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Well, this morning I like us also to continue our journey through the Book of Genesis. Today, we come to Genesis, chapter 29 and also chapter 30. It was a long read by Jonathan, thank you for doing that, John, for us. And even though it's a long passage, I hope to keep this sermon concise and sweet for all of us.

Now, in about two weeks' time, Singapore would celebrate her 56th birthday. Singapore as a nation was born ... an independent state was born in 1965. So it's been quite some time now and we are thankful for how God has blessed this tiny dot, tiny nation here at Singapore.

This is a picture of our very first National Day Parade in 1966. This year's parade will not be on the 9th of August, if you do not already know, it will be postponed to a later date because of the COVID situation. But it's a reminder of where we have come or how we have come so far.

Now, Singapore is by no means the youngest or the newest nation in the world. If you check it out on Google, you will see that there are many nations born around our time. In 1965 ... some before, some after, you will see a whole list of it, but of particular interest would be this nation that was born in 1948.

So, this independent state is a little older than ours and it has tremendous significance for the Christian, for the people who read the Bible and believe the Bible. And that nation would be the nation of Israel. Israel as a state was born in ... on 16th of May 1948.

So they're a little bit older than us in a modern history, but actually you would know that Israel was way older or is way older than just being born in 1948, because if you read the Bible, you know that the nation as a people, they really started some 3 to 4000 years ago. Not 1948, but 3 to 4000 years ago in the story we read here in Genesis 29.

So, we're looking at this story of the birth of the nation of Israel. And it all started in chapter 28 or if you like chapter 29 today. But in chapter 28, you would recall how it all started when Jacob who will later on be named Israel, swindled his father, and robbed his own brother Esau of the birthright.

Now, he knew that Esau is furious, he is baying for his blood. And so he had to run, he had to escape, he had to be a fugitive on the run. So he bade his family farewell, he bade his father and mother farewell, and headed towards this place called Haran.

Haran is the place where his mother came from. His parents told him to go back to Haran to secure for himself a wife. So on route to Haran, he stopped at this place called Luz, which would later on be renamed Bethel, which means, "The House of God".

At night he was tired, he got for himself a piece of stone, laid his head on that stone and he slept. And in his sleep, God appeared to him in a dream. So the dream was as such, he dreamt of a stairway that leads to heaven, angels ascending and descending upon it. And on the top of the stairway, God spoke to him and said that he will be blessed with the land that God has promised Abraham, that he will have many offspring, and in one of the Offspring, all nations of the earth will be blessed.

And God said to him, "I will never leave you till I have done all these things that I have promised you." Awaking out of his dream, Jacob knew that this was a supernatural event, this was a special visitation from God. He immediately erected an altar of ... or a pillar of stone and offered ... not offered but anointed the pillar with oil.

So that was all that we learned about Episode 1 in Jacob's life.
Today, we go to Episode 2 because Jacob would now move on from Bethel and head towards Haran. He arrived at the well, and he saw shepherds there. He spoke with them and asked them, "Do you know Laban, this ... this man of Nahor?" And 'coincidentally' you may want to use that word, but 'amazingly', maybe another word, they were shepherds who knew who Laban was.

So they spoke about Laban and where he is, and at ... it is also at that point of time that Laban's daughter Rachel also came. You say, "Who is Laban?" Well, Laban is Isaac, or Jacob's uncle, is the brother of his mother Rebekah.

So having met Rachel, who is really her ... his cousin, he asked, "Can I meet with your father?" And so in that, he arrived at Laban's house. He stayed there for a month and after that, "Laban then spoke to him and said, "Because you are my kinsmen, should you therefore serve me for nothing, tell me what shall your wages be?" [Gen 29:15]

So you might think that this is a very generous man, oh, wanting to offer Jacob wages! But I think you will read later on that Laban was a shrewd operator, he's always looking out for his own interests. So the best way of looking at this is not so much his magnanimity or his generosity, but it's just his way of hinting very strongly to Jacob, "You can't stay on with me forever, and freeload here. You've got to work! And I want you to work for me, but tell me what your wages will be."

