Genesis-102 – Seven Years Like a Few Days, Part 2

Genesis 29:14–20

"Laban said to him, 'You are my own flesh and blood.' After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, 'Just because you are my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.' Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, 'I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.' Laban said, 'It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.' So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her." Amen.

 

A Life Built as God’s Temple

We have emphasized many times how important the Bethel incident was for Jacob’s life. What God promised Jacob then was important, but his response to that promise was also very important. Based on that response, God began to use Jacob’s life as His temple, guiding his entire life to be dedicated to God.

 

This shows us what a believer's life should be like. It does not end with simply believing in Jesus, going to church diligently, and then going to heaven. God has a purpose for our salvation, and that purpose becomes the purpose of our lives. This is the process of being built up as a holy temple of God and as His children.

 

Confronting Yourself

To build us up, God first makes us look at ourselves. Confronting oneself may seem easy, but it is actually one of the hardest things in life. Many people live their lives without ever truly facing who they are.

 

We often live by being called 'so-and-so's son,' 'so-and-so's daughter,' or 'a person with a certain profession.' We have various roles and statuses like CEO, student, professor, or doctor, but none of these describe our true essence. When you were a child, who would have called you a doctor or a CEO? Those are not your real names.

 

Facing our true selves is perhaps impossible without God's grace. We constantly live by looking only at our outward appearance, and only one day, in the presence of the holy Lord or in the deepest despair of life, do we finally realize that we are powerless beings who can do nothing. It is in that very place that we meet the Lord and finally see our broken selves.

 

Jacob, the Deceived

God trained Jacob. He made the man who used to cunningly deceive others and prosper into a "deceived person." This was not God's retribution but to make him realize that the very sword he wielded was actually a sword piercing himself, and that was his true self. This process of God building Jacob into a temple does not stop here but continues forward.

 

Laban’s Intentions

Do you remember the first time Jacob met Laban? The Bible records that Jacob told Laban his whole story. Jacob must have explained why he had arrived there with nothing. He would have shared his father Isaac's words, "Take a wife from among the daughters of your uncle Laban."

 

But there is something strange. In the Near East at that time, it was customary for the groom to prepare something to get his bride. While the bride also needed a dowry, the man was expected to bring gifts for his future wife. But Jacob came empty-handed.

 

This is where we learn what kind of person Laban was. When Rebekah was brought home in the past, Laban saw Eliezer, her family's servant, and welcomed him with great enthusiasm, saying, "Come, you who are blessed by the LORD." Why? The Bible records that he ran out after seeing the nose ring and bracelets on his sister. It must have been the same this time when he ran out after hearing from Rachel that Jacob had arrived. He would have had great expectations that a potential son-in-law had come, but he must have been greatly disappointed when he saw that Jacob was empty-handed.

 

However, Laban's menacing nature is revealed in his next action. He says, "You are my own flesh and blood." This means "my bone and my flesh," a term expressing intimacy, just as Adam said to Eve. Jacob must have been overjoyed to hear this, thinking his hardships in the wilderness were finally being rewarded.

 

But after about a month, Laban shows his true colors. He says, "Just because you are my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be." On the surface, this may seem like a reasonable offer, but there was a hidden sword in these words. It meant he would treat Jacob as a "hired hand," not a nephew. No parent gives wages to their son. Laban had begun to treat Jacob as a servant, not as family.

 

The Lesson of Humility and Self-Abasement

After that incident, Jacob worked as a servant for a long 20 years. The first lesson he received upon entering God's school was humility and self-abasement. The rightful son of a prominent family was now being treated as a servant in his relative's house.

 

In the past, Jacob had received a revelation that "the older will serve the younger." Now, he himself became the one who served. In a way, this was fulfilling the Lord's words. In the New Testament, Jesus also said, "whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant." The first lesson God gave Jacob was one of humility and service. It was a necessary process for him to be built up as a temple of God.

 

Reformed Faith and Self-Abasement

It has now been more than 500 years since the Protestant Reformation. Although the beginning of the Reformation is usually celebrated on the day Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door, the movement had been ongoing even before then. The name "Reformed Faith" originated from those who protested against the Pope-centered Roman Catholic Church and cried out that they could not agree with anything that was contrary to God's word.

 

The Reformed Faith contains amazing core beliefs such as the sovereignty of God, grace alone, and faith alone. However, there is something that is an important part of the Reformed Faith that we often forget: humility that is like Christ's. Many people who pursue a righteous faith often forget the meaning of this self-abasement.

