We'll make our way through the book of Genesis and come now to chapter 29. We've made quite a go at it. Let's continue on then with the first 30 verses of Genesis 29. This is God's holy and inspired word. Give your attention to it. Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and then put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well. Jacob said to them, my brothers, where do you come from? They said, we are from Haran. He said to them, do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, we know him. He said to them, is it well with him? And they said, it is well. And see, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep. He said, behold, it is still high day. It is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go pasture them. But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep. While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father. As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, surely you are born of my flesh, or my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, because you are my kinsmen, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages 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 was beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel, and he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter, Rachel. Laban said, it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man. Stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, And they seemed to him but a few days because of the love that he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is completed. So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob and he went into her. Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban, what is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me? Laban said, it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years. Jacob did so and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter, Rachel, to be his wife. Laban gave his female servant, Bilhah, to his daughter, Rachel, to be her servant. So Jacob went into Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. Amen. Let's ask the Lord's blessing upon this passage, let's pray. Help us now, O Father, as we give attention to these words, which you've caused to be inspired and written by your Spirit, that we might see and understand more of and savor your son, Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would shine your word into our hearts and minds, Lord, like a light illuminating the darkness in us. Lord, that we would be filled with your light and live for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I know that most of you are familiar with the concept of karma. It's sort of in our culture, even though it comes from the East, it's sort of the idea that there is this impersonal force of nature that sees to it that everyone sort of gets what's coming to them. Everyone gets their due. If you do bad here, you'll find that later on in life, or maybe just around the corner, you'll face something bad happening to you. We call this all part of retribution for what you have done. a sad tit for tat, it's an unguided force, unconcerned with your good, it does not restore, it's just the blind judgment, or the judgment of a blind force of nature. In great contrast to that stands the providence of God. which we see in this passage really come out in its fullness. Indeed, God's providence even in sending hardship for his people at times that they might have to endure unto their good in God's glory. This chapter shows us, in contrast to something like karma, the sovereign providence and good discipline of the Lord. See, our God is active. He's not passive. He's not removed from the scene. He's busy. He's active in all the affairs of man. He's active in even the details of our lives, just as he's active in the details of Jacob's life. He's active here even as Jacob, the deceiver, is deceived. And he's not here just to give Jacob his due. This is not the Lord just saying, well, Jacob, look, you've really made a mess of other people's lives. You've deceived much. So now it's like the Lord is just giving him a taste of his own medicine. It's not only that. This has a goal, it has a purpose, and that is Jacob's good, and really the blessing of the whole world through Jacob as well. We have here in this passage the Lord's gracious, humbling, corrective providence. God is treating Jacob as a son, and that means that he's working for Jacob's good. That's one of the things we'll see in these verses. Now a bit of the context here. Remember, Jacob is on the way to Laban's house. He was sent out by his mother, Rebekah, because Esau was going to kill Jacob for having Jacob having stolen his birthright as a firstborn and then his blessing. Yet Isaac sent Jacob as well, sort of in conjunction with Rebekah's plan, to Laban that Jacob might find a wife from one of his daughters. that he would marry. It's the time for him as a man to establish his own roots. And so it seems logical that Isaac would then send Jacob to do this, to