DAY 32: CAN GOD BLESS YOU WHEN LIFE IS UNFAIR?

Easy, good morning, good morning, good morning. Bright and early on the West Coast. And if you're listening on playback, by the way, welcome. So glad to have you. By the way, we're on all the podcasts. Whatever it is, if you do an audio podcast, usually about two hours, and we're soon going to be on video on Apple Podcast, audio only and video. How about that? Crash course and lip reading. I hear ya. Anyway, well, I'll posit the question again. Well, you can hear me. You know I'm not right in my head. Can God bless you when life is unfair? I mean, why not ask the hard questions up front? Can he provide when someone else controls the terms? Can he increase you when the system is stacked against you? You tell me. Tell me what you think. Doesn't matter a hell of beans what I think. Well, maybe it does a little. Can he increase you? Can God increase you when the system is stacked against you? Look, that's exactly where Jacob is. Remember, he's not fully free. And honestly, he's not dealing with a good man. He's not dealing with an honest man. He's not. He's working under Laban. Laban. Laban's not a good dude. Laban has already shown us who he is. Listen, somebody shows you who they are. Pay attention. They show you who they are. Pay attention. He changes the terms. I mean, he doesn't change the terms seven minutes in, seven days in. He changes the terms seven years in. I don't know, man. He changes family, the family dynamics. He uses family language while protecting his own advantage. Oh yeah, your family. He's working a deal. He's working angles. He smiles. I don't think that was a smile. Man. I can make the ugliest face. Look, you start off with an ugly face. It only goes downhill from there. Look, he smiles like a relative. Can't four and then he calculates like some sort of predator. So here's the question. I guess maybe questions. Right at the beginning, why not? Where do you feel trapped inside unfair conditions? Maybe maybe you're not there. Maybe you're not. I I don't know your life. But maybe you are. Where do you feel trapped inside unfair conditions? Unfair conditions exist. They do. They do. It's aggravating as all get out. It is. This man, wait a second. This this is not fair to me. Have you quietly started I said questions. Plural. Have you quietly started believing God is somehow limited when the situation is stacked against you? Let's be honest. Thank you, Miss Colleen. Uh, the other sound texts were keen to let me know that I was muted early on, so it was a bunch of this. Flapping my jowls. No sound. The people's prayer has been answered. Finally, shut him up. Look, maybe you have quietly started believing life is unfair and God, he just won't work in that. Maybe you believe, and look, no shade, not throwing stones at you. Maybe you believe that he can't. That there are limiting circumstances that he just can't work through. Welcome back to Through the Bible in a year. Walking the story of God. By the way, do you guys, this is an official poll? It's an unofficial poll. Which do you guys prefer? The headphones? All up on my head? Traditional podcast, regalia, or any or monitors? Or does it matter? Any preference? Preferences are accepted here. I just need to know. Anyway, so I'm Dr. Sean. Today we're walking through Genesis 30, 25 to 43. Oof. Gets tricky. Sure enough does. Today's show. By the way, good morning, Tammy. Good to see you. Brought to you by my book, True Word, Faith for Life, Text Book Quality. 60 pound paper. 60 or 80, maybe. And then I've used the font that's bigger. Space, more space in between. And uh thank you. By the way, I have a set of in ear monitors, just like these, except black, for say on Facebook Markets Place. Anyway, that has nothing to do with this. So my book, True Word Faith for Life, you can find it at the store, True Word Faith for Life.com slash store, and you can use it as a resource. You want to grow as a true disciple of Yeshua, that's one tool. It's a very good tool. I mean, it needs some professional editor. Thank you for your input, you guys. Appreciate it. I don't even know these are in. And the the headphones, they're super comfortable. They're professional. Both of these things are professional stuff. Um, I can't use my hearing aids. I'm hearing impaired. I can't use my hearing aids with these because you know they're wireless. I could, I mean, I could pipe the sound through, but it would, there would be a delay. So it's kind of weird. It's tough to explain. So today's passage. It's about work, it's about wages, manipulation, fear, provision, and increase. And it is painfully modern. It is painfully modern. The question is, can you handle this story? There's nothing easy about this story. And it occurred to me. You know, I I do a lot of writing. It it's different for me now. Um post-brain and spine injury than before. Amen. I think in my humanness it's easy to forget its majestic power and tribulation, which is why feeding the soul daily in prayer keeps his deity in the forefront. Amen. Well said. I have a very articulate audience. I mean, I have some that go, they're not really an audience. They just are sitting in their mom's basement going from YouTube to YouTube, trying to disrupt. I pray for your soul. I pray that somehow along the way that you'll wise up, you'll you'll mature up. There's there's folks that just, man, you you could be such a better person. Choices, consequences. I I said that today's passage is about work, wages, manipulation, fear, provision, and increase. And I said it's painfully modern, but you know what else it's painfully? Painfully, you and me. Have you ever had that happen? You're hired under