Well, Jacob had an eye towards his daughter Rachel. So Jacob said to Laban, "I will work for you, if you will allow me to marry your daughter Rachel." And Laban says, "Alright, I will have you marry my daughter, if you were to work for me for seven years."

Now, Jacob was very happy to do that! He really loved and liked Rachel and these 7 years seemed like days to him because he was filled with the anticipation that he will marry Rachel. Now, the story goes on that 7 years passed, and it must be a super exciting wedding night for Jacob. However, it was a surprise to him because the very next morning, after he had consummated the marriage, he woke up to realize that the woman that he had been with the night before was not Rachel but Leah, the sister of Rachel, the older sister of Rachel.

So he was horrified to say the least! I mean, can you imagine that this happened! But hey, Laban got him! So Jacob then went to his father-in-law and said, "What in the world just happened? I thought you said I would marry Rachel, this was what I asked for?"

Laban, then probably with a smirk on his face, "Oh, you don't know our custom here in our country, it is not right that we should marry off the younger one, if the older one, the first born is not yet married!" "Well, tell you what, since you don't understand this, you just worked for me another seven years, then I will also give you my daughter Rachel."

Well, this is a case of 'bo pian' [Hokkien dialect], and in other words - no choice. And Jacob agreed to work for another 7 years. And after 7 long years, 14 years all together, now at Laban's house, he finally got to tie the knot with his sweetheart, Rachel.

Now, the rest of chapter 29 and also a bulk of chapter 30, really displays or tells of the story of the battle of the two sisters - Leah and Rachel. Both of them would fight hard, battle like tooth and nail for the attention and the love of their husband, Jacob. And the way they fight for it will be via the way they are fertile or productive in giving Jacob children.

So you will see them trying to bear as many children as possible, even using their servants, their handmaids to do so. So the rest of the chapter really tells us how Jacob would be with first of all, Leah, and from that union they will have six sons and one daughter. It will be in this order, Reuben, Simeon, number 2. Number 3, Levi. Number 4, Judah. Number five, Issachar. Number 6, Zebulun. So six sons and then Dinah, the daughter, the only daughter that Jacob will have.

And then Jacob also has his wife Rachel. She had a hard time having any children at all in the beginning, but eventually God opened her womb and she would have these 2 sons - Joseph and Benjamin. Even though she only had two sons, you would read the rest of the Bible in Genesis and realize that Joseph would be a very special son. And through Joseph, he would have two significant grandsons - Manasseh and Ephraim.

Now, I mentioned that there will be handmaids who would bear children for their own mistress or their own masters in Rachel and Leah. So Jacob would also come into Bilhah, Rachel's maid, and from that union, there will be Dan and Napthali. And likewise, with Zilpah, Leah's maid, he will have Gad and Asher.

Now, all these names might be very unfamiliar if you are a new reader of the Bible. But for those who have been Christians for some time, you will immediately recognize that these are the names that will eventually formed the 12 tribes of Israel that would really be the story of the birth of Israel.

[1] God's Invisible Hand
Now, that is the two chapters in summary, but I'd like us to have some spiritual lessons from this story. First of all, I'd like us to see through the ... throughout this whole episode, throughout this whole story, we must trace the - Invisible Hand of God.

Even though God's hand is invisible, it is intentional. You see this whole story, I believe, even though God is not actively said to be bringing Jacob here and there, we must be able to see it as God nonetheless, who providentially brought all this to pass.

I believe it is God who brought Jacob to the exact well, where the exact shepherds who knew Laban would be. This is exactly the spot where Rachel would turn out ... turn up. And this is also the spot where he would meet with her and eventually be led to Laban, his uncle.

