The God of Jacob
S. Conway Psalm 146:5 Happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: There is true blessedness in the service of God. Listen to the oft-repeated declaration of joy in God with which these psalms are full. "As the hart panteth," etc. - such is the constant theme. And the like declaration is found throughout the Old Testament. And in the New Testament likewise. If we had a Book of Psalms in this, as in the former part of the Scriptures, we should find that the joy of God's people in him was realized in no less degree, and sung of in no less exalted strains. For we have the record of Christ's servants, who, though mournful, were yet always rejoicing. We see SS. Paul and Silas in their dark prison cell at Philippi, and we hear the psalms in which they sang aloud their praises unto God at that midnight hour, amid all the pain and outward misery of their lot. And we read St. Paul's letters, written during his imprisonment at Rome - such as that to the Church at Philippi, the key-note of which is joy. And we clearly gather from all this that the service of God was no less blessed in the days of the New Testament than it was in those of the Old. And we find our Lord beginning his first great sermon with the eight-times-repeated declaration of blessedness for his followers. And when in the depths of his own sorrow, when the shadow of the cross enshrouded him, and its darkness was such as could be felt, even then he told of his joy, and prayed that his disciples might share therein. And the universal consciousness of men attests that God is the soul's true Solace and Strength; the widespread profession of religion in our day is but the confession of the human heart of its need of God; man's weak, wayward will too often hinders from full obedience to what conscience declares, but it has not hindered nor destroyed the declaration itself. The young ruler went away sorrowful, but his sorrow was the confession of the blessedness he had lost. But his conduct, and that of those numerous ones who cannot bring themselves altogether to reject God's call, alike show the conviction within them that, as our text declares, "happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his Help," etc. But if those who never heartily act upon it nevertheless have this conviction, how much more deeply is it felt by those who yield to it, and who seek and find that God whose service is ever blessed! But here the happiness of God's service is especially connected with the fact that God is the God of Jacob, and that the Lord was his God. The reason of this was because - I. THE GOD OF JACOB IS ONE WHO COMES NEAR TO US, SO THAT WE MAY KNOW HIM. It was so with Jacob. See in his history how often God came near to him - at Bethel, when serving with Laban; at Peniel; and at yet other times and places; so that there is left upon our minds the conviction that it was the continual privilege of Jacob to enjoy this communion with God. God was Jacob's God because he was thus willing to come near to Jacob, and to be known by him as his God. Now, such knowledge of God as this must minister to the happiness of a man. Where should we be, in the midst of all the bewildering confusion of affairs, as it seems to us, unless we had the faith of God? What a cage of wild beasts this world would quickly become were the faith of God to disappear from men's minds! In times of ease and prosperity, when men have more than heart can wish, and fare sumptuously every day, they may imagine that they can do without God; and, so far as any acknowledgment of him on their parts is concerned, they do deny him altogether. But in the dark hours of life, and when heart and flesh fail - as sooner or later they will - then the need of God is felt and confessed as it ought always to have been; then it is seen that "happy is he that hath the God," etc. And it is seen by him who hath such Help not in dark hours only, but at all times. Who can tell the quiet of mind, the holy strength, the calm patience, the unquenchable hope, the unfaltering trust, that are begotten of this most blessed Help? And as he was willing to reveal himself to Jacob, so will he to us; and in Jesus Christ our Lord he has revealed himself, and promised to be with us always. "God made us for himself, and our heart has no rest until it finds rest in him." II. NOT ONLY MAY WE KNOW HIM, BUT HE IS ONE WHO KNOWS US. "He knoweth the way that I take." With what constant interest does God appear to have watched over all the way along which Jacob had to go! When Jacob did not think God was near him, he was so, as at Bethel. And at the end of his life he tells of God as "the God who fed me all my life long... the Angel which redeemed me from all evil." He was not to Jacob, he need not be to us, any mere abstract, far-away Being, but one God. It is true of us who trust him that he interests himself in our concerns. In all that affects his people he takes a living and a loving interest - not alone in their religious life, but in their secular, business, everyday life as well. Do let us believe this. We are very apt to forget it, if not question and almost deny it. But God is called the God of Jacob for this very reason, that we may joyfully know him as the God who careth for us at all times. III. AND BECAUSE JACOB SO REPRESENTS US ALL. God is often spoken of as the God of Abraham and of Isaac. And so he was; but they lived on so lofty a plane - were, especially Abraham, such heroes of faith, that we, poor, feeble, imperfect, stumbling, falling people that we are, fail to get much consolation out of that name. But when we are told that he is the God of Jacob, then we come to see that he is just the God such as we all need. We want a God who will be gracious, and will not cast us off and throw us over because of our sins. He will punish us for them, as he did Jacob, and hold us down to the punishment until we will let the sin go; but he will not cast us off. No; he is the God of Jacob, and we are all of us far more Jacobs than we are Abrahams. And he will ever keep before us bright hope. All along through the weary way that the patriarch had to take he Was cheered by the promise of God which he had received at Bethel. He never forgot it; it shone like a beacon-light before him, and its good cheer never left him. The opened heavens, the throne of God, the ladder uniting earth and heaven, the angels ascending and descending, - this vision, ratified with repeated promise, was the mainstay of his soul, and enabled him to go forward on the way God had appointed for him. IV. AND IT IS THUS GOD DEALS WITH US. We have "the hope set before us," and, "looking unto Jesus," we are strong to run the race set before us. And meanwhile we have given to us blessed installments of what hereafter we shall abundantly receive. We have, or may have, the sense of God's forgiveness, the blessedness of the pure in heart, the joy of God's presence, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; and each of there precious gifts serves but to confirm and intensify our hope. But the all-important question is - Have we the God of Jacob for our Help? We may not have, but yet we may have, very much that is good and fair. God may fill your veins with health, your coffers with gold, your rooms with all things of beauty, and your whole life with comfort and outward ease. "But you are like in such case to those trees which in the winter-time are called Christmas-trees. One feels a kind of pang at the first sight of such a tree. No doubt it is beautiful in its way, with the little lights twinkling among the branches, and the sweet gifts of affection hanging from every spray. But the tree itself - are you not sorry for it? Rooted no longer, growing no more. No more circulation of the living sap, no more sweet discoursing by its means between air and soil, between soil and air. The last waves of its life are sinking, and the more you hang upon it and the more you gather round it, the faster it will die" (Dr. A. Raleigh). And if our hope be not rooted in the God of Jacob, we are like one of those trees. Loaded, it may be, with all manner of pleasant things, and surrounded with affection, but dying all the while. Let it not be so with us, for it need not. - S.C. Parallel Verses KJV: Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: WEB: Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God: