Backsliding can strike anytime. Even after a face-to-face encounter with God, Jacob will slip into compromise and languish in a spiritual wasteland. 1. Compromise. Instead of obeying God fully, he chose to linger halfway. And it was not just a short “vacation” but a long stay of several years. Somehow, he just didn’t move on to enter where God calls him to. And so it is with us. We often obey God halfway, which really is not obedience at all. It’s a compromise. And we may stay there for a long time. And we struggle there. 2. Complications. Being out of God’s will is not just disobedience, it is also devastating. We see the terrible consequences or complications of Jacob’s disobedience when rape, murder, and plundering all took place as a result of his stay at Shechem. When we choose to stay out of God’s will, He allows painful consequences in our lives, not because He now hates us, but that He loves us and chastises us, that we may learn. 3. Commitment. The main point of this story is not about the rape of Shechem, nor the violence and wile of Simeon and Levi. It is not even about Jacob’s sin. Shining brightly above all is the stunning, faithful, gracious love and faithfulness of God towards His elect, Jacob. Just as God blessed Abraham and Isaac even when they sinned, God blesses Jacob ultimately out of sheer grace. The Bible is God’s book. God’s book is primarily about God. May we see God for who He is and adore Him today in His word!