Now, I think the Bible also tells us that God is very much behind the scenes here, because in verse 31 of chapter 29, "When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb but Rachel was barren." So, the Lord saw, was behind it all. And all this is really a fulfillment, isn't it of what God said to Jacob earlier on? Verse 14 of verse of chapter 28, "Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

So God did promise, "I'll be with you." And you know all these leading and guiding and providentially arranging for Jacob to come back to Laban's house, I believe is a fulfillment of God's promise to him.

Now later on, we are jumping a little bit, later on when Jacob reflected upon all these events, he would say, "I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before," [Gen 31:4] He is speaking to his wife about Laban. And he said, "But the God of my father has been with me," [Gen 31:5] So, he recognizes God's leadership through it all and we should as well.

And again in verse 7, we also see that, "God did not permit him to harm me." So Jacob recognized, Jacob could see God's invisible hand through it all.

Now, I believe that as Christians, there is no vocabulary, there should not be a place for this word, "luck" or "fortune". You know the world we love to talk about good luck and bad luck. We like to talk about good fortune or misfortune. We like to talk about 'heng ah' or 'suay', in our Hokkien vernacular here in Singapore.

But in biblical terms, there is no place for such words, there is no place for randomness, there is no place for luck because we believe that God is a sovereignly, ordaining all things, orchestrating all things to a purposeful end. In other words, we believe in this doctrine of divine providence.

What is providence? Providence is God's purposeful sovereignty, that God is always working all things, nothing is left to chance, nothing is left to what we call luck, but every single event is ordained by God for a purposeful end.

I like what Piper has to say about providence:
"From Genesis to Revelation, the providence of God directs the entire course of redemptive history. Providence is "God's purposeful sovereignty". Its extent reaches to the flight of electrons, up to the movements of galaxies, and into the heart of men. Its nature is wise and just and good. And its goal is the Christ-exalting glorification of God through the gladness of a redeemed people in a new world." [John Piper]

This is a fantastic paragraph! But it tells of how God is sovereign in everything, and there is nothing that is left to chance. The Scriptures say in Proverbs 16:33, "The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord." You can throw your dice, and you say, "It's all luck! It's all random!" No, God is the One who determines every cast of the dice! And how it falls out is exactly what God has desired.

Isn't it so that knowing the divine providence of God is the underlying basis of how we can believe in Romans, chapter 8, "We know that for those who love God, 'ALL' things work together for good. Not just 'some' things, not just 'many' things, not just 'most' things, it's 'ALL' things.

God is sovereign and therefore we have this joyous doctrine of divine providence. Nothing is left up to chance! And in every event of our life, we must see and trace the invisible hand of God, just like in Jacob's story - The invisible hand of God.

Now, when I think about that, I think about how God led me to salvation. And I always think about that photograph, which I saw when I was in secondary 4. That photograph of my future or my current wife, Winnie, and I am just amazed at how something so trivial, something so minor, something so funny could really be how God has led this sinner ultimately to salvation in Jesus Christ.

Even before I knew God, even before I sought God, even before I even wanted God, God was already working all these things, ordaining all these things. It was a purposeful working together so that I would find salvation in Jesus Christ.

Do you know that in your life, there is probably 1001 things happening right now, which you are not even aware of, but which God is doing so that you might come to faith in Jesus Christ? And so that you might be conformed and changed into the image of His Son? So that you may have supreme joy in Him, so that in your life you may glorify Him?

God is working! You don't see God, you don't feel Him, but the Bible tells us that He's sovereign, He's working all things, His hand may be invisible, and but it is always intentional and He's working out His glorious purposes through you. That is God's invisible hand - God's purposeful sovereignty. That is providence!

[2] God's Instructional Hand
But secondly, in the story of Jacob here in Episode 2, we not only see God's invisible hand, I like you to see - God's Instructional Hand.

