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Pastor Thom Keller: Today on Study the Word from Pastor Thom Keller. The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord established his steps. With that in mind and the idea of give me something to work with, did you ever consider that if you have been blessed by the Lord, that maybe just maybe it's not because you are so smart or your plan has been so brilliant?

Maybe just maybe you are in this blessed place you are in today simply because you woke up, did the right thing, went to bed, you woke up, did the right thing, went to bed, you woke up, did the right thing and went to bed. And you did that repeatedly, and as a result, God blessed your obedience independent of your brilliant and clever plans. It sure does take the focus off of you, doesn't it, and puts it all on the Lord.

Guest (Male): We sure look forward to this time together with you each day here on Study the Word as we open the word, seeking biblical principles to apply to our lives. And there's a lot of that to be had in Genesis chapter 30. Here we find the story that if you didn't know any better, you'd think it was made for TV drama.

We're about to see what can happen when we're not content and become envious, and how we should handle it when we're wronged by another person. Here's Pastor Thom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: So that evening as Jacob was coming home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. "You must come sleep with me tonight," she said. "I've paid for you with some mandrakes that my son found." So that night he slept with Leah, and God answered Leah's prayers. She became pregnant again and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. She named him Issachar, for she said, "God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband as a wife."

Then Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. She named him Zebulun, for she said, "God has given me a good reward. Now my husband will treat me with respect." Isn't that sad? The disfavored wife looking for love. "Now my husband will treat me with respect, for I have given him six sons." Later, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

Because Leah gives Jacob two more sons and one daughter, Diana, the score is now eight to two. She's winning big. And because verses 16 to 21 would take almost three years for Leah to deliver these three children, and while it's obvious that Rachel was barren during these three years, it would also be apparent that Rachel's mandrake plan did not work.

But God, but God, but God remembered. In verse 22, then God remembered Rachel's plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. "God has removed my disgrace," she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said, "May the Lord add yet another son to my family." Now it's Leah's turn to be envious. And note that Joseph is the first child Rachel herself gives birth to. The score is now eight to three.

But now in verse 25, the story shifts from the battle of the bulge to a battle between Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban. Soon after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, his father-in-law, "Please release me so I can go home to my own country. Let me take my wives and children, for I have earned them by serving you, and let me be on my way. You certainly know how hard I have worked for you."

"Please listen to me," Laban replied. "I've become wealthy, for the Lord has blessed me because of you." And verse 27 by itself says this, 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." Laban says, "I have learned by divination."

The verb here, "divine," means to speak between the teeth. It means to utter a magic formula. Some commentators try to soften this, saying that Laban said, "I have a feeling," but in chapter 31, we find Rachel stealing Laban's household gods, his idols. So if these kind of occultic practices were in Laban's home, divinations would have been expected as well, highly probable.

So Jacob wants to leave, but stingy Laban doesn't want to let go of his golden goose. So he begins the negotiations. "Please listen to me," Laban replied. "I've become wealthy, for the Lord has blessed me because of you. Tell me how much I owe you. Whatever it is, I'll pay it." Jacob replied, "You know how hard I've worked for you and how your flocks and herds have grown under my care. You had little indeed before I came." Listen. "You had little indeed before I came, but your wealth has increased enormously. The Lord has blessed you through everything I've done. But now, what about me? When can I start providing for my own family?"

Now, don't miss verse 30. Before Jacob arrives on the scene, greedy Laban was poor. And this is really important. It is a key understanding of Laban's very first encounter with this very wealthy family. He was poor. In Genesis 24, verse 29, we read this. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban. He ran out to meet the man at the spring. This is Abraham's servant who was sent to find a wife.

He had seen the nose ring and the bracelets. He had seen the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and he had heard Rebekah tell what the man had said. So he rushed out to the spring. I bet he did. Greedy, poor Laban. Where the man was still standing beside his camels. Laban said to him, "Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing here outside the town when I have a room all ready for you and a place prepared for your camels?"

So imagine this financially challenged, greedy Laban's mind racing as he saw Jacob now, the son of wealth, desiring to have his daughter in marriage. His ship has come home. And it did. And now 14 years later, Laban is wealthy and it's on account of Jacob. And Laban doesn't want to let loose of his golden goose.

"What wages do you want?" Laban asked again. Jacob replied, "Don't give me anything. Just do this one thing and I'll continue to tend and watch over your flocks. Let me inspect your flocks today and remove all of the sheep and goats that are speckled or spotted, along with all the black sheep. Give these to me as my wages. In the future, when you check on the animals you have given to me as wages, you'll see that I have been honest. If you find in my flock any goats without speckles or spots or any sheep that are not black, you will know that I have stolen them from you."

Now please hang in here with me on this. Jacob at this point has no sheep or goats, none of his own. Laban has them all. And also note that there are four different varieties of color among Laban's flocks: speckled, spotted, solid black, solid white. Spotted, speckled, solid black, solid white. And the deal that Jacob offers is this. He says, "Laban, give me all the speckled and spotted and dark sheep from your flock. They become mine and I tend them. And Laban, you keep all of the white sheep, all of the white goats, and your sons tend them. You got it?"