one agreement. You think you understand. Sometimes it's your marriage, sometimes it's your job, sometimes it's your friendships, your alliances, your emotional alliances, your romantic alliances. Look, it's painfully modern because a lot of people know exactly what it feels like to work hard, to labor, to toil under rules they didn't write, inside systems they didn't build for people they cannot fully trust. Can you identify? If you can, say amen. After Rachel bears Joseph, Jacob says to Laban, send me away that I may go to my own home and country. Send me away. This is Jacob speaking to Laban. The guy that I don't want to say on the air what I would say normally, but man, he really, really put the screws to him, man. I mean, we c we're look we know what Jacob experienced, what what Jacob experienced that he did repeatedly. We know. We saw it, and yet. Is there some element of pity, perhaps compassion that we have for Jacob? Can you imagine how utterly frustrated he was? Send me away that I may go to my own home and country. That sentence, it matters. That sentence right there matters. Jacob knows Haran is not home. Pardon me, he knows that this is not home. Look, he's served for years. He has wives, the only one of one. But now he has two. And again, nothing against Leah. You imagine being in her spot. Look, we've talked about her, we've talked about Rachel. Now we're talking about Jacob. He has wives, he has children. And when I say he served for years, seven years, and then 14. That's no small thing out of somebody's life, especially when life is that hard. Especially when, hey, you gotta give me this time, and then after that, you're free. We're so quick to read over stuff in scripture and just go. Just fly right by it. I'm trying to finish the Bible in a year. I go, I go, hurry up. I can't pay no mind to audience. No. No. That's why we have to dig deeper. Find the truth. Find the the the real, real truth inside these amazing, amazing. This library of sixty-six books is incredible. We're in Genesis. The beginning. He Jacob has served for years. I I I don't know. I don't know if I can adequately explain. When I put myself, and I want you to do this, I want you to do this. Put yourself in his shoes. Okay, you know you have your hurts, habits, and hangups, you know you have your scheming, you know you have all your stuff, but now you have you have entered into an agreement with a guy because you saw a woman or a man, and you said, I, that's who I'm meant for. I mean, we're not talking farmer wants a wife. I think we have a connection. No, we're talking, wow. I'm willing to change my whole life for that human being. I'm willing to give myself in servitude and wait. Now the years have passed. He has the wives, he has the children, he has built Laban's household. That's what we're getting. He wasn't just sitting around, folks. Jacob had his, he was smart, smart guy. He built Laban's household. And by the way, before we throw too many rocks at Jacob, Jacob got it honest. Jacob got it honest. Look at what he grew up under. So now Jacob is asking the question every faithful worker eventually asks. If we're honest, come on, we gotta be honest here. When do I provide for my own household? When do I stop building only somebody else's future sharecropper? When do I move toward what God promised me? But Laban doesn't want him to leave. Why? Well a lot of profit, a lot of profit in Jacob. Laban, Laban knows Jacob is profitable. He says, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. I have learned because of divination. Oof, that's a strange confession. That's a little odd. Laban's not a model of covenant faith. Okay, we can establish that. So for people that look at Laban and go, Well, you know, scripture, man. Bad people in it. Yeah, there are. It's not sanitized. That's why you can believe it. It's not sanitized. If if there was some desire to create a perfect religion and really, really trick people, well, it would be that. They would sanitize it. But they didn't. God didn't. The people that held the pen didn't. No, Laban is not a model of covenant faith. He is spiritually mixed. He is manipulative, so manipulative. He wants the benefit out of God's blessing without surrendering to the God, the God who gives it. Oh. Can we identify with that? Can you? I'm not talking about the place in Africa. I'm talking about can you? This man is spiritually mixed. He's manipulative. He wants the good stuff without having to surrender to God. Can you identify? Have you ever been there? I have. It is a push-pull deal in this life, this world, this faith. I don't think it'll ever go away until we're in the presence of the king. But even Laban can see the hand of God on Jacob, and that's the thing. Sometimes when God puts his hand on someone, all the people around, you think they don't see, but they do. Some do. And they don't have to be Christians, they don't have to be people of faith. They go, that lady there, blessed. Not just because she has stuff, because she might not have anything. God's given her a gift. God's given her a gift. God's given him a gift. Look, it's, you know, to a non-believer, they look at somebody and they go, uh, there's something different. In a good way. And look, this is important. The fact that Laban, even Laban, this jacked-up dude, can see the hand of God on Jacob. Ooh, that's important. Muy importante. God's blessing on Jacob is so real that even a dishonest man recognizes it. In the ancient Near Eastern world, flocks were not background scenery. You know, I got a little sheepage and whatnot and goats in the background of my thumbnail there. Life is unfair. In the ancient Near Eastern world, flocks were wealth.

