“There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.” El Elohe Israel can mean El is the God of Israel or mighty is the God of Israel. This is the end of the journey of Jacob. What can you learn about God and how his relationship with Jacob unfolded?
I wonder what would happen if Jacob was lazy and entitled? What would happen if Jacob sat around and waited for God to fulfil his promises? What if he became angry and started to oppose Laban?
God was fantastic and kept his promises. He yielded to Jacob’s passionate embrace and blessed him. He was proactive in protecting and rewarding Jacob.
I understand that Jacob’s positive points do not make him deserving; all this is grace, but it is grace built on Jacob’s desire to be honest, to work hard, to build a family and a life for himself. Yet at the end of the day Jacob’s strengths were not sufficient and he needed to learn the lesson that to go further he has to lose himself and cling to God.
Both truths are equally valid.