And so we leave Jacob here, heading out into the unknown armed with the promise of God. Will he trust in the God of Abraham and Isaac? Will he fair better than his brother Esau? Those are the questions that we will see unfold over the rest of the book. Now, what must we learn from this passage? First, God is obviously in charge of everything. You can’t read this passage and see the foolish actions of the people being used as tools in the hand of God to accomplish what he wants. We must learn that God is in control in all of life’s situations. He is the Almighty God, the El-Shaddai. His promises stand no matter what people do. His will cannot be thwarted. That’s why we are commanded to not be afraid or anxious about anything because God is the Almighty, he will not fail. That’s why we take our anxieties to God in prayer because he is the one that has brought the thing that is causing you anxiety into your life. We don’t demand we get our way, which only causes more anxiety, but we lay it at his feet, saying not mine but your will be done. We also learned about how the worldly person thinks. Matthew Henry summarized it this way: “Carnal hearts are apt to think themselves as good as they should be because, perhaps, in some particular instance, they are not so bad as they have been.” It’s the “I try to be a good person” argument. That doesn’t work with God. God doesn’t say, “oh, you tried to be better in these few areas? That deserves my love and entrance into my perfect holy presence. Come on in.” No, that’s a cheap view of God’s love and holiness. If we make it into heaven it is only on the merit of Jesus Christ’s atoning death on our behalf. Not because of our good works, or my choice to follow him or my perfect church attendance but because of God’s mercy, grace and love. That’s it. Anything less would be a mockery of who God is. If you’re not a Christian today. Stop trying to win God’s favor. You can’t. You just look like an idiot. Stop what you are doing, fall on your face and beg God for mercy. Brothers and sisters, stop trying to make God love you more. You can’t. You just look like an idiot. Do what pleases God because you love him and you want what he wants. He loves you with an infinite love. You can’t improve upon that.