seek a wife. And so Jacob is on the way to Laban's house. Now, he made his way to a city called Luz. We saw this last week. And he didn't stay in the city, he stayed on the hillside. And there on that hillside, he laid down his head to rest at night, and he used a stone for his pillow. And he received a grand vision from God himself, a staircase with angels going up and down upon it, with God there with Jacob speaking to him, confirming the promises of Abraham that they now rest on Jacob's shoulders. and that the Lord is with Jacob in both power and glory as well as mercy and grace. And so Jacob at that moment, at Bethel, which it becomes to be called, that literally the house of God, Jacob is confronted, and he sees and he grasps the Lord's sovereign power and his merciful grace, his kind, undeserved compassion to Jacob, and that completely changes him. the scoundrel, deceiver Jacob, at that moment, not perfectly, but he begins to, what we might say, be converted. He now hears the word of the Lord, and he trusts in it in ways that he hasn't before, and that's what we'll see, really, all throughout the chapter before us here, or the chapters to come. Indeed, Jacob leaves Bethel with a newfound confidence, even as he makes his way to Haran, or Paddan Aram, where he experiences the gracious discipline of the Lord. That's what we'll see in this chapter, these verses before us. So there are two points, newfound confidence of Jacob and the Lord's gracious discipline, which we'll then round out with a few points of application. So let's jump in, considering verses one and following, and the newfound sort of confident trust and hope in the Lord that Jacob has, that he certainly did not have before. The Jacob we meet in this chapter is beginning to mature. He's growing in godliness and in wisdom. He's not the same after Bethel, after he meets the Lord and he gets this vision where the Lord confirms the truth of his covenant and grace and protection. of Jacob. The confidence here, as I've often said, confidence is the best word to describe biblical hope. It's confidence that God will do what he said he will do, and God had made a promise to Jacob here, and he's confident to receive that promise and trust in it and rely upon the Lord's faithfulness to keep his word. Now we see this confidence, sort of God-word confidence, come out in a number of ways here. First is that we see it in, really, his zeal, his change of pace, perhaps. In verse one, we read here, and the ESV in pretty much every translation doesn't capture the Hebrew as well here when it says Jacob went on his journey. Literally, it's he lifted up his feet. Like he had a spring in his step. It's what the image is conveying that was not there before. After the vision at Bethel, Jacob gladly goes. He gladly leaves the land that he's known from his birth into what you might call the unknown. He gladly goes out on this journey knowing that the Lord is with him. He trusts the Lord's promise. And it was Calvin who sees on this language to say that this is showing Jacob's trust in the Lord, that he lifted up his feet and he went on this journey. He went on this path set before him, like no longer burdened by fear, no longer running from Esau with that. fearfulness, but with confidence in the Lord, knowing that the Lord will be with him in both his going out and his coming in. Remember, that's the Lord's promise to him, that he will bless him, he will be with him, to see that he will be protected in the foreign land he's going to, and that he will be brought back to the land of promise. And so, of course, he trusts in that word, and he can go, unburdened by worries about what will happen. We see this Godward confidence in Jacob, not only in the spring of his step, the trust of the Lord to protect him, but also in his interaction with the shepherdsmen, the herdsmen, and ultimately Rachel and Laban as he arrives in the East. We really came to the land of the people of the East. And then he sees a field. And then a well in the field, and he goes to that well. And this is always in the Old Testament. You've seen this already, and even in the New. Big meetings happen at wells. It's the gathering place. It's the watering hole, literally. It is where business is conducted, and here it's where patriarchs find their wives. Remember, Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, likely to this very same well. And it was at that well that Rebecca came with a flock, who was then determined to be, by God's providence, the bride of Isaac. Well, this well is a place that is pregnant with meaning. As Jacob arrives, there's a lot of people gathered there already. There are three flocks of sheep, and Jacob inquires of the men there, actually, seeking humbly to ingratiate himself to them. This is an aspect of his newfound faith, you might say. He's no longer, these verses show us, give us no indication whatsoever that he is seeking to deceive or that he is motivated by his own glory, that he is seeking to swindle. In no way do these verses show us