 

The Trap of Pride

I, along with all the saints, want to have a righteous faith that is pleasing to God. The biggest obstacle to a righteous faith is when our longing for God and our love for His word wanes. This is a red flag, a warning sign for our faith.

 

But at the same time, even when we try to walk the path of righteous faith, we often fall into temptation and a trap. It is because we can easily become prideful. Satan does not just prevent us from reading the Bible; instead, he encourages us to read spiritual books and pray to make us proud.

 

Satan does not only tempt us with things that are wrong but uses many good things to tempt us. If we fall into the trap of pride, all the good things we have could lead our faith down a darker and more dangerous path.

 

Paul’s Confession

We can learn this truth from Paul, the great predecessor of the faith. Paul was a person who had reason to boast. He lived such a thorough life that he could say he was "a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee," and "as for righteousness based on the law, faultless."

 

However, after he understood the gospel and entered God's school, his attitude changed completely when God began to treat him as a temple. He described himself as "the very least of all saints."

 

What we should pay attention to here is the phrase "of all saints." This includes not only people who are better than him but also all people who seem weak in faith, lack knowledge, and appear foolish. Paul confessed that he was the least among all of these people.

 

When we have this mindset and attitude, we can overcome the terrifying temptation of pride. This is not about forcing ourselves to be humble but is a natural confession that comes when we realize what great sinners we are and how powerless we are before God. When we fully know our true selves, we have no choice but to make a confession like Paul's.

 

Exalting Others

In your life of faith, when your heart starts to swell with pride, you might think, "I am doing so well before God." This feeling will inevitably show up in how you treat others. When you try to be superior to others, or when you find yourself wanting to boast, or when you stand in God's place to judge others, please remember this verse.

 

If you find it difficult to humble yourself, try this: Always exalt others. Acknowledge that they are better than you and respect their words. Even if you have to give them advice or point out a mistake, regard them as a better person than you and lift them up. As you lift up the other person in this way, you will naturally find yourself humbling yourself. This is very important, so we must always remember it.

 

The Lord’s Humility

The Lord did not wash the feet of the great Peter. The Lord did not kneel before Peter, the one who would solve sin, preach the gospel with the greatest power, and eventually be crucified upside down. Instead, He knelt before Peter, the one who would deny and curse Jesus three times soon after, and washed his feet. That is the Lord's humility.

 

Therefore, if we want to grow in our faith and be built up as a temple of God, we must stand in the place of service and humility that Jacob first learned. This is not an exception for a pastor. I, too, have to confess and repent of the same thing. As pastors preach, they often mistakenly believe that they are just like the sermon they are preaching. But God's word is a word that we all receive equally.

 

Sometimes, when I preach and the congregation doesn't change in the way I want them to, I think, "No matter how much I say it, they just don't understand." How prideful is this? It is when I evaluate people based on my own thoughts and judgments, forgetting about God's work and the love and compassion the Holy Spirit bestows upon your lives.

 

Jacob’s Hardships and Toil

The first lesson Jacob received was not a lecture he simply heard in a classroom or a lecture he just nodded along to. He learned this lesson through his life, and it was very difficult. Jacob's confession to Laban is found in Genesis 31:38 and on:

 

"I have been with you for twenty years now. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flock. I did not bring you the animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night."

 

Through this confession, we can see how diligently Jacob worked for 20 years. He did not lose any of the flock he was tending, and he did not carelessly eat the sheep. He even compensated for the sheep torn by wild animals or stolen by thieves with his own possessions, working faithfully.

 

What Was Learned Through Hardship

However, the final words that show how much Jacob struggled are in verse 40: "This is how it was with me: By day the heat consumed me, and by night the frost; and sleep fled from my eyes." Jacob says this life was not just for a year or two but for 20 years. And he calls this hardship. Jacob said this himself, and he says that God saw that hardship.

 

Think about it. Jacob was a person who worked at home. His hands would have been soft without any calluses, and his face would have been delicate. But now, he had to go outside to tend to someone else's sheep. The life he had lived under his mother's care turned into a life where calluses formed on his hands, and he had to fight wild beasts and ward off thieves. He would no longer have had a delicate face or pale skin.

