Jacob's Bad Harvest

And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. Genesis 31:4-7 (KJV)

After Jacob fled from his brother Esau, Jacob dwelt with Laban, his uncle, and worked for him for many years. During that time, he was tricked, deceived and treated unfairly. First, he thought he was working to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel, but Laban tricked him and gave him Leah instead. So he had to work longer in order to also have Rachel. And Laban also tricked him by constantly changing his wages in hopes that the best of the flocks would be his and not Jacob’s.

I used to really dislike Laban for being such a trickster, but then I realized Jacob was reaping what he had sown. It is true that Laban dealt wrongly with Jacob when he should have been honest. However, Jacob had tricked his own father and brother and had used deception to get the blessing of the first born. The law of sowing and reaping was in effect and Jacob was reaping a harvest off the bad seed he had sown. But, a wonderful thing is revealed in the final words of the passage above: God did not allow Laban to hurt Jacob. Although Jacob deserved to reap a harvest of trickery, because Jacob had turned to the Lord, God made sure he was blessed no matter what Laban did.

Have you sown some bad seed in the past? If you have repented and are living for the Lord, He can take the harvest you should be reaping and turn it for good. No matter what harvest the enemy tries to bring, God will block it for you so you can live in blessing.