Lesson 16 - Jacob in Exile:
 God's Mercy and Justice
Read Genesis 27:41-30:24 - www.bible.com/bible/59/gen.27

*How do you cope with the consequences of sin in your life?
*What effect does your disobedience to God have on His purposes for you?

All the bad family relationships in Isaac and Rebekah’s family resulted in Esau’s threat to kill his brother, and Rebekah’s quick decision to save her favorite son any way she could. She still, however, was not honest with her husband about why she wanted to send Jacob away, but Isaac followed her instructions and sent their son to Rebekah’s home town to find a wife from her brother’s family.

Jacob’s first night away from home found him alone and probably more afraid than he’d ever been before. But God sent him a dream to show him that He had not forgotten Jacob, and made a promise to be with him in his travels away from home. This was probably Jacob’s first real encounter with God, so he talked with Him a bit differently than he did later when he’d learned to trust in God.

*Are you ever afraid to be completely honest with God?

Jacob’s encounter with Laban was a form of God’s consequences for the sin of deceiving Isaac. The cultural practice of that day was to cover the bride from head to foot so the husband did not see her until he took those covers off himself. Receiving what we have given is often God’s way of justice, and He tells us, what we sow we will reap (Galatians 6:7), and how we deal with others He will also deal with us (Mark 4:24). This does not mean we do to others as they have done to us, it means “do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).


But no matter what we deserve for what we’ve done in the past, as we give ourselves to God and learn to trust Him, His mercy and grace is also lavished on us. In these chapters we see God’s blessing in the children God gave Jacob. In the next lesson we will see more of God’s hand at work in Jacob’s life.

*How are you trusting in God’s grace and mercy today even though something in your past has perhaps caused you to also have experienced His judgment?