Family, will you join with me as we go to our God together now in prayer? Will you pray with me? Father, in your psalms, the psalm writer sings praise. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. And then again, why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God. For I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. Father, there are a lot of hard things in our lives and in the lives of our church family. And it's easy, God, for those to pile up and for those to weigh on us and our soul is in turmoil. We lie awake anxious at night. We're afraid, we fret, we worry, we despair. And we come back to your word. Why are you down, Casto, my soul? Why in turmoil? Hope in God. And we shall again praise you, for you are our salvation. and you are our God. We thank you, Father. Our soul's in turmoil and yet we are free to gather publicly as your people to worship you and hear from your word. And so we thank you, our salvation and our God. We thank you this weekend in particular in which our country remembers those who gave their lives for our freedom and combat. We thank you, God. We are free, free to pursue your glory, free to pursue the interests and vocations and education that you lie before us, free especially to gather and worship and hear from you and we give thanks to you. Why is my soul downcast? Oh my salvation and my God. We thank you, God. We also pray for some of those in our congregation, many battling their bodies. Albert has a heart cath coming up on Tuesday. We pray for him and for wisdom and guiding of the doctors. Elaine Miller recovering from unplanned surgery. We thank you that that went well, but now she's healing and recovering. We pray for your grace. We pray for your care. We pray for both her and for Keith as she gets better, for patience. We pray, God, as we saw this email come out from Sam and Becky Taylor about her youngest son in just a really difficult situation. Father, we pray for your mercy. We pray for wisdom, we pray for help and for grace. Again, God, all these things, right, they compile and they weigh on our soul, and we again say, why is my soul downcast? Hope in God, and we will again praise him, for you are our salvation and our God. That's why we pray, God, for the Wilkins family. As they continue to grieve John's death and prepare for the services in a couple of weeks, we pray for your comfort and for your mercy And that even here, even facing death, rather than their souls being downcast because of our hope in the resurrection, because of our hope in you, our salvation, and our God, that they would be lifted up out of the darkness of grief into the joy of your salvation and mourning, hoping in the resurrection. And so, Father, for these things I've named, for the things that each of us are naming in our hearts and in our minds, wherever we're tempted to despair or be overwhelmed or just be cast down, would you renew our hope in you, reminding us you are our salvation and our God? We give these things to you in the name of Jesus and pray in his name, amen. Amen. People of God, would you please turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Genesis chapter 31. Genesis chapter 31. If you're using the Black Pew Bible there in front of you or underneath you, if you're in the front or back rows, our text is on page 25, and it goes to page 26. This is the longest text, I think, that we have yet read in our study of Genesis here, so I am gonna read the whole chapter. It is 55 verses. It is our practice here to stand for the reading of God's Word, but just again, for some that's a long time to stand, so if you need to remain seated, please feel free to do that. If you need to sit down sometime during the reading, please feel free to do that, but otherwise, if you would, would you please stand with me for the reading of God's Word, Genesis chapter 31. Genesis chapter 31, starting at verse one. Family, this is the word of our God. Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's, he's gained all his wealth. Jacob saw that Laban didn't regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you. So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was and said to them, I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I've served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my way just 10 times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said the spotted shall be your wages, then all the flock were spotted. If he said the stripes shall be your wages, then all the flock were striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. In the breeding season of the flock, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob, I said, here I am. He said, lift up your eyes and see all the goats that mate with the flock are stripes spotted and modeled for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred. Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? He has sold us. He has indeed devoured our money. All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do. So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock and his possession that he had acquired and paddened a ram to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep and Rachel stole her father's household gods. And Jacob tricked Laban, the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. When he was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. But God came to Laban there, me and in a dream by night and said to him, be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. Laban overtook Jacob. Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, what have you done that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and trick me and didn't tell me so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? Why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. It's in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house. But why did you steal my gods? Jacob answered and said to Laban, because I was afraid. For I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. Anyone with whom you find your god shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen, point out what I have that is yours and take it. Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen them. So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he didn't find them. And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's. Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent but didn't find them. She said to her father, let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you for the way of women is upon me. So he searched but didn't find the household gods. And Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, what is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? You have felt through all my goods. What have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen, before your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. These 20 years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried. I've not eaten the rams of your flocks. What was torn by wild beasts I didn't bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. There I was, by day the heat consumed me, the cold by night, my sleep fled from my eyes. These 20 years I've been in your house. I served you 14 for your two daughters, six years for your flock, and you've changed my way just 10 times. The God of my father, the God of Abraham, the fear of Isaac had not been on my side. Surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night. Laban answered and said to Jacob, the daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have born? Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between you and me. So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. Jacob said to his kinsmen, gather stones. They took stones, made a heap, they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jager Sahaduthah, but Jacob called it Galid. Laban said, this heap is a witness between you and me today. Therefore he named it Galid. And Mizpah, for he said, the Lord watched between you and me when we were out of one another's sight. If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives beside my daughters, although no one is with us to see, God is witness between you and me. And Laban said to Jacob, see this heap and the pillar which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness and the pillar is a witness that I will not pass over this heap to you, you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me to do harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father judged between us. So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country. Early in the morning, Laban arose, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home. Family, this is the word of our God. Let's pray and give thanks to him for it. Will you pray with me? And so, Father, we do thank you for your word and that we encounter you in it. And so, Spirit, would you open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our hearts to understand. Cause us, Father, here to know you more, that we might love you better, that we might love like you love. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Would you please be seated? So you're here from Jacob for 20 years. For 20 years, Jacob is stuck in a miserable job, 20 years. And without the option that so many of us have to just quit, right? Here is a shepherd in the Middle East. You hear him describe the conditions for him were brutal, right? Hot days, cold nights, long hours, no sleep. He's responsible for the flocks, right? If a sheep or goat is stolen or attacked by a lion or eaten by some other predator, he paid for the loss out of his own pocket. And his boss, then, on top of all this, his boss keeps changing the contract, right? Maybe I'll pay you this much, and payday comes, he says, well, actually, I'm gonna pay you this much instead for 20 years. 20 years, Jacob is stuck in a miserable job. How do you endure a hard situation year after year after year after year? How do you endure a miserable situation for years on end? Well, when Jacob finally does leave, It was right as he's starting to gain some security and prosperity. Finally starting to enjoy some of the fruits of his labor and he trades in all that prosperity for an uncertain future. Where's he gonna live? Will that prosperity continue when he's by himself? Will they find, as they leave Laban and family and at least some kind of community, will they find family? Will they make new friends or will they encounter more hostility? Oh, and what about Esau? You remember that brother that Jacob cheated and fled from, the brother who promised to kill him once their father died? So how do you navigate uncertainty? How do you deal with the future when you don't know what's gonna happen? And then there's Leah and Rachel. Listen again to how Leah and Rachel describe their father. They said this, are we not regarded by him as foreigners? He has sold us. This is their word about their dad. He has devoured our money, our inheritance. Here's Rachel and Leah, unloved, traded away, and their dad spends their inheritance. How do you deal with broken relationships? You see, our temptation, when we encounter various hardships or hard things, is to find someone or find something that'll give us relief or fill up this emptiness that we feel or help us feel safe or secure about what we're going through or what we're facing in the future. Or at least turn to something that'll dull the pain for a little while. Give us a taste of some measure of happiness, even if just for a moment. And that's what Rachel does here, isn't it? It's in verse 19, Jacob and the family, they're all preparing to sneak away while Laban is out shearing the sheep. But first, Rachel goes into the house and she steals her father's idols, steals the household gods. Now we're gonna spend a few moments here in a little while talking about some of the specific reasons Rachel might have taken these gods, but it's easy