Grace Magnified in Failure: Genesis 29:27-31; Genesis 30

Genesis 29:27‑31; Genesis 30  •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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Laban told Jacob that if he would serve him another seven years, he could have Rachel for his wife. God does not approve of a man having more than one wife, but in the Old Testament, before God had given a full revelation of Himself, He allowed it, though He never ap­proved of it. This He showed in the beginning when He made one wife for Adam, saying at that time that a man was to “leave his father and his mother, and  ...  cleave unto his wife” (Genesis 2:24). God always shows His pur­poses in the beginning of a thing when He sets it up, then bearing in patience with the failure when things fall into decline. Everything that has been com­mitted to man in responsibility has ended in failure and ruin, but this only tends to magnify the grace of God.
God was good to Leah in spite of the fact that Jacob did not love her as he should have, and God gave her many sons.
Jacob went on with his scheming, and since he was the head of his home, his whole household took on the same character. How careful this should make us as parents, for our children will copy our actions much more than we are inclined to think. Jacob’s way of doing things could never have God’s approval, but God overruled and ac­complished His own purposes in spite of Jacob’s failure. Then, too, it shows us that in the coming day when the twelve tribes will be brought into bless­ing on the earth, it will be all of grace. Not one of us who are reading this little book will get to heaven because of any good in ourselves. We will be praising and thanking God through all eternity that it was only His grace and goodness that brought us there at all, for we deserved nothing but judgment.
God’s Goodness and Blessing
in Spite of Failure
Laban had to admit that God had blessed him for Jacob’s sake. Even though Jacob was such a failure, God proved Himself to be a God of perfect goodness and protected him. He then put the desire in Jacob’s heart to return to the land of Canaan, for that was the land of promised blessing. God used very unusual circumstances to bring Jacob back. When we are not walk­ing quietly with God as Abraham had been, then God has to use the “bit and bridle” (Psalm 32:9), bringing unpleasant events into our lives in order to make us to go where He wants us. How much better to let Him speak to us through His Word, than to make it nec­essary for God to guide us like “horses and mules!”
When Laban saw that Jacob was get­ting together so many possessions, he was not favorable toward him as be­fore. Jacob then told his wives that the Lord had told him to return to his country, telling them, too, how Laban their father had deceived him and changed his wages ten times. He did not, however, mention how he had de­ceived his own father, for as yet there had not been any self judgment, nor any real sense of his guilt. He was only out to protect his own interests. It makes one think of the verse, “The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord” (Proverbs 19:3). Dear boys and girls, how often we do things we know are wrong, and then when trouble comes, we say that we do not know why the Lord is allowing it. If we want God to bless us, we must walk in obedience to His Word.
Further Meditation
1. What happened to Jacob’s household as a result of his continued scheming?
2. Just as Jacob got deceived because he himself was a deceiver, we, too, often experience the same kind of trouble that we cause. How did David experience God’s government for the adultery and murder that he had done?
3. We can be so thankful that the Lord shows grace as well as judgment. You would no doubt enjoy the combination of the two if you were to read God’s Grace and God’s Government by P. Wilson.