They were.

Flocks were food. Flocks were trade. Flocks were status. Flocks were inheritance. Flocks were the future of a household walking on four legs. So when Laban says, name your wages and I will give it, that's not a casual conversation in, you know, at the office over the water cooler. I don't even know. Do they still even have those? It doesn't matter. Whether they do or they don't. They. Look, this is a negotiation over survival and independence. This is not some, you know, small thing. Hard work. Hard, dangerous work. You have to ask yourself. It sounds generous, right? It sounds generous. This this sounds like wow, this might be the answer to my prayers. It might be exactly what I need.

But we already know Laban. Dealing with the devil. Remember.

Remember how he did him dirty. I know you probably thinking right now. Of somebody that did you dirty. It might not have been an employer. It might have been a spouse. It might have been a friend. Might have been a relative. And you say, I'm gonna always remember that. I am go, I'm gonna remember this. I will never forget what you've done to me. You know, we know Laban, and he speaks like a benefactor and behaves like a man protecting the advantage. Jacob answers with clarity. He reminds Laban that the flock was small before he arrived, and it has increased abundantly. And Jacob asks, When shall I provide for my own household also? And some of you know that question. You've carried someone else's burden, you've protected someone else's name. You've built someone else's dream, you've worked under pressure. Well, that other people didn't see. And somewhere inside your heart, somewhere inside your heart. Lord, where do I begin what you assigned to me? The question. Good question. Here's the reality of it. Jacob proposes an unusual wage. He'll take the speckled, spotted, and dark animals, not the obvious prize, right? See them in the thumbnail. The speckled and spotted. Not not the obvious prize, and not the not the one that you would choose. Not the strongest visible advantage. Not the whole flock. Just the minority portion. In other words, if Jacob increases, it won't look like the system handed him success. It'll look like God did what the system couldn't explain. Laban agrees. Huh. Jacob is so gut wobble. What a dumb idea. I do not think he laughed like that. Then immediately. Leaving. Oh my lens is this guy. I don't know what his face looked like, but it is it deserves a good punching. He immediately removes the very animals that would have helped Jacob's flock increase. He removes them. He separates them by three days' journey. Now you might say, oh, that's nothing. Come on, we just drive there. No, none of that. Don't miss this. Don't miss this. Laban agrees with his mouth. Then he limits the outcome with his actions. That's manipulation. That's control. That's unfairness dressed in agreement. And that's where fear begins to preach to you. Fear says, you're trapped. You're trapped. No getting out of this. Fear says, look, they control your future. They. Fear says you can't move unless they let you. Fear says the terms are unfair, so the outcome is already decided. Why try? Why try? Fear is a terrible interpreter of God. Fear is a liar. Fear can describe pressure. Fear can describe pressure. Fear can't. Define Providence. Are you with me? I need to know you're with me because the passage turns strange.

It turns real strange.

