Genesis 34

Transcript

We study through books of the bible here at the Village Chapel. Let’s turn to Genesis Chapter 34. We’ve got some extra copies by the way, and if you would like one, raise your hand. Somebody will drop one off at your row or your aisle. The online network is up on the screen for those in the room here.

Hello to everyone online!  This thing right here you guys is a camera, believe it or not. You pass a million of these every day and they’re watching you. But this one is the online folks. Let’s all wave at them this morning. Good morning, everybody!  We love you, appreciate you being with us. And it’s the 9:00am service that usually ends up getting posted online at 10:00am, so we’re glad you’re watching. Hi mom; I love you!

We’re going to be dealing with some pretty heavy stuff this morning in Genesis Chapter 34. Our overall study in Genesis has been called “In the Beginning”, and that’s because it keeps pressing us back to the beginning of all beginnings. ‘In the beginning God created,’ it says. It’s a really powerful verse right there, that first verse.  But as we continue to walk through the chapters as we have all the way now up to Chapter 34, we find Genesis beginning to answer some of the really big questions in life. And it will even do that this morning as it helps us answer the question, “What’s gone wrong in the world and how could we take a fair assessment—an honest and reasonable assessment—of what is gone wrong with the world?”

And I’m going to title this study, “What happens when we leave God out?” That’ll be the question that we ask and hopefully try to answer, along with things like, “Can humanity be good without God? Where do we get our ideas of truth or love or right and wrong or justice or injustice? Where do we get those ideas from?” They’re not really visible in a microscope. Those concepts can’t be found in a telescope. You can’t follow the science on this. Where did this come from? This notion we have that something is right, something is wrong, that certain things ought not to be done and other things ought to be done. And I think Genesis is wonderful that way.

It is a difficult chapter. It includes lust, violence, rape, and revenge. Parents take warning if you’re here. Those who are of tender heart, we will not treat this flippantly. We will do our best to be honest with this passage and struggle with it. I think it’s a passage that’s like that image of the mirror that’s held up to us to show us what happens when we leave God out because, indeed, God is left out of this chapter.  So, as we read it, be aware of that. I think that’s important.

We all know something’s gone wrong with the world. What that something is has been much debated. What do you think it is? What do you think has gone wrong with the world? This chapter will help you at least begin to ask and perhaps even to answer that question.

When things like this happen in our world, some have asked the question, “Has God turned away from us?” or “Where was God when this happened?”  I think Genesis 34 is going to prompt us to say, “Where were we in relation to God when this happened?”  And that’s maybe a more important question for those of us who say we believe in God.  Where were we, and where were we as it relates to God?

Let’s read Genesis 34. We have this wonderful reconciliation in Genesis 33 between Jacob and his brother Esau. They had been at enmity with one another. Esau had wanted to kill Jacob for Jacob was a thief and a deceiver. And he had found a way to manipulate and get the birthright and the blessing away from Isaac that would’ve normally gone to Esau 20 years of past since they were mad at each other. They reunited. God is moving in Jacob’s heart and even in Esau’s heart and we read that in Genesis 33 and it was actually quite a highlight I think in their relationship.

But Chapter 34 shows that Jacob’s faith will be sort of undulating just like mine does, just like yours does. And that’s one of the reasons I love to study a book like this because, again, it’s a mirror. It holds up, shows us reality. And then I believe if we rightly divide it, it leads us to ask some really good questions that we do need to ask and begin to answer.

“Dinah was the daughter of Leah.” You’ll remember in the account so far, there are eleven (11) sons and then there’s Dinah. And we’re now moving forward with this story. “Dinah, the daughter of Leah whom she had born to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.” And that last phrase is important. “She went out to visit the daughters of the land.” And that’s not just a throwaway phrase. That actually means more than she’s just trying to be neighborly or joining the welcome wagon or whatever. That’s not at all. There’s more to it than that.

“When Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land saw her, he took her and he lay with her,” and in some of your translations they’ll say, “and he humiliated her.” Mine says “he took her and lay with her by force.” In other words, this is a violent rape, but notice the four acts he saw. He took, he lay with her, he humiliated her. And you start to get a sense for how dark this is.

“He was deeply attracted to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.” Now we see the mixture of raw, unbridled lust and now some affection of some kind, and certainly not the kind that actually loves her. But there’s some comment here about the fact that he spoke tenderly to her. And abusers often do that kind of thing, don’t they?

“Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor saying, ‘Get me this young girl for a wife.’” Now he is obsessed with her and he wants to own her and he realizes there has to be some kind of public respectability to the union or the relationship. And so, he tells his dad, ‘Get me what I want, Daddy.’ “Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter, but his sons were with his livestock in the field so Jacob kept silent until they came in.”

Now I’m a sheep dog by nature. I’m the kind of guy that I’m kind of a crazy wild, odd sheep dog. I got one eye on the savior, the shepherd, and I got one eye on the flock. And I’m the kind of guy that if this had been written about me, it would’ve been, ‘and Jim heard about this and he locked and loaded his rifle and went after Shechem.’ I got little time for that kind of thing.

And man, Jacob being silent is…whew. The idea is that he’s alone because his sons are with the livestock. So, we got to note that. But he kept silent until they came in. Why? He hasn’t really told us, but perhaps maybe he’s older and feeble, can’t do anything about it, maybe he’s cowardly. I don’t know what it is. Jacob tends to always be looking out for who? Jacob. Even though there are times when there’s a surfacing faith there, and we appreciate that, and we learn from that as well. But in this case, he’s quiet.

Verse 6: “Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him.” So, dad to dad. “Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it and the men were grieved. They were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter for such a thing ought not to be done.”

And so, I just want you to know, in the Bible, there is no moral ambiguity about such things. Evil ferments in ambiguity. It just grows and it morphs and it just rolls through our culture because our culture worships at the altar of ambiguity. And that’s why evil is just unbridled and running through in a reckless way, our culture because we don’t know what we believe anymore. We don’t know where true north is. We don’t know what is good or bad or true or false because every time anybody tries to articulate one of those things or put some shape to it, somebody else raises their hand and says, “How dare you tell me what to think? How dare you offend me?” And so, we have these competing ideas throughout the world.

And again, it leads me to our question, “What happens when you leave God out?”  Such a thing ought not to be done and the narrator is reminding us that that would’ve been common knowledge. It’s a disgraceful thing.

Verse 7: “in Israel.” Now Israel as a nation hasn’t actually been established yet. And so even in the common little, small slice of the world that is the family Israel—Jacob’s name has been changed to Israel—such a thing should not have been done. And they all knew it.

“Hamor spoke with them saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage.”  I’m not sure it was only the soul of Shechem that’s longing for this daughter. I’m going to talk about that in a minute.

“Intermarry with us,” Hamor says. “Give your daughters to us, take our daughters for yourselves.” And now daughters are a commodity in this guy’s mind. Let’s just trade back and forth. Thus, “you shall live with us and the land shall be open before you. Live and trade it and acquire property in it.” Now it’s all about commerce and it’s all about getting ahead financially. And by the way, there’s nothing here about, “I’m so sorry for what my son, my foolish son, my wicked son did.” There’s no concern for Dinah here.

Shechem speeds up in verse 11, and let’s see if he shows any concern. “Also,” he said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me.” How about you say you’re sorry? “Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift and I will give according as you say to me. But give me the girl in marriage.” I want what I want, and I want it now. And it’s rape first and ask second. That’s how dark the world is when you leave God out.

“Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit.” Now remember, that’s what Jacob’s name meant. Deceiver. It’s trickling down, these gifts. That’s part of the family gifting. They’re going to answer with deceit, “and they spoke to them because he had defiled Dinah, their sister. And they said to him, “We cannot do this thing to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised for that would be a disgrace to us.” And again, I just want them to stand up for her. I want them to say something other than it’s not in accord with our religious practices. I want it to be something more than that.

Verse 15: “Only on this condition will we consent to you.” Now they’re even going to make a deal. Just like Jacob’s always looking to make a deal. “If you will become like us in that every male of you be circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you and we will take your daughters for ourselves and we will live with you and become one people.”  And again, they’re deceiving, they’re lying in all of this. We’ve been told that by the narrator. “But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.” ‘And so, our family member, we’re going to remove her from you. You’ve already had your way with her, but we’re going to take her and go unless you’ll agree to our conditions.’

Verse 18: “Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem.” They’re thinking we’re going to get away with this rape, basically. Not only that, but watch what else they think here. “It seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem. Hamor’s son, the young man did not delay to do the thing.” In other words, he went on ahead and circumcised himself, “because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.” He was still very attracted to her. And, “now he was more respected than all the household of his father.” What does that tell you?

“Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city saying, ‘These men are friendly with us.’” In other words, Jacob and his sons, therefore, “let them live in the land and trade in it for behold the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them.”  Again, daughters as a commodity, a commodity to trade, basically. “Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised.” About this time, half the men are backing away from him a little bit from the whole deal. ‘I better go back to work or something…’

“Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours?” Now, this is going to really be a big gain for us in our economy and in each of your individual financial kingdom. “Only let us consent to them and they will live with us. And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of this city.” This would be a good time to say, just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. But evidently, they don’t think that way in this particular case. They’re all so obsessed with greed and advantage that they might, “Okay, well, let’s do that…”

“And when they came about on the third day when they were all in pain,” remember no anesthesia, no antibiotics. Circumcision in our day and time usually happens in the first couple days of your life and you just don’t even really remember it. But here these are young teenage boys and young men and older men as well.

And by the third day they’re in pain, and then, “two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers took his sword and came upon the city unawares and killed every male. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword. They took Dinah from Shechem’s house and went forth,” and now the deception is clear to all of us. They pretended like they were going to work a deal, but behind it all, they intended to come and punish everybody by putting them to death, all the men in the city.

“The sons of Jacob came upon the slain.”  This is probably the rest of the sons in addition to Simeon and to Levi. “They came upon the slain and plundered the city because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field. And they captured and looted all of their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses.”

“Then Jacob said to Simeon,”  This is the first time Jacob speaks, by the way, he’s finally speaking up. His boys had spoken, but he had remained silent. But now he’s speaking. “You’ve brought trouble on me.” That’s interesting. Not ‘thank you.’ Not ‘I agree with you.’ Not even ‘I disagree.’ ‘Yeah, that was a little harsh,’ boys. None of that. Not ‘Dinah. I’m so glad you’re home safe, honey.’ How’s she feeling in all this? The way they talked, the way they didn’t seem to care about her. And here’s Jacob and he’s concerned about who? He’s concerned about Jacob and his image. “You brought trouble on me by making me odious.”

Don’t you love that the Bible uses a word like odious? Oh, come on! This is awesome ancient literature. Odious. I challenge you to use the word odious this week somewhere. It’s an awesome word.

“You’ve made me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the parasites. And my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I shall be destroyed, I and my household. And they all said, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?” And this is desert rage, nothing less. This is revenge and they’re upset and angry and they’re taking matters into their own hands. And where’s God in this chapter? Nowhere. He’s not mentioned at all. And I think there’s a lesson for us there. I think it’s a good one.

Let me start with just a couple of thoughts though. First of all, Oswald Chambers:

“All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God.”
Oswald Chambers

Kim and I were talking about this even on the way here when I was thinking, “Hey, it’s raining. It’s going to be a small crowd. Nobody’s going to show up.” That’s why I was commending you all for showing up. And then I thought to myself immediately about this quote, because this is the first one on my mind.  Not that the room would be full, but that the room would be full of the people God wanted to be here today, and that whoever’s watching online would be the ones that God wanted to watch.  In other words, the outcome is God’s and I should trust God with the outcome, not worry and fret over it. God should be in my calculations, that He knows what he’s doing.

And Kim made a comment about another thing and then we thought about that for just a second too. We said, “We need to be calculating from the minute our feet hit the floor in the morning.” We need to be calculating as if the sovereign God of the universe who’s numbered the hairs on our heads is actually and actively involved and engaged in whatever it is we face, whether it’s great joy or great distress. But our fret and worry, I think Chambers has got it right, is caused by calculating as if God just isn’t present. N.T Wright said it this way:

“Those who choose to live without God will one day find they have forfeited their likeness to him.”
N.T. Wright

How or where do we see that in this text? Well, we don’t see a lot of the likeness of God in any of these people and God isn’t even mentioned in this chapter, is he? Genesis reminds us, if there is no God there can be no such thing as justice and mercy. If there is no God, there cannot be such a thing as injustice because there’s no ultimate source of justice.

So again, we get back to our big questions in Genesis: “What has gone wrong with the world?” And Genesis 34 helps us, once again, come up with the question. We have begun to live our lives as if God does not exist or God does not matter. That’s what’s gone wrong with the world. And when we do that, we do that to our own peril.

It might just be that it causes us anxiety, that is we are just thinking God got it wrong or God won’t get it right. Or we might be just completely in the grip of a bit of anger and bitterness that we cannot seem to shake. And again, it’s because God got it wrong so I’m angry and I’m bitter and I reserve the right to be so.

