“Sarah, tell me what the sermon was about this morning,” Uncle Jeff asked as the family finished their lunch around the table one Sunday.
“Well, the minister had three points,“ Sarah said as she folded her table napkin, “He was talking about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, ” she said as an afterthought.
“What about them?” Uncle Jeff asked, “What can you remember about them Bobby?” he asked as he turned to him.
“He said that Abraham was always building an altar everywhere he stayed”, Bobby said.
“Well, that’s right”, Uncle Jeff said, “But why would he want to do that?”
“He did it for God,” Betty piped up .
“Did not,” said Bobby, “He did it because God told him to!”
“That’s what I said, “ Betty said in an aggrieved voice.
“Come on you two,” Mum said, “That’s enough!”
“Well, what about Isaac then?” Uncle Jeff asked. “What was so special about Isaac?”
“Isaac was a promised baby,” Sarah said, “His mother and father didn’t have any children for years and years and God kept telling them they would, and at last they did. They called him Isaac which means happy.”
“That’s right,” said Uncle Jeff, “And he was a happy little boy too. What did he do when he grew up?”
“He dug wells wherever he went,” Bobby said.
“What do you think the wells meant? What were they for?” Uncle Jeff asked.
“ Well, wells give water,” said Sarah thoughtfully, “So they must stop people being thirsty. We need water too, to get washed with.”
“Alright,” said Uncle Jeff , “Let’s think about these two things for a minute. Abraham made altars, and Jacob dug wells. What do you think they signify?”
“Dunno!” said Bobby as he ran an imaginary truck along the edge of the table.
“I guess Abraham wanted to worship God and that Isaac believed that God would give him the water he needed for his soul. After all, we all need water to wash with and to drink.” Sarah said.
“That’s quite right,” Uncle Jeff said. “What else did the preacher say this morning? What was the third thing?”
“Something about Jacob!” Betty said, “It was something about Jacob!”
“I remember!” Bobby said, “He said that Jacob was wrestling with a man….brrm,brrm.”
“Yes, but the point was that Jacob thought he knew it all until he had to meet his brother who he had cheated, and he was scared. All his cleverness didn’t do him any good then! “ Sarah said, “It was really an angel who was wrestling with him and he didn’t know it was. Jacob was nearly beating him too, and then the angel touched the top of his leg and he began to limp, and he limped for ever after. What did that mean Uncle Jeff ? ”
“It showed Jacob that he wasn’t as smart as he had thought he was, and that he had to depend on God after all,” Uncle Jeff said, “It also showed everyone else that Jacob was different now, and he wasn’t the cheat that he had once been. You know, when we really come to know God, we will be different too….we won’t limp like Jacob did, but people will see that we don’t tell lies or dirty jokes any more or do mean things to other people.
And something more too about Jacob,” Uncle Jeff went on, “It wasn’t until Jacob got right with God, that he was able to go back to where the altar was that his grandfather had built so he could worship God once more in the right way. That’s just like us too, we can’t really worship God properly until we have washed ourselves in the water of repentance, and learned to depend on God. It was after this, that God gave Jacob a new name….Jacob’s name had meant “Cheat”, now he was to be called Israel which means “Prince with God”, and that name has stuck right down to today!”
Mum had been listening to all this while they were talking, and now she said, “Isn’t it wonderful the way the Bible tells us stories that have such deep meanings for us if we will only think about them and take notice!”
“It sure is,” said Uncle Jeff, “And now I’d better go as I’ve got things to do. See you all next week!” as he went off.
You can read this story for yourselves in the Bible in Genesis chapters 13:1-4; 26: 32-33; 32: 24-30; 35:9-13.
We were working on a project together, and I was thinking it was time we were finished. “Well, that’s near enough”, I said as I put my gear down. My brother-in-law looked at it, and said, “Near enough is not good enough, Gwenyth, you’ll have to spend a bit more time on it!” Those words have stuck with me for over forty years, and whenever I am tempted to think “Near enough”, they come back to haunt me.
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