Jacob takes fresh rods from poplar almond and plane trees. Peels white streaks in them. And places them near the watering troughs where the animals mate. To modern ears that sounds weird. Sounds odd. It is odd. It is. Some see Jacob working within the breeding assumptions of his world. Some see strategy. Some see folk practice. Old wives, too. Genesis 31 will later make the deeper point clear. God gave Jacob increase. God gave Jacob the increase. God overruled Laban's control. God caused the flocks to become Jacob's provision. So don't confuse the visible method with the ultimate source. Jacob worked, but God blessed. Jacob acted, but God provided. Jacob made decisions, but God controlled the outcome. Can you identify? That balance matters. Faithfulness isn't passivity. The postmodern Western evangelical Christian church, man. This passivity thing that has been so, so desperately misrepresented as theology and orthopraxis, passivity. Passivism. Faithfulness isn't passivity. Jacob doesn't sit in the field doing nothing. He watches, he works, he separates, he he tends, he acts. But his effort isn't his God. And his environment isn't his Lord. That's the line some of us need to recover. His effort isn't his God. And his environment isn't his Lord. Work faithfully. I say it all the time. Don't be that Christian at work that doesn't work. That complains, whines, all the time. I hope that Sean doesn't come in today. I hope he just gets another job. I'm gonna put him on indeed.com. Right? That guy's a nightmare. I can't believe I gotta deal with this person again. You may be, you may work with them, you may work under them, and you may supervise them. I don't know your life. I don't know your job. Work faithfully in your life, just outside of your work, your labor, in your life, work faithfully, trust deeply. Refuse to make effort your savior, refuse to make your obstacle your master. Some people live constantly refocusing on the obstacle instead of the way that God is making for you.

Are you breathing? Breathing in.

Some of you say, Well, I've got this obstacle, I've got. You listen, you don't understand how big this obstacle is. You don't understand how big this obstacle is. You don't know. You don't know my life? I don't. But I know obstacles. I do. I know them firsthand, and I've seen people overcome things that I just it boggles the mind. Mind boggled. But let me tell you something. This book, this one right here. It's unlike any other account. The God, unlike any other God. But there is a tendency in the postmodern world to see an obstacle and go, I I can't I can I can't I can't get through that. I can't get around that. I can't get over it. I can't go out. I don't know. I I'm stuck, I'm beat. You win. Refuse to make, yes, yes. Listen, people that say, well, you you preach a works-based faith. That's not true. It's so not true. Refuse to make your obstacle your master. You cannot keep looking at the thing that has made your life difficult. Difficult maybe is a massive and and just just egregious understatement. I get it. I do. I see you. I see you waking up in the morning and going, that system I have to go drive to now, that's working against me. I'm not saying be a sheep and roll over. I'm saying be strong. Represent your faith well, represent the Lord well, but be strong. And sometimes you just gotta get after it. And keep working. God can part any mountain. We are strengthened in the valleys and blessed. It's on the mountaintop that defines your reliance on God when things are calm. I wrote an e-book in a like a workshop years ago, called Living Through Grief on Purpose. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Through. And in normal life, we have the desire to quit. I'm not gonna exercise. I tried it for a minute, didn't work for me. I'm not gonna eat healthfully. I tried it for a minute and it didn't work for me. I'm not, look, I'm not gonna I try reading this book. I tried. I tried reading this book. And you know what? By the way, speaking of which, I'm excited because I just sent yesterday three more of my Bibles. They'll be the last ones to send to Melissa at Mooseworks in uh at Mooseworks Bible. They do, she does, she does it all by hand. She's a rebinder master. Amazing. I can't wait. It'll be a long time before they come back because she's very busy. It's good. That that book is a guidebook if you understand it. Scripture is a guidebook if you understand it. Look, there's people in the chat who are either unserious people or they lack intellect or their motivations are dark. They laugh when they say it, but their motivations are dark. We can laugh them off. But recognize they're yet another obstacle because the world is full of people who will tell you your faith is silly. Silly. Maybe you have obstacles, physical obstacles that are very challenging. I don't know your life and I don't know what you look like. Most of you, I don't know what you look like. There may be many thousands that watch this video or listen to this audio.

I don't know what your struggle is.