Yes, Laban agrees. Genesis 30, verse 34. "All right," Laban replied, "it'll be as you say." But, but, tricky Laban. But that very day Laban went out and removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted or had white patches and all the black sheep. He placed them in the care of his own sons who took them a three days' journey from where Jacob was.

Meanwhile, Jacob stayed and cared for the rest of Laban's flocks. Now did you see what deceiver Laban just did to deceive Jacob? Laban did exactly the opposite of what he agreed to do. Laban had Jacob care for his sheep and he had Laban then took all of Jacob's sheep and cared for his sons three days' journey away. Jacob's speckled, spotted and dark sheep.

Why? Why did he do this switch? Well, we don't know for sure, but I suspect in all probability, as we know, Laban knew that God had blessed him through Jacob's work. And now he has him caring for his sheep once again. He knows God's going to bless the flock because he has his sheep. And the other one is, and I don't like this, this is pretty mean, but the more Laban neglects the sheep that he's caring for, he is actually adding to the loss of Jacob. If he doesn't care for the sheep that his sons are tending, those are Jacob's sheep. And if he lets them die or get sick, why do they care? They're not Laban's, they're Jacob's.

But Jacob, ever the schemer, comes up with a strategy, a plan to stack the deck in his favor. Interesting section of scripture. Verse 37. Then Jacob took some fresh branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and peeled off strips of bark, making white streaks in them. Then he placed these peeled branches in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, for that was where they mated.

And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled and spotted. Jacob separated those lambs from Laban's flock, and at mating time, he turned the flock to face Laban's animals that were streaked or black. This is how he built his own flock instead of increasing Laban's.

Whenever the stronger females were ready to mate, Jacob would place the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of them. Then they would mate in front of those branches. But he didn't do this with the weaker ones, so the weaker lambs belonged to Laban, and the stronger ones were Jacob's. As a result, Jacob became very wealthy with large flocks of sheep and goats, female and male servants and many camels and donkeys.

Now, if you think the next point I'm going to make is why this genius plan of Jacob's, this clever strategy worked, you would be wrong. People can and have and will speculate until the cows come home about why this plan worked out. Or maybe we should say until the speckled sheep came home. But there's really no point in even discussing this. Why?

Because Jacob's success in this endeavor, listen, because Jacob's success in this endeavor has absolutely nothing to do with his clever plan. But instead, it has to do with God's providential decision to bless Jacob. Listen, Jacob could have reversed the color thing whereby Jacob kept only the white animals and the result would have been the same. God would have blessed that plan instead.

Because the decision to bless Jacob, the decision to make right Laban's injustice done to him, was determined and set by God before Jacob ever devised this plan. It wasn't the genius of his plan. It was a God who determined to bless Jacob independent of that plan. But, but, but here is the key, A-number-one takeaway from today. Jacob had to give God something to work with. He had to give him something to work with.

It's just like in the story of Gideon when God wanted to whittle the size of Gideon's army down from 10,000 to 300. We read of his plan in Judges chapter 7. When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, "Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. And the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream."

And by doing that, he whittles it from 10,000 to 300. Was the key the plan? No, but he had, give me something to work with. Give me something to work with. In 2 Kings chapter 4, there's a widow who's in difficult times. She calls on Elisha. Again, the key here was not Gideon's strategy, but God who would determine the outcome.

Proverbs 21:31 makes this point. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord. Yes, we get the horse ready for battle, but God will determine the outcome. The outcome belongs to the Lord. But you have to give God something to work with.

In Exodus chapter 4, it says Moses protested. He doesn't want to go. He said, "What if they, the Pharaoh, won't believe me or listen to me? What if they say the Lord never appeared to you?" Then the Lord asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied. "Throw it down on the ground," the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff and it turned into a snake. Moses jumped back. What's that in your hand? Listen, it could have been a sword, it could have been a frisbee, it could have been a Twinkie. God would have blessed it. It wasn't the genius of the plan. Give me something to work with and I will achieve my desired outcome on your behalf.

In 2 Kings chapter 4, one day a widow, a member of the group of prophets, came to Elisha and cried out, "My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come threatening to take my two sons as slaves. What can I do to help?" Elisha said, listen what he says, "Tell me, what do you have in your house? What do you have?" "Nothing at all except a flask of olive oil," she replied. And Elisha said, "Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors." And she did, and they filled them up. But give me something to work with and God will achieve his desired outcome on your behalf.

In Mark chapter 6, a story you're all familiar with. In late afternoon his disciples came to Jesus and said, "This is a remote place and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat." But Jesus said, "You feed them." "With what?" they asked. "We'd have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people." "How much bread do you have? What do you have?" he asked. "Go and find out." They came back and reported, "We have five loaves of bread and two fish." And from that he fed 5,000 men. It could have been one fish and 12 loaves. It could have been right, it doesn't. What do you have? God wanted to bless on the other side of that. It wasn't their plan.

