The Thief of G-d's DoubleVision

It seems odd to think that someone could steal from G-d.  To be a thief of G-d would mean to take something from G-d without asking, to keep what rightfully belongs to Him, or to withhold what is due to Him.  How do you steal from someone who has freely given us all things to enjoy?

One day I realized that I felt like I had been a thief of G-d all my life.  I had always done things my own way without thinking about (depending on) G-d, and I believed that if I ever wanted to get something I want, it had to be by my own efforts.  That was how I learned to survive growing up.  I still strive for G-d's blessings at times, instead of asking first, being thankful, and just allowing them to be bestowed.  I hadn't learned to depend on G-d's blessings and provision like the birds of the air do, or the lilies of the fields who depend on Him to provide for their needs to feed and clothe them.  He even gives them beauty, abundance, and many special blessings besides their basic needs.  I hadn't learned how to trust my Heavenly Father.  Ye'shua says,

"If G-d gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers— most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to G-d’s giving. People who don’t know G-d and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both G-d and how he works. Steep your life in G-d-reality, G-d-initiative, G-d-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met."
Matthew 6:33 MSG

     While growing up, as I mentioned, I always felt that I wouldn't get what I really wanted if I left it up to someone else, a very 'poor' attitude to have - the opposite of living generously.  As I was thinking about this, I was reading in the book of Genesis for my Bible as Literature class.  The story I happened to be reading was about Jacob, the Patriarch.  Jacob stole the first-born blessing of G-d from his twin brother Esau by 'pulling the wool over his eyes'.  It's quite a story, but afterwards, his brother was angry with him.  Then, when Jacob ran for his life from his brother's rage, he went to his mother Rebecca's family, to his uncle Laban.  On the way, he slept at a place which he named Bethel, because it was a place where he had dreams and G-d spoke promises to him there.  When Jacob woke up he realized he was on sacred ground.  He took the rock he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a pillar (his 'pillow' was now a 'pillar', ha! sounds like he could have been in Oklahoma!)  He did this to remember G-d and he anointed his 'pillar' with oil (ha - sounds funny to an Okie - but enough 'pillar-talk'), what a sense of humor this G-d of Jacob has.  I think He must have put that in the translation just for Okies like me.

     Then Jacob did something new:

Genesis 28:20-22 Jacob vowed a vow: “If G-d stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I’m setting out, keeps me in food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my father’s house, this G-d will be my G-d. This stone that I have set up as a "memorial 'pillar'" ;) will mark this as a place where G-d lives. And everything you give me, I’ll return a tenth to you.” MSG

     Before he set up his "memorial pillar," Jacob made a vow to G-d based on the promises G-d made to him while he slept.  He said if G-d keeps His promises, "this" G-d would be "his" G-d.  The "if" clause indicates that Jacob didn't yet trust "this" G-d, and his pillar was a memorial to remember his dreams which had died while he slept.  He knew this G-d was able to keep His word, but he hadn't experienced it first-hand yet to make it personal.  Once he experienced G-d providing for Him and fulfilling his dreams, he agreed the memorial would become the mark of a place where "his G-d lives" to him.

     After Jacob arrived at his uncle Laban's place, he met Rachel.  Jacob wanted to marry Rachel when he met her, even though she was the second daughter of Laban.  Jacob didn't consider the custom of their culture, that it would be inappropriate to marry Rachel before her older sister, Leah, had a husband (although it seemed 'okay' to marry a cousin? They're not in Oklahoma anymore...although she could have been a second-cousin).  He made an agreement with Laban, who is really like a foil for Jacob, just as Leah seems to be a foil for Rachel.  In the agreement, he got more than he bargained for, he got tricked into marrying Leah, or 'weak eyes', and had to double his commitment to work for an additional seven years in order to marry Rachel.  I don't think that Leah was the one with the weak eyes, but Jacob possibly, because he didn't see it coming.  Eventually, Jacob completes his commitment to his uncle Laban, and decides to take his double-wife family, children, flocks and herds that he had gained and return to his homeland.  This meant that he would also have to face Esau - his twin brother and his other 'double' that he ran away from.  This is where Jacob gets into 'double-trouble'.  If he stays with his uncle Laban, his uncle will keep taking advantage of Jacob.  If Jacob returns
to his father's house, he will have to face his brother Esau's wrath and possible revenge since their father Isaac had died.

     Although Jacob worked hard and fulfilled all his commitments to Laban, he left with his family(s) like a thief in the night, because he knew his uncle Laban would try to stop them.  G-d had provided for Jacob and prospered him, but Jacob was still relying on his own efforts to keep what he really wanted - Rachel, the beautiful one.  On their way, his uncle Laban came out against Jacob to stop them; because not only had they left in the night without saying goodbye, Rachel had also taken the household idols with her when they left.  She had either trusted in the familiar household idols and didn't want to part with them, or she may have wanted to dis-empower her father when she left with her husband, bringing the idols with them.  She was relying on her own efforts as well to meet their needs.  She hid the idols under her seat and told her father she couldn't rise to be searched, because 'Aunt Flow' had already caught up with her.  So the household gods traveled with them on their way back to Jacob's home, although Jacob didn't know they were aboard the caravan.  She had hidden the idols even from Jacob because she hadn't learned to trust him, or Jacob's G-d yet either.

     As Jacob was on his way to return to his homeland, a 'stranger' came and wrestled with Jacob one night - they wrestled all night until morning - and Jacob wouldn't let him go until he promised to bless him.  I always thought it was odd that the man he was wrestling with had to flee because the sun was coming up - which sounds like something a vampire might say? What place are we in now?  Jacob asked the stranger to tell him his name, and the 'stranger' said, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is "Wonderful?"  He touched Jacob's hip and it went out of joint and the stranger disappeared.  After that, Jacob walked with a limp, leaning on his walking staff.  He knew he must face his brother Esau and he would now have to trust G-d to save him, since he could no longer run from his brother.

      When his brother Esau finally saw him, he accepted him. Jacob gave the glory to G-d, and Jacob's name was also changed to Israel by the 'stranger', because he became a prince with G-d by wrestling with G-d (in prayer and pleading) all night and prevailed until day-break.   Jacob first sent all his flocks and herds ahead of him, then all his belongings, all his servants, then all his family, and last, his favorite wife, Rachael and their son Joseph, and finally he had to give up his own life to G-d's will.  He had to be willing to give up his old ways of survival, give up all that he owned, give up all that he loved, and give up his own life in order to be restored to his brother Esau.  Basically, he had to give up.  Jacob's brother Esau let him live because G-d's favor was on him, Israel.

     That is why when G-d appeared to Moses, He said, I AM the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel).

Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

On Thursday, September 3 - Mesore 28, the church commemorates the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

"He has said He is, 'The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,' because each one of these possessed God entirely. And it is to the no small honor of the Patriarchs that they lived to God." - Origen