A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 30, “Blessed,” for Sunday, April 7, 2024.

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  In her delightful autobiography, mystery writer Agatha Christie wrote about the time her brother came back home to England from Africa:  

“He brought with him a native servant, Shebani.  Anxious to show (him) the glories of London, my brother hired a car and, sitting in it with Shebani, drove all round London. He displayed to him Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, the Guildhall, Hyde Park, and so on. Finaly when they had arrived home, to said to Shebani, ‘What did you think of London?’ Shebani rolled his eyes up. ‘It is wonderful, Bwana, a wonderful place. Never did I think I would see anything like it.’ My brother nodded a satisfied head. ‘And what impressed you the most?’ he said. The answer came without a moment’s thought. ‘Oh Bwana, shops full of meat. Such wonderful shops. Meat hanging in great joints all over and nobody steals them, nobody rushes and pushes their way there and snatches. No they pass by them in an orderly fashion. How rich, how great a country must be to have all this meat hanging in shops open to the streets. Yes, indeed, England is a wonderful place. London a wonderful city.”  (Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, p. 64)

Isn’t it interesting that what that man thought was the most wonderful thing about a city, many of us might just overlook, or take for granted!  And it’s because God has blessed most of us with so much!

And/or in addition to that story, you might ask your group:

??? What is a blessing that you are especially thankful to God for today???

And when you’re finished sharing, then introduce today’s lesson from Genesis 30, on how God blessed His servant Jacob — and how He blesses us today too!

CONTEXT

Our study through Genesis continues with Jacob still living in Haran, serving his father-in-law Laban, who had deceived him into marrying his oldest daughter Leah, as well as Rachel, whom Jacob loved. Jacob’s had children through Leah, including Reuben, his first-born, then Simon, Levi, and Judah. As Rachel could not have children at first, she gave her maid to Jacob, who bore him two sons — then Leah gave Jacob HER maid, and he had two more through her!  Finally in the middle of Genesis 30, :22 says “God remembered Rachel … and opened her womb.” So Rachel had a son whom she named Joseph (from the Hebrew word “yasaph,” meaning “remove” — because she felt like God had “removed” her reproach of not having a son. 

This brings us to :25, and our focus passage for this week, Genesis 30:25 and following. 

Now this is just the tack that the Lord is leading me to take: I am not going to get too caught up in the details of the “speckled and spotted” animals and the peeled rods, etc. God gave us those details, but I don’t know that this is where the majority of our limited time with our class should be spent this week. I am planning to focus on the “bigger picture” here: how God blessed Jacob, and how He blesses us and others today as well. So my outline will be something like this: 

OUTLINE

I.  God Blesses His People (all through the text, and :43 especially)

II.  God’s Blesses others through His people (:27)

III.  A Balanced Perspective on God’s Blessings (other scriptures)

TEXT

I. God Blesses His People

As our focus passage begins in :25, “Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, ‘Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.’

He said to him in :29, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle fared with me. (:30) “For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned.”

Now, so far this blessing had extended to Laban only, but when Laban asks Jacob in :31 “What shall I give you?”, he said in :32 “let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the speckled and spotted among the goats; and such shall be my wages.”

So he did — and by the time we get to :43 at the end of this story, it says, “So the man (Jacob) became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.” 

Where did this wealth come from? 

— In verse 27, Laban says to Jacob, “the LORD has blessed me on your account”
— In verse 30 Jacob says to Laban, “The LORD has blessed you …”

So they considered GOD (“LORD” in all 4 capital letters = YHWH, “Yahweh” or Jehovah in the Hebrew text) as the source of the blessings they had. THIS God, the one true God, the God of Abraham and the God of the Bible, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the source of our blessings.

The one true God is indeed the source of every good thing that we receive.

— James 1:17 says, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights”.

This is the core belief behind all the Biblical commands to give thanks to God, because HE is the One responsible for our blessings. 

— We see that here in Genesis 30 …

— We also see it later in Genesis 39 with Joseph: “His master saw that the LORD was with him.” GOD was the One blessing Joseph.

— We see His blessings with Daniel. Daniel 1 says “Now GOD granted Daniel favor … (:17) God gave them knowledge and intelligence …”. GOD was the One blessing Daniel and the other Hebrew children. There is no such thing as a “self-made man” — GOD is the source of our blessings.  

— Psalm 104:27 “They all wait for You to give them their food in due season. (:28) You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.” 

— Psalm 136:1 “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good … (:25) Who gives food to all flesh”

THANK HIM, the Psalms repeatedly exhort us, because He is the One who gives us all that we have. He blesses His people.

How many of the Proverbs show us how God will bless His people who walk with Him:

(You might want to TYPE THESE VERSES UP & HAND THEM TO SOME VOLUNTEERS IN ADVANCE TO READ)

— Proverbs 3:9-10 “Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

— Proverbs 3:33 “The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.”

— Proverbs 10:3 “The LORD will not allow the righteous to hunger”

(We’ll see in a minute how the next verse balances this!)

