Last 5 Days
Trust God or Fear Man
1 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” 2 And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was 5 and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. 8 If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. 9 Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. 10 In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. 11 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ 12 And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’” 14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? 15 Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. 16 All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”
17 So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19 Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household gods. 20 And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. 21 He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.
From chapter 30, Jacob took the livestock that were striped, spotted and mottled from Laban as wages and compensation for the many years Jacob had worked for him. The scriptures tells us that God’s blessing was upon him and as a result, Jacob grew in his wealth. The livestock that were striped, spotted and mottled grew in numbers and as Laban’s flock dwindled, his sons saw their inheritance disappeared. They were obviously unhappy with Jacob, and Jacob soon also observed Laban’s displeasure with him as well. While the bible did not clearly state how Laban’s favour was no longer with Jacob (v6), but the scriptures tells us that Laban tried to harm Jacob but was not permitted by God. (v7) One can imagine the fear that Jacob had for himself, his family and possessions.
Then God commanded Jacob to returned to his land in Canaan. (v3) Like a good husband, Jacob called his wives, Rachel and Leah, for a family meeting of his plans and recounted God’s commandment to him pertaining to their return back to the land of Canaan. Jacob recounted how Laban had been unkind to him and his family, but God had continued to provide in the midst of Laban’s hostility.
God reminded Jacob that He was the God of Bethel. Bethel was a significant place. God met Jacob twenty years ago when Jacob first fled from Canaan before turning to Laban. God had declared to Jacob that He was the God of Abraham and Isaac, and the land that He had promised Abraham would be given to Jacob and his offspring. God had also promised that he will be with Jacob wherever he goes, and ultimately until Jacob returns to the land of Canaan. (Gen 28:13-15) God had not forgotten the promise He had made to Jacob and circumstantially, it was time for Jacob to return back to where God had promised him. Jacob had the complete blessings from his wives and they set off with everything he owned back to his hometown.
However, there was an interesting tension in the narrative. The scriptures tell us that Jacob did not inform Laban of his intention to go, but took the yearly sheep shearing activity as an opportunity to flee from his father-in-law. He was probably afraid that if Laban and his sons knew about it, they might do harm to him or his family and possessions. At this moment, he was clear that God had asked him to go, but he had not believed that God would provide his safe passage of departure. He did not trust God fully to deliver him from his enemy. Jacob’s old trickery nature surfaced again as he took things in his own hands and manipulated the exit plans. This was the wrong way to go about leaving, taking off without notice. It was discourteous, it was disrespectful. It did not give Laban an opportunity to say goodbye to his daughters or his grandchildren. Jacob should have trusted God instead of fearing man.
Dear brothers and sisters, when confronted with circumstances which requires us to choose to either trust God or fear man, how would you choose? Would we yield to our circumstantial fears or would we take an additional step of faith to trust God in His plans for us? Truth is, like Jacob, most often than not, we will yield to our fears. We will manipulate our situations to make exit plans that are most palatable or we might compromise in order to reduce the impact to the smallest.
Will God love us less because of our lack of trust in Him? Well, we know God loves His people regardless, and even in our lacking, God continues to lead us and shape us to accomplish His works in our lives. However, in our fear, we lose a chance to witness God’s mighty works in our circumstance and miss our opportunity to grow in our trust in Him. We miss the boat to be sanctified in our faith. Dear brothers and sisters, faith is a muscle that needs to be exercised, and our responses to difficult circumstances is the gym room for faith muscles to be exercise. Where in your life do you need to trust God today? Would you exercise it and witness the joy of God’s presence and provision in the midst of it?