Genesis 31:17-21 Jacob deceives Laban!

17So Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, 18and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.

19Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. 20Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. 21So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

Jacob rose and made for a quick departure, he was wealthy enough to put his family on camels. Verse 20 is interesting to me because it states, “Jacob deceived Laban”....

Jacob was under the protection of God, He should have put his trust in Him.

“He could have announced his departure and gone in the glory of an army with banners. But fear made it impossible to reap the full measure of blessing. He sneaked away into the will of God instead of departing in triumph.” (Barnhouse)

“Rachel stole her father’s household idols”. Some believe it was to keep her father from inquiring of them, some say maybe she worshiped them, some say they were used for deeds to property but Jewish traditions say it was to keep her father from idolatry. The fact is we just don’t know.

“So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.” According to the map it was about a 300 mile journey with his family, possessions and animals. Imagine where you live, packing your whole household on camels and traveling 300 miles away.

But God was with him.

Blessings, David 

Genesis 31:14-16 So do whatever God has told you!

14Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house? 15Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered the money paid for us. 16Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”

This was probably the first time Leah and Rachel agreed on anything!

Moving so far away wasn’t an easy undertaking. God must have been working on their hearts because without Jacob’s wives support he probably wouldn’t have moved. 

Laban squandered his wealth and changed Jacob’s wages tenfold. God witnessed what he did and how he treated Jacob. It is evident by this verse what God did...

“Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children.”

So the sisters agreed, “So do whatever God has told you.”

Are we as agreeable, do we say “So do whatever God has told you.”?

Blessings, David 

Renewal By Jesus. Psalm 23:3a NLT

Psalm  23:3a NLT 

3 He renews my strength. NLT 

3 He refreshes my soul. NIV 

3 He restores my soul. ESV 

3 He renews my life; CSB 

3 and You refresh my life. CEV 

3 He gives me new strength. GNT 

Renews, refreshes, restores, gives. 

Renew: re-establish (a relationship); give fresh life or strength to. 

Refreshes: give new strength or energy to; reinvigorate. 

Restore: return (someone or something) to a former condition, place, or position.

Gives: freely transfer the possession of (something) to (someone); hand over to.

The Lord re-establishes us, freely transfers fresh life to us, strengthens us, energizes us, reinvigorate's us and returns us to our former condition. What former condition? The condition we were meant to be. Before the fall in the garden. When we were truly blameless. Only God can do that. Only Jesus could do that. Through His sacrifice on the cross. 

Blessings, Cecilia

Genesis 31:10-13 Look up!

10When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. 11In that dream the Angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’

And I replied, ‘Here I am.’

12‘Look up,’ He said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up and leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”

In the verses we see the blessing of the Lord in the blessed sheep production. This was Jacob’s, “I had a dream” moment!

“Look up”! A reminder to look up to God! As Jacob “looked up” to see the vision God had for him, we must look up to Him for guidance to get us through the day.

Look up!

“for I have seen all that Laban has done to you”. God sees everything, He sees all your troubles, He is the source of our blessings!

“I am the God of Bethel!

“You remember, some of you, perhaps, the first time when pardoning love was revealed to you — when you were brought to see the love of God in the great atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Well, to-night, the Lord says to you, ‘I am the same God as you have ever found me. I have not changed. I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed, even as your father Jacob was not consumed; for I was even to him the selfsame God.’” (Spurgeon)

Look up!

Blessings, David 

Genesis 31:1-9 I will be with you!

Jacob Flees from Laban

1Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.” 2And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.

3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

4So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were, 5and he told them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring. 9Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

Envy is a dangerous sin, it poisons the mind, heart and soul. Laban’s sons became envious of Jacob because God was blessing him. Their envy spread like wildfire and poisoned Laban’s mind and his countenance changed towards Jacob. 

Laban was cheating Jacob of his wages and changing them ten times!

The Lord said, “I will be with you.”

Psalm 118:6 (ESV)

6  The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

Will Jacob have anything to worry about after the Lord said, “I will be with you.”?

Laban and his sons won’t be able to harm Jacob, he is the Promise and the Lord has plans for him.

The Lord has plans for you too! 

“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:20

https://www.gracegems.org/Smith5/surely_i_am_with_you_always.htm

Blessings, David 

Genesis 30:41-43 Exceedingly Prosperous!

41Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches. 42But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

43Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob was only breeding the strong animals assuring a strong healthy herd.

God witnessed what Laban was doing to Jacob and He blessed Jacob because of His Promise to Abraham not because Jacob was a good man.

“Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous.” To a degree that is beyond usual to a point that anyone who witnessed his prosperity knew it was from God.

Recently my brother in-law mentioned he noticed a change in my lifestyle and he knew it was from God. He was a witness to my spiritual prosperity after being born again and the adoption of our son. 

Have you become exceedingly prosperous, spiritually?

If Jesus is in you, what better testimony is there than your own conversion from a sinful life?

Blessings David 

Genesis 30:37-40 Set his own stock apart!

37Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 38Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

We don’t know why this method of selective breeding worked for Jacob, maybe it was his knowledge of animal husbandry or maybe it was the Lord, or both. 

The females dropped their young twice a year and it is reported that the ones dropped in autumn were stronger possibly because they had to survive the winter. 

It is believed that the branches stripped of their bark gave off perfume and their colors possibly reflected autumn in the spring which may have helped produced stronger animals.

“Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.”

Just as Jacob set his own stock apart from Laban’s the Lord will set his own stock apart from Satan’s. 

Whom do you belong to?

Blessings, David