that Jacob anymore. This is a Jacob that begins even his conversations with these men by saying, my brothers, which is a very humble way of beginning the conversation with them. It establishes like equal playing field. This is not some foreigner coming in to usurp any power or to do anything against these men. He's coming alongside them. Where do you come from? He tells them. They said, well, we're from Haran. Jacob's like, well, that's where my uncle's from. So do you know Laban? They say, well, of course we know Laban. And actually, look right there over the horizon. Here comes Rachel, his daughter, leading his flock. And so, of course, Jacob sees this. And he then almost stumbles over himself, trying to ingratiate himself ultimately to Laban. So Rebecca comes, and Jacob actually breaks convention here, not in a prideful way, but in a servant way. The convention is that all the shepherds, all the flocks must gather, and then the stalling is rolled away, and then the sheep are watered, and then the stalling is rolled back. They're all waiting. It's like the water is right there, but for some reason, nobody's drinking it. Why? Well, there's this sort of weird convention that they all wait. When Jacob sees Rachel, He boldly goes and he removes the stone himself, a very weighty stone. And he himself waters the flock of Laban and Rachel. He kisses Rachel. He tells her that, he weeps aloud at this sight. He proclaims that he is her father's kinsman. And soon Laban hears the news and he comes running on the scene Why is Jacob acting this way? He's seeking to be a blessing to them. Again, there's no hint, no evidence whatsoever of Jacob maneuvering to swindle or deceive or to line his own pockets. It's actually the opposite. He is blessing. This is devoid of ulterior motives that we would come to expect from someone like Jacob. His character truly has begun to change after meeting the Lord at Bethel. beginning to live out the Abrahamic promise, even to his own people, by blessed of God, even though he's blessed of God, seeking to be a blessing then to others. Jacob's trust in the Lord had really blossomed since Bethel. He has this Godward, newfound confidence. But that doesn't mean his life is now perfect, it doesn't mean that There's not much more he has to learn. Actually, he's just beginning his life as a believer, you might say. He's a baby Christian, and to use our language, he still has much maturity to gain. He's filled with this newfound young zeal of the Lord and trusting in him, but there's plenty more lessons that he has to learn, and sometimes those lessons come through very difficult means. That's what we'll see next, because with Jacob's newfound confidence and his hope in the Lord comes a greater maturity that the Lord is seeking to work in him through the means of gracious discipline. And that's our second point. And when you hear the word discipline, don't just think something negative, like, oh no, you messed up, you've done wrong, you're in for a discipline now. Don't think just of the Lord's rod, don't think of facing punishment. Discipline isn't only negative, it does have negative aspects sometimes, right? It is. And even in Jacob's case here, in some ways, part of his discipline is tied to his sinfulness, his deception. The deceiver is deceived. He gets sort of, he does get a taste of his own medicine, but not just as a mere tit-for-tat like karma would deliver. but as an ultimate way that God is training his heart, working in him humility for the ultimate end of his own growth in grace. But don't think of discipline as just that, as just negative. There's many hardships that Jacob faces in his time in Haran under Laban's thumb that are not directly tied to his need to be corrected in his sin. I mean, we use the word discipline in multiple ways even in our own day and time. Discipline is sometimes, a corrective rebuke for having done wrong. But then other times, discipline is just what is required to gain, to seek a goal for growth. So the one, the runner who is training to win a race has to discipline himself to win that race, not as a form of punishment for something he's done wrong, but as a form of hardship, a difficult, like time regimen of training and beating down the body in order that it might gain a prize later on. And the same way is true in studies, if you're, it's summertime, so we don't talk about school as much, but if you're studying for a test, you have to be disciplined to set apart the time to study and to study well, that you might gain the prize, namely, the good grade on the test. And so we use discipline to speak of things that aren't, it's not negative in that way, it's actually, it's accomplishing a greater good, even though it hurts, it hurts to train for a run, it hurts at times, your brain to train for a test. And a lot of that is what's going on in Jacob's discipline in this chapter. Some of it, as I say, and we'll see this more in a bit, is, in fact, corrective and meant to humble him due to his past deception and scheming. More on