Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Learning Circle
- Learning Circle: The Learning Circle is a tool we use to hear from God. It focuses to look at six stages of listening: observe, reflect, discuss, plan, account, and act. Ultimately it helps us look at the question: What is God saying to me and what am I going to do about it?
We don’t particularly see Jacob walking a circle in this chapter,
but we do see the effects of the circle that Jacob has been walking with
respect to character. Jacob fled to
Laban, found wives, and became an even better deceiver. But since fleeing Laban, Jacob has wrestled
with God, begun to develop his character, found forgiveness with Esau, and had
a good hard look at how his sons are learning his own sinfulness. It’s no surprise that He hears from God and
finally submits.
Jacob finally hears God tell him to return to his spiritual roots
and go back to Bethel. After observing
the sinfulness of his sons in the prior chapter, he is ready to hear from God
and to respond. How do we know
this? After reflecting, Jacob gathers up
all of the family’s false gods and buries them.
He finally embraces his new identity of Israel. He acts upon his plan. He returns to God and God blesses him for it.
The learning circle is all about repenting and believing in what
God is saying. Sometimes that’s a long
process. For Jacob it sure was. But in the end we see the fruit of that
process. Jacob becomes Israel. He steps into that change and embraces what
God has wanted to do with his life.
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