I encourage you, no, no, no. Start thinking of it even in our suffering. You watch somebody like Johnny Erickson Tata who in about five seconds time can completely change your mind about what you think about suffering and the role that God plays in her life as it relates to suffering. And man, you start calculating with God in the mix and a lot really does change.

A great majority of people, both religious and irreligious, if we did a survey, would claim, “Yes, I pray from time to time.” What do they mean by that? We hear people say it all the time. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. And then we get on the social media platforms and get all the people that rage against that. “I don’t want your thoughts and prayers. I want you to do something.” Every back and forth. And what does it mean when we say my thoughts and prayers are with you? What do we mean when we say we pray? In times like these, if you’re Dinah, in times like these, if you’re Simeon and Levi or Jacob and you have some belief in God, what does it mean to go through these things with God?

I’m going to give four things that I learned from this chapter as I was looking at it.

1. Dinah reminds us of the vulnerability of naivete. Don’t get me wrong, please. If you started going there, don’t. Dinah is a victim here, but we are told that she went out to visit the daughters of the land. That’s not an insignificant fact. What does that mean? She had either innocently drifted, or intentionally wandered from the shelter of her family out into the pagan land where all kinds of dangers might befall her.

Most of us have done this ourselves when we’re growing up into adulthood. We thought, “Oh, that’ll never happen to me. I want to do this thing that my parents said no, or I want to do this thing that I think the Bible would suggest it’s wrong or whatever, but I’m not going to reap the consequence.” We’ve all wandered into that dangerous territory, either innocently, ignorantly, or willingly. And some consequences have come our way.

And so, she’s a good reminder. Jesus put it this way with his disciples. And most of you will be familiar with this from Matthew’s gospel:

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:41

And see what happens is, my flesh really speaks loudly and the more I tune my ear to my flesh in the world in which we live (and that’s what happens to me), almost all day long, I’m being formed to listen to my flesh or my ego, which could stand for edging God out. And all day long I’m tuning my ear to those voices instead of to the word of God, to the warnings of scripture, to the wisdom of God in scripture.  And so, sometimes we just do this thing where we drift, where we find ourselves quite vulnerable in our naivete.

Why am I choosing to become more and more addicted to the devices that have been designed to reform my values and my standards? Why? Why are you doing that? Why do we spend more time with this or the phone or whatever it is when we know it’s shaping us and molding us like it is? And it’s designed actually to always keep us on the razor’s edge of anxiety. Why? Because that’s how they get ratings. That’s how they get clicks. That’s why it’s called clickbait because it’s bait and you’re the fish, and I’m the fish.

We do well to think before leaving God out of the equation because the wise warnings of scripture are that we would give our attention to His Word, that we would memorize it, that it would become a part of who we are. And so that we would then find ourselves dwelling on the beauties of a verse like first one Peter 1:3:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Peter 1:3

That’s good news. You could just pick that apart in so many ways and just be uplifted. It’s according to his great mercy that he’s done that not according to my good behavior.

And so, when I blow it, I get on my knees, I repent, and I repent with joy. Why? Because he’s caused me to be born again to a living hope—not a dead hope. On and on those sets of promises go, but it’s really about God in my life and His Word.

“What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside of God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself because it is not there. There is no such thing. He has designed you for himself and you won’t find rest until you find your rest in him.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

And that is true for all of us and that was true for these folks back then as well.

2. Shechem reminds us of the evils of entitlement thinking and the difference between lust and love. When we leave God out, we become obsessed with what we think we deserve. Sadly, entitlement for Prince Shechem is that he assumed he could see, take, loathe, and humiliate somebody else and that he had the right to do that. That’s what he thought. It’s his entitled thing to do. Why? I mean, he’s just literally, when you leave God out, you’re the center. And what you want is what drives you.

How many of you are dog lovers? Okay, I love dogs, but they follow their nose. They’re just animals. I don’t know where they’re going when they walk through our neighborhood. I’m always fascinated: Where are you going?  Do you have a thing, a place? And then, they sniff and all that sort of stuff, and it all distracts them. They follow their nose around. They’re just doing by instinct what they were designed to do. I get it. They’re not moral creatures. The only way we can train them is with treats or punishment, sort of the Pavlovian method. But here we have this opportunity to bear the image of God in a world that is recklessly selfless and thinks with entitlement thinking all the time, “I deserve this.”

And listen, it is woven into almost every single message you will drink in today. Every TV show, lots of songs, lots of stuff. And it’s very subtle and usually they put nice music behind it and they kind of warm you up to whatever that person is doing that is completely self-centered.