that in a bit. Let's first see how God's gracious discipline comes to Jacob here, beginning in his lonely condition. Jacob arrives here by himself. He has traveled by himself. That's a form of quiet discipline. The Lord is working in him so that even as he laid his head down to rest and the Lord gave him a vision, like he did so, Jacob received that because he was utterly alone. Yet the Lord was with him. Imagine what it was like the next night and the next night and the next night as Jacob laid himself down again to rest. With that, both perhaps anticipation of another vision, the fear of another vision, the sort of holy being afraid of meeting the Lord yet again, which is proper and receiving a vision of God's divine glory. Of course, anyone would have such fear. Moses falls on his face. Jacob, no doubt, as he laid his head down every other night, would have that same fear. As a part of quiet discipline, the Lord is working in him. And we can't forget that Jacob is literally on the run from Esau. He's on the run. He's running for his life. even as he's seeking a wife. The Lord sends him out alone. And so even as he arrives at the well, he arrives there completely unlike Abraham's servant, who was sent out to find a wife for Isaac. Remember, Abraham's servant came with 10 camels loaded to the hilt with wealth, with many forms of presents, of treasures that he would then offer to eventually Rebecca's family. But Jacob comes by his lonesome, and he has no tin camels full of treasures. In his lonely condition, the Lord is working in him humility. He's training him. God's gracious discipline is also seen in Jacob's relationship to Laban. Actually, this is like the main means of discipline God employs to humble his servant Jacob. These ensuing years, almost 20 or so, will be a crucible for Jacob, mainly due to Laban. Everything begins on a questionable footing. Even as Laban learns that Jacob is there, what does he do? We read in verse 13, that as soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, what does he do? He ran to meet Jacob. He embraced him, he kissed him, and he brought all of his household out there to this place. And even says lofty words to Jacob, employing what's often used in formal adoption ceremonies. He says, surely you are my bone and flesh. Laban here, if you read between the lines and don't have to read far, seems to be expecting material gain. And this has happened before. A servant from Abraham has come to this well. And so Laban's like, more money, more treasure. And he flies as fast as he can to meet this man who has come and, well, It's not as he expected. Is Laban a man driven by greed? I think that will be proven true. If anything is true, you can say about Laban is that he's quite slippery. If deception runs in the family, you know, if someone asks, like, of Jacob, where did he get his deceptive streak? Well, it surely came from his uncle. And so what happens here, but Jacob's uncle begins to treat him like a servant. Not so much family, even though he confesses, you are my bone and flesh. He says in verse 15, because you are my kinsman even, should you serve me for nothing? And what shall your wages be? And this sets in a system that will culminate after 14 years of hard, hard labor. That'll be Jacob's way of looking back on this. Truthfully, that's what he is beginning, what he will begin to experience under Laban's rule of him. is hard, sweat of your brow, thorns and thistles type labor." Laban asks him what his wages will be. Jacob knows well that Rachel is available, and perhaps there's been some sort of discussions between them, or maybe it was love at first sight. I'm not told. Give me Rachel, your daughter, in marriage for these seven years of labor. Now this is not some just heartless contraction like Rachel is property to be bartered about between the two. This is a bride price. In the Old Testament times and throughout much of the world's history, a bride price would be given to the father of the bride. It's a way of showing that the suitor, the groom-to-be, is serious and devoted to this. It's a way of being a blessing to the family of the bride, because they will lose a lot in a way as the bride goes and becomes a part of the husband's family. And so, in the Old Testament, particularly in the Book of Deuteronomy, there was a cap of a bride price, sort of like the most it ought be, and it was 50 shekels, which is a whole lot. And it's about equal to seven years of hard labor. So Jacob is essentially offering to Laban here a very wealthy bride price for Rachel, whom he loves. This seven years will be later described again as hard labor and work, yet it's also the Lord's good discipline of Jacob. So we see God's gracious discipline of Jacob in his relationship to Laban, but then also in his relationship to Laban's daughters, Rachel and Leah. Now Jacob loved Rachel. Like from the moment he saw her, there seems to be a streak of postures to impress her, even as he seeks to bless Laban. And his love is so deep of Rachel that even after