School of Hard Knocks

You’ve probably heard of the old saying, “Hard head makes a soft behind.” Or “You’ve made your bed now lie in it.” It’s what I call the school of hard knocks. Many of us have learned our lessons the hard way.

Now I will admit that there are many great schools in our land, from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or the great Chapel Hill, but none of these schools can compare to the school of hard knocks. This school has had more graduates than any other school. Its tuition fees are the highest on earth, but the lessons we learn do more for us than those in any school. Amen?

Today we're going to see a man who had to learn some lessons the hard way. He was enrolled in the school of hard knocks. Last week we saw Jacob spending the night at Bethel, where he finally meets God.

The experience at Bethel was only the beginning of Jacob’s education. The Lord had gained his attention and had led him to a response of love and commitment. But there was much work to be done on this young man, and the Lord was busy putting him in the right place for the work to be done. We know God as the “Potter,” and we are the “clay,” and sometimes we can be stubborn.

God sent Jacob to school under the tutelage of his uncle Laban. Many of God’s servants have studied in a similar school. Not everyone wishes to be enrolled in such an institution, but the Lord is certainly in favor of putting His people through it. Jacob just didn’t realize that He was in for a difficult 20-year term under God’s unwitting drillmaster, Laban. God would use these trying years to knock a lot of rough edges off Jacob. Ultimately, yes, God would bless him. But part of the process involved breaking Jacob of his selfish ways.

God promises to bless each of us who trusts in Christ. Like Jacob, we say, “Sounds like a great program! Sure, I’ll let You be my God if You’ll bless me!” But we don’t read the fine print that tells us that God’s blessings always come through His discipline. To bless us and use us to bless others, God has to break us from our dependence on the flesh and shape us into the image of His Son, who learned obedience through the things He suffered (Heb. 5:8). So, God enrolls us in His school of hard knocks.

Lesson 1 is that you reap what you sow. Galatians 6:7 says, “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Jacob has traveled 500 miles to Haran, and he meets Rachel, and is love at first sight. Rachel is the prettiest thing that Jacob has ever seen; he sees her and kisses her, and he’s so happy that he starts crying. If Jacob had known what all the future held for him, he would have cried a lot more.

Jacob told Rachel who he was, that her father and his mother were brother and sister. Jacob is welcomed into Laban’s home, and Laban offers Jacob a job. Laban asked Jacob what do you want your wages to be? Jacob tells Laban I’ll work for you for seven years if you let me marry your daughter Rachel. Laban agrees. So, Jacob works for seven long years to have Rachel as his wife and they seem to him but a few days, for the love he had for her”. Little did Jacob know that he had made a deal with someone just like him, a swindler.

What was it like when Jacob woke up the next morning? Imagine the sun shining through the tent flap, he looks over, expecting to see Rachel; and it's Leah! He jumps straight up in bed and says, what are you doing here; she says we got married last night, don’t you remember. This is one of those “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas weddings.”

He puts on his clothes and goes marching to Laban's tent, asking why have you tricked me. Jacob is learning his first lesson in the school of hard knocks; you reap what you sow!

Jacob, who had deceived his old blind father pretending to be Esau, has now been deceived by Laban. He thought he had married Rachel, when in reality he has married Leah. Laban didn't care about Jacob's feelings for Rachel, he didn't care that it broke Jacob's heart. Rewind seven years in Jacob's life, picture him standing before his old, blind father pretending to be Esau.

Jacob had passed himself off to his father as Esau. And now he is reaping what he sowed. Laban is passing Leah off as Rachel. Jacob was upset and argued but to no avail, now he knows how Esau felt. Laban says you're married to Leah, there's nothing you can do about it. Stay with her the rest of the week of her marriage celebration.

After the week is over I'll let you marry Rachel if you work another 7 years for her. That's exactly what Jacob does. He's learning in the school of hard knocks; what goes around comes around. What’s true of Jacob; is true of every one of us!

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. The law of sowing and reaping is true in every area of life. To get a return, you must make a deposit, and the return you get, depends on the deposit you make. To draw money from the ATM, you must have deposited some money in the bank earlier; no deposit, no return.

If you want a spiritual harvest, a blessed life, a happy marriage, a fruitful ministry, then you must sow spiritual seed. But the Bible says if you sow to the flesh, sow the seeds of sin, selfishness, lying, lust, greed, anger, that is the harvest that you’re going to reap in your life. This is the law of the harvest, and it does not change! Some people don’t believe this law, but that does not change it!

We have no trouble accepting the physical laws of God that are unchanging; we must also accept the spiritual laws of God that are unchanging. There are spiritual laws that are just as real, and as sure as the law of gravity. One of those laws is the law of sowing and reaping. You get out what you put in.

This truth is both negative and positive; don’t think I’m just saying that if you sow to the flesh you will reap corruption; that is true. But it is equally true that if you sow to the spirit, you will reap life everlasting.

You never get wheat – planting corn.

You don’t get a fig tree – planting Apple seeds.

