Gospel Outreach International

Have you ever felt that the Christian life is simply too hard to sustain, that you do not have what it takes to keep going? You are not alone, and you may be asking exactly the right question. This Bible study takes us into a strange and sometimes messy chapter of Genesis, but woven through it are truths that speak directly to our deepest insecurities about faith, failure and whether God can really use someone like us. Come with an open Bible and an honest heart, and discover what it actually means to be held.

Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” Genesis 31:3

• God keeps us. Our role is not to maintain our own salvation but to trust in the One who holds us. His everlasting arms are always underneath, even when we stumble or stray.
• We will never be perfect this side of heaven. Rather than striving for an impossible standard, we are called to grow, being changed from glory to glory as we feed on God’s word, pray, worship and serve.
• Pride is a subtle danger. The moment we think we have arrived spiritually, we are in greater danger than we realise. Humility keeps us close to God.
• Our weaknesses follow a pattern. The enemy knows where we are vulnerable and returns to the same pressure points. Recognising this is itself a protection.
• God uses imperfect people. Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and countless others were flawed, yet God worked through them. This has never changed.
• A crisis can be a calling. God sometimes uses unsettling circumstances not to harm us but to move us on to where he wants us to be.
• Consulting those closest to us matters. Major decisions made in community, especially with family, tend to be wiser and more grounded than those made alone.
• Family ties can sometimes hold us back. Well-meaning relationships can become obstacles to obedience if we allow them to override what God is asking of us.
• God still speaks and intervenes. Even to those outside the faith, God can break through and change the direction of a life or a situation.
• Faith cannot be borrowed or inherited. We cannot live on someone else’s relationship with God. Each person must make their own personal commitment.
• Reconciliation is more than the absence of conflict. True reconciliation restores relationship, brings agreement and creates the conditions for people to grow together.
• Whatever God saves, God keeps. No power can remove us from his hands. This is not a reason for complacency but a foundation for courage.

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” Genesis 31:24

Whatever this study has stirred in you, here is the thought to carry with you. You do not have to be flawless for God to be faithful. Jesus, the only perfect person who ever lived, has done everything necessary for you to belong to God and to stay there. He holds you, he restores you when you fall, and he walks with you through every crisis and every weakness. That is not a reason to take grace for granted. It is a reason to keep going.

Bible References

• Genesis 31:
• Genesis 31:3
• 1 John 3
• 1 Samuel 29
• John 2