THE IF, THEN GAME

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "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 house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."

Genesis 28:20-22

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Yesterday, we examined the passage in Genesis 28 where Jacob dreamed about angels ascending and descending from Heaven to earth on a stairway with God blessing him and his descendants from above.

As Jacob woke up, we read about his thoughts of wonder and praise as he proclaimed:

“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of Heaven."

You may remember that I defined his encounter as a God experience and proposed that we have these all the time but too often take them for granted or miss them altogether, losing the chance to enter into a spirit of rejoicing like Jacob did.

Truly, God is everywhere and anywhere we might be and this is reason for us to celebrate.

Now, you would think that an experience like Jacob had would fortify your faith and strengthen your trust in God. Through his own testimony, it would seem that Jacob clearly understood that God was with him but as we see in our passage today, we are forced to question just how much Jacob really knew about the God who was with him, and unfortunately, I’m afraid that we’re too often just like him. For a person can know of God but that doesn’t mean they really know who He is. Let’s look again at our verses for today here:

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "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 house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." Genesis 28:20-22

Through this account, let’s look at some of the pitfalls in his spiritual attitude.

First off, Jacob negotiates with God using the classic “If, then" perspective.

We find Jacob saying:

"The Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."

This is the “If” part of the “If, then” perspective. We find Jacob proposing to commit himself to God but first, he expects God to do something for him. In other words, Jacob places conditions on his relationship with the Lord. He says that said he would honor God, give him a tenth of what He gives, and dedicate the location he was in as God’s house, if God would only do the following:

1. Be with him.

2. Watch over him on his journey.

3. Give him food to eat.

4. Give him clothes to wear.

and

5. Grant him safe journey back to his father’s house.

The troubling problem we find in Jacob’s edict is that he is implying that God wouldn’t be his God unless He first provided Jacob everything he asked for. Essentially, Jacob is asking the Lord, “If you don’t give me anything, why should I give You anything?”

All this left me wondering what God must have thought about Jacob in all this. I mean, who was Jacob to demand anything from God, especially in regard to doing something for Him in return.

The truth is that God is God. Period.

He is the Maker and Master of all creation and the created things within it. All things are subordinate to Him and that means that no mere, sinful human being has a right to dictate any terms to Him.

And yet, here we find Jacob feeling like he can do it and it leaves me wondering how many times we do the same thing before a God that we are to do nothing but submit to.

How often does someone make their faith in God conditional?

Like, “I will trust God if He gives me what I want or need.”

Or, "If God gives me His all, then I will give Him my all in return."

Friends, this mindset displays a shallow understanding of God and a weak faith that eventually can result in someone feeling God doesn’t exist and/or that God doesn’t love and care about them because He fails to give them what they want.

The reality is that it just doesn’t work that way. We don’t impose our will on God. Rather, He calls us to carry out His will in obedience without any negotiation and we are to comply.

He is God and in charge. We are His servants. Period.

So how are we to respond to this passage and our message today?

One thing is certain. We need to stop the “if, then” game and do it now.

To do so, we need pray and ask God to reveal His will for our lives.

Remember how Jesus taught us to pray?

“This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.'” Matthew 6:9-10

Did you catch the “Your will be done” part?

Moving forward in the life of our Savior, you may remember how He practiced what He preached. For while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, we find Jesus saying this as He anguished over the great suffering He would go through on Calvary’s cross:

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.” Matthew 26:42

Through the words of the Son, we learn how to properly come before the Father, the right way to approach the throne of His grace and mercy in order to come before the Everlasting, Almighty, Infinite God of Heaven. No “If, then” games. Just total surrender to His way and what He desires.

As we continue to grow as Christians, let us ever more mold our behavior to that of Jesus for that will always lead us to a place where we are about our Father’s business unconditionally out of complete respect and reverence for Him and His authority.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.