A leopard never changes its spots
You have probably at some time or the other heard or said the above quote regarding the behaviour of a person. When we go back into the bible Jacob is the man who this quote could have been written for.
Jacob was the man who talked his brother into giving up his birthright, and later would trick his father into giving him the blessing. When Esau promised to kill Jacob once their father Isaac had died, their mother sent Jacob to her brother Laban to keep him safe from Esau.
And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;
And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away;
Until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?
(Genesis 27:41-45)
How many times have people said that you can’t change?
“Once a liar, always a liar…’
“He’s always been like that… he’ll never change”
No doubt this is what the people thought of Jacob, yet the future would show how wrong they were. There were situations that he would have to face before he became the man that God wanted him to be, and yet he would persevere to become the father of a nation.
Jacob the trickster, would go to his uncle Laban’s home and end up being tricked into working for fourteen years in order to marry Rachel, the woman he loved (Genesis 29: 18,25,27,28). But even then his old ways would resurface and he would repay Laban’s trickery with trickery of his own (Genesis 30:36-43). And just as with Esau, Jacob would find himself in trouble with Laban.
And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. (Genesis 31:2)
And so once more just as he had from his brother, he would run from his uncle for his life, only this time with wife, children and wealth. This could have been the life of Jacob yet like the Apostle Paul; Jacob too would have his own Damascus road moment.
As he headed home to the land of his birth with his family news came to him that his brother Esau was coming to meet him.
And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, we came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. (Genesis 32:6)
Jacob never forgot Esau’s threat so when he heard what his messengers had to say he decided to split his family and goods into two camps. If Esau attacked one the other would have a chance to escape.
This is where Jacob begins his Damascus road experience. He sought the lord for guidance and help. Later that night the bible tells us that he had and encounter with a stranger, that turned into a fight that carried on until dawn.
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
(Genesis 32:24-25)
While Paul was blinded for a time, Jacob would walk with a limp the rest of his life, when the being that he wrestled with put Jacob’s thigh out of joint. Yet even with this Jacob did not give up and his reward was a new name.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. (Genesis 32:28)
From this point Jacob’s life would change.
No longer would he be Jacob the supplanter, the trickster… he was now Israel, the one who prevailed, and he would become the father of a nation that would carry his name.
When people look at you who do they see?
Jacob or Israel…
The trickster or the overcomer?
Are you living in the past of who you were or in the future of who God has called you to be?
Can the leopard change its spots?
Yes.. If God wishes it!
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 )
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
And the love of God,
And the communion of the Holy Ghost,
Be with you all.
Amen.
