God's Nature of hesed Love
The following is a sermon manuscript. It is not a transcript of the recording, though the contents are quite similar.
The year was 2004. Mark Zuckerberg, who was just another Harvard student, founded “the Facebook”. His social media network would change how we interact with each other and would become the biggest social media platform of all time. This platform would allow us to keep track of people who are far away and meet other people around the world that we might never have met. It also allows us to see all the exciting things that our friends and family are doing. We're happy for them and the things they get to do, but sometimes their lives seem so much more exciting than ours. Sometimes when we're scrolling through Facebook we see all the exciting things that other people are doing with their perfect houses and their perfect children and their perfect spouses and instead of just feeling happy for our friends, we feel jealous and like our friends have the good life and we are missing out.
Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t the only Harvard student impacting the modern world in 2004. That same year, another Harvard student named Patrick McGinnis coined a term that would make its way into the Oxford English dictionary and Miriam Webster Dictionary. The full term is the “fear of missing out”. But he shortened it to F O M O - FOMO. Have you heard this term before? It describes itself pretty well. The fear of missing out. He coined this term because of his own experience at Harvard. He felt he was a level-headed person who made great decisions and could effectively prioritize before he came to Harvard. Certainly the choices that led him to be a student at Harvard were likely wise ones. While he undoubtedly learned a great deal at his time at Harvard, he had another unexpected experience. There were events and clubs and groups and all kinds of things that you could do as a student at Harvard. In a desire to take advantage of all Harvard had to offer, he quickly felt compelled to do them all. But instead of feeling like he had it all, he instead felt frantic and unable to prioritize what’s important any longer.
This is a common experience for college students no matter where they’re in college. Students want to live the good life and have amazing experiences and colleges are filled with things to do so the student tries to do everything. As McGinnis experienced this and thought about it with his friends, he coined this term: FOMO. A few years later an article he wrote for Harvard was circulated elsewhere and the term FOMO became part of the vernacular and even our major dictionaries.
I mentioned social media and FOMO because they're related. Often we see what other people are doing and we think we're missing out. It's easy to forget that just like us our friends are also posting the best of their lives on Facebook. They're not posting the fight with their spouse or that it took 30 minutes to get their kids dressed that morning or the fact that yes they went to the beach but half the time they were there they were missing their own bed. We forget people only post the highlights and we compare our real life to their highlights. And so we have a fear that we are missing out on the good life that other people have that doesn’t actually exist and it leads to discontentment. We find ourselves so focused on what we don’t have that we’re unable to appreciate the things that are in front of us.
Listening to the voice of fear often leads to discontentment. We're afraid of missing out and so we try to do everything and in doing so we miss what's really important. We're so busy trying to chase the next big opportunity at work or making sure the kids have plenty of enriching experiences that we miss quality time with our family or alone time with God.
The voice of fear is alluring. It tells us that if we listen to its voice we'll find the good life. The voice of fear says we can have it all, but the truth is the voice of fear is the voice of sin. I tell you all this because we are about to see a shift in Jacob. We have seen how Jacob has listened to the voice of fear before now. Jacob had a fear of missing out on the good life and so he stole his brother's birthright and blessing despite the promises that God had already made about Jacob.
Jacob feared his brother who was trying to kill him and so he ran off, granted with the blessing of Isaac and Rebekah, to start a new life in the household of Laban. But then when he got to the household of Laban, Laban tricked Jacob and he ended up marrying both of his daughters instead of the one that he fell in love with. He lived in the household of Laban for twenty years. As these years progressed, Laban became an incredibly difficult person to live with. He was so difficult that even his own daughters were willing to flee with Jacob just to get away from Laban. That's where we pick up in our scripture today.
After 20 challenging years, Jacob, and his whole household head back to his homeland where he grew up. But who is there waiting for him? Esau! Last time he saw he saw he wanted to kill Jacob. And what better way to take revenge on Jacob than to take out his whole family too. This seems to be what Jacob is thinking. But God told Jacob to return to his homeland and finally Jacob listened to the voice of God. As Jacob is returning home he’s undoubtedly being bombarded by the voice of fear telling him of all the terrible things that Esau would surely do to him and his family. The voices of fear are there. But he instead chooses to listen to the still small voice of God calling him home.
Today we’ll read from Genesis 32, but here’s what happens immediately before. Jacob has an experience that resembles his “Jacob’s ladder” moment where he saw the angels ascending and descending. Only, this time he meets directly with the angels. He goes from watching the messengers of God to interacting with them. This prompts several actions from him. First, Jacob celebrates God’s presence with him. Then, Jacob divides his household in 2 separate camps thinking that if Esau comes and attacks one camp, then at least half of his family would live. He is fully expecting Esau til still be angry and bloodthirsty. So Jacob decides to try to appease his brother before they arrive. He’s trying to put his best foot forward. This isn’t the actions of Jacob who tries to control the situation with no regard for God. Rather, this is Jacob doing everything he knows how to make the best impression that he can with his brother after these 20 years. So he sends servants ahead to meet with Esau with gifts. The kind of gifts he sends are typically gifts given to a superior. Jacob also refers to Esau as “my lord” as a sign of respect and submission. Jacob is making it clear that he respects Esau and intends to treat him accordingly.