You see, when God promised to bless Jacob, He didn't say that Jacob will never have any pain, will never experience any hardship, will never have any heartbreak. Because even as God promised to bless Jacob, some times and really in Jacob's life, God led him through very difficult times, through trials, through hardship. Not because God is not faithful to the promise, but exactly because God wants to bless him in teaching him, instructing him and growing him through hardship.

This is what I mean, when we say, God's instructional hand. He will bless, but sometimes He blesses through teaching us, humbling us, through our hardships and trials. Now, Jacob, he left his parents, they thought ... I'm, I'm quite sure they thought it would only for ... be for a few days, for a short while. "Maybe let Esau settle in his heart, let Esau's anger just dissipate with time, just a short while, for a few days," they said.

But who is to know that Jacob will leave home for at least 14 years, working 7 years for Leah, 7 years for Rachel. And if you read on, actually another 6 years for Laban. Total of two decades. This was a like a kind of timeout, isn't it? I mean, Jacob cheated his father, sinned against his father and his brother. And this was like a time for Jacob to ... to learn about his ways, to reflect upon his wrong.

It was like a ... a parent giving a child timeout, "You can't go out! You just have to sit there and think about your own ways."
And this journey in Haran was like a time out for Jacob. Not only that, Jacob, the heel grabber, the swindler, the cheater, well, he met with a greater swindler than himself. He met with the 师傅 [shī fù in Chinese], he met with the master, he met with Laban who is one up over him. I mean, Jacob was a master swindler, we know that. But he was no match for the professional one, Laban.

And, and there's this kind of poetic justice in this story. There's this kind of sense that his own sin would find him out. There's this sense that as you sowed corruption, he reaped corruption, because what goes around comes around. We see this:

- Jacob, deceiving his blind father, but now he himself would get deceived in the dark, regarding Leah.

- Jacob deceived his father, but he will be deceived by his father-in-law.

- Jacob cheated his brother out of the birth rights of the firstborn, and he himself will get cheated because of the rights of the firstborn in Jacob's family.

Now this I believe must be painful ... a painful lesson for Jacob. But this I think is what we need to see God's instructional hand for Jacob. You see, Jacob is a smart man, I have no question about that! He must be super sharp as a person because he managed to sell or get his brother to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup.

He was very opportunistic, he was a good businessman, if I may say it that way. He was very clever, he was very adaptable. When Rebekah his mother told him to play the part of Esau, he immediately fitted into the role seamlessly - put on the clothing of Esau, put on goat's hair, pretended to be like Esau. He was the Academy Award, Oscar winner for Best Actor. Isaac didn't know!

Later on, you will read about how he would have one up over his father-in-law, Laban with regards to the goats and sheep. And then, we will read later again, how he tried to use his cunning ways or his smart ways to ... to appease his brother Esau as they will soon meet.

He is a smart cookie, this Jacob! And I think he probably is a very confident man, self-dependent man. But you see, that is why God brought him to Haran, that is why God allowed him to meet with the master 师傅 [shī fù] cheater, Laban. Because I think God is teaching Jacob a painful lesson, God is teaching him to be humble, to be broken. That's God's hand!

See, God promised to bless Jacob, but we must never interpret this times of pain and suffering and disappointment as if God forsook Jacob. No, God is always for Jacob! But these pains are purposeful and instructional.

You see, there are Christians today, there are branches of Christianity, of Christendom today who says, "Oh no, when God says He blesses His people, He will not allow His people to suffer any pain or suffering. God will not allow people to go through sickness or hardship or difficulties in life, because God will always bless them, protect them with cotton wool!"

There are those who then say that, "God does not give sickness and if you're sick, it's because Satan gave you that sickness. And if you're sick, it's because you don't trust God." But if you believe in that kind of theology, then let me ask you, "Wherein is the sovereignty of God?" If you believe that sickness is purely the work of Satan and God has no hand in it, then I say to you, "God is not sovereign. He lost out to Satan, then He is not the God of the Bible."