to see that she hopes to gain something from them, isn't it? In the midst of her pain and rejection from her father, or maybe for the journey to help face this uncertain future, whatever the reason, Rachel takes her father's gods. And it's easy for us to imagine, right? You hear the word idolatry, you hear the word household gods, and we imagine little statues of wood or stone or metal, right? Or maybe you hear the word idolatry and you think of these big temples, right? With big statues of gods and people bowing down to them or people bringing offerings to these statues. And of course, these are idols and statue worship is idolatry. And this happens all over the world today. It happens even in our city, in some of the homes of the people around us. But idolatry can be much bigger than that, much broader than that. Idolatry can be anything that we turn to other than Jesus to help us through hardship. You hear a little bit of that from Dana and Chris McComb this morning. Anything that we turn to that we used to try to fill up that emptiness in our hearts can be idolatry. And so the New City Catechism, just to remind you, a catechism, it's simply a question and answer format that the historic church has used to teach us about theology and about what life with Jesus is. And I found the New City Catechism developed out of the late Tim Keller's church in New York City. I find the New City Catechism so helpful, commended to you for your personal devotions, family worship. And within it, they've got a definition of idolatry. I wanna share it with you here. Here's the New City Catechism's definition of idolatry. What is idolatry? Here's a question and answer format of a catechism. Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the creator for our hope and happiness, significance, and security. Trusting in created things rather than the creator for our hope, for our happiness, for significance, or security. The temptation is when we're stuck in a really hard situation for a really long time. Where the temptation is, when you're looking ahead in an uncertain future, so think, you're waiting on tests from a doctor, or a diagnosis, or a job change, or just leaving for college, right? The temptation, you're facing an uncertain future. The temptation, when we're dealing with broken relationship. Our temptation is to find something, find someone that might make us feel better. Something that makes us feel safe. something that makes us feel loved, something that makes us feel like maybe we matter, something that'll make us feel like everything's gonna work out and it's gonna be okay, or even just something to dull the pain. If I could taste, just for a moment, a little bit of happiness, some kind of escape. And so our idols can be any number of things. They can be relationships, they can be our bank accounts, they can be experiences, ice cream, For some of us, this is one of mine, right, it's research. If I can find all the information, know all the possible outcomes, then I'll feel safe. Even ourselves, right, we can turn ourselves into idols. Self-sufficiency, self-reliance, we often turn ourselves into little gods that we think can rescue us, right? We think we can fix ourselves, and most of us are certain we can fix the people around us. This is our temptation. When you encounter a hard situation, we run to false gods. We run to false saviors. Our temptation is to turn to idols. And that's where our text helps us this morning. The story of Jacob and Laban and Rachel stealing the gods, it's a story that contrasts the folly of idols with the faithfulness of God. How are you gonna deal with the hard things in your life? How am I gonna deal with the hard things in my life? Either we run to idols or we run to the Lord. Our text shows us the folly of the first and calls us to the second. So we're gonna jump into our text this morning. We're gonna start with the folly of idols and then we'll end by looking at the faithfulness of our God. As we turn to the folly of idols, why would Rachel steal her father's household gods? And the text doesn't tell us explicitly what she's looking for or what she's hoping to gain. There's lots of possibilities. Likely the truth is probably some combination of these. So one of the options, she takes them because she believes that taking the idols would afford her some kind of protection as they flee from her father. So think about idols in the ancient Near East. Why do you have idols? Well, one of the reasons you have idols is as a source of divination, right? A way to inquire of the gods in a time of uncertainty. So Rachel might have taken the gods, thinking, if I have my father's gods, he won't be able to use them to find out where we went. One option. Second option. She might have taken the idols as a means of helping her have more children. One of the functions of gods in the ancient world was for fertility. Rachel's already tried the mandrakes, and then when she does finally give birth to Joseph, she does credit the Lord, but she names him essentially, this is the name that she gives to her son, please God, give me another son. That's the name of Joseph. That's one way to translate Joseph's name. God, please give me another boy. Ancient idols are often linked to fertility. whether for your crops, or for your herds, or even for your people. She might have been turning to these idols so she could have more babies. Third option, she might have taken the idols to secure her inheritance. Ancestral gods are often tied to possessions, to an inheritance, to rights, and she's already said, my father has eaten up our inheritance, and so maybe she's trying to pay him back, or she's just grabbing them to say, all of this is rightfully mine. I have the gods, all this possession is mine. And of course, Rachel, fourth option, she might have just taken these idols simply for her own personal worship, right? A source of comfort, hope, security. And most likely, it's probably some of all of these. And