God Saw My Affliction and Rebuked You (Gen. 31:22-42)

God Saw My Affliction and Rebuked You

According to the Bible, it’s a difficult and even dangerous thing to follow Jesus. Right now, there is more global persecution of Christians than there has ever been.

In the US, we enjoy a lot of safety and ease. Yet, if you insist on following him by living how he would live in each situation in your life and speaking the truth about him to all kinds of people, you will face resistance, and we rightly perceive that there is danger in that.

We sense that our social status is in jeopardy when we offend people a community we want to be accepted in. We sense that our financial livelihood is in danger if we ever offend someone in the workplace. I had a friend who shared about Jesus at his law firm, lost his job, and since he could not get another job and was on a working visa, it led to him having to leave the country. Costly things can happen when we are about the mission of God.

Since it follows that following Jesus puts us in risky situations in different ways, it’s only natural we will feal fear from time to time. This means that no one can follow Jesus unless they are courageous. So, How can you gain courage in this life if you lack it? How does God cultivate courage in us? This story this morning is going to help us take steps in that direction.

Connection/Tension

 According to the Bible, it’s a difficult and even dangerous thing to follow Jesus. Right now, there is more global persecution of Christians than there has ever been.

In the US, we enjoy a lot of safety and ease. Yet, if you insist on following him by living how he would live in each situation in your life and speaking the truth about him to all kinds of people, you will face resistance, and we rightly perceive that there is danger in that.

We sense that our social status is in jeopardy when we offend people a community we want to be accepted in. We sense that our financial livelihood is in danger if we ever offend someone in the workplace. I had a friend who shared about Jesus at his law firm, lost his job, and since he could not get another job and was on a working visa, it led to him having to leave the country. Costly things can happen when we are about the mission of God.

Since it follows that following Jesus puts us in risky situations in different ways, it’s only natural we will feal fear from time to time. This means that no one can follow Jesus unless they are courageous. So, How can you gain courage in this life if you lack it? How does God cultivate courage in us? This story this morning is going to help us take steps in that direction.

Context

We are at a “turning point” in the life of Jacob.[1] He has begun to obey God’s command to “return to the land of your fathers” (30:3)- that is, Jacob is going home. If you remember, because of his trickery, he had to flee for his life from his murderous older brother. Now, he’s fleeing for his life from his potentially murderous uncle- who is angry that Jacob left in secret without telling him. Everything- his own life and the lives of his family depends on whether God will be faithful to his promise to “be with” Jacob.

Revelation

22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

Laban has an emotional reaction when he hears that Jacob is gone. Can you tell what it is? Anger. He’s upset, and so much so, that he gathers a small army together and pursues his son-in-law into the wilderness.

Moses makes mention of the fact that it was on the “third day” that Laban heard the report of Jacob’s flight. This could be an otherwise insignificant detail. However, it echoes a story earlier in Genesis. Can anyone think of another “third day” from these stories?

The almost sacrifice of Isaac happens on the third day of their journey (22:4). Yet, in that story, God intervenes, provides a Ram, and rescues Isaac from death. In this story, God is going to rescue Jacob, Isaac’s son, from death. The detail of the “third day” could be setting us up to expect of story of rescue from death.

And indeed, in verse 24, we see God’s intervention to rescue Isaac from Laban’s violence. We know that physical harm is possible because Laban himself says outright that “it is in my power to do you harm” (v. 29).

Yet, God doesn’t say, “don’t do anything to Jacob,” but “don’t say anything to Jacob, good or bad.” What do we make of this?

While like so many other things, it’s hard to know with certainty, this seems like an exaggerated statement meant to emphasize God’s total commitment to Jacob’s security. “Don’t even say anything to Jacob” is a stronger statement than “don’t do anything to Jacob” and includes both ideas. The “good or bad” phrase takes away from Laban the opportunity to decide what is right or wrong in this situation- God’s drawing a line and not letting him cross.

Reminder: this world is dangerous and has dangerous people in it. Yet, God rules this world and no harm can come to you unless he permits it. God is mightier than Laban and than all of your enemies,

25 And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? 28 And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30 And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”

Read that first sentence again. This is a moment of grave danger for Jacob. At a human level, he is completely at the mercy of Laban, whose military “overtakes” Jacob with his herds and families. The two sides pitch tents across from one another, as if to draw battle lines between two camps.

Laban lays out the reasons he feels offended by Jacob and why his angry response is warranted. Yet one of thing things he asks Jacob is very ironic. He asks, “What have you done, that you have tricked me?” Why is that an ironic question? Let me ask that another way, Does that question sound familiar to anyone from earlier in the story?”

Jacob asked him basically the same question earlier when Laban deceived Jacob into marrying his older daughter Leah. Jacob asked him, “Why did you deceive me?” (29:25).

