Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20000319.htm

GENESIS: THE SOURCES OF GOOD AND CALAMITY IN OUR ORIGINS
Part III - God's Ongoing Program Of Countering Man's Apostasy At Babel
Z. Round Twenty-Five - Learning To Trust God With Our FEARS
(Genesis 35:1-15)
  1. Introduction
    1. Fear is an enemy to the believer who seeks to live by faith, for it can stymie one's trust in God.
    2. Jacob's fear of reprisal from the Canaanites following his sons' unjust vengeance regarding the abuse done to Dinah blocked his trust in God, so God gave Jacob a lesson in handling such fear in Genesis 35:1-15.
    3. The text supplies us with a clear directive in conquering lingering fears as well (as follows):
  2. Learning To Trust God With Our FEARS, Genesis 35:1-15.
    1. After Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, unjustly gained revenge for their sister by slaying all the men of Shechem, Jacob expressed his fear of reprisal from his outnumbering Canaanite neighbors, Genesis 34:30.
    2. However, there was little Jacob could do about the problem as his sons were intolerant of the actions done to Dinah, and felt they had a right to slaughter the men of Shechem, Genesis 34:31.
    3. Well, since fear of one's welfare is the enemy of faith in God's provision for that welfare, GOD stepped in to counter Jacob's fear by building up his faith as follows, Genesis 35:1-15:
      1. God ordered Jacob to use his recollection of a former conquest of fear of reprisal as a means for addressing his current fears of reprisal from the Canaanites, Genesis 35:1:
        1. The Lord told Jacob to leave Shechem and travel fifteen miles south toward Bethel, a journey that would have left Jacob vulnerable to exposure to the Canaanites whose reprisal he feared, Gen. 35:1a.
        2. However, God's command was laced with memories of a FORMER lesson about handling fear of reprisal: (a) Jacob was to go to Bethel where God had first appeared to him when he fled from Esau's threat of reprisal, Gen. 35:1b; 27:41-43; 28:10-19. (b) Well, at that spot, God had promised to return Jacob safely to Canaan, Gen. 28:12-15. (c) Jacob then promised that if God would indeed return him safely to the land, God would be his God, Gen. 28:16-22. (d) God did arrange for him to return and meet Esau in safety, cf. Gen. 33:1-4. (e) Thus, Jacob declared God was his God, building an altar to that effect, Gen. 32:27-28 and 33:18-20. (f) Thus, God's Gen. 35:1 order for Jacob to return to Bethel where He appeared to Jacob when he fled from Esau's initial reprisal threat was God's word that the protection promise still held for Jacob's current Canaanite reprisal fears!
      2. Jacob responded in faith to this divine reminder of victory over past fears as follows, Genesis 35:2-15:
        1. Jacob knew that God's fulfilling His promise at Bethel to help him was met with his own vow to make God his God were the Lord to have kept His promise, Genesis 28:20-22.
        2. Since God had upheld His promise, Jacob told his family to put away all remaining evidences of past idolatry, for he was now fully following the Lord, His God and thus his PROTECTOR, Gen. 35:2.
        3. Jacob's command was associated with his mention of the trip to Bethel where God had answered his need in his former distress in flight from Esau, Genesis 35:3. This clearly showed Jacob was relying on his recollection of God's former help to teach his family to trust in God with him!
        4. Jacob's family trusted God and gave him these false gods, and he buried them under the oak by Shechem, putting off false crutches of support in favor of trusting the Lord alone, Genesis 35:4.
        5. Fittingly, the Lord placed the fear of Jacob and his people upon the Canaanites so that they were not disposed to attack him in reprisal for Shechem's destruction as he traveled to Bethel, Genesis 35:5-6.
        6. When Jacob safely arrived at Bethel, he built an altar in worship of God, his Protector, Gen. 35:7.
        7. Deborah, Jacob's mother's protective nurse died next, so Jacob buried her under an oak like he had the idols, showing God only -- not even other people -- was his only Source of Security, Gen. 35:8.
        8. Accordingly, God appeared again to Jacob not only to confirm the initial promise, but to broaden it to include the promise that kings would come out of his lineage, Genesis 35:10-15 with 28:13-15!
Lesson: When AFRAID, especially afraid of reprisals from PEOPLE, God directs that we handle that fear by (1) recalling His PAST help in SIMILAR situations as a BASIS of hope that He will help us NOW. (2) This act is to be associated with a growin g dependence on the Lord as our SOLE Source of security, even as opposed to leaning on other crutches -- even dependable PEOPLE -- for that security!