Daily Bible Reading Plans to help you read and understand God’s Word

Scripture Reading: Genesis 27:1-46, Genesis 28:1-22, Psalm 121:5-8

Most of our journeys have been affected by dishonest choices whether we were wronged or did the wrongdoing. I have stories of my own when I tried to achieve something that wasn’t meant for me. Like when I was in college, I took a ministry job I wasn’t ready for. When the acceptance came for the position, I was less excited and more anxious than ever.

I had so much self-doubt (“I am way too young to be in this role. Everyone probably thinks I can’t do it.”), fear (“What if I make huge mistakes and embarrass myself?”), and loneliness (“My friends don’t understand what I’m feeling, and I feel very alone.”). 

I felt like a fraud who somehow tricked the directors into hiring me. Now with much perspective, none of those lies were true. But my feelings of unpreparedness were legitimate. When I think of Jacob’s story, I wonder if he felt coerced into a role he wasn’t fully ready to take on. I bet he wrestled with self-doubt and fear after deceiving his father and taking the blessing from his brother. He eventually ran from the consequences of his actions. 

Yet God found Jacob on the run and still gave him a blessing he didn’t deserve.

“Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
—Genesis 28:15 

God's presence also was my personal blessing during that difficult ministry season—He was with me through every mini-breakdown. It wasn’t the experience I hoped for, but God still rewarded the experience with His nearness.

We will continue to find ourselves forcing our own paths outside of God’s plan for us. We make the ultimate act of deception when we decide we can live our lives without God’s help and authority. Still, God’s promise to restore His relationship with us through Jesus’s death and resurrection is an undeserving reward God gives freely. He finds us running from Him and brings us back to his comfort and care. 

Ultimately, God knew Jacob would struggle and not make an honest choice, but it didn’t put Jacob outside of God’s good story for him. Jacob may have still struggled but He struggled with God alongside Him, protecting His path. Jacob saw a grace in all the bad choices he made with God watching over him.

There’s nothing you can do to separate you from God’s love. So even in your worst moments, God is still there. I hope we can look for His love in our difficult seasons and believe like Jacob: “Surely the LORD is in this place....What an awesome place this is!” (vv.16–17). 

Written by Bailey Hurley