the arrangement has been solidified, like those seven years, hard and grueling as they are, they went by like in just a few days. I mean, verse 20 says, Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love that he had for her. This is the same language that Rebecca used when he said to Jacob, go to my brother Laban and stay for a while, literally a few days. And then when Esau has forgotten his rage, then I'll send you, you can come back. Well, here are the few days languages picked up to describe seven whole years of labor motivated by the love that Jacob has for Rachel. And this itself is a form of God's kind discipline. Again, not in response to, not as a punishing discipline, but to train Jacob. It's training him that he can't just get what he wants right up front. It's not an immediate, gift of the promise of the blessing. This really is all of the patriarchs experience. God makes a promise to them, like here's the whole land, it will be yours, but it's not immediate. You have to wait, you have to work, you have to depend upon the Lord. That's exactly what Jacob experiences, even as it's a joy to him to spend these seven years serving, knowing that at the end of them, there will be a great reward, namely Rachel, his love. But then there's Leah. You feel sorry for her. And even as the passage unfolds in the next verses we'll look at in the weeks to come, Leah is definitely one to be pitied. She's overlooked. She's maligned. She's not as beautiful as Rachel. The text actually says here that her eyes were weak. which we're not sure exactly what that means, but maybe, you know, they weren't vibrant. They didn't like just pop out with beauty and delight. They were maybe sunken in a bit. They were not like Rachel's. Actually, in their very names itself, Rachel means you, like a little lamb. Leah likely means cow. Later, God himself would have compassion upon this unloved woman. when God sees that she is unloved and he opens her womb and enables her to become a mother and to give birth to many of the patriarchs of Israel itself. But here God's using or he's working in Jacob humility and discipline and growth and maturity and he does so through Laban, through Rachel, through even Leah. How does he do that? Well, it comes via deception. So at the end of the seven years, it's almost like Laban has conveniently forgotten their original arrangement so that Jacob has to be the one who broaches the subject. You can almost hear sort of frustration in his voice as he says in verse 21, give me my wife that I may go into her. So when the formal marriage is consummated, For my time is completed, he's expecting I've worked... Now I joyfully get to receive my wife, we can become one flesh, and then we'll go back home, like we'll live in the promises that God has made. Like this is joyful, like this is the last day of school joyful. This is like, I don't know what it's like, the day before you retire type joyful. This is like where you get your, what you've worked hard for, what you've served for, what you love, what you delight yourself in, what you've been waiting for every single day. And so what does Lehman do? He arranges a marriage. He gathered together all the people of that place. There's a tremendous feast. This would have been, yeah, just that, a feast. Dancing, there would be wine abounding. There would be, all the women would be veiled, especially the bride, so that you couldn't see her face. There would be many festivities, and it would conclude, or it would actually begin, in many ways, the festivities would extend for a whole week, but it would sort of begin when the bridegroom takes the bride into his chamber, and they become one flesh, and the marriage is consummated. And this happens as the wedding unfolds. Again, this is, let's put it in context. It is a woman covered in veils. in great darkness, perhaps one too many glasses of wine. Jacob enjoys a night with his wife. And then the most sobering verse of the whole chapter, in the morning, behold, it was Leah. Laban switched the two. He is conniving, is magnificent here in an ugly way. Actually, if you go back even to look at Laban's words to Jacob, when Jacob said, I'll take Rachel as my, while I'm working towards her hand in marriage, I'll gladly spend seven years for her. And Laban says in verse 19, it is better that I should give her. to you than that I should give her to any man. Stay with me." And in the Hebrew, there's a bit there, a bit of trickery of the language. It's, Laban is not specifying that it's actually Rachel that he's going to give to her or give to Jacob. He's sort of hiding his plan. And it really puts Laban in a very negative light. His job was to find a husband for his daughters. And why didn't he find anyone else for Leah? for the first seven years of this work. I mean, it would seem to make sense unless he had planned this all along in some sort of sick way of manipulating Jacob, we don't know for sure. And so Laban's response to Jacob in his rightful rage is to say, this is not how it's done in our