Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20000220.htm

GENESIS: THE SOURCES OF GOOD AND CALAMITY IN OUR ORIGINS
Part III - God's Ongoing Program Of Countering Man's Apostasy At Babel
W. Round Twenty-Two - Learning To Trust God's Help To Overcome Our Inadequate Business Efforts
(Genesis 30:25-31:55)
  1. Introduction
    1. The believer's business efforts apart from God's blessing at best are an exercise in futility, James 4:13-14.
    2. Perhaps this truth is best illustrated in Genesis 30:25-31:55 as follows:
  2. Learning To Trust God's Help To Overcome Our Inadequate Business Efforts, Gen. 30:25-31:55.
    1. After Joseph's birth, Jacob sought to distance himself and his family from the unjust dealings he had with his uncle, Laban by requesting that Laban let him return to his native home in Palestine, Genesis 30:25-26.
    2. Laban tried to keep Jacob with him, for he had learned by divination that his business had been blessed by God because of Jacob's presence, 30:27. Thus, he asked Jacob to name his own wages in contrast to the deal where Jacob had been tricked into working seven extra years for Rachel, Gen. 30:28 versus 29:26-27.
    3. Jacob accordingly set up the new business arrangement wherein he thought he might get the upper hand of Laban, and gain some of his resources he felt rightly belonged to him, Genesis 30:29-33:
      1. Jacob arranged to keep the irregularly-colored animals from Laban's flock for himself, Gen. 30:29-33.
      2. Laban agreed, but with effort to insure Jacob could not take advantage of him: Laban separated out the irregularly-colored animals as Jacob's, putting them under the care of his sons at a three day's distance from his own livestock, but let Jacob care for his flock so that it would be blessed of God, 30:34-36.
      3. Jacob then relied on an inaccurate breeding superstition to get even with Laban: he peeled branches to look spotted and placed them in front of Laban's watering troughs in hope that Laban's female animals that drank would be impressed to breed off-colored animals, Leupold, Genesis, II, p. 825 (Gen. 30:37-39). In reality, instead of this superstition working, GOD HIMSELF removed the sexual drive from the solid-colored males so only the irregularly-colored males would mate, Gen. 31:10-12. Thus, God was at work in spite of Jacob's deception to fulfill His past covenant to bless Jacob, Gen. 28:14-15
      4. Jacob "helped" by letting only the healthy females mate with the irregularly-colored males, and once irregularly-colored animals were born, he separated them from the rest of Laban's herds so that they would interbreed and have the herd retain its irregular markings, 30:40-42. Jacob's herds increased with what he developed out of Laban's herd besides what Laban's sons kept of Jacob's animals, Gen. 30:43!
    4. Understandably, Laban and his sons became embittered at Jacob's trickery, so God spoke to Jacob, telling him to leave Laban for Palestine for his own safety, Genesis 31:1-3.
    5. Jacob was able to persuade his wives to come since they complained that Laban had dwindled away their part of the family inheritance, and since he revealed Laban's injustice to him and God's gracious help of Jacob in his dealings with Laban on the livestock breeding deal, Genesis 31:4-16.
    6. However, Jacob deceived Laban by leaving without letting him formally send the family off, a very bad social move that would have angered Laban, Genesis 31:17-20. Besides, Rachel stole her father's images that, according to records of the 15th century B.C. Nuzi tablets signaled the right to the family inheritance, something that would have further infuriated Laban, Gen. 31:19, Bib. Know. Com., O.T., p. 78.
    7. Accordingly, Laban pursued Jacob with an intent to harm only to have GOD intervene by way of a dream to warn Laban not to harm Jacob, Genesis 31:22-24.
    8. Thus, Laban and Jacob made a pact to keep out of each other's way from then on, Genesis 31:25-55!
Lesson: IN SPITE OF Jacob's inadequate business efforts that involved relying on a FALSE superstition and his deception that angered Laban to Jacob's potential harm, (a) his OPPORTUNITY for business gain came by divinely permitted revelation to Lab an of Jacob's help to Laban's business, (b) Jacob's BUSINESS GREW by GOD'S miraculous aid (c) and that GAIN was PRESERVED by GOD'S miraculous warning of Laban, all to keep God's promise to bless Jacob, cf. Gen. 28:14-15.

Application: We must TRUST God for any and all business opportunities and gain as He alone has the power to control all the intangible variables that affect business success, cf. James 4:13-16, 17.