EVERY PROFESSIONAL SPORT HAS A HALL OF FAME Almost every professional sport has a “hall of fame”. Prominent North American Sports Halls of Fames:  
Baseball (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum): Located in Cooperstown, NY, this museum honors MLB history, famously considered one of the strictest to enter.
Pro Football Hall of Fame: Situated in Canton, OH, this hall houses bronzes busts of inductees.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Located in Springfield, MA, the birthplace of basketball.
Hockey Hall of Fame: Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, dedicated to the history of ice hockey.
NASCAR Hall of Fame: Located in Charlotte, NC, featuring interactive exhibits and racing simulators.
International Tennis Hall of Fame: Situated in Newport, RI.
International Boxing Hall of Fame: Located in Canastota, NY.
National Soccer Hall of Fame: Located in Frisco, TX.
National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum: Located in Stillwater, OK.

GOD HAS HIS OWN HALL OF FAME BUT IT IS REALLY A HALL OF FAITH Every Old Testament character listed in Hebrews 11 is indeed famous, but only famous b/c of his/her faith. Hebrews 11:² For by it (i.e. faith)the people of old gained approval.” Some like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David really stand out for their faith, but even those were not perfect. Noah got drunk which led to the curse on Ham, Abraham lied twice (same lie) that Sarah was his sister to avoid being possibly killed, Joseph mistreated his brothers when they came to Egypt accusing them of being spies even puting one of them in prison before he eventually forgave them, Moses fled Egypt and then made excuses at the burning bush for not wanting to obey God’s command to go tell Pharoah to let Israel go, David committed adultery with Bathsheeba and had her husband Uriah killed, and Samson chased Philistine women which led to his death. So even the best examples of faith had major flaws. What does that tell us? It tells us that we don’t have to have perfect, flawless faith Thank goodness for that!

JACOB ONLY HAS ONE MENTION OF HIS FAITH IN HEBREWS 11 AND THAT IS WHEN HE IS DYING! But one of the heroes in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 has always gotten my attention. Hebrews 11:²¹ By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.” One act of faith out of 147 years of life, and that act of faith was while he was dying. Did Jacob have no other great moments or deeds of faith during his 147 years? Let’s review the main events of his life.

1) AT BEERSHEBA. He took advantage of his hungry brother Esau, getting Esau to give Jacob his birthright, a very valuable thing, for a bowl of stew. So Jacob starts off selfish and unloving. Did you ever take advantage of your siblings?

2) AT HEBRON. He joins his mother Rebekkah in lying to Jacob’s blind aged father Isaac to steal a blessing that Isaac had intended for Esau. Selfish, greedy, lying even to his father. Did you ever lie to your parents? That might be the worst lie possible! Was favoritism ever a problem in your family? It certainly contributed to Jacob’s bad actions early in life.

3) AT BETHEL. As he flees Canaan to escape the wrath of Esau, he spends the first night and has the dream of the ladder to heaven. He awakes and names the place Bethel, “House of God”. God tells him that He will be with him on his journey to Haran and back to Canaan. Jacob expresses no faith, but proposed a deal. Genesis 28:²⁰ Jacob also made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and give me food to eat and garments to wear, ²¹ and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. ²² And this stone, which I have set up as a memorial stone, will be God’s house, and of everything that You give me I will assuredly give a tenth to You.” In other words, “If you protect me God on this journey, then I will accept You as my God and give a tenth to you.” It’s a wonder God didn’t ditch him right there! God is patient.

4) IN HARAN. After 20 years of serving Laban and battling wits with a deceptive Laban over wives for Jacob and flocks, God told Jacob to return to Canaan. Jacob tells Rachel and Leah, Genesis 31:5 “the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to do me harm.” Jacob had tried to outwit Laban and had been successful, but here it seems that he finally realized that it was God protecting and blessing him and not his own cunning. This statement from Jacob is more an epiphany of realizing what God had been doing for him during the 20 years than an act of faith. He never acted out of faith during those tough 20 years with Laban, always relying on his own cunning.

5) AT PENIEL. On returning from Haran to Canaan, he is told that Esau is coming with 400 men to meet him. Jacob was “greatly afraid and distessed”. The last time he had seen Esau 20 years earlier was when Esau was wanting to kill Jacob. To his credit, Jacob speaks to God, reminding Him of the promise God had made to protect Jacob, asking Him to save him from Esau. But as usual, He relies on his cunning to divide his people into 3 groups to consecutively meet Esau with Rachel and Joseph in the last group. His plan is that if Esau starts killing Jacob’s family, than Rachel and Joseph can escape. He sends everyone and all his animals across the river and spends the night alone (out of fear?). He wrestles with a man who appears, and after wrestling all night realizes that the man is an appearance of God himself. He names the place Peniel, “face of God” b/c he had seen God and lived. Typical Jacob, he demands a blessing from the man before he will let the man go, as if the man couldn’t get away if he wanted to since he had already dislocated his thigh. The man (God) changes Jacob’s name to Israel, “he who wrestles with God”. The next day Jacob goes out to meet Esau and Esau runs to hug Jacob, kisses him, and they both weep. Esau had forgiven him and Jacob had nothing to fear from Esau. It’s amazing how we worry about things that never happen! Later Jacob and Esau would bury Isaac when he died at age 180. I don’t know if you would call this an incident of Jacob’s faith, but at least he did ask God to save him from Esau.

