Sometimes I discover a new take on an old scripture passage. Sometimes I read a different take and think, “Wow. Why didn’t I see that before?” And other times, I read a different take and say, “Huh?!”

Consider Jacob’s prayer after his “Jacob’s Ladder” experience:

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Genesis 28.20 – 22, NIV)

This is Jacob the conniver, the cheater, the one who just lied to his father to steal his brother’s blessing after he’d already conned him out of his birthright. The “prayer” sounds to me like Jacob at his best, trying to cut a deal: “If you will take care of me and bring me back here, then you can be my God, and, to sweeten the deal, I will cut you in for a tenth.”

I don’t think it’s the best prayer, so imagine my surprise when I read an email from Steve Cleary, producer of the new Pilgrim’s Progress movie saying this about this prayer:

If a person is looking for a prayer to pray daily, I think Jacob’s is as pure as any. Are we willing to trust God for all things and acknowledge Him as our God every day? —Steve Cleary–you can read his full remarks here.

Whoa! Talk about a different take! What can we learn?

• God can lead people to different applications from the same scripture. And if both applications are, in themselves, biblical, that’s OK. We should trust God for all things and acknowledge Him as our God every day. I just wouldn’t use Jacob’s prayer to teach that. And we shouldn’t try to make deals with God either!
• I should hold all my interpretations with an open hand. Neither I nor Steve knows what Jacob was really thinking.
• God meets us where we are and as we are. This is the best lesson, I think. Even if my take is correct, God didn’t forsake Jacob.

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4.10, NKJV)

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (1 Corinthians 10.11, NKJV)