always their God. However, each of them had to choose whether or not Yahweh would be their God. The Bible is particularly clear about the moment in time when Jacob made a conscious choice about who he would choose as his God. This reminds us that each person today who grows up going to church has to choose whether or not to make Jesus the Lord of their life.

Isaac and Rebekah did not want Jacob to marry a Canaanite, so Isaac sent Jacob to Rebekah’s family to find a wife. One night, as Jacob was traveling from Beersheba to Haran, he had a dream. There was a ladder going from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on the ladder. Yahweh stood at the top of the ladder and promised to give Jacob the land and many descendants.

Gen. 28:16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Gen. 28:17 And he was afraid and said, “How fearsome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Look at the words “afraid” and “fearsome”. The knowledge that he was at the house of God made him afraid.

There are people today who claim they saw visions of heaven or had a near death experience in which they experienced a taste of heaven. It is proper, good, and healthy to question if they are telling the truth. Their accounts of supposedly seeing heaven often do not involve any feelings of fear. However, since Jacob and many other Bible characters were afraid after seeing heaven, we should be a little suspicious of modern accounts of seeing heaven that do not involve fear.

Gen. 28:18 ¶ So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.

Gen. 28:19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz.

The Hebrew word “Beth” means house, and the Hebrew word “El” means God. “Bethel means “House of God”.

Gen. 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey on which I am going, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear,

Gen. 28:21 and I return to my father’s house in peace, then Yahweh will be my God.

Notice the word “vow” in verse 20. Then look at the word “if” in verse 20 and the word “then” in verse 21. Jacob did not merely promise to make Yahweh his God if God met certain conditions, he vowed to make Yahweh his God if God met certain conditions.

When Jacob brought the meal to his father Isaac so that Isaac could bless him, Jacob referred to Yahweh as Isaac’s God. He did not refer to Yahweh as his own God. In this vow he revealed he was willing to adopt Yahweh as his own God.

It is easy for Christian parents to assume that since their children grow up going to church, then Jesus will be their Lord. However, just as Jacob at some point had to choose to make Yahweh his God, so too, at some point, each person who grows up in a Christian family going to church has to make the decision that Jesus will be their Lord. Christian parents need to encourage this, but also give their children space to legitimately choose Jesus as their Lord.

Gen. 28:22 Now this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Gen. 29:1 ¶ Then Jacob took up his journey and came to the land of the sons of the east.

Gen. 29:2 And he looked, and behold, a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they gave water to the flocks to drink. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large.

Gen. 29:3 And all the flocks would be gathered there, and they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and give water to the sheep to drink and return the stone back to its place on the mouth of the well.

Gen. 29:4 ¶ And Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.”

Gen. 29:5 Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”

Gen. 29:6 And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “It is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.”

Gen. 29:7 And he said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Give water to the sheep to drink, and go, pasture them.”

I assume Jacob wanted the other shepherds to leave before Rachel arrived.

Gen. 29:8 But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we give water to the sheep to drink.”

Gen. 29:9 ¶ While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

Gen. 29:10 Now it happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and gave water to the flock of Laban his mother’s brother to drink.

Gen. 29:11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted his voice and wept.

Gen. 29:12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.

Jacob and Rachel were cousins. Laban was Jacob’s uncle.

It is easy for Christian parents to assume that since their children grow up going to church, then Jesus will be their Lord. However, just as Jacob at some point had to choose to make Yahweh his God, so too, at some point, each person who grows up in a Christian family going to church has to make the decision that Jesus will be their Lord. Christian parents need to encourage this, but also give their children space to legitimately choose Jesus as their Lord.

What can and should Christian parents do to encourage their children to choose Jesus as their Lord, and also give their children space and freedom to make that choice on their own?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”