then what happens in our text is we see Rachel take these household gods and then our text mocks those gods. The text mocks these false gods as non-gods. Our text is trying to show us the silliness, the foolishness, the folly of trusting in blocks of wood, stone, or metal. So in the first place, we see this mocking in that Rachel steals the gods. Just think about that for a moment. These so-called gods can be stolen. I mean, how powerful can they be if someone can take them? And then on top of that, then these gods can be lost, right? Laban is searching for the gods and can't find them, right? Rachel hides them by putting them in the camel saddle and sitting on them. The text is laughing here, mocking the idolatry, mocking the powerlessness of these blocks of stone, wood, and metal. The mocking of our text is completed in Rachel's words, verse 35, and you'll have to forgive a little bit of the crassness here, but here Rachel has, she's taken the household gods, she's hidden them in her saddle, she sits on them, and then she claims to be menstruating. And remember the first readers of this time, Israelites right out of Egypt, Israelites who have received God's law from Mount Sinai, they know that contact with human blood renders a person ceremonially unclean. If you encounter human blood, for a season, you can't join God's people in worship. It was a way of teaching about God's holiness and purity and otherness. So here's the crowning derision of our text on the folly of idols. These so-called gods are rendered themselves ritually unclean. They've been defiled in their powerlessness. They're not even fit enough to attend their own worship services. I want you to hear, the text here is screaming to Israel. Why on earth would you ever be tempted to put your hope in these powerless, defiled blocks of wood, stone, or metal? And think about Israel, making her way toward the promised land, encountering people group after people group, new idol worship after new idol worship, they come into the land of Canaan, and they see the statues, they see people worshiping them, and the text is screaming, why on earth would you ever worship a block of wood? They can't even protect themselves from being stolen, lost, or defiled, they're totally powerless. The Old Testament prophets and the Psalm writers, they go further to say this, those who trust in idols become like them. So here's Laban. He's marching with his army after Jacob and Rachel and Leah. He confronts Jacob about Jacob leaving and stealing the gods. He searches the text furiously and desperately and he ends up leaving this encounter with his tail between his legs. Laban the captor, Laban the taskmaster, Laban the horrible boss and negligent father. Laban is rendered powerless by the end of our story, begging Jacob for a peace treaty. You can hear his desperation in verse 43. Listen to his powerlessness. He says this again, all this is mine. Those are my kids, those are my daughters, those are my flocks, everything you see is mine. But what can I do? Laban's rendered totally powerless by the end of the text. Those who trust in idols become like them. Rachel too. Jacob says, let anyone that you find with your gods, let anyone that you find who has your gods, let them be put to death. Rachel is willing to risk her life to save these non-gods. so blinded by her idolatry, so consumed with her trust in these blocks of wood, stone, and metal, that they've now taken charge of her life. She's willing to die for a block of wood. Those who trust in idols become like them. Family, this is our temptation. Our temptation and hardship, rather than running to Jesus, is to run to our own form of idolatry. Whether you're in a hard circumstance year after year after year, or you're looking at an uncertain future, or you're navigating a broken relationship, we're all tempted to turn to created things rather than the creator for hope, happiness, significance, or security. And so how do we find and root out our idols? One of the things we can do is just look at what you give your life to. What consumes your energy? What takes up your time and your thoughts? When you're lying in bed at night, what keeps you awake? Our anxieties, our worries, they're good indicators of idols that we've hidden in our hearts. A late pastor and scholar, Tim Keller, he suggests digging after your strongest emotions. When do you feel really, really, really, really, really angry? What can set you off like that? Dig at that anger. What looks underneath? Most of the time you've got an idol hanging there at the roots. What keeps you fretting at night instead of sleeping? Dig at that fear. Dig at that worry, that anxiety. Look at whatever it is that consumes our time, our energy, our thoughts, our feelings. Then come back to the chapter and hear the text. Mock our trust in those things. Those who put their hope in idols become like them. See the folly of idols. and then read the chapter again and see the faithfulness of our God. Let's look at that now together. We've looked at the folly of idols. Let's turn and look at the faithfulness of our God. We see God's faithfulness in that he gives Jacob his presence. This is in verse five. Jacob says really explicitly, the God of my father has been with me. Verse 42, Jacob says, God was on my side and saw my affliction. Here's Laban's household gods. They're hidden underneath Rachel's saddle. Laban searches for them. They're lost, right? They can't be found. But the one true and living God is near you. He's with you. He never leaves you. The one true and living God can't be stolen or lost or defiled. He's put a spear within you. And that means he's always, always, always with you. The one true and living God is with you and he will keep you. In his faithfulness, God gives us his presence. In his faithfulness, God gives us his protection. Verse seven, even though Laban keeps cheating Jacob, keeps changing his wages, look what Jacob says, he says, though Laban kept cheating