Genesis 31

Genesis Chapter 31

And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.
(Gen 31:19-20)

And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword? Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?
(Gen 31:26-27)

And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?
(Gen 31:30)

Here in this chapter, we see a major family problem develop over the whole issue of STEALING. This family is almost destroyed by the choices of Jacob and Rachel. Though Rachel’s choice may have been the more clearly “wrong” choice, Jacob was equally as guilty. You see, in Laban’s eyes Jacob had hijacked his family and run off with them. It wasn’t that Jacob didn’t have a right to leave… he did! The problem is the WAY he left!!! I believe there are a couple of lessons to learn here, so let’s take a look at both Rachel and Jacob, and what they did to put Laban in such a angry state.

Let’s start with Rachel: She purposely stole away Laban’s false God’s. We have two problems with this, Both the act of stealing, and the object she stole. First of all is her choice to steal. Pretty simple, she decided she wanted something that did not belong to her, so she just took it. We all know this is a problem, so I don’t need to emphasize it to much. The circumstances don’t really matter, there is no good excuse. We should never take things that are not ours! Second we have the problem of what she stole. Rachel stole Idols, Images. These are FALSE GODS! This lets us know that she was “worshipping” things other than the Lord. If she had truly been worshipping the Lord, she would have never wanted the Idols at all, and stealing would not have been an issue. This is a great lesson for us to learn: When our relationship with the Lord is in the right place, (He alone is the object of our worship) temptation is a lot easier to deal with. If we don’t desire something, we won’t be tempted to choose it over God and His laws! This was Rachels problem here, she desired things that she should have never even considered, and it resulted in her commiting some major sin against her own family! We need to deal with the hidden desires in our own life, and reject those desires we may have that are not of the Lord. I say “hidden” because it is clear that Rachel’s desire to worship these Idols was hidden, not even her own husband knew about it! I have found that one of the best ways to deal with this sort of temptation is to let others know about it. If Rachel had told her husband that she was attracted to Idols, I am sure he could have helped her to put those desires to death! Our lesson from Rachel: DON’T ALLOW TEMPTATION TO CONTROL YOU!

Now, look at Jacob. He wasn’t worshipping Idols, or taking anything from Laban that didn’t belong to Him. In fact, He was doing what God TOLD him to do. The problem is this: he didn’t tell Laban what he was going to do. Lets take a step back here and look at the situation. Jacob had been living with Laban for 20 years, and one day he just DISAPPEARS! No warning, no goodbyes, Jacob packs up and runs off while Laban is occupied with other business. NOT A GOOD IDEA! You guys, this is NOT what the Lord had in mind. Though it was time for Jacob to be moving on, the Lord wanted Jacob to be a TESTIMONY, and not a spot or blemish on God’s reputation. Laban had Idols in his house, this makes me think that He did not really know the LORD! And here is Jacob, totally blowing his witness. It isn’t always what we do that is the problem, it is often what we DON’T DO. Jacob could have claimed that He did EXACTLY what God told him to, and really, he would have been right. It isn’t so much the following of the LETTER of the LAW that God is after, but living according to the Spirit of it. In all things God’s desire is for us to be lights to the world around us. When we do things our own way, to avoid confrontation or an unpleasant situation like Jacob did, we sin against the Lord… Even if we are following the command He gave us! As you follow the commands of the Lord, remember His heart… ask yourself this question; “Am I carrying out God’s commands in a way that glorifies Him?”