to be ambiguous is to be... well... you know.
Soon and Very Soon.
Today in Sunday service, my pastor P. Joe talked about Acts 3, saying that God is preparing the people for Jesus’ second coming and preparing us to go out and prepare the people. During the message, I confess, I got a little distracted and started thinking of things slightly off-topic. Just slightly. The first point, emphasizing Christ’s return, I started to think of the song “Soon and Very Soon” by Hillsong United. And although I was still listening to P. Joe AND taking notes, mind you, I started to think more about when Jesus is coming back. Then I started to think of Jacob.
Well, earlier today, I taught Sunday school for elementary students. P. Nghieu, who speaks for the primary services (1st through 3rd grade), told a story of Jacob and Esau. The lesson was about talents and using them for God’s glory, and he was using the story as an example of what NOT to do. Well, in Genesis 25:27-34, Jacob uses a talent that God gave him and that Esau lacked to cheat his older brother out of his birthright:
When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (ESV)
Well, the point of saying that is that Jacob was on my mind, okay? I always thought he was not a good person. But anyways, when I was in worship for my college service, we sang “Give Us Clean Hands” by…Matt Redman? I think. And the last line of the chorus goes, “O God of Jacob.” Jacob AGAIN. Geez. I couldn’t understand why the song calls God the God of Jacob and not Abraham or Moses or Paul or Silas or David or Josiah or someone GOOD (at least, better than Jacob, whose name practically means “deceiver”). Hmm. I dunno. But Jacob was haunting me all day, it seemed. Well, in hindsight, anyways.
So, back to P. Joe’s message. Jesus is coming soon. “Soon and Very Soon.” And then I thought of when Jacob was working for Laban in order to marry Rachel. The Bible says in Genesis 29 that Jacob worked for seven years, “and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her” (Genesis 29:20). And then he gets LEAH instead, works another seven years that seem like a few days, and finally marries Rachel. So he worked for FOURTEEN dang years ultimately to marry some girl he thought was pretty. And the Bible says that it seemed like a few days. Like, maybe a week? That’s craziness! But the Good Book don’t lie. Jacob probably saw Rachel every so often, if not every day, but he could not totally be with her for fourteen years that seemed like days.
Now, to tie it all together! JESUS is COMING to take His BRIDE. SOON. Jacob loved Rachel so much because she was PRETTY, and look how it distorted his perception of time. We should be totally, unconditionally, UNFATHOMABLY in love with Jesus, the perfect Groom. I think working for God for a day, four months, even fifty years should feel like merely hours to us. Wouldn’t you agree? There’s just not enough time to please God.