You’re going to reap the same thing you sow.

If you sow hypocrisy – you’ll never reap holiness.

If you sow lies – you’ll never reap honesty.

If you sow lust – you never reap purity of mind.

If you sow anger, cursing – you’ll never reap a peaceful home.

If you sow to the flesh, you’ll never reap the spirit. This law works in every area of life. It works in marriage, family, job, friendships, and church.

If you need love – sow love.

If you need friendship – give friendship.

If you need respect – give respect.

If you want a marriage of love, trust, honesty, communication, laughter, excitement and passion; you must sow those seeds. You get out, what you put in.

Don’t get discouraged because you have sown the seeds of prayer, love, tears, and have not reaped yet. It takes some time for the seeds to come up. Don’t quit sowing; those seeds will come up one day! We live in the day of instant gratification, but the law of sowing and reaping doesn’t work that way. You can be sure that when you sow you will reap!

You cannot sow your wild Oats six days a week and then come to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure; it doesn’t work that way.

Learn this lesson today; you reap what you sow, because that is true, sow the seed of God’s word in your life, sow love, forgiveness, grace, words of kindness. Sow the kind of seeds that you want to come up; because they will.

The second lesson we learn in the school of hard knocks is: Your Difficulties Help You Grow.

Jacob’s life is going to be filled with all kinds of difficulties. Most of the difficulties he created himself; many of my difficulties I create myself. Jacob is going to find himself with marital difficulties, and vocational difficulties yet in the middle of the difficulties God is shaping and growing Jacob.

Jacob has two wives, he is living in polygamy. It was not God’s will for Jacob to have two wives. God’s plan for man has always been one man for one woman for life. But many men in the Bible, disregarded God’s word and married more than one wife. And it caused them heartache and difficulties, and Jacob is no exception.

Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah; so God allowed Leah to be the wife who bore Jacob most of his sons. Leah thinks that having the sons will cause Jacob to love her; Rachel sees Leah having all these sons and she is jealous of Leah. And Jacob is caught in the middle; he lives in a home that is divided, filled with hate and competition. Jacob is experiencing some serious difficulties!

How could God give people like this the promise of the land of Canaan, to grow them into a great nation, and from them would come the Messiah of the world? The answer is that God doesn’t use perfect people; do you know why? Because there are no perfect people! God works through sinful, fallen people just like you and me. God is such a great and powerful God that he can take our sins, mistakes, and difficulties and accomplishes His sovereign will. God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick!

Throughout all of Jacob’s struggles God was growing Jacob!

None of us likes difficulties, struggles, conflict, hard- times, sickness, death in our family, job loss, or marriage problems. But it is through these difficulties that God grows us. If we lived pampered lives, getting everything we want, living on an easy street with no struggles are difficulties, we’d be so spoiled rotten nobody could live with us. It is our difficulties that humble us and drive us to God in prayer. It is our difficulties that show us how weak we are, and how much we need God.

When you look at the lives of the men and women that God used in the Bible and church history you discover they are people who experienced great difficulties in their life. God must break us, humble us before he can trust us and use us.

Learn today that difficulties help you Grow. They are a necessary part of God developing you into the person he wants us to be. The trials of life burn out the impurities and the junk that doesn’t belong in us!

God is growing Jacob in the middle of all the difficulties he is experiencing. God is preparing Jacob for the next phase of his life. Someone said when you’re going through difficulties, don’t just pray, God get me out of this, pray, God, what do I need to get out of this?

There’s a third lesson we learn which is the best one to me, God is With You Wherever You Go. Jacob knows that God is the one who has blessed Laban because of him.

Jacob is beginning to learn to give God the glory for the good things that have happened to him. He is acknowledging that God has been with him! Jacob had lived his life, grabbing what he could grab, accomplishing what he could accomplish, and getting what he could get by deception, lies and manipulation. But in the school of hard knocks, he has learned that it is God that has sustained him, protected him, and blessed him.

In the school of hard knocks, Jacob is learning that God is with him, God was teaching him, and protecting him; God had not abandoned him! And it is the same with us!! God is with us in the difficult place you find yourself. Trust Him, turn to Him, cry out to Him.

The God of Bethel is the God of GRACE!! The God that showed up when Jacob was on the run. The God of Bethel is the God that promises never to leave Jacob. The God of Bethel is a God of Angels. The God of Bethel is a God who promised his presence and protection. The God of Bethel is a God that promise to bring Jacob back to the land of Canaan. Do you know the God of Bethel today; do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior?

Just because you can’t see, feel, or sense God doesn’t mean he isn’t there, God is there!!

Are you in the school of hard knocks today? Learn these three lessons:

1. You reap what you Sow.

2. Your difficulties help you Grow.

3. God is with you wherever you Go.

The life of Jacob is a reminder that God uses messed-up people like us. Right here in this place this morning, God wants to save you, forgive you, deliver you, and strengthen you.God is speaking to your heart, he loves you, please respond to him today!