“God
hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands…” (Genesis 31:42b).
The
account of Jacob’s flight from Laban in Genesis 31 teaches us that the LORD
protects his fallen saints in this fallen world.
One
commentator noted that this account of Jacob and Laban is “a disturbing
vignette of human history,” adding, “It reflects the human predicament in a
sinful world. It declares… the brokenness of creation and humanity” (Currid, Genesis
2:110).
This
is not some idealistic portrait of Christian family life. This is a family
ready to go to war against one another, withholding and taking from one
another, accusing and attacking one another. But all the while the God of the
Bible is there, and he is protecting Jacob.
God
intervenes through special revelation to direct the path of Jacob, telling him
to flee from Laban and return to the promised land (vv. 3, 13). The LORD
intervenes also in a dream to restrain the hand of Laban (v. 24).
We
might look on with real encouragement at the final scene of reconciliation that
is worked out here between Jacob and Laban, despite their conflict, through a
covenant and a covenant meal (vv. 43-55).
And
what does God do today? He speaks to us through the special revelation of the
Word to direct our path, and he works in ways, ordinary and extraordinary, to
protect his people. He sees our affliction and the labor of our hand (v. 42).
I
read this week an account of John G. Paton (1824-1907), Scottish missionary to
the New Hebrides islands in the South Pacific. He woke one night to hear a mob
of armed and hostile natives burning down the church next to his house and
urging one another to strike a blow at him as well. Just then a sudden storm
arose, with rushing wind, thunder, and rain. The mob became silent, lowered
their weapons, and withdrew terror stricken, saying, “That is Jehovah’s rain!”
(see Currid’s account, Genesis 2:120).
Sometimes
the LORD intervenes like that. But even when he does not do so temporally, he
will do so ultimately. As Paul said in Romans 8: “If God be for us, who can be
against us?” (v. 31), and nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 39).
God
will protect his fallen saints in a fallen world, providing for them a life
that can never be taken away from them, through Christ.
Grace
and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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