“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. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.” (Gen 31:40-42NIV)
As we see in the Scriptures, when Jacob left Laban’s house, he left with great wealth. In other words, he had become a very wealthy man by the time he was leaving the man’s house. But was he meant to be wealthy in Laban’s house? Were the circumstances of Laban’s house designed to make him rich? No, not at all.
As we see in our opening text, Jacob himself testified that the twenty years he spent in Laban’s house were years of hard labour and pains. Yes, it was Laban himself, his uncle, that he was working for. Yet the man did not go easy on him at all. Instead, he made him sweat for everything he paid him in wages.
Not only that, Laban made him pay for whatever was stolen under his watch. And even when wild animals attacked and killed any of this man’s animals that Jacob was caring for, he never bothered to bring the torn animal to him. Instead, he bore the loss himself. That was because he knew the kind of person Laban was. He would not listen to explanation; he would simply dismiss them excuses. (Cf. Gen 31:39)
In addition to that, Laban was a terrible cheat. If Jacob had thought that he knew how to cheat people, he found out that he knew nothing about being a cheat when compared with Laban. As he equally points out in our opening text, Laban cheated him of his wages ten times in twenty years. This man just kept looking for ways to pay him less than he actually deserved.
Furthermore, Laban was involved in the practice of divination. Once, when Jacob was bent on leaving him, he earnestly begged him to stay. And his reason was that he had found out through divination that Jacob was the reason God was blessing him. So, the reason he kept Jacob with him was not that he loved or cared about him; rather, it was that he was using him for his prosperity. And if he had his way, he would have employed any form of witchcraft to make him a slave forever. (Cf. Gen 30:25-27)
But this man was Jacob’s uncle, his own blood. Not only that, he was also his father-in-law, for Jacob had married his two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Yet he did not treat him with compassion at all. Rather, he treated him ruthlessly. And the treatment he gave him was so bad that even his own daughters encouraged Jacob to take them away from his house. That was because he also used them. He used them to make money from Jacob for fourteen long years, as though they were nothing but a piece of land. What a father! (Cf. Gen 31:14-16)
So, if you have uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters, cousins, in-laws or even parents that are treating you shamefully, don’t be alarmed or discouraged. It is not a new thing. Jacob too suffered terribly at the hands of his own uncle and father-in-law. In fact, he told the man to his face that he knew that his plan was to use him and dump him – his plan was to send him away from his house a poor man.
But then, did he leave Laban’s house a poor man? No! Instead, he left his house with great wealth. Actually, by the time he was leaving, his wealth was already a threat to Laban’s prosperity (Gen 31:1). And how did that happen? Why couldn’t Laban’s evil system of doing things succeed in making Jacob poor and empty?
Well, the reason was that God was with him. As we also see in our opening text, Jacob told Laban that if God had not been with him, then, his wicked schemes and witchcraft would have succeeded against him. But God was with him. Yes, he worked really hard for Laban, more than he might have needed to work under normal circumstances. But his hard labour was not in vain. God made his hard labour result in great prosperity for him, in spite of the wicked schemes and sorcery of his uncle and father-in-law. Hallelujah!
Now is God with you too, as he was with Jacob? If He is with you, then, trust Him to do for you what he did for Jacob, if you are in similar circumstances. Yes, trust Him to frustrate every system, scheme, policy or sorcery being employed against your prosperity, peace of mind and safety in your country, town, workplace, school or community. And He will surely frustrate it, if you too will stay in His righteousness. Therefore, your hard and diligent labour will not be in vain. And even if you have to leave where you are now for wherever your heart desires to be, you will not leave empty-handed.
Cheers!
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