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“Lord, I look to you to save me” (Genesis 49:18).

Pastor Anthony discovered that the Hebrew word which we translate hope turns up in the Bible well before Ruth. You guessed it, it turns up here in our text. But you didn’t hear it or read it, because the NIV translators use the phrase ‘look to’. You’ll just have to trust us on this.

I discovered that many Biblical scholars don’t like this verse much. It doesn’t fit, you see. Most of Genesis 49 is the record of Jacob blessing his sons before he dies. In the middle of his monologue directed towards his sons, he has this line directed towards God, “I wait in hope for your salvation, Lord God.”

There is something very curious about this little prayer: it’s the only time the name, ‘The Lord God’, is used in this chapter. In fact, it hasn’t been used since chapter 39 and it won’t be used again until the book of Exodus. We’re talking here about the covenant name of God, through which he bound himself to Abraham and his descendants. Some of you many be familiar with its Hebrew form, YHWH.

One more thing before we attempt to understand this. The verses surrounding our text make references to attacks. In both attacks, the targets are heels. Is that important? I think so. As you may know, Jacob was the younger twin. He was born, ‘grasping his brother’s heel’. Jacob means, “grasping the heel” (Genesis 25:26).

Jacob spent much of his life grasping for things, trying to get ahead. This resulted in the breakdown of relationships: first with his brother, then between his wives, then with his uncle and then between his sons.

His sons were now following his example. He sees both Dan and Gad, the sons referenced in these verses, in tenuous positions, striking at the heel of those more powerful than they are.

Perhaps those thoughts led Jacob to express this hope for deliverance.

In this whole story of Joseph being sold as a slave to Egypt, the Lord God, has been relegated to the shadows. Is Jacob calling upon the Lord to come out into the open? Is Jacob saying that the only hope for his tribe left when he dies is the Lord God?

“I’ve made a mess,” it seems Jacob is saying, “Lord, you will need to clean it up.” I think that this may indeed be what Jacob is saying.

And it’s a good word for today. I often find that God’s people are a lot like Jacob, they make a mess of things. They grasp for things, especially power. Ask non-Christians what they think about us and the response is rarely affirming. This week a report was published confirming that Ravi Zacharias was indeed guilty of many sexual assaults and other sexual sins. Here’s another Christian leader so many looked up made a mess of things. The denomination that gave him pastoral credentials revoke them posthumously. A first. How many women carry the scars of his sins? We will never know.

The church today is just like Jacob’s sons, messed up and making messes. We shouldn’t make excuses for any of it. Its bad and we need to acknowledge this. But there is hope, our Lord God, who has bound himself to us in Christ Jesus, will finish his work of redemption.

Like Jacob we cry out, “Lord, I look to you to save us.” And with the Spirit we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”