Exact Time and Place

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

EXACT TIME AND PLACE

Gen 29:1-14

29:1 Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. 2 There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. 3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well's mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well. 4 Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?" "We're from Haran," they replied. 5 He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?" "Yes, we know him," they answered. 6 Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?" "Yes, he is," they said, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep." 7 "Look," he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture." 8 "We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep." 9 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10 When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 12 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father. 13 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. 14 Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood."

NIV

And so it began: boy meets girl, falls head over heels the moment he sees her, and the rest is history. Jacob had asked the LORD to watch over his journey, that if the LORD would provide him with food and clothing, that his journey, his task, would be successful, that he might return safely to his father's house. Jacob had set up a pillar representing the house of God. Now he had reached his desired destination, the one his father told him to go to, the family of his mother. As Jacob asked whether this was where Laban lived, his younger daughter Rachel appeared, and Jacob was overwhelmed by her presence. We are confident the kiss was not romantic in nature, but a cultural custom of sorts, as he also wept aloud with joy that he was where he was supposed to be, and this was where he was to find a wife, whom he had just met. Although this is the story of Jacob, Laban, Rachel, and Leah, our truth for today is about being in the right place God has directed us to. Jacob was overjoyed to have arrived at the exact place God had directed him to. First, by his father Isaac's direction; second, and most importantly, by God's direction and guidance. We need to know we are in the exact place, at the precise time, by God's will. We must know that he has first laid out our path before us and, second, has directed and guided us on that path to where he wants us to be. Sometimes we may feel wanderlust, thinking about places that would be so great to be in; however, that would mean following our own path, which could lead us away from God's will. Jacob was overjoyed, overwhelmed to the point of weeping out loud because he was at the exact place, at the precise time, as God had directed his path. That is the joy we should live with: knowing God has directed our path to be exactly where we are, at the perfect time in our lives, doing exactly what we are supposed to do.  Why would we want to try to live by our design when God has laid out the perfect design for us? Jacob was now where he would shine, and through Rachel and Leah and their handmaids would father twelve sons, one of whom would be the line through which Jesus would come. Everything was going according to God's plan. That is the story of our lives; we should know everything is going according to God's plan. The exact place and perfect time according to his plan.