The God of our Ancestors (part III)

by Odon Bulamba

God is the God of Jacob. What does Jacob mean? Jacob means to grasp the heel, and the heel helps us to balance. If someone doesn’t have heels they won’t be able to stand up.

1 Timothy 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

We are going to look at the pillar of truth. Jacob means to hold the heel that supports the whole body, and what holds our spiritual life is the church of the living God, that is the pillar of truth. We don’t have any other support apart from this, men can have their truth but God’s truth is supported by His church. The Bible says that Jacob was chosen while in his mother’s womb.

Romans 9:10-13 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

God has a plan when He chooses man, and man’s calling only depends on God. God chose Jacob when Rebecca was pregnant, and from here he started fighting against Esau. Jacob and Esau fought against each other in their mother’s womb because they wanted first birthrights, and that is why Jacob would hold on to his brother’s heel.

To have the support of God’s truth in our lives we must fight for it in order to receive it, and if someone takes it from you don’t hesitate to grab their heel so you can follow them to know what is in them. This is what Elisha did because he didn’t have what Elijah had. Elijah tried his best to escape from Elisha, but Elisha grabbed his heel because he needed the support of God’s truth that was in Elijah.

Elisha received a double portion and became more powerful than Elijah, as Jacob was stronger than Esau. When we receive God’s word and are thirsty to know God’s truth, God is able to make us very strong and take us to a higher level. Many people say that Jacob was a deceiver and wasn’t serious in his actions, but why did God bless him if he was a deceiver? Can you answer?

Jacob pretended to be Esau so that he could receive a blessing from his father, and Rebecca was an accomplice for Jacob, so why did God still bless him? Was it God’s plan that Jacob was to deceive his father? Think about it. The fight Jacob fought against Esau didn’t start when they were adults, but they started fighting in their mother’s womb. How many times do you fight with God? How many times do you discuss the word of God with your brother? If you want to learn the Bible take the time to discuss it with others and ask each other questions. If you can’t find an answer to a question that was asked, go home and look for it in depth, but if you are not able to discuss the Bible in a small group of 2 or 3 you risk not to grow, because God always starts with small groups. We must learn to fight with each other, and to fight with each other means to read the Bible together and learn how to pray together and you will see what God will do. If we don’t do this it will be hard for God to say that He is the God of Peter or Angela.

We have been talking about the God of our ancestors to remind ourselves about what they did during their lives on planet earth, and to know what their end was. We have talked about Abraham and looked at how he served his God, and to see how much faith he had, and after we know this we can compare it to our life. We also talked about Isaac and saw how much humility and joy he had, and finally we talked about Jacob and saw how much support and balance we need for our spiritual lives, so that we will know how to fight in this world. Spiritual food has different levels, if you don’t understand humiliate yourself and ask questions, but if you don’t ask questions you will be left behind.

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