This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. This is day five of week seven of the
book of Genesis, chapter 35 today. Let me begin by reading chapter 35, beginning
in verse one.

"Then God said to Jacob, 'Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar
there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.
'" Now listen to what happens beginning in verse four. "So they gave Jacob all
the foreign gods that they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried
them under the oak at Shechem.

And then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around
them, so that no one pursued them. Jacob and all the people with him came to
Luz," that is Bethel, "and the land of Canaan. There he built an altar, and he
called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to
him when he was fleeing from his brother.

Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak tree, the oak
below Bethel, and it was named Alan Bakuth. " Now down to verse 16, "Then they
moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel
began to give birth and had great difficulty.

And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her,
'Don't be afraid, for you have another son. ' And she breathed her last, for she
was dying. And she named him Ben-Ani, but his father named him Benjamin.

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath," that is Bethlehem. "Over
her tomb, Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel's
tomb. Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-Eder.

While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his
father's concubine, Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. " Jacob had 12 sons. And
then beginning in verse 23, "Those sons are listed, the sons of Leah, Reuben,
the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, the sons of
Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin, the sons of Rachel's maidservant, Bilhah, Dan, and
Naphtali, the sons of Leah's maidservant, Zilphah, Gad, and Asher.

These were the sons of Jacob, and they were born to him in Patan-Aram. " Now I
say that, all these names, read them, because these are the 12 sons of Israel,
the 12 tribes of Israel. These are the blessings of God that came to Jacob in
Patan-Aram.

Patan-Aram, where Laban was, where he struggled, where he worked so long, and
God was blessing. So listen to what happens in verses 27 to 29. "Jacob came home
to his father Isaac and Mamre, near Kiriath-Alba," that is Hebron, "where
Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

Isaac lived 180 years, then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to
his people, old and full of years, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. "
Here's Jacob. He struggled his way to faith.

We've looked at his life these last couple of weeks, from bargaining, to
wrestling, to limping, to trusting. But there's one phase that I haven't talked
about, one final phase, because that phase is not so much in our hands, our
choice, as it is in God's hands, and that is the blessing phase. In these
verses, a blessing is given.

The Bible tells us in verse 2, "So Jacob said to his household and all that were
with him, 'Get rid of all these foreign gods. ' Jacob has come to a place in his
life where he's trusting in the one God and not the foreign gods. " And then out
of that, there's a section I didn't read earlier of God's blessing that I want
to read to you now, verses 9 to 15.

"After Jacob returned from Patanarayim, God appeared to him again and blessed
him. God said to him, 'Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called
Jacob. Your name will be called Israel.

' And so he named him Israel. And God said to him, 'I am God Almighty. Be
fruitful and increase in number.

A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from
your body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I
will give this land to your descendants after you. ' And then God went up from
him at the place where he had talked to him.

Jacob set up a stone pillar at that place where God had talked to him, and he
poured out a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. Jacob called the
place where God had talked to him Bethel, the house of God, Bethel. Here is
Jacob.

Who is Jacob at this point? He had left this place, this place of his father,
this place of Isaac, this place of Abraham. He had left this place as a scared
young child.

And here he comes back, he's a patriarch. He's well established in the land of
promise. And God reveals himself to Jacob with his blessing.

He called Jacob back to Bethel, back to the house of God. You never leave these
experiences that you have with God behind. You may think that you do.

It's happened way in the past. Jacob had left this land, he'd been afraid, but
God calls him back. Being called back meant, as we read earlier, that the
foreign gods had to be put away.

Maybe Laban's gods were buried here, I don't know. And the people had to purify
themselves because Jacob knew who they were going to meet. And in this moment,
God speaks to Jacob this strong word of blessing.

In this time of great prosperity in Jacob's life, when he's coming back into the
promised land, God in the strongest way reminds Jacob that it is God's blessing
that has brought him to where he is, and that it is God's blessing that's a hope
for the future. And Jacob responds well. How does Jacob respond?

He sets up a pillar of worship at Bethel, a place where he can see what God has
done. And he needed that. He needed that in his life.

In verse 19, we read that Rachel dies in childbirth. He loses the wife that he
loves. He buries her.

And then in verse 29, at the end of the chapter, his father, Isaac, dies. God
knew that Jacob would soon be facing this. And so in verses 9 to 15, he gives
him the promise again.

He reminds him of who he is again. You are Israel. He gives him the strength
beforehand to face what he knew what he would have to face.

Now, God is affirming his blessings in these verses to Jacob, but there's
something amazing here, something I don't want you to miss. Jacob sees clearly
in these verses that God is the one who's giving the blessing. But there's
something else that I don't want you to miss.

I don't want you to miss that although God affirms the blessing in these verses,
when Jacob gets to the end of all these phases of life, the truth is God was
blessing Jacob all the way through. While Jacob was bargaining, God was
blessing. While Jacob was struggling, God was blessing.

While Jacob was wrestling, God was blessing. While Jacob was limping, God was
blessing. Children were being born.

Material blessings were being given. The 12 tribes of Israel were being started.
The future was being prepared.

God was at work all the way through. And this is true in my life and your life,
too. God's at work.

God is at work in your life, recognized or unrecognized. He's at work in your
life, giving his blessings, following him or ignoring him. He's at work in your
life.

Our responsiveness, when you begin to respond to what he's doing, as Jacob
finally does in these last couple of chapters, that allows you to begin to grow,
to change, to connect with God, to use those blessings for his glory. But all
the way through, God is blessing, all the way through. And so we can say with
Jacob, it was a struggle sometimes, but God was always there.

God was always blessing. God was always working. Jesus Christ, as we take a few
moments to talk to you, we want to thank you.

Thank you that you are a blessing, blessing our lives in ways that we do not
see. And while sometimes we want to focus on things that are not there, not
happening, we wish hadn't happened, God help us right now to focus on things
that are there, that have happened, ways that you have blessed, ways you've
protected us, ways you've guided us, ways you've given to us materially,
physically. God thank you for your blessings.

In the midst of the struggles of life, in the midst of our bargaining with you
and not knowing you, thank you for the blessings of life. And Lord help us to
get to know you, so that those blessings are not just something we take for
granted, or just something that somehow we think we deserve, or something that
somehow we want to just use for ourselves or just our little family. Help us to
get to know you, so that we begin to recognize that those blessings, God you
have blessed us to be a blessing.

You blessed us to be a blessing not only here on this earth, but all the way
into eternity. Help us to see how you can use those blessings you put into our
lives to bring you glory. We ask this Jesus, in your name, amen.

Be sure to join us next week as we continue our study in the book of Genesis.
We're going to begin together the story of a dreamer, the story of Joseph.