The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 10 February 2022 – The God That Protects
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TOPIC: The God That Protects
READ: Genesis 31:25-32:2 (NKJV)
- So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.
- And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives [taken] with the sword?
- “Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp?
- “And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in [so] doing.
- “It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’
- “And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, [but] why did you steal my gods?”
- Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’
- “With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take [it] with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
- And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find [them.] Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
- Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find [them.]
- And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women [is] with me.” And he searched but did not find the household idols.
- Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What [is] my trespass? What [is] my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?
- “Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set [it] here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both!
- “These twenty years I [have been] with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.
- “That which was torn [by beasts] I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, [whether] stolen by day or stolen by night.
- “[There] I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.
- “Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
- “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked [you] last night.”
- And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “[These] daughters [are] my daughters, and [these] children [are] my children, and [this] flock [is] my flock; all that you see [is] mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?
- “Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”
- So Jacob took a stone and set it up [as] a pillar.
- Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.
- Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
- And Laban said, “This heap [is] a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed,
- also Mizpah, because he said, “May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.
- “If you afflict my daughters, or if you take [other] wives besides my daughters, [although] no man [is] with us — see, God [is] witness between you and me!”
- Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is [this] pillar, which I have placed between you and me.
- “This heap [is] a witness, and [this] pillar [is] a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
- “The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
- Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain.
- And early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
32:1. So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. - When Jacob saw them, he said, “This [is] God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
THE MESSAGE:
Yesterday we saw how Jacob stole away from Laban and his family because he had fallen out of favour with them. When Laban heard of it, he gathered his people to pursue after Jacob and overtook him after seven days journey. Laban must have devised evil in his mind against Jacob but God had to warn him in 31:24 to “speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”
Of course, Laban was confrontational when he met Jacob and reminded him that all he had came from him and he had the power to harm him if not for the warning of God. He even complained that Jacob stole his gods! (Genesis 31:30). What a god!
Many of us never realise how God works from the background to protect us. He did that when Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers 25). He did that to Elisha and his servant when the Syrian army was sent to arrest them (2 Kings 6:18). He is still in the business. With enemies all around us, only God can give us maximum protection from seen and unseen enemies. We cannot rely on gods that can be sat upon for our protection (Genesis 31:34). We must trust God more than any physical protection apparatus we may have (Psalm 127:1). We need to abandon our life to Him. Try Him today.
PRAYER: My life is in Your hands mighty Lord. Help me to always trust You to protect me.