But I can tell you the way to peace, the way to shalom, the way to a relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Sean and Amy and Nicole and Joe and Colleen and Bob and Railine and Evelyn and Candace and Carolyn and Danny and on and on. That God. That God can take you to the mountaintop. And he can show you all that's there, but you gotta be willing to sweat. I'm not saying earn it. The mountaintop is so sweet because so few get there. Because so few are willing to put in the concerted effort. Good morning, Janelle. So few are willing to put in the effort. And you know what? That is that is good morning, Nazir. That is the thing. That's the crazy thing. We want everything microwave, we want everything easy. Look, this morning is one of many mornings, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. That is a challenge in and of itself. We have people listening right now that it's 4 a.m. or 4.42 a.m. They wake up and they do it. With people listening around the world, the challenge that they have to surmount is extraordinary. And I'm going to tell you, people bled and died to bring us this book. They bled and died to bring it to us. How quickly, how easily we just just we we dismiss. I did it too. I did it too. I did. I'm not going to sit here and act like somehow I didn't do it. I did the same thing. I talked a minute ago about maybe, maybe you need to lose weight just because you need to lose weight. Maybe, maybe you need to lose weight because you got diabetes or you're pre-diabetic. Amen. Thank you, Janelle. Amen. So that's the thing. I I know because I was there. Hey man, got to turn this thing around. I'm a big, big guy, so you know. I don't think you need to lose that weight. Five pounds, you know. Even even some of my medical team or people on the periphery. Sometimes you don't take it serious. There were warnings in the car. Hey man, slow down. And that car that hit me, slow down. People took steps. The one who died and stayed dead, I died. And for whatever reason, reanimated. But the one that died and stayed dead. High school senior, full ride scholarship. His little brother was in the car. And when they stopped at his house, he told his little brother and he wanted to go with them to the next stop. He said, no, no, no. No, no, you're not going to the next place. You stay here. Minutes later. His life was gone. He saved his brother. That's just like Andre. Right from the passenger in the car. Thing is, we knew him well. If right across the fairway from us, playing on my son's football team, he was first oring my son was second. Backed him up, used to ride to and from school sometimes, to and from practice. I have to ask you, what is your obstacle? Figure it out. Stop kind of swirling. I don't know. Hey, what's stopping you? I don't know. If your obstacle is self-discipline, identify it. It's okay. It's okay to go, you know what? I lack discipline. I lack discipline. Now everything in my life is super hard. I'm not saying that to make you feel sorry for me, because I don't need that. I appreciate it, but I don't need it. Everything is super difficult. Everything. But I'm going to tell you something. I've learned so many lessons in these challenges. They're not going away, they're only going to get worse. As they have. Miss Colleen can testify. It's a hard, hard deal now. God whispers to us in our pleasure. And he shouts to us in our pain. Ask me how I know. And some of you know. Can I encourage you to identify your obstacle? Take the time. Take the time to do it. Take the time to do it. Listen, I'm going to tell you, I keep saying it, but it's true. It requires discipline to pick up this book and open and read and say, I'm. But then you have to do. Every day, every day a little bit more. A little bit more. The result is unmistakable. It is unmistakable. The Bible says Jacob increased. Look, the Bible says Jacob increased greatly. Large flocks, servants, camels, donkeys. This isn't some small improvement. This is visible household expansion in the ancient Near East. This is God, only God, making a future possible inside an unfair environment. Laban didn't suddenly become honest. He's not an honest man. You may be around people like that. They may be in your own family. Or at your workplace or at your church. Or next to you in bed. Or in the next room. Laban didn't suddenly become honest, and that's how Jacob prospered, no. Not after the rules became balanced. Well, you know, Jacob, I thought, I thought about it, and I thought, well, I didn't really give you a good deal. Not after the situation felt safe, because imagine how long it took to grow that flock. God blessed Jacob while Laban was still Laban. You say, I can't, I can't get over this hill. I can't get over this wall. I can't get this. There's a moat around me. I can't do it. I can't get past this disability. I can't get past this challenge. I can't get past any of it. God is the way maker. He's the way maker. You have to trust him. You have to do what he says. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Thank you, by the way, to Miss Janelle Turner for that super chat. How lovely. Thank you so much. I'm not 100% sure what it is, but thank you for it. God bless you. Somebody new. And look what a blessing. Look, God blessed Jacob while Laban was still Laban. God can bless you while the obstacle is still the obstacle. And maybe the obstacle doesn't erode over time. Maybe the obstacle gets bigger and bigger and bigger. That mountain gets bigger. The fear gets bigger. That anger gets bigger. That resentment gets bigger. Laban was still Laban. And that doesn't make Laban righteous, by the way. What happened as a result with Jacob doesn't make it laban? Laban's still Laban. He's not righteous. It means Laban isn't sovereign. Laban doesn't have control over Jacob. Why? Because Jacob served the living God. The God of this book. Wasn't easy. Hard work, that's why his face is dirty. That's why his face is dirty. That's why it's grimy because it's hard, hard work. Yeah, Laban controlled the wages, but God. God controlled the increase. Hear that again. Hear it again. Really hear it. Purge your mind and your attention of everything else. I want you to hear that. Laban controlled the wages, but God controlled the increase. Look, I'm no prosperity preacher. Trust me when I tell you. But I'm telling you right now, your boss may control your schedule, but God controls the increase. Your circumstances may control the pressure in your life, but God controls the increase. Your past may explain the struggle, but God controls the increase. People say, I'll never get away from my past. I'll never get past my past. I can't do it. I did too many bad things. I'm a living example of that simply not true. I told you the example the other day about the woman who lost everything, gave everything. She didn't lose it, she gave it away. She handed it away to a needle, an heroin. Let me say this. Say it clearly. She will tell you, I did this. Amen. God gives the increase. Amen. Amen, Joshua. Good to have you. Here's the thing. The thing I didn't tell you about that lady. Yeah, beautiful children. Beautiful husband. I mean, he was a professional. He was he was not a believer. Neither was she. Beautiful home. Her reputation. Her family's reputation. Relationships. During the course of her addiction, he she was. She lost her mom, her dad. Stress. Oh, and by the way, she set up burglaries for her own home. Her own parents' home. Her aunt and her uncle's home. And in two of those, they were home. It was nighttime. She set her own family up.