In this we see Jacob listening to the voice of God and trusting in God to do what God says he's going to do. He's trusting that if God says that he's going to rule over his brother then that's going to happen. He doesn’t need to steal it. He’s trusting that since God told him to go home, then it’s going to work out somehow. And so now in Genesis 32:9-12 we hear Jacob’s prayer to God. Notice how different it is from his previous interactions. It lacks arrogance and selfishness. And though the fear is still present, he’s now submitting that fear to God. Follow along on the screen, in your Bible, or in your Bible app as I read Genesis 32:9-12 from the NRSV. Hear now the Word of the Lord.
9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. 12 Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’
Wow. What a change! He went from deceitful to humble as he pours out his unworthiness before God. Before he asks anything of God -before he asks for protection from God - he acknowledges God’s word to him and confesses his unworthiness of God’s love and faithfulness God has shown him. Our whole series has been about God’s faithfulness, and really I think the texts we’ve read has firmly established that God is faithful to his promises. But I want to focus on another aspect of God: His steadfast love.
I’m going to teach you a Hebrew term. Hesed. Say it with me: Hesed. It’s up on the screen. This term is used through the Old Testament to describe the love of God. It can be translated as kindness, loving kindness, loyal love, graciousness, or favor. It’s used almost exclusively to describe the love that God has for his people. This is what Jacob says when he says, “I’m not fractionally worthy of the hesed that you’ve shown me.” Jacob recognizes that God’s kindness and loyalty has been with him this whole time, despite Jacob’s bent towards listening to the voices of fear and sin. So if Jacob wasn’t worthy of God’s hesed, then why did God give it? Why did God remain loyal to someone who was only loyal to himself? It’s because God’s grace and God’s love comes out of God’s nature, not Jacob’s nature. God’s nature, not my nature. God’s nature, not your nature. God’s love comes from God’s nature.
But now something has changed in Jacob. God's loyalty to Jacob finally got through his thick skull and his hard heart. Jacob is finally forging his own connection with God, instead of trying to get what he thinks is owed to him through his lineage from Abraham. God’s hesed has changed Jacob. This took time! He was with Laban for 20 years. It goes to show just how patient God is with us. Remember that the next time you think you were slow to learn the lessons of God. We've said before that God's timing is not our own. And so I don't think we should panic too much when it takes us a little bit longer to learn the lesson God is trying to teach us than we think it should. God is patient with us. Be patient with yourselves too. That's not a excuse to be apathetic and say “eh I’ll get to it when I get to it.” But rather as you move forward in faith and open yourself up to the work of the Holy Spirit, give yourself the same grace and patience that God is giving you.
Back to Jacob. Jacob had more reason to fear now than he ever did in his entire life. Sure Esau was a threat to his life previously, but that was before he had wives and children and animals and servants. He had other people to worry about now. It was not just him. So Jacob had more reason to listen to the voice of fear now than he ever had. Perhaps old Jacob would have sneaked around Esau and kill him in his household before he could get to Jacob and his family. Perhaps he would try to disguise himself so that Esau would not know he was there. Perhaps he would disregard the instruction of God and go settle somewhere else. That's probably what the voice of fear was telling him. But instead he listened to the voice of God. And remember when the Bible says “listened to the voice of” whoever, it means that you listen and obey. It’s an agreement to the voice.
So far the voice of fear has just led to isolation and brokenness. I mentioned at the beginning about FOMO and the results are basically the same. When we have a fear of missing out and so we try to do everything, oftentimes we miss what's really important. Sometimes we’re so busy that we forget to prioritize things that matter to us like spending time with beloved friends and family. We become so busy doing so many things that we end up doing nothing of value. The voice of fear robs us of our lives and our relationships. But the voice of God brings reconciliation. The voice of God brings people together.
This is faith versus fear. Abraham faced it too when he was on that mountain getting ready to sacrifice Isaac. He had more reason to fear and listen to the voice of fear than ever before. But instead he put his trust in God. This is Jacob's moment. Though he has ample motivation to listen to the voice of fear, we now see him listening to the voice of God. And Jacob will soon realize that listening to the voice of God is always for the best. Sometimes the voice of God calls us to do scary things, but the God who shows us his hesed loyal love we'll see us through and will not leave us.
What Jacob does here is a fabulous model for us: Jacob listens to the voice of God and submits his fears to God. Jacob doesn't need to pretend that his fears don't exist. He's not shoving those feelings deep, deep down to not deal with them. What he's doing is submitting those fears to God. He's telling God when he's afraid of, but then he's also putting his trust in God, knowing that if God called him to this then he will be faithful to see Jacob through.
