"'Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you'" (Genesis 28:15).
Once upon a time, God appeared to a man named Abraham and promised to make him into a great nation. He promised him land and descendants, and through his family, all the nations would be blessed. Eventually, God gave Abraham a son named Isaac, and Isaac had two sons named Jacob and Esau. Esau was the elder and by right should have been the inheritor of the promise, but God had other plans.
Jacob was a conniving liar, cheating his older brother out of both his birthright and later a special blessing from their father. Esau hated Jacob for this and wanted to kill him, so Jacob left home and found work with his uncle. He fell in love with his cousin Rachel, but his uncle cheated him and gave him first his older daughter Leah as a wife and then Rachel.
The two sisters were envious of one another, trying to outdo one another in providing Jacob children. Eventually, Jacob had twelve sons. He was also in charge of a large flock of sheep, despite his uncle's attempts to cheat him there, as well.
So far, Jacob's not looking like a great hero. He never shows any kind of remorse for the wrongs he did against his brother, and he continues in his tricksy ways. But while he was on the way to his uncle's, God appeared to him in a vision. In this vision, God promised to be with him and to give him land and descendants. Through his family, all the nations would be blessed.
This is almost an exact echo of the promise God had made to Abraham so long ago. Though Jacob was not a good person by any stretch of the imagination, God still used him. He had chosen Jacob, and He didn't need to wait for him to be good before He worked His plan through him.
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