Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for April 7, 2024

What Goes around Comes Around

Genesis 29:1-30

1. Providential Encounter (1-14)

• Jacob “lifted up his feet” (28:15)
• from Bethel to a well near Haran
• dialogue with shepherds
• Rachel is coming!
• a flock watered and a woman kissed
• a welcome from Laban
• a biblical parallel and a notable absence (24:11-33)

2. Providential Education (15-30)

• a question about wages
• Leah and Rachel
• seven years for Rachel
• behold, it was Leah!
• Jacob’s question and Laban’s response
• marriage to Rachel and seven more years
• mercy in the middle of the mess

3. So What?

• Because God uses your circumstances to purify you and promote your spiritual health, persevere in His school of continuing education.
• The sovereignty of God is “the strong wood of the tree that keeps our lives from being blown over by the winds of adversity.” (Piper)
• Acknowledge the “law of the harvest.” (Galatians 6:7-10)
• The Lord’s discipline reveals our deficiency and directs us to His sufficiency.
• “And I smiled to think God’s greatness flowed around our incompleteness, round our restlessness, His rest.” (Browning)
• connection to Christ (John 4:1-26)