Genesis 29:1
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.
I like the way this reads in the Hebrew. The phrase “went on his journey” carries the idea that Jacob lifted up his feet. In other words, he has happy feet. There is a spring in his step now. There is a lightness there that was not there before.
And that is significant.
Because the last time we saw Jacob, he was a man on the run, laying his head on a rock, carrying the weight of his own mess, not knowing what the future held. But then God met him. God spoke to him. God assured him. God let him know, “I am with thee, I will keep thee, I will bring thee back, and I will finish what I have spoken.” And now Jacob gets up and heads down the road with a different walk.
That is what happens when a man really encounters God.
It changes the way he walks.
We saw in chapter 28 that true conversion showed up in Jacob’s worship. He took the stone, set it up, poured oil on it, and marked the place. We saw it in his work too, in that he began to think in terms of giving the tenth unto the Lord. And now we see it in his walk. He is moving with joy. He is moving with enthusiasm.
And that word is worth thinking about. Enthusiasm comes from en theos, full of God. That is what Jacob is here. He is not just emotionally worked up. He is not just relieved to be out of danger for a moment. He is full of what God has just shown him. Full of the reality that the Lord is with him. Full of the promise that heaven is not shut against him. Full of the awareness that grace has found him.
That puts lift in a man’s feet.
When the Lord touches a life, it does not merely adjust a few beliefs in the head. It changes the walk. A man moves differently. There is hope where there used to be heaviness. There is expectation where there used to be dread. There is a sense of, “The Lord is with me,” and that changes the whole journey, even when the road itself is still long.
That is Jacob here.
But we also need to see this clearly. Jacob is saved, but he is not yet subdued. He has met God, but he is still very much Jacob. The old patterns are still there. The old instincts are still in him. The Lord has begun a real work, but He is not finished with the man yet.
And that is how it is for all of us.
There are those moments when God meets us so clearly that our feet feel light. We move forward with joy. We step out with freshness. We know the Lord has spoken. But then comes the longer stretch where God begins dealing with the deeper stuff. Not because He has abandoned us, but because He loves us too much to leave us unchanged.
That is what the next chapters are about.
God is going to deal with Jacob.
He is going to work on him.
He is going to move him along on his spiritual journey.
The man who deceived will be deceived.
The man who grabbed will be made to wait.
The man who always tried to arrange things in his own strength is going to learn what it means to be handled by God.
But right here, before all of that, there is this beautiful little picture of a man with happy feet. A man who has heard from God and therefore walks differently.
And really, that is the point.
An encounter with God changes the walk.
Not perfectly all at once.
But truly.
There begins to be a different step, a different spirit, a different direction. The road may still be long. The issues may still be many. The shaping may still lie ahead. But when a man knows the Lord is with him, he can walk with joy even before he understands everything God is going to do.