6) AT SCHECHEM. Jacob came to the city of Shechem which is in Canaan. To his credit he built an altar to God there. But then his daughter Dinah was raped by a prince named Shechem who then asked to marry Dinah. Jacob does nothing and says nothing. Simeon and Levi deceive the men of Shechem, getting them to be circumcised on the pretense that Shechem could marry Dinah if they did so. Then Simeon and Levi killed all the males while they were recovering from being circumcised and took all their flocks, wealth, and families. Where was Jacob during all this? Silent. He finally spoke, Genesis 34:³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me repulsive among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since my men are few in number, they will band together against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household!” ³¹ But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” Jacob is more concerned about his own safety than he was about the rape of his daughter. No faith there. Maybe if Jacob had led in faith the resolution of the rape then Simeon and Levi would not have done what they did. But Jacob’s cowardice in this incident is obvious.

7) AT HEBRON. Jacob continued the practice of favoritism with his childen as he gave Jospeh the coat of many colors and preferential treatment which led to Joseph’s brothers selling him to slavery in Egypt. Later, during the 7 years of famine, he only cared about the safety of his other favorite son by Rachel, i.e. Benjamin, when he refused to send Benjamin with the other brothers to Egypt to get food. On their 2nd trip he finally allowed them to take Benjamin as Joseph had demanded, but again his only concern was what might happen to Benjamin and not the safety of the other 10 brothers or the brother in prison in Egypt.

8) IN EGYPT. After Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he had Jacob’s whole family of 70 brought to Egypt to survive he famine. Joseph brought his father Jacob to meet Pharoah. Pharoah asked Jacob how many years he had lived. Jacob replied, Genesis 47:9 “The years of my living abroad are 130; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their living abroad.” What a terrible summary of his life spoken to a stranger he had never met. The truth is that his life had been unpleasant for the most part b/c he had always wrestled with God, trying to control circumstances and get wealth and safety by his own cunning instead of fully trusting in God. That could probably be said of me and many of you reading this article.

9) IN GOSHEN. After 17 years in Egypt, Jacob was dying and Joseph brought his 2 sons, Ephraim and Manasseh for a final blessing from Jacob. Jacob blessed the younger Ephraim to be greater than the older Manasseh, which displeased Jospeh. Jacob then blessed Joseph, saying Genesis 48:15 ““The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all evil.” An epiphany that God had always been his shepherd his whole life, protecting and blessing him, in spite of Jacob’s wrestling with God to control circumstances. I know personally that I can relate to what Jacob said. I have tended to worry and try to control things instead of fully trusting in God. I did obey God and went where I felt like God wanted me to go be a part of his plan just like Jacob did. But I often wrestled with God for control of my life and did not always enjoy the peace that comes wiht fully trusting God. A lot of worrying and a lot of fear. Jacob, as he was dying, finally could look back at his 147 years and see how God had used him to be a part of the plan to make a great nation, Israel. I hope that I can relax and have a similar epiphany when it is time for me to die.

10) IN GOSHEN. Then comes that one mention of the faith of Jacob out of all his 147 years of living. Hebrews 11:²¹ By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.” By blessing Joseph’s sons, Jacob was showing his faith in the promises of God to bless his family in the future. He told his sons to bury him back in Canaan in the cave of Machpelah where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah were buried. That’s faith that the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 15 that after slavery the chosen family would come out of Egypt and go to the promised land. Picture his last moments. He “worshipped” God as he leaned on his staff for support by the side of his bed, unable to stand on his own strength. That’s the only mention of Jacob ever worshipping God in 147 years. He then “drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.”

I have not tried to discredit Jacob and his faith, just to point out the facts. I can’t judge his heart or his faith. But I know that, in spite of Jacob’s weaknesses and lack of faith for almost all of his life that he is in God’s hall of faith. In other words, we dont’ have to have perfect faith to be in God’s hall of faith. We do have to obey God, and Jacob always obeyed God. Abraham left Ur to go to Canaan out of great faith. Jacob returns to Canaan mainly out of fear of Laban, not out of faith. I can relate to that since I went to a school of preaching after getting my engineering degree mainly out of fear, but God blessed me anyway. Abraham dies satisfied with his life (Genesis 25:8) but Jacob summarized his life as “unpleasant”, at least at the age of 130. But God used both of them to carry out his plan to make a great nation of Israel and lead them to the promised land. I want this article to give you hope. Your faith does not have to be perfect to be pleasing to God. Many of the patriarchs in the hall of faith had dysfunctional families, but God blessed them anyway. Did you come from a dysfunctional family? God can bless you anyway if you have faith. Does your faith waver at times? God can still use you. The grace of God and the blood of Jesus will cleanse you from your sins and mistakes. I feel like the man who told Jesus, “I believe. Help my unbelief.”

Here is a great map of Jacob’s journeys.