 

Jacob had now become a dark, tanned man of the fields. If you imagine Jacob's life as described in the Bible, he must have been tending to the livestock in the fields every day without much time to come home. When he did come home to rest sometimes, Esau was probably the first thing that came to his mind.

 

Back when he was inside the house, he might have looked down on Esau, who was always outside hunting and was hairy and dark-skinned. He might have thought, 'How could someone like that be the firstborn?' But now that he was living the same life as Esau, what a profound message that must have been for him. He must have thought every day, 'Who am I? What kind of person am I? Why am I living like this now?'

 

As I mentioned last week, Laban changed Jacob’s wages ten times. This means he did not keep his promise to pay Jacob what he had promised. At first, it might have been okay when he was alone. But in a situation where he had to provide for two wives, their servants, and twelve children, Laban continued to break his promises.

 

If your company promised to raise your salary and broke that promise ten times, who would stay? But Jacob had no other place to go. This is Jacob's story. Jacob calls this entire process a hardship and says, "God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands."

 

Jacob learned service and humility through that hardship. This was not a lesson he simply learned from listening to a single sermon. You have now entered the school of hardship, and there, you will learn to serve and undergo the process of becoming a temple.

 

Many people testify about how God used hardship to make them grow. You probably think, 'Would I have my faith today if it weren't for this hardship?' As the psalmist also said, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees." We are well aware of this fact.

 

Jacob’s Obedience

What truly amazes me about this story of service is that Jacob never once used his cunning despite all the hardships he faced. Jacob was the king of cunning. The story of Laban and Jacob could have easily turned into a drama of mutual deception.

 

However, the Bible says that Jacob carried out all this work with all his might. He told his two wives, Leah and Rachel, "You know that I have served your father with all my strength." He truly served Laban with all his might.

 

God’s Presence

Jacob could have used his cunning to get a lot of wealth. He could have thought differently and tricked Laban to run away sooner, but he stayed for the full 20 years.

 

We can see where this attitude came from in the verses just before. In Genesis 31:5–6, Jacob tells his wives, "I can see by your father's face that he is not favorable toward me as in the past. But the God of my father has been with me."

 

The reason Jacob could serve Laban with all his might was because God was with him. Later, Jacob confesses, "The God of my father Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this very day—the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys."

 

Jacob was clearly a servant who suffered hardship and toil, being at a disadvantage with Laban. But in that place, he found the strength to serve with all his might. The Bible records the 14 years that Jacob worked to get Rachel—first for seven years and then another seven—as if they were a few days. The Bible gives little explanation about what happened during those long 14 years. In comparison, the story of Jacob spending a single night at the Jabbok River is recorded in a whole chapter.

 

Looking at this brief record, we might think that God was far away from Jacob and that nothing important happened in his life. But the Bible says that is not the case. Through all the things Jacob experienced during that 14-year period, he was able to confess, "God was with me." This was the most important essence of that time.

 

The Benefit of Hardship

It's easy for us to think that Jacob learned how to serve over a long period through hardship. But this may be a story we already know. The saying, "Buy hardship when you're young," is not from the Bible. The idea that a person changes and becomes a servant through hardship is not much different from the idea that struggling when you're young is good for you. Is that all the Bible is talking about?

 

It is something that even people of the world experience—growing and maturing through hardship and difficulties. Even without God's guidance, people naturally become stronger through worldly suffering. The Bible is talking about something much more profound than that.

 

What Jacob truly realized was not that he had become a better person through hardship. He came to know that "God is with me, and that God is my God." This was his greatest joy and confession. "The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac were with me."

 

Jacob’s Ladder

Jacob’s ladder was placed in the very place where he was suffering hardship. In the very place where Jacob was deceived, where he shed tears and was in pain, where he and his family complained about his wages being changed ten times, where he worked faithfully but received nothing in return—in that very place, God's ladder was placed.

 

In that very place filled with all kinds of lies, pretense, arrogance, and despair, God placed His ladder before him. That is why the Bible says Jacob was strengthened. This means he was obedient. Because he knew the God who had placed him there and was obedient to that God.

 

He was no longer Laban's servant but had begun to live as God's servant. He was not obedient to Laban but was obedient to the God who was with him, sending down a ladder from heaven even in the midst of his hardships. That is because He was his Lord and his God. He was obedient for that reason. "The one who put me here is God."