And the list goes on and on and on. Give me something to work with. For David, it was five smooth stones. For Moses' mother, it was a small ark of reeds to carry Moses down the river to Pharaoh's daughter. Proverbs 16, verse 9 says, the heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Listen again, the heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. With that in mind and the idea of give me something to work with, did you ever consider that if you have been blessed by the Lord, that maybe just maybe it's not because you are so smart or your plan has been so brilliant? Maybe just maybe you are in this blessed place you are in today simply because you woke up, did the right thing, went to bed, you woke up, did the right thing, went to bed, you woke up, did the right thing and went to bed. And you did that repeatedly, and as a result, God blessed your obedience independent of your brilliant and clever plans. It sure does take the focus off of you, doesn't it, and puts it all on the Lord.

Now, in the salvation process, we don't have to give God anything to work with except belief. But to walk out the blessings in our lives once saved, many times God says, "Give me something to work with." If you just sit there like a bump on a log, if you remain passive in life, you will miss out on so many blessings and opportunities the Lord has for you.

Proverbs 16, verse 9, we should make plans counting on God to direct us. Yes, make your plans, but count on God to direct you. But make your plans. Pastor Dan, I asked if I could tell this story and he said I could do this, but years ago he bought a house that was a fixer-upper. It took a lot of fixing up. And he got tired of the repairs and he called me and said, "Tom, I just can't, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't like this house. I don't want this house. I'm tired of fixing it up. I want to get out of this. I don't know what to do."

I said, "Put a 'For Sale' sign up." He said, "Who'd want it?" I said, "That's not your problem. You put the 'For Sale' sign up. Give God something to work with. Put the 'For Sale' sign up." And people showed up and bought it. People have come to me and said all kinds of things. Take action. Take action.

I love Exodus 14 where Moses and the people, their backs are up against the Red Sea. And in Exodus 14, then the Lord said to Moses, "Quit praying and get the people moving. Forward march." We should pray always. Yes, absolutely. But that needs to lead to action. Give me something to work with.

So how does the day's lesson apply to me? Four applications this morning. Number one, don't look to your spouse for happiness. Don't look to any other person or any other thing for happiness, like wealth to make you happy. Nehemiah 8:10 says the joy of the Lord is my strength. And if that's true, and it is, if it's true that the joy of the Lord is your strength, then it's also true that expecting others to bring you joy will be your weakness.

Here's a truth. If you look to anything other than God for happiness, it'll lead you to depression. If you look to anything other than the Lord for happiness, it'll lead you to depression. When I was in my 30s, I chased after money and wealth and possessions and it led me to depression and wanting to kill myself. What you're looking for, I don't know who you are or where you're at in your life right now, but I'm telling you, if you try to find happiness and fulfillment and completeness anywhere other than the Lord, you keep chasing that, it's going to lead you to depression. It will.

Second application tied to that. The mark of measuring how well you have progressed in your spiritual journey can be told by your level of contentment. Are you content? Are you a content person? A lot has to happen in your life to get to being content. A lot of steps happen in front of that before you can ever become content. Philippians 4:11 says this, "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned that in whatever state I am to be content." 1 Timothy 6:6, "But godliness with contentment is great gain, is great gain."

Third application. This battle for the bulge was all driven by these sisters comparing themselves to one another. Social media is that on steroids. Listen, if social media causes you to be envious and dissatisfied with your station in life, with where you are in life, then walk away from it. Because if it causes you to be envious of others, it's sin to keep looking at it. Is that fair? It's fair. You can't handle it, walk away.

You know, there's some sins in the church we excuse pretty quickly with little smiles, even one is envy. It's not something to laugh about. It damages, destroys a lot of families, a lot of marriages, a lot of people. If you can't handle social media, walk away from it.

Fourth application. If you've been wronged by some person in life like Jacob was wronged by Laban, don't seek vengeance, but let the case in God's hands. As in this story today, always remember God saw Laban's injustice and God was and is the great equalizer whenever you suffer injustice.

I remember stories of where this happens multiple times where a parent dies and right after the death, one of the children goes to the house and takes all the valuable furniture and they run away with it. And then the other children say, "What do I do? Do I get a lawyer? Do I go after them?" Well, here's the bottom line in all those kinds of situations like here.

God says, "I will defend you, or you can defend you, but we're not both going to do this." This isn't a shared deal. I will defend you or you're going to defend yourself, but we're not going to split this some way that you're comfortable with. 1 Peter 2:21 makes this so strong. For God called you to do good even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, you must follow in his steps. A lot of translations have a colon right here. You must follow in his steps: he never sinned. Well, we blew that one. He never deceived anyone. We blew that one.

But listen, here it applies to us. He did not retaliate when he was suffering nor threaten revenge when he suffered. Here it is. He left his case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. He left his case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. Isn't that what Laban did? Isn't that what Jacob did? He left it in the hands of God who always judges fairly. Even his crazy plan, God still blessed him because he gave it to the Lord. He didn't seek vengeance, he didn't get angry, he didn't make threats. And God blessed him.

Listen, we need to learn this in life that when we're treated unjustly, that we leave our case in the hands of God who always judges fairly because he is the great justifier. He is the great equalizer when we suffer injustice. Let's read this out loud. Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything. Isn't that beautiful?

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