Read Genesis 31:27-30 – Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing. It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?” (NKJV)
Jacob has spent much of his adult life thinking he can only trust himself. Forced from his home and working for an uncle he doesn’t trust, Jacob has developed a self-reliance that God seeks to break. In this moment, Jacob’s scheme to escape Laban proves insufficient as the latter catches up with Jacob’s large family rather easily. But God has already helped. In a manner that Jacob never anticipated, God has stopped Laban’s thoughts of retaliation and paved the way for Jacob’s new destiny. God helps us too. We may think of ourselves as self-sufficient, trying to evaluate every element of our current plans, but God is with us. He may choose to aid our efforts in ways we don’t anticipate, something He does because of His love and His promise to guide us. Of course, the key question is, “Will we depend on Him?” If the only time we seek His aid is after our efforts have failed, it’s difficult to demonstrate that we are truly trusting in Him.
– Dr. Mike Clarensau serves as Senior Director of the Healthy Church Network of the Assemblies of God.
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