# 282 The Response That Gets You To the Hall of Fame of Faith

The Book of Genesis

Day 282

Ge 31:4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock,  5 and said to them, "I see your father's countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.  6 "And you know that with all my might I have served your father.  7 "Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.  8 "If he said thus: 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: 'The streaked shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked. 9 "So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.  10 "And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted.  11 "Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, 'Jacob.' And I said, 'Here I am.'

 There is no delay here. God told Jacob to return, so he immediately called Rachael and Leah and told them of his plan to leave and his reasons for leaving. He includes the divine assurances he had received so they would realize that God was in this sudden move.

He begins by pointing out the obvious. Laban is not happy with him anymore. Then Jacob reminds them that God has been with him all the way in his dealings with Laban and will continue to walk them through this, so they need not fear.

He points out, how, against all odds his herd has grown while Laban’s has been depleted. Evidently Laban changed the rules regarding the livestock that he would take from Jacob on 10 different occasions!

When Laban would say, “How about you just keep the speckled? Then only speckled would be born. Or, if he changed his mind and said, “How about you just keeping the streaked,” only the streaked would be born.  God’s hand was clearly in this!  And to make it even more clear, Jacob relates a dream where God showed him the hidden genetics of the rams. Even though the rams appeared to be one color on the outside, God showed Jacob their true genetic makeup. What a miracle, as Jacob gets a first hand look at the omniscience of God!  This kind of peek at the omniscience of God is equivalent to the New Testament spiritual gift of knowledge, mentioned in 1 Cor 12:8, “for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,” This insight given to Jacob was further proof that God was with him!

Sometime after the supernatural glimpse into genetics, the Angel of God spoke to him saying, “ Jacob.” And notice the response of faith said by so many ordinary men of the Bible with whom God wants to do something extraordinary. Jacob replies with the Faith Hall of Fame response, “Here I Am.”  “I am willing God, what is it that you would have me do!”

You see my brothers and sisters, faith isn’t as tricky as we make it out to be. Faith is hearing God’s voice (in His Word) responding to His call to act on the as yet unseen, with a simple, “Here I am.!” It’s a matter of being willing, then staying tuned in for further instructions if necessary…..If it is of God……the instructions will come.