— Proverbs 10:22 “It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it”

— Proverbs 10:27 “The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be shortened”

— Proverbs 22:4 “The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, honor, and life.”

And of course there are many more. But we get the idea: GOD is the source of our blessings, just as He was for Jacob.  

??? Can you think of someone in Scripture that God blessed materially?

(TONS of people:

Example of Abraham:

Example of Joseph:

Example of Daniel:

??? Can you think of someone TODAY that God has blessed???

(YOU/US!  How God has blessed US! 

Many of us are more blessed by God than we realize. Even what we think of as an “average” American is likely in the top 10% of the wealthiest people in the world! 

irememberthepoor.org = (“Am I Rich” tab)

— if you have total assets (not cash) of $2200 you are in the top 50% of the wealthiest people in the world!

— If you made $1500 last year, you are in the top 20% of the world’s income earners

— WaPo article = 71% of people in the world have total assets of less than $10,000! 

The point is, God has blessed all of us very much, and we need to recognize that HE is the source of our blessings. So we should continually give Him thanks for all the good He does for us.  

II. God Blesses Others Through His People (:27)

It is instructive that Laban said to Jacob in :27, “I have divined that the LORD has blessed me on your account.”

Here we see another important point: God not only blesses His people, He blesses OTHERS on account of them. Jacob was God’s servant, and He blessed him — but Laban also ended up being blessed through him. 

This often happens: God blesses others through His people. 

In fact, He shows us in scripture that this is WHY He has He blessed us — He has blessed us to BE A BLESSING:

— We saw in Genesis 12 when God called Abraham, He said to him: “And I will make your name great; and so you shall BE a blessing … and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” God blessed Abraham, so that he could BE a blessing to the whole earth. 

— Jacob:  Genesis 28:14 “In you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” God says I’m going to bless you Jacob; but it’s not just to bless him; it’s so that he will BE a blessing to the whole world. 

— Psalm 67 expands the scope of this beyond those two men:  “God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, THAT Your way may be known on the earth; Your salvation among all nations.”  That Psalm ends: “God our God blesses us; God blesses us, THAT all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

WHY does God bless us, Psalm 67 says? He blesses us so that we may BE a blessing to those around us. 

I think this has been true of America. I don’t know if America has ever truly been a majority of genuine Christians. But there has always been a good group of God’s people here, and I do believe that God has blessed America as a result. And WHY has God blessed America? It’s so that we can BE a blessing to others: sending missionaries and Bibles and the gospel all over the world. He has blessed us to BE a blessing. 

So AS God blesses each of us personally, we need to consider: WHY has He blessed me? He hasn’t just blessed me to bless me; He’s blessed me so that I can BE a blessing to our nation, our city, our church, our family, and others in the world around me.  

??? What are some specific ways that God can use us the blessings He has given us, to BE a blessing to people around us???

(Tithe to church, give to missions, give to charities and individuals in need; serve; bring a meal; go on mission; share the gospel — which the greatest blessing we can! So many ways …)

The point is, don’t be selfish; just like Abraham and Jacob, God has blessed you for the purpose of being a blessing to others. So make sure that you ARE. Purposefully seek to be a blessing, and to share your blessings with others.    

And honestly, when we bless others, it increases our own sense of blessing. Recently I read where someone said, if you are depressed or discouraged, DO SOMETHING to minister to someone: take someone a meal; go visit the hospital or nursing home, or something like that. I agree with that; I have personally done this, and invariably I have found that when I go to be a blessing to others, it lifts MY spirits. God has blessed us for the purpose of being a blessing to others. So you will get a sense of fulfillment and blessing in your life when you will do that. God’s blessed you, so be a blessing to others. 

III. God’s Balanced Perspective on Material Blessings

I believe that a section like this may be needed, because of the popularity of a lot of teaching today about God’s blessing, that is out of balance with scripture. There are many so-called “Christian” teachers today who make the entire focus of their ministry the material blessings that God does generally give His people. Yet they proclaim it in an imbalanced way.

Like most lies of Satan, there IS some grain of truth in what they teach. This is a pattern the enemy often uses. If he tried to teach something that was just a total, baldfaced lie, most people would reject it. But if he “wraps up” that lie in a package with some truth, it will deceive a lot more people. So he uses “some” truth, but he takes it out of context or out of balance, to get people off track. 

For example, look at how Satan tempted Jesus in Matthew 4. It says he stood Him on the pinnacle of the Temple and said, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for IT IS WRITTEN, ‘He will give His angels charge concerning You, on and their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’”

Do you see how insidious this temptation was?  Jesus had just told him after the first temptation, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone …’” — quoting God’s word to him. So now, Satan, so wily and deceptive, uses even God’s own word to try to tempt Jesus further. He puts his lies, in the wrapping of scriptural truth.