land, that we give the younger before the firstborn. Wow, you see what's going on there? This is the Lord's discipline of Jacob, yes. Notice what has happened here, the deceiver is deceived in ways that resemble his own deception. He's deceived through clothing and that it was the clothing of Leah that hid her true identity. The veil was there, he couldn't see her face. It is seen even in the language of Laban here, the younger shall not be before the older. Now granted it was God's promise that Jacob the younger would be served by the older Esau. but it was part of Jacob's scheming and seizing, even of what God has promised, that made him exalt himself before Esau and swindling him out of his birthright and taking his blessing. Here in Jacob's conniving to, as the younger received the blessing of the firstborn, he gets it back. He receives from the Lord's hand in providence a humbling discipline as he, the deceiver, is deceived. This then culminates in this interchange between Jacob and Laban. Laban agrees that, all right, yeah, this is just the way things are. Jacob is. He has to agree. He can't back out in any way now. I'll give you Rachel as well to be your wife after we celebrate Leah for this week. Then I'll give you Rachel If you work for me another seven years, what does Jacob do? He can do no other. He agrees. This is not the end of the story, however. This is just the beginning of the saga of Jacob and his wives and his family, the people of Israel. And so what we've seen is that the Lord's providence provides a strong discipline to Jacob, like poetically, it's, doled out to Jacob here, in the same ways that he has deceived others, that ultimately this man might learn trust, humility, dependence upon the grace and promise of God. Now, in no way does this justify Laban's actions. In no way does this validate polygamy. In no way is this chapter preaching that message to us. Rather, it's showing us the particular school in which God aims to instruct and train and teach Jacob, soon to be Israel. is the school of discipline under Laban. It's far from a happily ever after ending. It's just the beginning. Yet we'll see as it continues to unfold, the Lord is kind to Jacob and his wives, even in the midst of these hardships. Now, I'll conclude with a few points of application that we can take from this passage that'll help us as we consider how we should learn from it and from the Lord's kind discipline. First of all is simply this, that when you become a Christian, When you meet the Lord, when you turn to Him, when you encounter Him and His word, His promise, and you believe it by faith, just like Jacob did at Bethel, in the vision there, as we hear God's word in the gospel and the promise of scripture as we read it, and we encounter the Lord's word there, and turn to Him, it doesn't mean that your Christian life is done. It doesn't mean that you don't need to learn a lot more. It doesn't mean that the Lord doesn't need to, or doesn't aim for maturity in your heart and life. In other words, to become a Christian, to seize hold of and trust in the promises of God, is just starting the Christian life. A life that involves discipline. Again, not always tied to your sins and being corrected due to your sins. Good discipline, like a runner training for a race, like a student studying for a test. It requires such godly diligence This is true for us as well. Just like Pilgrim and the Pilgrim's Progress, just starting out on his journey, his burden is removed, and yet he still faces a long and arduous road ahead. Like the same is true for us. Maybe that surprises some of you. Because a lot of times the message we hear, even in churches, even on the radio, even amongst Christians is, like, essentially boils down to everything will be good. Everything will be easy. Your life will be blessed beyond measure. Like there will be no more hardships when you have Jesus, when you become a Christian. And there is a good and there is a blessing that you receive as a Christian. But it is not devoid of hardship. It is not devoid of trial. It is not devoid of temptation. The way is narrow and hard that leads to life. Yet just like Jacob, you and I travel that narrow and hard road, fought with many forms of discipline, both for our sins or not, all with the promise of God to guide us. All with the very covenant of God, like Jacob has, like he possesses, that promises him that God will be with him and is going out and is coming in. He'll bring him to the promised land again, just as he promises you and I that he'll bring us to the new heavens and new earth, the heavenly Canaan. you'll bring us there safely through many trials and toils and fears we'll still reach that heavenly land. That's our first and our main point of application that the Lord is working in us and for us for His own glory and our own good. The Lord even takes the hard difficulties that we face, the hard providences, the dark nights, and He uses them, He turns them for good, for us. He uses them to train us, to mature us, to make us