Gen 29:30 (NIV) Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years. Jacob couldn’t go home, Esua was there. He couldn’t go off on his own, he didn’t have enough resources; all he had belonged to Laban. So far all Jacob’s efforts to get rich had failed. God had a plan for Jacob to have twelve sons; Jacob had a plan for getting rich; and Laban had a plan for using Jacob to make himself rich. There were a lot of plans there; and, they were in conflict with each other.

Gen 29:31 (NIV) When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” After this Leah gave birth to Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Then she stopped having children. Gen 30:1 (NIV) When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

This particular stress wasn’t so much Jacob reaping all his past sins, it was more of a way for God to get the maidservants involve in the twelve son plan. Gen 30:2-3 (NIV) Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, Who has kept you from having children?” Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family.”

Gen 30:25-28 (NIV) After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.” But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.” He added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

Even when you find yourself getting in God’s way, doing things that are your plans, and allowing others to dictate the plans for your life, God still wants you to learn to trust Him. So, He will often allow you to succeed in your plans so you can learn to put your trust in His plan. If there is anything in your character and attitudes that will cause you to continue to run your own life your way, keep praying and asking Jesus to help you repent, ask for forgiveness, and give you the power to make it right with those you have hurt.

Gen 30:30, 32 (NIV) The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?” Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages.

Jacob still wasn’t ready to trust God; but, like you, God loved him anyway. So, God spoke to Laban’s heart and helped him let Jacob take some of his herd. However, both Laban and Jacob had it in their heart to figure out a way to cheat one another. Jacob tried selective breading and Laban kept changing Jacob’s wage plan. Since God was blessing both of them, they both prospered. BUT, they both assumed that it was because of their incredible skills at cheating one another. This is the type of life of those who don’t trust God and resist evil.

Gen 30:41-43 (NIV) Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous: This is a satanic system that keeps those involved, believing in themselves and their procedures. God was prospering Jacob; but, Jacob was blind to it all. He was embracing the desires of his body, the world, and the devil. Unless something happened to change Jacob’s philosophies and behavior, he was doomed to a life of sin. So, God put a deep desire in Jacob’s heart to go home. That meant Jacob was going to have to make things right with Esau. Maybe at that point Jacob would get around to repenting.

Gen 31:3-7 (NIV) Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me.

Jacob was a hard heart to crack; he was so focused on himself that it was impossible for him to see all the things he had done to his dad, his brother, and Laban. Jacob was an evil person; but, he believed God was on his side because of his goodness, his fairness, and his faithfulness. His heart was hard, his eyes were blind, and if God hadn’t worked some miracle, he would have died in his sins.

Gen 31:17-18 (NIV) Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. Over a long journey which involved conflict with Laban and getting ready for meeting Esau, Genesis 31:19 to 32:3 lays out God’s procedures for helping Jacob come to repentance. But, the biggest work took place as God caused Jacob to make it right with Esau.

Gen 32:3-6 (NIV) Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my master Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’” When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” That would just about help anyone to try to put their trust in God.

1. Turning To God: Gen 32:9 (NIV) Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’

2. Humbling Yourself Before God: Gen 32:10a (NIV) I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.

3. Giving God The Glory: Gen 32:10b (NIV) I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. 4. Making Your Request Known: Gen 32:11 (NIV) Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.

5. Presenting The Word Of God: Gen 32:12 (NIV) But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

6. Making It Right With The Person Wronged: Gen 32:13-15 (NIV) He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.