Genesis 31:22-24, 31 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."
[Laban said:] I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, 'Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.'
The verses above were our (short) family devotional recently. John is reading through Genesis with the kids so we know the rest of the story. Jacob had just fled with his wives and the sheep Laban had promised him. Jacob suspected Laban would renege on the deal with the sheep so he tried to put some distance between them.
Didn't work. Laban caught up with Jacob and the entourage but before Laban reached them, God spoke to him.
Up to this point in his life, Laban had no apparent use for God and in fact, one of the reasons he was pursuing Jacob was to retrieve his little household gods that Jacob's wife had stolen. Nonetheless, when the God of all creation spoke to him, Laban listened. Not only that, he repeated it to Jacob the next day.
Please let that sink deep into your heart today: God spoke to an ungodly man on Jacob's behalf in order to effect His plan to establish the nation of Israel in the promised land.
So many times I see my friends on adoption journeys run up against ungodly people who have no interest in the orphans of the world nor any apparent interest in just doing their job correctly. God has power over those people. If He has told you to go forward and adopt the orphan you can trust He is going to hem you in, behind and before. You can be sure that the ungodly are tools in His hands.
Psalm 139:1-6
LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
2 comments:
wahoo! great word jill!
Thank you for this encouraging post! As you know, someone that I thought was our friend spoke ill of us to our social worker and caused all kinds of problems. We are trusting that God will take care of the rest and counteract what this person said. These kids are GOD's kids first and He will take care of them. If He wishes to use us as a vessel in doing that, then that is our privilege.
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