"When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, 'What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?'"

Genesis 29:25, NIV 

 

I have for many years thought that this was one of the funniest passages in Scripture, "When morning came, there was Leah!" Jacob - the same Jacob who had deceived his own father into stealing the blessing that belonged to his own brother - ran into a man in the form of Laban who was just as deceitful as he was.

 

So he served Laban for seven years in order to marry the woman he loved, only to find out in the light of day that he had been given the wrong sister.

 

The deceiver had been deceived, and he didn't like it.

 

Have you ever noticed how God works these things out? Now we know that God had a plan for Jacob from the very beginning to become the father of twelve nations, but it is interesting to see how this was accomplished. God permitted His greatly beloved patriarch to have to deal with someone who could be just as deceitful, and for many years of his life, Jacob had to deal with the consequences of that deceit.

 

I believe that God allows the same things to occur in our lifetimes whenever we get off track. We all have to admit that we have had people treat us in ways that we were not pleased with, only to reflect later that they had treated us no differently than we had treated them or others in the past. 

 

But we still didn't like the consequences!

 

Perhaps there is a lesson for us in the life of Jacob, if we care to learn it. The apostle Paul put this lesson into words over 1,500 years after Jacob learned it. God inspired Paul to phrase it this way:

 

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

Galatians 6:7-8, NIV

 

Today is the 5th day of the thirty day challenge to read through the Books of Moses. The reading for today is Genesis 29-35. May God richly bless your effforts as you seek to know His will!