CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES: Let’s face it, sometimes we make bad choices. Especially when we are young and inexperienced. Our bad choices have consequences. How does God respond to our bad choices?

In the Bible, God has provides us with practical guidance on how to live above the stresses of life, and we are given instructions on how to manage the resources He has given us.

In this series,

From a biblical perspective, we are looking at how to manage effectively the resources God has given us while prioritizing What Really Matters.

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Let’s Pray

Holy Father, we have made bad choices and we see the consequences of our choices.  We are sorry for those bad choices and ask that you forgive us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

As a young man, though Jacob loved and respected God, he made some very bad choices. He stooped with his mother, Rebekah, and conspired to lie and deceive his father, Isaac, to obtain his inheritance.

But bad choices bring bad consequences. Jacob’s bad choice started his adult life off on the wrong track.

Because he stole the inheritance due his brother, he had to run away from home so his brother wouldn’t kill him.

Genesis 27:43-45 reveals that Rebekah, after plotting with Jacob to deceive Isaac, told Jacob to escape and go live with her brother.

43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran.

44 And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away,

45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?” (Genesis 27:43–45,). (Split)

What did Jacob do?

He left home and went to live with his uncle Laban. What was to be a few days turned into 20 years. Jacob never saw his mother’s face again. 

The Book Story of Redemption tells us that:

“Rebekah repented in bitterness for the wrong counsel which she gave to Jacob, for it was the means of separating him from her forever. He was compelled to flee for his life from the wrath of Esau, and his mother never saw his face again. —The Story of Redemption, p. 89.

After 20 years, as Jacob traveled back home, in Genesis 32:22–31, we see God’s mercy toward Jacob.

Patriarch and Prophets tells us that “Through humiliation, repentance, and self-surrender, this sinful, erring mortal prevailed with the Majesty of heaven. He had fastened his trembling grip upon the promises of God, and the heart of Infinite Love could not turn away the sinner’s plea. The error that had led to Jacob’s sin in obtaining the birthright by fraud was now clearly set before him. He had not trusted God’s promises but had sought by his own efforts to bring about that which God would have accomplished in His own time and way. . . . Jacob had received the blessing for which his soul had longed. His sin as a supplanter and deceiver had been pardoned.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 197, 198.

In Genesis 49:29–33, we find Jacob’s instructions to his sons regarding what they were to do for him when he died. He told his sons to bury him in a cave he had purchased in Canaan.

All three patriarchs Abraham the father of Isaac, Isaac, the father of Jacob, and Jacob, the father of the twelve sons of Israel, were buried in this same cave.

You see, Jacob now trusted in God. He recognized in his senior years that he was only a stranger and pilgrim traveler on this earth, just as we are told in  

Hebrews 11:13

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13).

It is true Jacob did make some bad choices early in life. Different, however, from Lot, He left home with nothing. But he came back to Canaan a very wealthy man.

This lets us know that God can bless us, despite our bad choices. But to receive his blessing of grace and mercy we must return to him, turn away from doing evil, and confess our sins. John in 1 John 1:9 tells us that:

9 If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) 

So yes, Jacob made a radical change. He went from being a deceiver to being a prince.

Another person who made a radical change was Moses. Moses went from being the Prince of Egypt to become a leader of complaining ex-slaves wandering in the wilderness. How did this happen? Find out in Day 5: Moses in Egypt

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