me, though he kept changing my wages, even so, even so, God did not permit him to harm me. God protects Jacob in his faithfulness. When Jacob and his family flee Laban, Laban musters his army together, right? Grabs all of his people. So if you've been with us in Genesis, you might think of Abraham when Lot gets kidnapped and Abraham gathers all of his servants and his people, chases after the kings of Sodom. That's the picture here, right? He's chasing after Jacob. He camps near him, ready to invade. And the Lord appears to Laban in a dream. Tells Laban, don't even say a word to Jacob, not good or bad, right? Saying, don't try to seduce him by promising him wealth and riches to get him to come back to you, and don't threaten him either. I've sent him, leave him alone. God's protecting Jacob here. And notice in this protection, Jacob wouldn't even know about that dream or about God's protection unless Laban had chased him and confronted him. And so listen, listen family, this is hard, but sometimes God brings hard things into our lives in order to show us that he's been protecting us. Sometimes we encounter these really difficult circumstances because what God's doing is he's revealing to us his kindness, his goodness, his protection of us, even in the midst of that hard, Jacob would not have known God's protection unless Laban has marched his army and camped away from him and come and confronted him. God in his faithfulness gives us protection. Rachel also shows us God's protection. You think about Rachel, here she is risking her life to protect these blocks of wood or stone or metal. Jacob doesn't know she has these idols. And there's nothing in this world that Jacob loves more than Rachel. We've seen it in these past few chapters. Over and over, the texts keep telling us Jacob loves Rachel. And unbeknownst to him, he condemned his wife to death when he said, whoever has those gods shall not live. But God protects Rachel, doesn't he? Laban doesn't find the idols. God here is not just protecting Rachel, he's also protecting Jacob by not letting Laban find the idols. And this, in just the opposite way of a point a couple moments ago, this here's really striking at the end. Here's Jacob, he's lashing out at Laban. He's boasting of his innocence. And we, as the text readers, we know the truth, don't we? Those idols are in Rachel's tent. They're hidden under the saddle. And yet God protects Jacob. Sometimes God brings us hard things into our life to show us his protection. And often, we don't even see God's protection. I think what's happening here with Rachel is this good reminder, we in our lives only see this tiny fraction of God's kindness, goodness, and protection. I mean, how often has God spared you, rescued you, kept you from harm, and you didn't even know it? There's a call here from the text to live humbly before the faithful protection of God, all the ways that God protects us, and we don't even see it. It's just more faithfulness. The one true and living God in his faithfulness gives us his presence, gives us his protection, gives us his provision. In the last chapter, in Genesis chapter 30, Jacob lamented to Laban that even though Laban prospered, I can't even provide for my own family. You don't share any of that with, I can't even provide for my own family. And now in our chapter, you see this, just one example in verse 41, we see Jacob explains that it's because Laban keeps cheating him, keeps changing his wages over and over and over, Laban takes advantage of Jacob. Even so, again back to verse seven, even though Laban deceives, even though Laban cheats Jacob, God keeps providing. God keeps providing. For those of you facing an uncertain future, Still waiting to hear back from a doctor, mounting medical bills, tuition payments, whatever it is that lies ahead. God in his faithfulness provides for his people. Our God's not stingy. Unlike the idols, right, they have no storehouses of their own, they have no treasures of their own. Our God, all the silver is his, all the gold is his, all the cattle are his, and God in his abundance provides for his people. It's more faithfulness. It's more faithfulness. And so here in Genesis 31, the call of our text this morning, whether it's for Israel making their way toward the promised land or us navigating the hardships of this world waiting for King Jesus to come back, our text keeps showing us the folly of idols. They're powerless, right? They get stolen, they're hidden, they're defiled. Our idols, if we really look at them objectively in our lives, they can't rescue us. They're not the maker of heaven and earth. You heard from our text earlier that Dana read. They're just flesh. They're just made things. Why on earth would we ever trust in something created, something made, rather than the creator of heaven and earth? Our text here shows us the folly of idols and reminds us of the faithfulness of the one true and living God who gives us his presence, he's always with us, gives us our protection. Sometimes we get to see it, often we don't, who gives us perfect provision. Friend, whatever hardship you're facing, enduring a long season of suffering, navigating an uncertain future, or just trying to figure out a broken relationship, whatever hardship you're going through, Turn to the Lord. Turn to the one true and living God who is faithful. He is faithful. Turn to the Lord. Will you pray with me? And so Father, we thank you for this reminder from your text. In a lot of ways, it's a humorous text as we see the mocking of these powerless gods, but then it's a really sharp text as we're confronted in our hearts with our own idolatry and the things that we run to instead of you, trusting in created things instead of the maker of heaven and earth. And so as your text calls us again to you, as your table calls us again to you, Would you renew, fortify, strengthen our faith in you? We thank you, you are a faithful, faithful God. And we thank you in Jesus' name, amen.