And of course there was truth there: God DID say in Psalm 91:11-12 that He would “give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all His ways … lest you strike you foot against a stone.” But Satan took that passage out of context, and attempted to use it in a way that God never intended it to be used — to guarantee that angels would rescue Him even if He put Himself in a foolish position God never wanted Him in.

The “health and wealth, prosperity” preachers and teachers do the same thing today. Just like the enemy did with Jesus, they take some genuine principles of God’s word, but try to apply them in broad, sweeping ways which God never intended, without balancing them with other scriptures. 

Does God generally bless His children? YES He does!

— Psalm 103 says “Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, and satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.”

— I quote Psalm 128 all the time: “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy, and it will be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children like olive plants around your table. For so shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.”

God does so often bless me: with wife, children, health, prosperity, blessings in family and church, which are better than I deserve.

But at the same time, this scripture is no guarantee that it will always be well with me, or I will never experience any financial setbacks, or that I will never get sick. That is just not the balanced teaching of scripture.  

We need to try to maintain a scriptural BALANCE in our understanding and application of these scriptures — and all scripture.  I am working on a book I may call: “Balance in the Christian Life.” I think so many of our problems as Christians, both in doctrine and in practice, are due to a lack of balance. It’s not that there is no truth in something we believe; but often where we miss the mark is that we hold to only ONE area of truth in God’s word, but we don’t BALANCE it with another scripture that is also true. For example:

— We quoted Proverbs 10:3 in the first point, how God will not allow the righteous to hunger — but it’s notable that the very next verse, :4, says, “Poor is he who works with a negligent hand.” So we need to keep that in balance: YES God will bless you — but you also need to work hard! Some people don’t keep that scriptural balance.  

We don’t keep a scriptural balance in a lot of ways:

— We’ll hold to justice — but we don’t balance it with grace

— We hold to discipline — but we don’t balance it with love

— We’re all about “spirit” in worship — but we don’t balance it with truth

— Pauls “Rejoice in the Lord always” needs to be balanced with an equally true, “I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart” for the lost! Both of those are true; we need to keep them in a godly, scriptural balance.

— or even all those Psalms and Proverbs that talk about how the Lord blesses and makes rich — but they are also balanced out with verses like Proverbs 13:18 “Poverty and shame will come to him who lacks discipline”, or “Poor is he who works with a negligent hand.” YES God blesses — but you also have to work at it! Keep that balance! 

In so many of our failings as Christians and churches, it is not that we don’t have some truth in what we’re saying or practicing — but it’s that we don’t keep it in a scriptural balance with other equally valid truths that God teaches.

And one of the places we need to apply a scriptural balance is in this area of God’s blessing. Does God bless His people? YES HE DOES! And there are many scriptures which indicate that, and which we can cling to. But we also need to keep them balanced with other scriptures, which indicate that sometimes God has other plans for us, for our ultimate good and His glory, which may require Him to WITHHOLD those blessings, at least for a time.

??? Can you think of some examples in scripture where God did NOT bless, or heal, or provide, for someone for His purposes???

— Job for one; he lost his possessions, family, health, for a time. And as far as we can tell, he never knew why! 

— The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12 that he had learned to be content in whatever circumstances he was, including “going hungry,” and “suffering need.” He wrote in II Corinthians 11:27 that he was “in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” 

— He wrote in Chapter 12 of II Corinthians about his “thorn in the flesh” — a bodily ailment (“flesh”) that he asked God three times to remove from him, but He did not. He said “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

— Paul also said in II Timothy 4:20 “Trophimus I left sick in Miletus.”

So God didn’t bless Job for a time; God DIDN’T heal Paul when he asked Him three times; God DIDN’T heal Trophimus in Miletus. 

So we need to maintain a scriptural balance and perspective on God’s blessings — especially regarding material blessings. The general scriptural principle is, that if you follow the Lord, He will bless you financially, if you follow His principles that He gives us in Proverbs and elsewhere of hard work, and you tithe, He WILL bless you materially; He will heal and strengthen you; He will bless your work and your ways. 

But keep it in balance: that is NOT a guarantee that you will ALWAYS be “healthy, wealthy, and prosperous” — or that you somehow lack faith if you don’t have these things. We need to keep that in balance.

And honestly, for the Biblical Christian, material possessions are not what Christianity is all about. This is an errant focus. Being a Christian is not about accumulating everything that we can here on earth. Despite a best-selling book to the contrary, it is NOT about having “Your Best Life Now.”  Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroys, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal — for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 

As God’s people, our heart is to be in GLORY, with Him. And if it takes us losing some health, or some wealth, or some material prosperity, for us to get to know Him and glorify Him better, then we will be good with that, because knowing HIM is more important to us than any of those things. 

So this lesson is a good one. God DOES bless His people, just like He blessed Jacob in this passage, and He uses us and our blessings to bless others too. But keep all that in balance. And especially remember that material blessings are not our great reward as God’s children.  As we saw in Genesis 12, HE is the treasure; knowing GOD HIMSELF is the greatest blessing that we receive!

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