This is a great model for us because we can also submit our fears to God. Whether it's the fear of missing out or any other fear, if we listen to what the fear tells us to do it's only going to bring more pain. Instead we need to submit those fears to God and ask for his guidance. It doesn't necessarily mean that the road ahead will be easy or that you won't be shaking the whole time, but it means that you're keeping your eyes on the one who knows the path ahead and knows the plan.
We're going to see how this all worked out for Jacob over the next two weeks. But today I just want to dwell on this prayer. We see so much change in Jacob from this prayer. Jacob serves as a model for us of how God wants us to submit our fears to him. We don't have to shove those feelings deep down, but we also don’t have to listen to the voice of fear that often tells us to do things that are sinful and lead to more brokenness. By listening to the voice of God and submitting our fears to him, we are able to receive his hesed loyal love in our own lives.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, “Leah, that's great for Jacob that he had a whole conversation with God's angels and has this relationship with God where he can just talk to him and God tells him things right back. Good for Jacob. I'm not the grandchild of Abraham. How am I supposed to hear the voice of God?” And to that I say “Fabulous question. Thank you for asking!” Here’s the answer. Every week I tell you to follow along as we read the scriptures in your Bible or in your smart phone or on the screen. The screen just contains clips of the Bible. But your physical Bible and your smart phone contain the whole Bible.
You have the entire inspired word of God in your pocket at all times and you have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always with you. The Spirit indwells you. That's the same spirit who talked to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Certainly there are seasons where it seems like God is silent in our lives. But sometimes God seems silent because we're not seeking out his Word. It’s not that God’s not speaking; it’s that we’re not listening. But you can listen. You can read the voice of God every day in your Bible and you are always indwelt with the Holy Spirit. If you don’t know how this works, then practice. Don’t expect instantaneous results. Just practice daily. Pray, read, ask God to help you understand. Do this on repeat trusting that in doing so God will begin to soften your heart to receive his word. You’ll begin to be more sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
We get into trouble when we approach the Bible and our prayer time to trying to make God say something specific to us. That’s not how God works. That’s us trying to control the situation much like the old Jacob. But in true prayer and scripture reading you are opening yourself to what God wants you to hear. It’s about surrendering your will to God just like Jacob did. Jacob, finally, listened to the voice of God after God spent 20 years breaking his hard heart in the household of Laban.
This passage also gives us an example of what it looks like to repent. It shows us what it means to turn away from our sinful life and that of fear towards God. In this moment, Jacob was not pursuing God's plan. He was just pursuing God. That's so different from what we saw from Jacob before. Jacob was chasing after God's plan but not in the ways of God and was largely disregarding God altogether. But now we just see Jacob pursuing God and trusting him.
That's the thing about our fears. They keep us focused on what's going on around us. They keep us focused on what we might be missing out on or how things could go wrong. But when we submit our fears to God, we are shifting our focus from our surroundings and our circumstances to the God who loves us and has saved us. That's what I want you to get from the sermon today. If you have totally blanked on this whole sermon and you're just now tuning back in and your stomach is grumbling cause you want to go to lunch then it's okay because I'm about to tell you everything you need to know. Submit your fears to God. That does not mean push your fears way down and ignore them. I am telling you to tell God all about your fears and tell him what's going on around you. And I believe that as you do that you will find your perspective shifting from your surroundings to God. That's what Jacob had to learn. He learned not just to pursue the plans of God. He learned to leave the plans of God up to God. Instead, Jacob just pursued God.
Today we are partaking in communion. I love communion Sundays. I love that we come together as one body of Christ to remember and celebrate God's hesed loyal love for us that was shown in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Talk about God's plan. Talk about God being patient! Why did God wait so long to bring Jesus here? Why did it take so many generations from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and so on to get Jesus? I don't know. Sometimes God's ways and plans are confusing. I’ll be the first to admit that. I think that's part of why we resist them in our sinful nature. We as people like to be in control. But God is calling us to release that control. But what we learned from this story of Jacob and from Jesus at the Last Supper is that God loves us so much. No, we don't deserve God’s hesed in our sinfulness. But it's not about us. Our faith is not about what we can give God. That's not even the point. There's no reason to feel shame around “Oh I'm so unworthy” because that's truly just not the point. This isn't about you. It’s about God and God's hesed love for each of us and for all of us. God loves you because that’s who God is.
I'm going to be using the communion liturgy from Page 730 from Our Great Redeemer's Praise hymnals. Today as we take Holy Communion remember that Christ died for you and was raised for you. And yet somehow it's not about you. It's about God. He has invited us into a relationship with him out of his hesed - His love that is loyal and kind and patient. So take a moment today to put aside all your worries and your concerns and your stresses and your dreams and your goals and your family and your home. Just set all that aside for now. Lay it at the altar. I like to imagine laying things down at the altar of God in my mind. I imagine looking up to God and looking at how loving and gracious he is. Pray to tangibly sense God's hesed love today as we partake in communion.