The whole time I was feeling like Jacob was fooling Laban. But here it clearly shows Jacob was following direction from God and also knew it was God who was providing for him even as Laban was jacking around with his wages and agreements with him.
My takeaway is try to follow God's direction and don't get hung up in what seems fair or right in our own eyes. Stay the course of God's direction which also requires being close to God and listening to him to understand what that course is that he is leading us towards. Ultimately he has our backs, don't spend energy looking out for ourselves.
knut
I think the story quite colorfully describes the pettiness of humanity. Even though Jacob didn't do anything wrong....because he was blessed, Laban became jealous. And Laban listened to those around him saying he needed to do something about the situation. Jealousy can be an ugly, ugly thing. It makes us act irrationally. I don't think it says that Laban's wealth was diminished. It only says that Jacob's was multiplied.
ReplyDeleteGreed and jealousy.
To your point, if we could keep our eyes focused on God....none of these other things would matter. It's when take our eyes off of God and start comparing.
tp