In fact, in our feeble attempt to defend God, as if He cannot be the one responsible for sickness, we have reduced God to be a non-sovereign ordinary being, not worthy, not befitting of the God of the Bible. Isn't it?

But you see the Bible is very clear. The Bible tells us everything, even if we don't understand how or why, everything is in the sovereign, invisible hand of God. There is nothing random! There is no such thing as misfortune or bad luck! It is from the purposeful, wise, good and just hand of God.

But why sickness? Oh, because we often confuse comfort with good! When God promises to work all things together for good, He did not promise that He will make all things comfortable for us. Because in God's mind and in eternal ... in the perspective of eternity, Christ-likeness, character is far more important than comfort.

Isn't it God who is the One who said to Paul, "I will give you a thorn in the flesh, and it is for your good." See, Paul he prayed that God would take away that thorn in the flesh. He wanted comfort, you see! He didn't want this handicap, he didn't want this pain, so he prayed that God will remove this thorn. But God said, "The thorn was given ..." it is the sovereign prescription of God, "The thorn was given, using Satan as a messenger, as a deliverer to keep Paul from being conceited, arrogant or proud." [2 For 12:7]

"Three times Paul pleaded with God that it should leave ..." but God says, "No, it's better that you should have it, because this thorn will make you realize, you are weak, "... and then My grace will be seen, will be experienced, to be sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness." [2 For 12:8-9]

So Paul says, "I understand now, this thorn is not a mistake, this thorn is not a misfortune, this thorn is not because Satan won over God, but that God wants me to have the power of Christ, as I rest upon it, in my weakness." "So for the sake of Christ, then I'm content, I am thankful, I realize that it is great purpose that God gives us weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." [2 Cool 12:9-10]

My friends, we've got to come to realize our faith in God is not only when He gives us nice things, comfortable things, easy things, but when God gives us hard things, painful things, it is for your good. And we can be content, we can rejoice.

I can't think of a better example in our season here than Chee Keen, Pastor Chee Keen, diagnosed with rectal cancer, as he shared last week with you all on video. And you know as he has been sharing, I ... I hear him in different platforms right now, and he ... he has been sharing, he has been asking people to pray, but what he asked us to pray is very instructive.

You know he wrote, or he said, "I bring sad news that I've been diagnosed with rectal cancer ..." But look at the last part, he says, "Over the days, we have come to accept this as God appointed journey for us ..." He did not say that, "This is Satan's work." He did not say, "It's because he has no faith." But he recognizes that something so painful and difficult and threatening, like rectal cancer is God's appointed journey.

If I may rephrase this - this is God's divine providence. This is exactly what God would have him and his family to go through. There is purpose behind it, and there is sovereignty behind it.

And you know what Chee Keen has been asking us to pray. Sure, we should pray for healing! Sure, we should pray for the eradication of every cancer cell! But he says, "Far more important than that ..." you can ask him, I've heard him said that many times, "Far more important than that is that God would help him and his family to become better followers of Jesus Christ," because he understands that's the good that matters for all eternity.

My friends, we don't understand always how hardships work. But faith in God is not just believing Him for the good things and nice things and the easy things. Faith in God is trusting Him even through the hard things, the painful things, so that we may say together with Job, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the Name of the Lord." Because we can trace The invisible hand of God and we can trace the instructive hand of God.

God uses the 'Harans', God uses the 'Labans' in our lives to lead us closer to Jesus. And so today, you may be going to 'Haran', it may be a sickness, it may be a job loss, it may be a conflict in the family, it's a painful place to be in. It's like a spiritual timeout or maybe God is using a Laban in your life, it may be your colleague, it may be your boss, it may be even your own wife or your own husband. But God never makes a mistake, maybe this is the tool, or the instrument God is sovereignly using for a purpose, that He might be glorified through your growth, through your Christ-likeness.

[3] God's Infallible Hand
Well, finally, I like us also to see - God's Infallible Hand.