She put her husband who who she adored.

Put him at risk. Put her own children at risk. Put her own parents and other relatives at risk. Great peril. Might say, well, maybe she was just jacked up to start with. No. She was a family nurse practitioner. Studying for her physician's assistant. Go into a program like that. She was sharp, she was smart, she was beautiful. My friends. She created an obstacle for herself that was utterly insurmountable by our eyes. By our minds, there was no way we could conceive of it. This is it. And she was on the streets of Kensington, bent over, dirty, open sores. She'd given herself over to work in the streets, if you know what I'm saying. Boosting, robbing. And someone, a friend of mine, for the first time in his in his entire life. He and his wife drive the streets looking for people to help. Try to rescue them. He said he went up to her. He said, I've never done this. Never in my life have I ever done this. He said, I didn't think about it and go, oh, maybe I'll try this. No. It was. It came from God. I'm not saying he healed. I'm not saying my buddy healed her, but he said to her, Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be healed? Because years followed. She had destroyed everything. She took, by the way, in four months she went through three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. She drained. She drained their retirement accounts. Drained it. Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in four months. The husband was left to take care of the children. She lost the children. As you will recall, if you haven't heard this true story, go to uh yesterday's episode or the one before. Nicole says it can happen to any one of us if we don't protect the holes in our lives. One spore of mold can destroy everything, but God can use it for good. Penicillin came from mold. God's grace. Penicillium aspergillus.

She had to do the work.

They are together. They had to go to court. The husband who had divorced her. The husband had to go to court just so they could she could even see the children. Years later. It's a whole big thing. They had to sell the home. Everything changed. She did it. She did it to them. She was the cause. And now they're both people of massive faith. An obstacle that was insurmountable. If you're not driving a car, I want you to close your eyes and think about that obstacle. Think about that obstacle. That thing that you say, man, I can't get past this. I'm going to lay this on you and I want you to take it for what it is. It's given in love. That obstacle may be you. You may be the thing. You may be the laban in the story of your life. Yeah. Other people may create obstacles. God controls the increase. Yeah. Absolutely true. You may have done injustices to yourself, to your family. To your friends. Face the obstacle. Name the thing. Name it. Your hurt, habit, or hang up. Your hurt, your habit, your hang up. Name it. Identify it. Call it out. Nothing will change until you do that. Look, this doesn't mean that injustice is good. It isn't. Doesn't mean manipulation is acceptable. It's not. Doesn't mean you stay forever where God is telling you to leave. God tells you to leave, you go. Jacob himself is preparing to go. He is preparing. Remember at the beginning of the story. Jacob himself is preparing to go. I'm going back to my people. And then Laban comes with this trickery. Again. Remember, Jacob tricked multiple times. And now it's happened to him. And then he trusted God. But it does mean, this is what it does mean. Unfairness isn't stronger than God. Obstacles are not insurmountable to God. This passage doesn't tell us to become passive under dishonesty, abuse, or manipulation. It tells us to stop treating the unfair environment that maybe you're living in. As if it has the final word, it doesn't. Faithfulness isn't pretending Laban is safe. He's not. He's not a safe guy. Faithfulness is trusting God when you discern the next step. When you discern the next step. Faithfulness keeps your integrity without surrendering your future. Faithfulness prepares transition. It prepares for transition without panic. Faithfulness refuses to believe that manipulation can cancel promise.

