Trusting God; Fearing Man - Genesis 31:1-21
INTRODUCTION:
Last week we left Jacob a very wealthy man, God had promised to bless him, God was committed to bless him, and God had caused his prosperity to burst forth. As we learned last week and as we look at it in more detail this week, Jacob came to understand that it was not his feeble efforts or schemes that was making him wealthy, but rather God was the one controlling the hereditary traits of the goats and the sheep, and we will see this morning through Jacob’s dream that it was more than just making sure they were spotted, streaked, or dark colored as Laban changed the wages repeatedly. When God promises, He provides.
As we come to chapter 31 we find that Jacob feels threatened, he feels that what God has provided him with is also threatened, and he wants to trust God that He will protect what He has provided, but Jacob is fearful of man.
Let’s pray and then get into our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 31:1-21 our passage for this morning. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Genesis 31:1-21,
“Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, ‘Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.’ Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.’ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, and said to them, ‘I see your father’s attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength. Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me. If he spoke thus, “The speckled shall be your wages,” then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, “The striped shall be your wages,” then all the flock brought forth striped. Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, “Jacob,” and I said, “Here I am.” He said, “Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.”’ Rachel and Leah said to him, ‘Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price. Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.’ Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s. And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.” (Genesis 31:1–21, NASB95)[1]
FALLING OUT OF FAVOR (Genesis 31:1-3)
This passage opens up with Jacob hearing Laban’s sons, now remember they had taken all of the speckled, striped, and dark colored goats and sheep from Laban’s flocks and had gone a three days journey away from where Jacob was tending the rest of Laban’s flock. But as we come into this chapter we have moved 6 years into the future and Jacob is a wealthy business man and has a reputation in the community. He overhears some of Laban’s sons talking and they are talking about Jacob. Now I don’t know about you, but if I heard my name whispered in a group that I was not with I would listen more carefully to what was being said about me. Laban’s sons were complaining that Jacob had taken away all that belonged to their father; and that it was from what belonged to their father that Jacob has made his wealth. Remember that during the first 14 years of Jacob’s service to Laban the Lord had blessed Laban and his little sheep operation had grown into a large, lucrative business. Since the new contract had been made where Jacob gets all the spotted and striped goats and sheep, and all the lambs that are born a dark color that seems to be all that Laban’s sheep are producing and Laban’s flock has dwindled, and his sons are seeing their inheritance disappear. They are not happy with Jacob, and as Jacob thinks about this he realizes that Laban’s attitude towards him has changed as well, he is not friendly towards him anymore, he is cold, angry and given to aggression when dealing with Jacob. Jacob begins to realize that he is not well liked by his relatives, and begins to fear for himself and for his family, and for his possessions.
Now it is not written here in the text, but I believe that Jacob began to pray about the situation, asking the Lord what he was to do. In verse three we read that the Lord answered Jacob’s prayer and He told Jacob it was time for him to leave, it was time for him to return to the land of his fathers, to return to his relatives, his family. Jacob I am taking you back to the land I promised to give to Abraham, that I promised to give to your father Isaac, and that I promised to give to you and your descendants. The time is right, and I will be with you. That was an important phrase that Jacob should have paid more attention to, because God was saying, “You do not need to fear Laban or his sons, because I will be with you, I will protect what I have given you, I will watch over you and your wives and your children and all that I have blessed you with, all the flocks and male and female servants, and all the camels and donkeys and all your wealth. I provided it I will protect it. That little phrase should have given Jacob great courage, but he was still fearful and he began to hatch a plan. Jacob when will you learn to fully trust God and stop your scheming and deceiving.
