Genesis 30:27-28 – But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Name your wages, and I will give it.”
When a relationship gets off to an unhealthy, or even toxic, start, unless a significant change happens, it settles into a groove that gets worse and worse. This is the case with Jacob and Laban. After 20 years working for his father-in-law Laban, being tricked into marrying the sisters Rachel that he loved and Leah that he despised, Jacob wanted to return home to his mother Rebekah and father Isaac. Through demonic divination, Laban learned that he had been blessed to become a wealthy and powerful man because of Jacob’s presence, which was true because the covenant blessing of God accompanied Jacob. So, Laban, the continually crooked dealmaker, sought to retain Jacob by offering to finally pay him a reasonable salary after 20 years of nearly free but fruitful labor.
Like his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham, Jacob entrusted himself to God’s plan, in faith. Jacob rejected Laban’s offer and entrusted himself to the Lord’s provision alone. God honored Jacob’s faith and made him into a very wealthy man. And, while it may appear as if Jacob is taking advantage of Laban in this account, the truth is that God is simply righting a wrong and giving to Jacob what he had earned during 20 years of faithful work for Laban.
Tomorrow, we will see what happens after Jacob, in faith, rejects Laban’s offer.
Compare and contrast Jacob’s genuine dream from God and Laban’s demonic divination, which is a counterfeit for God’s revelation.
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