In other words, the deceive is complaining, “why did you deceive me?” And the sense I get from this story as it unfolds is that God metes out fair judgement to those who deceive and oppress others.

First, Jacob the deceiver receives ironic justice when Laban deceives him into marrying Leah.

Then, Laban the deceive receives ironic justice when Jacob up and leaves with the majority of what he owns without telling him.

We can see from these stories that God is committed to stopping the evil oppression of others. He was opposed to Hagar’s oppression from Abraham and Sarah (an Egyptian) and will later strongly oppose Egypt’s great oppression of the people of Israel.

And if you remember, deception is a key quality of the serpent. God’s opposition to deceptive men reflects his chief conflict with the deceiver whom he will destroy with the Lord Jesus when he returns to make all things right. It’s a good and beautiful thing that God is a just God because it means he protects his people from the oppression of others, and even disciplines his people when they error and oppress others.

And in this case, Laban is showing up to oppress Jacob like he has throughout time with him (as Jacob will explain in a moment). Yet, even this prideful idolatrous man clarifies that the God of Abraham told him, “no!” God draws a line in front of this oppressor and refuses to allow him to cross, and though he has more raw power than Jacob, he is powerless to affect him because of the God of Jacob.

I want to apply this briefly to the Wilsons who are soon leaving to give their lives to the gospel and the people of Turkey. Your God is mightier than anyone who may want to harm or oppress you in your life’s work. Whenever he draws a line- no one crosses it. Safety practices are good- trust in the God of Jacob is better. He easily defeated Laban and can defeat your enemies just the same.

Finally, Laban reaches for the one remaining opportunity he has to gain mastery over Jacob- he points out the absence of his idol statues- or as he calls them, “my gods.” What will happen next is they will enter into a dispute over these Gods that will nearly cost Jacob the life of his favorite wife,

31 Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

Before he gets to the case of the missing gods, Jacob justifies the reason for his hasty and secret departure from Laban. It’s not complicated. He says “because I was afraid.” He feared Laban would use force against him, so he ran. Fear has been a prevailing motivation of Jacob since the beginning of his story (27:45)

Okay, how does this detail fit into what we have been talking about? A big theme in this sermon is survival and rescue. Jacob’s fear fits into this theme because fear alerts us to threats to our survival in big and small ways. Fear is a gift from God, because it teaches us we are dependent beings in a dangerous world.

Yet fear also leads us down paths of even greater danger when we respond to it in ways that don’t acknowledge God but rather try to put us in his place. Does that make sense? Just look at Jacob’s story here:

He fears that Laban will use force against him. There is no sense of appeal to God for wisdom or rescue. So, he runs away. Yet, his running away further angers Laban and nearly brings upon him the harm he feared. The ways we try to survive in this world apart from God’s help become our downfall.

For example, for many years I nurtured an addiction to television, video games, and pornography because I felt lonely and I tried to overcome that loneliness with distraction. But the thing that was supposed to rescue me from loneliness, was the thing bringing relational and even spiritual death to me. Our survival instincts, when we use them apart from God, bring about our own destruction rather than life.

And then, in with his very next words, Jacob blurts out words that threaten the life of the wife he loves most,

32 Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

Jacob’s not done taking matters into his own hands- he thinks he can end this encounter with a really bold declaration, but as the next verse says, he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about! Pride + fear is a deadly combination that leads us to do and say big things that are filled with unintended consequences.

You ever find yourself saying or doing big, rash things that end up coming around to harm you and others around you? I would urge you to consider what degree you are responding to your fear with pride rather than dependence and humility.

Let’s watch now the effects of these rash words from Jacob,

33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

Suspense builds as Laban goes into tent after tent, searching feverishly for these lost gods, desperate to gain an advantage over Jacob and his family. Finally he enters Rachel’s and we wonder if her demise is imminent as she is the guilty party.

Yet, the story clarifies she had put them into her saddle rather than her tent. In his fervor, it seems like Laban wants to also search out his daughter’s saddle bag. Yet, she devises a story of why he cannot- that she is in the uncomfortable part of her monthly cycle.

And through this deception, Laban loses again. And it’s evidence upon evidence that God metes out fair justice to deceptive oppressors. This story doesn’t justify Rachel’s theft or lie about these idols statues, rather, it just shows that God uses even her sin to punish the adversaries of his people, and he’s that much in control of things,

36 Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37 For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. 38 These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. 39 What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.

The advantage now swings to Jacob as Laban could not find his God’s or find any other reason to accuse Jacob of wrongdoing. Now, Jacob becomes the angry one, and dresses down Laban for the way he mistreated him. His wages were changed ten times (I’m guessing for the worse) as he endured all kinds of sacrifice over the course of decades.

With the kind of sacrifice he made, you would think his payment would have gone up over time, yet Laban slashed it and brought it down, possibly in response to the surprising prosperity Jacob enjoyed, not wanting him to gain an advantage or upper hand. Jacob had no recourse to protect himself so far from home in a foreign land and under the authority of a greedy and competitive man. Surely he would have suffered great loss and possibly death in this land were it not for one thing, which he now clarifies,

42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”

Jacob’s success in Laban’s homeland and successful departure to return to his own comes down to one person: God. He’s the God of his ancestors, going back to Abraham. And, he is the “fear of Isaac” which means that he is the God whom Isaac feared.

As we said before, fear is an emotion that teaches us that our lives are in jeopardy and we need help. For God to be the “fear of Isaac” means that he is the one Isaac turned to- more than anything. Isaac’s fear was being far from God or not having him.

In a world where we face danger and enemies, the reality that God is fearsome is good news- were he less fearsome than any danger or enemy we face- he would not be mighty to save! Jacob’s hope is that the God of heaven is mightier and more dangerous than Laban.

And indeed, the “fear of Isaac” shows himself to be fiercer than Laban, for at a word, the Lord frightens this violent and keeps him from touching any of the things God had delivered into his hands from Laban.

Jacob gets to walk away as a free man with the greater part of the wealth of deceptive Laban because God witnessed his mistreatment and righteously transferred his possession over to him. God rebuked this enemy of Jacob and he had to stop.

Jesus/Church

As for you church, you face enemies and dangers in this life, and your God is fiercer than they. God’s call on you when you feel afraid is not to deny your fears, or pretend they don’t exist, but to bring them to God and call on him to be your protection. 

Your oppressors/opponents are especially the people and the pressures who want to make it costly to talk about and live like Jesus. In other words, God had called Jacob to return to Canaan (v. 3) and Laban becomes the chief obstacle keeping Jacob from going home.

Similarly, God has called you to obey him in different ways in this life, and there are people and situations that stand in the way as resistance you need to pass through with trust that God will get you through. And I want to exhort you this morning to courage to do whatever God wants you to do even if it’s costly.

A few of us local pastors got together last year and there was an older more well known pastor addressing and encouraging us. He quoted Acts 13:36 as his life-verse,

So, David died when? After he has served the purpose of God in his own generation. In other words, you have a purpose from God, and he is mightier than anything you face to fulfill that purpose, which makes you unkillable until you do. If we believed that, how courageously would we live and serve the God of heaven?

Now, I never said, “you won’t die,” just that no one can harm or destroy you in a way that would undermine God’s purpose for your life. Jesus is the perfect example of this. He does die on the cross. Yet before that, no one can touch him. He even passes through crowds who were trying to finish him (Luke 4:30).

What I want you to walk away this morning with is the conviction that what God does for Jacob, drawing a line in the sand that Laban cannot cross to hurt him, is what God does for you until you finish your purpose in this life. I cannot promise the absence of pain or danger, just of the undermining of God’s purpose for you as long as you obediently follow him.

I remember one time I saw the gospel rebuke and silence some opponents. Rewind to 2020- Minneapolis is in an uproar. We had some courageous members at our church who invited me to join them for some evangelism on the streets during this time- this seemed way more plausible when I was a single man.

I’m out there with a group of people. We have a wheel barrel filled with bottles of water- and we pass them out to whomever we came into contact with- protestors, police, whoever. When we passed them out to protestors, there was not problem. When we passed them out to police, we faced resistance. People heckled us, yelled at us, told us we were helping bad people. We weren’t out there to be political- we were just out there to hand out water and tell people about Jesus.

And one of the people in our group spoke up to a group of people opposing us and said, “Jesus loved me when indiscriminately when he died for my sins, how could we come out here and pick favorites and not freely share his love with everyone?” Silence. Maybe they thought we were weird or something, but no come back after that, and the gospel was clearly proclaimed on top of that.

This is picture of how you are supposed to triumph over opposition to talk about and live like Jesus in your journey through life and trust that God will protect you like he protected Jesus to finish all of the good purpose he put you in this life for.

And please notice that the triumph doesn’t come through being meaner, or nastier, or more intimidating. Jesus won by laying down his life; he won through us in that situation by highlighting his love. Similarly, ask God for wisdom about how he wants you to be unyielding with the truth and life Jesus has called you to.

So often, it’s the overwhelming beauty of Jesus and how his people live that overcome people’s resistance to the gospel and wins them to Jesus. Paul even writes, “it’s his kindness that leads us to repentance” (Rom 2:4).

Yet, I want to call us to fearless courage in the face of hostility because if we back down over fear, people will never see the beauty of Jesus to be able to respond to him. God has chosen you to be courageous to win this city for Jesus.

And if you don’t know of follow Jesus yet, please don’t leave here in opposition to him. He loves you and wants to forgive all your sins. Please talk to someone.

Let’s pray.

[1] John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary, ed. Gary Lee (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 196.