more like our Savior, the one who Himself has promised to be with us, like our whole Christian life. This is like the good aim of the Lord, to bring us to His fullness, or to the fullness of His kingdom, where we would dwell with Him in peace, This is essentially, as well, what Christ promises. He came for us, he died for us, he rose again, he goes back to the Father, as he says in John 14, to prepare a place for us, that where he is, we might be with him. And he promises that he'll send even another comforter, like himself, to be with us, ultimately until we are gathered together in that place that he is working to prepare. This means that as a Christian, you have a great, confident, Godward hope. that the Lord will be with you throughout this entire pilgrimage you're on, and he'll bring you to his heavenly rest. He'll bring you to his presence. He will bring you to your complete and utter joy when you see the face of God, the very one you have trusted in all this life long. And though this journey will be hard and difficult, the Lord is with you. This is the way it is in the Christian life. We read here of the Lord's goodness to Jacob as a promise of his goodness to us. The second point of application is of the Lord's discipline. The Lord, or those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. We read this from Hebrews 12, which really just quotes to us Proverbs 3, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord. And then the writer of the Hebrews goes on to reply this to the Hebrew Christians by saying, look, you have, even the best fathers discipline their children. This is not to say that the worst fathers are excused in their abuse of discipline, no way. He's saying even the best fathers, they provide correction for their children. Well, the perfect father, therefore, provides perfect correction for his children. If he didn't, he wouldn't be a good father. The Lord disciplines those whom he loves. And again, this is not always related to our sin, and it's never seen as like wrath for our sins. Christ has taken away our sin and our guilt, and his cross is the ultimate answer for our rebellion. He died to save us from our sins. The discipline we receive from the hand of the Father is not punishment for sin in that way. Christ has taken that for us. Rather, it is his good, corrective, sometimes hard answer to our need for maturity. God's good discipline is always related to and aiming after our good and our growth in godliness. And even as he disciplines us, he uses means. I mean, even the good discipline, like a runner or a student, is found in what we're doing right now, like in reading God's Word together, in praying to Him, even the discipline required to gather for Sunday worship or to seek the Lord. on your own throughout the week, and reading your word, your Bible, and praying to him, and memorizing scripture, and fighting temptation, and loving your neighbor, and like all these things that require discipline, like that's a form of what God is working in you as your gracious father. The means he uses to discipline you in ways is your, well, spiritual disciplines. But then also our circumstances serve to be the school in which our father is working for our good. The Father might not send us all to the same school, but he is giving us and working to give us the same degree. So the form of discipline you face might be different than what I face, but it's ultimately aiming for the same goal, the same degree, which is Christlikeness, which is godliness, which is being trained to think and to act with love like the Lord himself. Wherever you are right now, think of perhaps the most difficult hardship you face and see it in this light. Not God's intention to squash you or to punish you, but to teach and train and instruct you. Perhaps this is a season in which he's teaching you more and more to trust in him rather than in yourself. Maybe the season you're in now, the Lord is teaching you compassion to care for others the way he's cared for you. Perhaps he's trying to teach you that even as others have sinned against you tremendously, he's teaching you to rest in his promise that justice flows from his throne, that vengeance is his and he will repay. Maybe he's teaching you that you need to have the childlike faith that Jesus speaks of when you find yourself assailed by doubts and questions. Whatever the case, the Lord is strongly active in every detail of your life. And though it might not be pleasant in the moment, just like every form of discipline, it is still good. So as the writer of Hebrews says, let us lay aside every weight and sin which cleans so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne, of the throne of God. God disciplines us for this race that we're in as his children. So let us run it well, knowing that it's even through the hard valleys of the shadow of death that our founder perfects our faith. He's a perfect and good father. His discipline is perfect, compassionate, good, and fruitful. Let us long to be more like him. Let's pray.