"Greetings in the Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"
Today's Blog Title: "Jacob's Agreement with Laban"
Today's Scripture Reading: Genesis 30:25-43
Today's Key Verse: Genesis 30:27 "And Laban said to him, "Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I HAVE LEARNED by experience that the LORD HAS BLESSED ME for your name sake."
Wow!!!! What a statement that is, when someone realizes that God has blessed them because of you, and wants you to stay.
As part 2 of Genesis 30 opens, we read in verse 25, that with the birth of Joseph by his "beloved" Rachel, Jacob was ready to go to his own place, Canaan, because God had promised him that land. In our reading thus far there have been no mention of any sons of Laban during Jacob's visit only daughters. Laban probably didn't have a son at the time, therefore he adopted Jacob as his son and principle heir. As the principle heir, Jacob and his family, were regarded as part of Laban's household. We will later see in Genesis 31, Laban will have fathered sons, who would threaten Jacob's status in the family, and He will ask Laban to leave.
You will recall back in Genesis 12:2-3, that God had promised to bless others through Abraham's descendants. Now we see that God blessed Laban through Jacob, and later in our study of Genesis, we will see He would bless an Egyptian household through Joseph.
In verse 28, Laban says, "Name me your wages, and I will give it". You can imagine Jacobs thinking with these hollow words, given his prior experience in striking deals with Laban. Jacob then tells Laban, that at feeding time for the sheep, that he would go through and remove all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown lambs, and also all the spotted and speckled among the goats, and that would be his wages. Laban realized, that the speckled and spotted would be the smaller portion of the flock, and that this deal would be to his advantage. Jacob then asserted his trustworthiness by saying, that if there be any among his flock that are not spotted and speckled or brown then you can consider them stolen.
Laban then agrees to these terms of wages for Jacob. In order that the herds not get mixed up, Laban traveled a three days journey, and we see that Jacob was still tending Laban's flock. In verse 37, Jacob now places sticks of various colors in the water troughs, to show his belief that God would bless him with more spotted and speckled lambs. Indeed, God did bless Jacob as he had promised. Jacob then added all the spotted and speckled animals to his heard.
We see that with the multicolored rods, Jacob asked God to bless him with spotted and speckled animals from the stronger livestock in Laban's herd. God did that, and as Chapter 30 closes we see that Jacob became wealthy.
Today's Closing Question and Comment: "Does your life so shine with Jesus that others want to be around you?" As we saw into writings, that Laban saw how God was blessing him because of Jacob. Laban wanted Jacob so much to stay that he now offered wages to Jacob, to keep him around. All Jacob wanted was all the speckled sheep and goats and all the brown lamps from Laban's flock. Laban must have thought what a deal and the wage agreement is made. God in his dealings with us His sheep is our Shepard and He wants us all to be strong in serving Him. When we as his sheep have a "spiritual failure" we yell out "I Can't" But HE as OUR SHEPHERD speaks to us and says, "BUT I CAN" Wow!!!! What a Loving and Caring God We Serve.
Shepherd of my soul, I give you full control, Wherever You may lead I will follow
I have made the choice to listen to your voice, Wherever You may lead I will go
Be it in a quite pasture or by a gentle stream, the Shepherd of my soul is by my side
Should I face a mighty mountain or a valley dark and deep
The Shepherd of my soul will be my guide
Have a God Filled and Spirit Led Day, Go in Peace, Serve the Lord with Gladness and Love God More Today.
Yours In Christ,
Cindi
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