 

God’s Good Path

It might not have been the place Jacob wanted. How similar is this to us? We might not be in the place we want to be. But God was guiding us to that very place. Most immigrants did not plan on doing the work they are doing now or living the way they are living. So, do you think you are just living this way for a living? No. Your life is under God's amazing hand without a single error, and you are on your way to the best path.

 

Are you thinking, "Why did this difficult thing happen?" Imagine for a moment that there were no hardships. Imagine that you became rich and famous, just as you wanted. Would that truly be a better life? God's purpose is not just for us to accomplish great things in this world. The time we live on this earth is at most 100 years. No matter how great and wonderful things you do at work and how much wealth you accumulate, it will end in 40 or 50 years.

 

God wants to make us into the image of God, who is like Jesus Christ. And all these things are part of the process of guiding us to the place we need to be for that good purpose. You may not understand it right now and might think, 'God, are you really driving me into this corner?' But we must have the same confidence as Jacob. Jacob was so confident that he said, "God was with me, so He rebuked Laban." Even though he seemed to have lost everything, was deceived, and worked diligently without receiving a blessing, he confessed, "God was with me, and I am living this life because of Him."

 

A Life Lived by Faith

You are living a life where you cannot see one step ahead. You can dream of a better life than you have now, but I am concerned that because of that dream, you may miss the fact that God is guiding you to a good path right now.

 

God is still guiding you on a good path. And you are walking with that God. Therefore, we confess in this very place.

 

When Jacob talked about his life to Laban, he did not talk about how obedient and faithful he was. His obedience and faithfulness were indeed amazing. It was a great thing that he overcame his cunning nature and was faithful to the end. But Jacob did not put his actions first. He thought that they were not perfect.

 

Instead, he insisted on God's promise. The most important thing in his life was that what God had promised through Jacob was being fulfilled, and that God was with him, fulfilling that promise.

 

Jesus Christ’s Obedience

Through Jacob's life, we learn what true obedience and hardship point to. It is Jesus Christ. The book of Hebrews says, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him."

 

Jesus achieved perfect obedience through perfect suffering, and through that obedience, He placed all of us in a position of salvation. The one who came among us, suffered for us, and achieved perfect obedience is Jesus Christ.

 

That is why Jacob did not say that he was obedient because of his own strength or ability. He confessed, "God was with me." This is a confession that says, "The reason I live diligently before the Lord is that I am living by faith. I do not rely on my obedience or my good deeds, but on Jesus Christ, who is with me."

 

A Life Lived by Faith

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Just as Jacob's obedience could be made perfect through the obedience of Jesus Christ along with his faith, Jacob's hardship also became a perfect hardship through the suffering of Christ, becoming a life that was pleasing to God.

 

It is not just Jacob. You and I are the witnesses of this very thing and are the ones who live that life together. Just as Jacob's life was, our life is not made perfect by our own efforts but is made perfect by the life that Christ lived. That is why our lives are a joy to God.

 

Our lives are still imperfect, and we still fight with sin today and are sometimes wounded and struggling. In a life where we do not know how to live it best, we go to the Lord and ask again and again. Jesus Christ makes that imperfect life, where we do not know what tomorrow will bring, perfect.

 

That is why we boldly confess: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Therefore, I am now living a life that is pleasing to God, and the Lord will accomplish my life."

 

Because of Love

Do you know why Jacob endured all these hardships and obedience? Jacob did it for a single sentence: "Jacob was in love with Rachel."

 

Do you know why Jesus Christ prayed and groaned for you for 2,000 years, regarding it as a single day? Do you know why He has never once left us and has always been with us even when we are fighting against death, hardship, and despair?

 

It is because He loves you. Because He loves you to death.

 

In the Song of Solomon, which we know so well, Jesus' love is expressed like this. Just as Jacob fell in love with Rachel at first sight, through the Song of Solomon, Jesus also shows us how He regards us.

 

"You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace."

 

Just as Solomon's heart was stolen by a single glance from the Shulammite woman, the Lord is the one whose heart was stolen by you. Because of His love for you, He gave everything He had. That love is stronger than death, bigger than the universe, and greater and more magnificent than all the evil we have committed on this earth and our lives of constantly rejecting God.

 

Now, look at the Lord. Give your gaze to the Lord. With your eyes, which have had their heart stolen by the Lord, look at the Lord again.

 

Let Us Pray

It is because the Lord loves us. Lord, please help us hear this sweet voice. It is because you love me. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.