Well, all that has transpired is God fulfilling His promises, isn't it? God appeared to Jacob in that dream and said to him, "I will bless you with multitude, many, many people, and a special descendant from there, who will be the source of blessing for all nations."

And how will God bring this about? Well, the story tells us that as God said these words to Jacob, "You have many offspring and in your offspring, that one special Offspring shall all nations of the earth be blessed." [Gen 28:14] God works it out that He leads him to Haran, meets with the shepherds, meets with Rachel, stays with Laban, has Leah as his wife, has Rachel as his wife, has two other handmaids with whom he will also have relationships with.

And through all the twists and turns. Now, it's ugly! It's ugly what happened between Rachel and Leah, but God uses even their own sins, their own rivalry to bring about ultimately the 12 tribes of Israel, the birth of the nation of Israel.

You see, this is God's sovereign hand! And even when men sins, God uses all that. Now, He doesn't lead us to sin, but when we sin, He uses even our sins for His purpose that will never be foiled.

So this isn't it is a fulfillment of what God's said right at the beginning of Genesis! We want to be very consistent in looking at this thread of Genesis, all the way from Genesis 3, to the end of Genesis, and even to the rest of the Bible. God is always putting this into plan, "I will bless humanity in that from Eve will come a very special Offspring who will crush Satan's head." [Gen 3:15]

And as we move from Adam's time to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, we can only say, "God, He works in an infallible way. His purpose will never be foiled. His will will always be done." And so when we look at the cross of Jesus Christ, we can say, "God has sovereignly worked it out and He's always faithful to His promise, what He says will always come to pass."

My friends, as we look at the first coming of Jesus Christ as He went to the cross, we can have confidence that He will come again for us the second time just as He said. And therefore we sang that song, "There is a Hope". This hope is not wishful thinking, but it's a confident expectation of all the good that God has promised in Christ Jesus.

How do we know that? A story like Jacob will tell us that God's hand is invisible, but it is always instructive, and it will be infallible. And it is on that basis that I urge you to come and repent and believe in Jesus Christ, because when God promises salvation in Jesus Christ, it will always come true.

They that believe in Jesus will never be ashamed. So I'd like to invite you, if you're watching in right now, if you're not yet a believer, if you have never really thought about this, why don't you think about this right now? Why don't you turn from your sin and believe in Jesus because Jesus is the One who would die to save us from our sins?

God had said that this Jesus, His Son is the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. This is not a mistake! This is not a reaction! This has always been God's plan! God's providence, God's purposeful sovereignty to bring about salvation through His Only Son, that all of humanity may repent and believe in Jesus, that they may find that gladness and salvation in Him, to the glory of God.

Maybe today you are already a believer, you are God's child, and you're going through hardships. It's very difficult to make sense when we go through pain, I understand that. It's very hard to connect the dots, but today, let's remind ourselves of the ultimate promise that God said to His people. I mean there's nothing more inclusive than this statement, isn't it - "All" things work together for our good.

My friends, don't just trust God when times are good. Real faith is when times are difficult too, because we believe in a God who is wiser than any one of us, who works all things in a mysterious way, but His providence is always wise, and just and good. Trust Him.

COVID is difficult. Cancer is difficult. Job loss is difficult. But God never moves without purpose or plan, trust in His leadership. May God bring comfort and joy to your heart this morning.

Let's bow for word of pray together.

Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word. You are Our Shepherd, You lead us in our life. Even though we may not see Your hands, but we can trust in Your divine providence that You're always teaching us, molding us, shaping us, and that You're always working all things together for good to them that love You.

How we rejoice today in Your sovereignty, O God! How we rejoice in Your divine providence, because nothing is left to chance, nothing is random, nothing is misfortune! All things work together for good. But O God, how we thank You that Your divine providence brought about salvation through Your Son, Jesus Christ! May Your people today hear His voice, hear this Good News, turn and believe upon Him. Bless each one, We thank You in Jesus' Name. Amen. God bless.

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