I mean, we were watching a show last night where there are a bunch of thieves that are breaking into and taking stuff that isn’t theirs and wrecking an economy and yet they’re the heroes of the story. And we’re supposed to feel for them when one of them gets nabbed by the cops or something. And the whole thing is used to manipulate us so that all of a sudden everything is inside out and upside down. And what those guys did in that TV show was they got wrong right, but they got right wrong.

That’s what’s happening with entitlement thinking. “I deserve this. And by golly, if you don’t give it to me or if the culture doesn’t give it to me or if the church doesn’t give it to me… I deserve this!”  And it’s not just Shechem that thinks that way. It’s Jim that thinks that way sometimes. Why? Because I’m programmed that way all day long and I allow myself to be programmed that way. Watch for that in your life. That could change your world, right?

Under this kind of a curse, we confuse feelings with knowledge, desire with identity, everything becomes about us. Everything becomes transactional for us. Relationships with those we say we love like he says it right here, I love her. No, you lust her. That’s what you’re doing. You just want to consume her. That’s what’s wrong with all of us. What can I get out of my spouse? What can I get out of my children? What can I get out of my job? Is this all fair has become, is this all designed for my maximum benefit? Entitlement thinking. Don’t I “deserve more and better”? And entitlement thinking means we all end up fighting one another because we covet what the other one has. This party’s in power. Now let’s get angry and scream and holler and sensationalize everything until we get in power. And then when we get in power, they’ll do that. And it’s almost like you’re watching really two completely different universes happen all the time.

Shechem reminds us of the evils of entitlement thinking, but also that there’s a difference between lust and love. Lust has many objects. It’s most often used to describe a person’s obsession with sexuality. Gee, I wonder if that would describe our culture at all. But we can also have a lust for power, for popularity, for possessions? It’s possible for those who have entered into the covenant union of marriage to be lustful towards one another. If things are going sideways in that relationship for you, stop and ask the question, “Has lust taken over some form of it? Has that taken over?”

There’s a really easy test Keller came up with. He says,

“Lust says, what can you do for me? Love says, what can I do for you?”
Tim Keller

See, here’s Jesus. He says, “I have come to bring you life.” And he lays down his life so that you can have life. He says, “I have come to serve, not to be served.” And so many of us in our relationships at work, so many of us in our relationships at home, we really think from a self-centered standpoint, it’s more about us than it is about loving the other.

3. Hamor reminds us of pretending to be moral, doesn’t make us holy. Hamor seemed to be embarrassed enough by his son’s behavior to want to offer restitution and come to some ongoing relationship. But there was no apology offered, no apparent repentance, no concern for Dinah. He just wanted to come up with some acceptable alliance for an ongoing commercial relationship with these people. They seem to have some stuff. We can give them our daughters, we’ll take their daughter, whatever, all that stuff. Willing to accept the terms of Simeon and Levi to save himself, Prince Shechem and all the men of Shechem the concept of some kind of battle or war. He was even willing to act religious by being circumcised, thinking maybe if we do that, we can pretend to be religious like they are in their way and then we can get on well with one another.

Steve Brown is probably one of my favorite Bible teachers, has been for a long time. I’ll try to do it in his voice. How many of you know who Steve Brown is? About four of you. All right, I’m going to do his voice if I can.

One of the great dangers for Christians and for the world is that we are far, far too religious. We go to religious movies, we read religious books, we associate with religious people, we eat religious cookies and we wear religious underwear that is far too tight. Don’t get me wrong, I’m religious too. The problem is the Holy Spirit isn’t.”
Steve Brown, What Was I Thinking?

Hamor, it’s not just about circumcision, buddy. This is about setting things right and doing things with God in mind, not doing what you want to do and then trying to slap a little religion on it later.

And I’m afraid that is a lot of us in our own day and time; that’s what we do. We want to use God to find endorsement for whatever it is we happen to want to do. And a lot of us spend a lot of time under the patience of God thinking we’ve got the endorsement of God. Do not mistake his longsuffering and patience for his endorsement. Don’t make that mistake. Hamor thought he could just pretend to be religious, be all right.

4. Simeon and Levi remind us that only God can bring about true justice. In other words, their response was completely disproportionate justice to go and slaughter an entire town. Was Shechem’s act evil and wicked? Yes, it was. No, no excuse for what he did to Dinah. Their response is disproportionate justice.

