NUMBER
16
1
April, 2015
'Your
father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not
allowed him to harm me,' Jacob said to Leah and Rachel, Genesis 31:7. Life in
Paddan Aram was tough for Jacob. He spent twenty years, (v31,38), working his
'socks off' for his Uncle Laban who had been a diabolical employer. As we saw
last week, Laban deceived Jacob into marrying his eldest daughter Leah instead
of Rachel. What should have been seven became fourteen years of labour for the
girl he loved. Marrying both women resulted in animosity between the two and a
competition between them to provide the most sons and win Jacob's favour!
(30:1-13). I'm glad not to have had Jacob's home life!
When
he went off to work, things were no better. Listen to what he had to say about
it. 'I have been with you for twenty
years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from
your flocks. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss
myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or
night. This was my situation; the heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold
at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. It was like this for the twenty years I
was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters
and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times,'
(31:38-4).
Sometimes
it can seem that honesty does not pay. It was by taking advantage of Esau, his
elder brother, that Jacob obtained his brother's birthright. It was through
deceit that he received his Father's blessing. But Jacob changed. No longer
dishonest or deceitful, life seemed to have become worse rather than better for
him. Twenty years in that situation is a very long time. Sometimes it can seem
that we are in a very long dark tunnel with no light at the end of it, and that
doing the right thing has done us little if any good. But however things may
seem, even if God seems far away, as he seemed when Jesus cried out from the
cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Matthew 27:46 trust
him. Like Jacob, stay faithful; like Jacob, believe, and at some point God will
reveal himself and prove his faithfulness to you, as he did that first Easter
morning when he raised Jesus from the dead.
God
bless you all.
Bournemouth
UK
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