FAMILY IN THE FIELD (Genesis 31:4-16)
Jacob has come up with a plan now that God has told him to return to the land promised to him, but he wants to sell that plan to his family, see how they are thinking. Remember that Leah and Rachel grew up in this place, it is the only place they had ever lived and it is their father and brothers that they would be leaving, their family. Jacob calls them out to the field where his flock is pasturing. He wants to talk to them away from ears that might take what he says back to Laban. When they arrive Jacob begins by telling them how their father’s attitude towards him has changed, he does not treat me in the friendly manner that he had treated me in before, but the God of my father has been with me. He then tells them how he has served their father; that he had done so with all his strength, he was a hard and loyal servant and had never shirked any of the work given to him. Even though he had served Laban this way, Laban had not kept the contract that they had both agreed upon six years earlier, he constantly kept changing the wages and cheating Jacob out of what they had agreed upon. Jacob says that in 6 years Laban had changed his wages 10 times, and at times Laban must have become very aggressive or violent because Jacob said that God did not allow Laban to hurt or do evil to him. God restrained Laban and did not allow him to hurt Jacob physically or economically. Jacob then gave his wives an example of how Laban broke their contract, Jacob was to get all the spotted and striped goats and sheep and all the dark colored lambs, but Laban would say from now on only the spotted or speckled belong to you. If they are striped they belong to me. Jacob said that Laban’s flock would begin to have only spotted or speckled goats and sheep. If Laban said only the striped were Jacob’s wages, then the goats and the sheep would give birth to only striped. This is how God took away your father’s flock and gave it to me. Then Jacob told them of a dream that he had that caused him to realize that it was God who was doing this. That God was committed to bless Jacob and God was controlling whether Laban’s flocks had spotted or striped offspring. He told them that once when the flocks were mating that he lifted up his eyes and saw in a dream that all the male goats (my version says goats, this word can also be translated ram and can refer to either male goats or male sheep) anyway in this dream all the male goats and sheep that were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled, they all carried the recessive gene. I have seen what Laban has been doing to you so I, the Lord, have been controlling the birthing patterns of the goats and sheep so that whatever Laban says is your wages, that is what the sheep and goats produce.
Then Jacob went on and told them what else God said to him in this dream, God called himself the God of Bethel, reminding Jacob that he had met with him 20 years before when he was on the way to Haran. There God had promised Jacob, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 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 28:13b–15, NASB95)[2] Then God reminded Jacob that he had anointed a pillar there and had made a vow to God. Jacob had vowed, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” (Genesis 28:20–22, NASB95)[3] The Lord is reminding Jacob that he has an obligation to fulfill, so far God has fulfilled His promise, he has been with Jacob all along this journey, he has provided him with descendants and has made sure that he has had food to eat and garments to wear. God says it is now time for me to take you back to the land of your birth. Go and fulfill your vow that you made at Bethel, leave this place and return home.
Leah and Rachel reminded Jacob that the last time he tried to leave their father had refused to give him their portion of the inheritance that was not going to change. They said we are like foreigners to him, he sold us to you and has no regard for us any longer. The price you paid for us, the 14 years that you labored for us and built up our father’s business is all gone, he has entirely consumed it. This wealth that God has taken away from our father and has given to you belongs to us and our children, do whatever God has said to you. Jacob should have listened to his wives and did what God told him to do. Jacob wanted to trust God, but he feared Laban and his sons.
FLIGHT OUT OF FEAR (Genesis 21:17-21)
Jacob put his plan into action and began to get ready to go, but not too obviously. He knew that soon Laban would be going some distance away for the annual sheep shearing and that is when Jacob would make his move. Once Laban left, Rachel also made her move and went and took her father’s household gods. Next time I will give you some reasons that she may have done that, I do not believe it was because she trusted in them, but it was for another reason. Jacob put his children and wives on camels, loaded up his belongings and driving his flock before him with his whole household he headed south and crossed the Euphrates River and then head in a southwest direction for Gilead. Jacob deceived Laban once again by leaving when Laban was gone, so that when he returned Jacob and his family would be long gone. Jacob was afraid that if he told Laban that he is leaving, that Laban would take action against him to prevent him from leaving. Jacob’s fear of man is greater than his trust in God’s promise to be with him and to protect what God has provided him. 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.
CONCLUSION:
Where do you stand today? Are you trusting God or fearing man? As we look at our world and what man is doing it is easy to get caught up in fearing man and what man can or might do to you. But God has promised to be with us and not to forsake us. We can hang on to that promise, the verse out on the church sign says, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1, NASB95)[4] Is there any stronger refuge, is there any greater strength? No, and He is a very present help in trouble. David declared in our Scripture reading this morning from Psalm 27, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?” (Psalm 27:1, NASB95)[5] When we have put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ believing that He died in our place, taking the punishment we deserved for our sin, that he was buried, and three days later rose from the dead, we are forgiven and we do not have to fear man or fear what man can do, because the Lord is our light and salvation. Paul describes it this way, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:18–23, NASB95)[6] The power which raised Christ from the dead, and seated Him above all rule and authority and power and dominion is the power that protects you, that is available to you. We must not fear man, we must trust God. What God promises, He provides. What God provides, He protects.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995