The Bait & Switch ♡♡♡

 

"And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you" - Genesis 31:12

I am not sure how you interprete Jacob's whole saga with Uncle Laban, but this is how I knock head with it. Please follow me, T for thanks :)

Isaac loved his older son Esau. We are told that Esau was a pretty good hunter & his father Isaac had a taste for wild game - yum yum, I mean why won't he love the kiddo. Mum on the other hand loved Jacob...and there was a period in the text. Lucky guy, just loved, the end lol - I did wonder though if this had anything to do with, what she knew about how thier lives would turn out [Genesis 25;22-24] Or maybe she just loved Jacob because, Isaac loved Esau anyway. Jacob was content to stay at home, spent most of his time with his mama. Willing to hear her out  - As far as she was concerned, - Esau that one? did what he liked. Even ended up marrying foreign women who became a pain". Don't quote me, these are the scenarios playing out in my head -tehee.

And so Jacob is doing as he is told, by the one person who seems to have some kind of interest in his life - I will do anything for you mama lol. Deceives his younger brother Esau, takes his birth right and outsmarts him out of his blessings too. There is fire on the mountain. Word on the street, Esau is out there like a raging bull, ready to get his own pound of flesh. Mum concieved a scheme to save him from the hand of his brother - "Jacob hurry, you have to leave now to go stay with my brother, your Uncle Laban" - The poor guy begins his "wandering journey" into the land of - "look, I finally met my uncle but he is not anything I imagined" - Some real super story eh? Not far fetched though, from how things play out in these times.

"Isn't Uncle Laban meant to be the family guy? And why does this whole set up seem like Jacob was being paid back in his own coin? Maybe he was! #justice - From frying pan to fire, but God is GOOD still. 

"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 day and 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 daughters and six years for your flocks and you changed my wages ten times" - Genesis 31: 38-41

Can you imagine some of the "mind messing" things Jacob had to deal with, in the private moments of his life? Did he blame himself for where he was at? Annoyed that he was ever a mummy's boy? dunno, just throwing scenarios right at you. If I happened to live a day in Jacob's life though, some of my thoughts would be wild for sure. But these verses below, are like refreshing cool water on a very hot day.

               ...for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you" - Genesis 31:12b  #mercy

 But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you" - Genesis 31:42b

That was so comforting when I read it? God never left the whole time! God does not jump to rescue us prematurely, he rescues us at the right time. God is doing so much more on the inside of us, than he is trying to get us out of that pain, frustration or situation. God's heart towards you is tender in your sufferings. So what if you are where you at, because of your coconut head lol. Did you learn anything though? Never doubt that God cares and that God sees. God will act not a day early or a day late. He will act and move at the nick of time. Jacob put up with Uncle Laban for 20 years - shocking! 

Hubs cracked me up when he said, 20 years was the number of years it took Esau to calm down? LOL....

"Come what may, all bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance" - Virgil

"Patience is bitter, but it's fruit is sweet" - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Love,

SR