Okay, so yesterday I said to check back in for this episode because things were going to go crazy for Jacob, and that is exactly what happens in this chapter.  Jacob’s time with Laban’s family is filled with drama.  His wives are filled with drama, his work is filled with drama, and at the center of it is the way everyone in his world is trying to get what they want at the cost of everyone else!  It’s a crazy story that is fit for a soap opera, so if there any TV producers out there looking for ideas, they could do a lot worse than basing their story on this section of Genesis.

Yet at the same time, God is still in the background, though He seems to be largely ignored.  God has promised to bless Jacob, and He is fulfilling that promise.  Does this mean He’s blessing Jacob’s dishonesty?  I don’t think so.  Jacob is a sinner, just like everyone else.  Apart from God, Jacob can do nothing that is worthy of blessing.  Yet God blesses everyone in some ways, even though everyone is sinful, and Jacob is no different.  So what gives?  Well, God doesn’t bless people because they deserve it.  God blesses people because He loves them even when they don’t love Him.  Remember this: If God loves and blesses those people who hate Him, will He then abandon those of us who call Him our God and who love Him back?  Of course not!  So even when we’re living in crazy circumstances, like Jacob, and even when we’re forgetting God, like Jacob, God is still faithful.  That might mean that God is going to have to do some things we won’t like, like what Jacob is going to experience, but if it’s what’s best for us, God is faithful to see it done.