And that matters. Jacob isn't perfect here.

The deceiver has lived under a deceiver. Maybe you are in that very spot right now. It's not only okay to admit that perhaps you are a deceiver. Or maybe you were a deceiver. You gotta acknowledge it. The deceiver has lived under a deceiver. This is Jacob. Maybe it's you. The man who once grasped the heel for blessing is learning that blessing finally comes from God. God is increasing Jacob. But God is also changing Jacob. Look, come as you are, but you can't stay as you are. And a lot of people will equate that saying you know, the invitation, the broad seeker invitation to come into a church, a gathering of believers, come as you are, come to Christ as you are. But you can't stay as you are. You gotta let this word change you, you gotta let God change you. Come as you are, but we can't stay. And some people will equate that, well, you can't stay, as well, you gotta get your haircut the right way, you gotta get your suit of clothes the right way, you gotta use certain words a certain way, and to some degree that's true, you know. If we're profanity-laced all the time, there's some things gotta change. We are not perfect until we are in the presence of the Lord. Sometimes the blessing and the formation happen at the same time. You want God to change the situation, your situation. But God may be using the situation to change you. You want increase. God wants maturity with the increase. You want escape from this terrible situation. God wants formation before departure. Look, that's not punishment, that's true fatherhood. Moses Moshe gives the story to Israel. That's who he's writing to in Genesis Betishit. Moses gives this story to Israel as a people who must learn how God works in the real world, not in fantasy. We can't live in a fantasy world. I know believers who, God bless them. I love their heart, I love their heart for God. But they live in a fantasy world. They create a fantasy God. But in a sense they do because they strip away all of the stuff you have to do. You have to make, you have to make good decisions. You have to, you have to consult the word daily. You have to consult the author of the word daily through prayer. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't have to be this eloquent, articulate prayer. It just has to be real. Look, God works in the real world, not in fantasy, not in perfect conditions, not among perfect people. God works in covenant history, family conflict, labor disputes, barren wounds, unfair wages, loss of children, horrific situations. And God works intense departures. That's why Genesis isn't religious decoration, folks. It's formation. It teaches us how to see. And Genesis 30 teaches us this: God's blessing isn't limited by your environment. Human unfairness doesn't cancel divine provision. Visible systems aren't ultimate. Work matters, but God is the source. Increase can come in unlikely ways. And your future isn't determined by your current conditions. Some of you are measuring your future by Laban, by the rules, by the obstacles, by the imbalance, by the people who seem to hold power over you. Genesis 30 tells you to look higher. Look higher not at Laban, look at the Lord. I want you to hear this. I want you to feel this in your soul. This points us forward to Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus, the Messiah. Jacob received flocks, servants, camels, and donkeys. But in Messiah, provision goes far deeper. Yeshua gives an inheritance, no laban. Can manipulate. He gives identity no unfair system can erase. He gives grace, no employer, no family member, no critic, no enemy or circumstance can steal. In Yeshua, you are not merely trying to increase your flock. You're learning how to live as a child of the Father. And the Father isn't limited by the field you're standing in. Maybe in the comments below. Where do you feel limited right now? And what would change if you really believed God isn't limited there? It's a real question. It's two questions. Where do you feel limited right now? And what would change if you really believed God isn't limited there? I have for you today a challenge and a choice. And they're not easy. Here's a question. More questions. Where have you allowed fear to interpret your future? Where have you allowed fear to interpret your future? Where are you waiting for fairness before you trust God? Where are you allowing someone else's control to shrink your expectations? Where are you staring so long at Laban, your obstacle, your enemy, that you've stopped looking to the Lord? So, here is your choice. You can keep worshiping the system. You can. You are so welcome. J for all. Underscore Dina, you're so welcome. I am such an imperfect messenger. But God, his message is perfect. Look, you can keep worshiping the system, or you can trust the God above it all. You can believe you're trapped. Or you can believe God is able. You can wait for every condition to change. You can say, look, I'm just going to wait until every condition, every situation has changed, it's fixed, it's made fair, and then I will trust God. Doesn't work that way, my friends. Or you can walk faithfully today, today, right now, while God prepares what comes next. Do not confuse pressure