God faithfully brings Jacob back home, and Jacob finally comes home to God.

• God’s faithfulness – God had promised to safely bring Jacob back home, and God keeps his promise. How has God been faithful to you this week?
• Jacob’s prayer – Afraid of his brother Esau, Jacob cries out to God in prayer. Notice that Jacob approaches humbly, claims God’s promises, and makes his request. How might you incorporate these three elements in your prayers?
• Jacob’s humility – Jacob shows an amazing character change from when he left several years ago. He humbly acknowledges his unworthiness to God. And he treats his brother with utmost humility and respect that undoubtedly helps to end a family quarrel. How do you relate to God and the people around you?
• Jacob’s God – Our passage ends with a most striking verse. Until now, Jacob (renamed Israel in the wrestling match) always refers to God as the God of Abraham or Isaac. Now he builds an altar to God and calls it El-Elohe-Israel, meaning God, the God of Israel. Finally, Jacob (or Israel) has come to serve the God of his fathers. Have you come to the place where you can fill in the blank with your name? God, the God of _______

God is at work in Jacob’s life. God’s purpose will stand:

• Abrahamic Covenant – The covenant God made with Abraham continues to go forward. Having passed through Isaac, it now continues to Jacob. Land, descendants, and all nations blessed through him is the continued promise. God’s purpose will stand.
• Jacob’s lack of commitment – Interestingly, it appears that Jacob is not yet a follower of God. Jacob says that if God will bring him back, then he will serve God. God has promised to bring him back, and God will be working in Jacob’s life to bring him back a changed man. God’s purpose will stand. How have you seen God at work in your life – even before you came to follow him?
• More lies and deceit – Laban, like his sister Rebekah, is a deceiver. Jacob, also a deceiver, works seven years for Rachel, and receives Leah instead. Jacob the deceiver is deceived by another! But in the midst of this dishonest mess, God’s plan continues. He takes the bad and uses it for good. God’s purpose will stand. How have you seen God take your bad to bring about good?

With the death of Abraham back in chapter 25, the narrative now shifts to Isaac and his family.

• Covenant confirmed – God confirms the covenant that he made with Abraham with his son Isaac. Again, God will give him the land, many descendants, and God will bless all the nations on earth through his offspring. Though God has certainly blessed the nations through the people of Israel, this final promise is ultimately fulfilled in Isaac’s distant descendant named Jesus. How have you been blessed through Isaac’s offspring?
• God’s presence – Twice God promises that he will be with Isaac (26:3, 24). This is not a promise directed to us. However, we do find it to be a general promise in the Scriptures to God’s people, and this is one example of that general promise. God’s presence was to be an encouragement to Isaac. How is God’s presence an encouragement to you?
• Lies, lies, lies – Like his father before, Isaac lies about his wife. Later his wife leads Jacob to lie to his father. The consequences could have been terrible, but God mercifully protected this family in spite of themselves. Our culture seems much like this family. All around we hear of scandals related to lies and deception. Are you a person of truth and honesty? When are you tempted to be less than honest?

Today, we are reminded of God’s providence:

• God’s leading – God led Abraham’s servant to the woman God intended for Isaac. This is probably not an example of how we should pray or find a wife, but God used it to providentially lead Abraham’s servant. How has God led you?
• God’s power – Rebekah is barren. Sarah too was barren. In both cases, it is God who providentially and powerfully causes these women to conceive. God may not always answer our prayers like we want, but God is powerfully in control. How have you seen his power at work in your life?
• God’s plan – Before Esau or Jacob are born, God has a plan for them – that they will become two nations, that one will be stronger, and that one will serve the other. God has a plan for your life too. Things may or may not be turning out as you thought they would or dreamed they would, but God has a plan for you. Will you trust him?

Isaac is born and Abraham is tested. Observe:

• God’s faithfulness – God had promised a child to Abraham and Sarah, and God kept his promise! God had also promised Abraham many descendants, and Isaac is the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise. God had also promised Abraham the land, and Abraham’s purchase of a piece of land to bury Sarah is the beginning of the fulfillment that promise. God is faithful! How has God been faithful to you?
• God’s test – God tests Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son! What must have gone through Abraham’s mind? How could he kill the child through whom all God’s promises would be fulfilled? Hebrews 11:17-19 tells us Abraham concluded that God would raise the boy back to life so the promises could be fulfilled. That is faith! What is God asking you to do? Will you trust him and obey?
• Abraham’s choice – How could Abraham kill his son whom he dearly loved? God’s test is not only a test of faith, but a test of love. Will Abraham love his son more than God? Who is first in Abraham’s life? Abraham passed the test. How about you? Who is first in your life? What if God asked you…?
• God’s Son – What God asked Abraham to do, God himself would do 2000 years later. God stopped Abraham, but God would go all the way for you and your salvation. Ponder God’s sacrifice, and how you should respond.

God comes to Abraham to reaffirm his promise that Sarah will have a son. God also tells Abraham that Sodom will be destroyed. Abraham pleads for Sodom, and God shows mercy to Lot. Notice:

• God’s power – Sarah laughs when she hears that she will have a son at age 90. God responds by asking, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” In what situations in your life do you need to ask the question – “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” What is the answer? Will you believe it?
• Abraham’s prayer – Abraham humbly, yet boldly, intercedes for Sodom. Undoubtedly he is thinking of his nephew Lot. He starts by asking God to spare the city if there are 50 righteous people in it, and then continues to press the Lord down to 10 people. Who are you humbly, yet boldly, interceding for before the Lord? Who do you need to start interceding for today?
• God’s mercy – Tragically, there are not even 10 righteous people in Sodom, so God sends two angels to rescue Lot and his family. Foolishly Lot lingers, so the angels seize him and his family and bring them forcefully out of the city. The Bible explains this action as God’s mercy toward Lot. When has God forcefully shown his mercy to you in spite of your own foolishness?