And so, the real thing we learned from watching them is that we aren’t very good at handling justice ourselves. And that’s why the Bible tells us that “’Vengeance is mine,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). Not “’Vengeance is yours,’ says the Lord,” but “’Vengeance is mine,’ says the Lord.” He’s the only one that can really handle it. He’s the only one that can really bear the weight of actual justice. And when we leave God out, we begin to invert reality. Like them, we get the wrong things right and the right things wrong. And that’s exactly what happened in their cases.

A couple quotes for you, Phil Ryken, Why Everything Matters is his commentary on Ecclesiastes. And by the way, a brilliant commentary and I quote it often in our study of the book of Ecclesiastes, which you can find online if you’d like to study that book. He says:

“Study all the philosophy, research all the religion and pursue all the personal improvement that you please—it will still end in frustration. Human reason can only take us so far. All our learning is empty without God.”
Philip G. Ryken, Whey Everything Matters

What happens when you leave God out? Your reasoning becomes empty. It doesn’t accomplish the goals. They couldn’t achieve justice here at all because they just couldn’t handle it. They just were filled with rage. And so, they did what they did.

“We have rejected the position of dependence which our createdness inevitably involves, and made a bid for independence. Worse still, we’ve dared to proclaim our self-dependence, our autonomy, which is to claim the position occupied by God alone.
John Stott, The Cross of Christ

And that’s why things go south for us all the time and sideways for us all the time because we put ourselves in the position of God, controlling all the outcomes and not considering the wisdom and the ways and the will of God in our responses to the kinds of things that come into our lives. And it’s so important for us to get this right. What happens when we leave God out? Things go sideways, things go south. Is there suffering? Yes. Is there suffering when you leave God in? Yes. But how you respond to it is completely different because you’re trusting another, the only One that can actually handle justice. You are trusting Him when he says one day He intends to set all things right. We want to trust Him. We want to believe in Him.

Some of you will know the name Richard Lovelace. His book is Renewal as a Way of Life is sort of a summary of a larger volume. In this one he says:

“The harmony of God’s love and justice is perfectly symbolized by the death of Jesus on the cross. The crucifixion reveals the strictness of God’s justice in requiring a propitiation for all our sins. But it also shows the depth of His love because He Himself offers the required sacrifice.”
Richard Lovelace, Renewal as a Way of Life

Some satisfaction, somebody has to bear the wrath, the punishment for our sins… And the great news is it doesn’t have to be you.

While you and I may want everybody else in the world to get justice, what we really want for ourselves is what? Grace. Lord, get them. We say it all the time, “Sic ‘em Lord. Get them!” when we see an injustice. But for us, it’s “Don’t sic me. Don’t get me. Just love me. Just accept me.” And the great news is, because of Jesus, He does. He loves you. He set His love on you. And you didn’t earn it. You didn’t deserve it. That’s why it’s called grace. So, you can’t unearn it. He still loves you. That’s why Jesus came to die on the cross at all.

“But it also shows the depth of His love because He Himself offers the required sacrifice.” And folks, this is why we cannot stop singing. This is why when we gather, we’re sort of the community of the hopeful in the city on a hill, that light that can’t be hidden in the middle of a world that’s recklessly careening just out of control—morally bankrupt, intellectually confused in every way. And yet, here we just gather. We just remind ourselves, don’t leave God out. Don’t leave God out of your calculations tomorrow or the next day. Don’t leave God out of your life. When you communicate with those in your family that have offended you or that you’ve offended, don’t leave God out of the way you do your work or your creativity, leave him in. As a matter of fact, put Him at the center and remind yourself day in and day out of the great love of God that He has set upon sinners like me and sinners like you.

And that Jesus came and he even came through the line of Jacob is a mindblower when you think about it. God, in this Genesis 34, even though he’s left out of that chapter, He’s still sovereignly presiding over all of all the storyline that goes on there, all the details. Because Messiah’s going to come from that line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and on down. And so, we will always, always trust in Him.

Let me close in prayer:

Lord, You never go away from us. And we have difficulty living each day in Your presence and being aware and awake and alert to your presence in our lives. And then even more, sometimes we have difficulty returning to You. Somebody in this room might be struggling with that right now. I would pray for them, Lord, that You would remind them that it’s not about their performance, but it’s about what Christ has done, what He has accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection. And so, as we look back to this in the beginning book and we see what has gone wrong with the world and that part of it is that we’ve left You out, come Lord, stir us up. Call us back to Yourself. Kindle and seize us, I pray. Put fire in our souls and sweetness in our hearts again. Let us love You. Let us run to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.