with defeat. Don't confuse delay with denial. Don't confuse Laban's control with God's absence. Don't do it. Don't do it. Work with integrity, whatever it is you do. Whatever it is you do, even if you're retired, work, deal with people with integrity. Move with wisdom. Pray without panic. Pray without panic. And stop letting unfair conditions convince you that somehow or another God has lost control. He hasn't. He never has. And maybe this is where salvation becomes personal for you today. Because sin isn't only obvious rebellion. Sometimes sin is despair. And it's just wearing rebellious language. Or maybe despair is wearing religious language. Sometimes we dress it all up. You list a litany of things. Somebody asks you how it's going. You list a litany of things with a face full of anguish, a heart full of anguish, a little bit of resentment or a lot, and then you finish it up with, but God is good. And the other person says all the time. Religious language, we dress stuff up. Sometimes sin is unbelief that sounds like realism. Sometimes sin is the lie that you have to scheme, grasp, manipulate, and control because the father can't be trusted. Look, you don't have to manipulate anybody. You don't have to manipulate anything. The father can be trusted. Jacob had to learn that blessing doesn't finally come from grasping. By the way, let me say this. A lot of us, our opinion and trust of God is based on an image that we project from our own fathers who couldn't be trusted. And maybe you're a father. Maybe you're a mother who couldn't be trusted. Call it what it is and let God change you. Jacob had to learn that blessing doesn't finally come from grasping. It comes from God. And you and I, we have to learn that life doesn't come from control. Life comes through surrender to Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. He came to rescue us you from sin. He came to bring us into the household of God. You. He came to give forgiveness, identity, adoption, and eternal life for me and for you. If today you know you've been trying to survive by control and fear, anger, despair, or unbelief, this is the moment. This is the moment to come home to the Father. Prayer isn't asking for an easy journey. It's asking for a strong back. I pray this with me right now. Pray it with me right now. Just talk to God. He's listening. I assure you. Pray this prayer. Father, I know I've sinned and I need your mercy. I believe Jesus died for me, was broken. His body was tortured. He died and he was buried and he rose again. Today I turn from my sin, my hurts, my habits, and my hang-ups, and I place my trust in him as my Lord and my King, my Savior. Forgive me. Make me new and fill me with your spirit. From this day forward, I want to follow you in Jesus' name. Amen. Glory to God. Glory to God. Look, if you prayed that prayer today, I want you to hear me. I want you to hear me clearly. Already, the world, the world around you, family, friends, responsibilities, fears, hurts, habits, and hang-ups, they're already trying to trip you up. They're trying to distract you. I want you to hear me clearly. They're trying to tell you you're alone, if only but you go with them and do what they do, what you used to do. You aren't alone. Reach out to me. You say you're just a dude on the other side of a screen. No. I'm a real person. And I'm telling you, I will help you. I've helped countless people, and I will help you as well. I'm not I'm nothing special. Reach out to me through Trueword FaithforLife.com slash contact. I don't get a dollar a dime or a thousandth of a dime for everybody that goes there. I get nothing. We pay for it so you don't have to. You go there, true wordfaithforlife.com slash contact. I will personally help you take the next steps and walk with you in the way. Do it every day. Do it every way. Nicole, you nailed it. You nailed it. You figured it out. Poplar white stripes. Remember, he stripped it, stripped the tree so that striped and speckled. By his stripes, we are healed. Peeled bark, removal of sin, white inner wood, clothed in his righteousness. Read the word, study it. I'm telling you, my friends, it's the most amazing thing I have ever read, ever done in my life, is commit myself to knowing God. He already knows me. Look, I will I will walk with you in the way. My friends, God is not limited by your environment. God is not blocked by the unfairness that surrounds you. God is not intimidated by laban, and what he has for you cannot be stopped by what stands against you. Work faithfully. Work faithfully. Trust deeply. Move wisely. Don't let fear preach louder than God's promise. And don't let unfair conditions convince you that the Father has lost control. Don't do it. That's what the world wants you to believe is not true. If this message touched you, share it. Don't keep it in. Share it. Share the link. One person. Post the link to your social media. You never know who it might reach. I'm telling you, I've seen it happen. People on the ragged edge of life. Tomorrow morning we're going to be back here at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Until then. Go to True WordFaithforLife.com. There's a bazillion resources there. Until then. Shalom Bishem Yeshua. Shalom Alekum.