Look To The Lord

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LOOK TO THE LORD

Gen 31:51-55

51 Laban also said to Jacob, "Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. 53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. 54 He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there. 55 Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.

NIV

There was the pillar and a heap, both of stones. Interestingly, Laban claimed he set up the heap and the pillar, even though Jacob had his relatives gather the stones and set up the pillar and the heap. Laban also claimed that all Jacob had was his: his daughters, their children, and his flocks of sheep. Laban appears prideful, greedy, selfish, and self-centered. Everything is about Laban. Although Jacob left on the sly, so to speak, without Laban's knowledge, Laban wants this heap to be the point of separation between him and Jacob. The lives of Jacob and Laban serve as two examples for us today. Laban shows that greed and self-centeredness do not look good. Because of his greed, he was also a cheat and a liar, repeatedly deceiving Jacob by changing the agreement or Jacob's wages. Jacob shows us a different view. He worked for twenty years to obtain all he had. His labor protected and increased Laban's flocks and herds, and he also gained possessions for himself, but that surely was because the LORD was with him. Laban served his man-made gods long enough to spend seven days chasing him and accusing him of stealing them, yet he declares a covenant in the name of the God of Abraham, Nahor, and their father, Terah. However, he did not say, "his God," only the God of his ancestors. We are not told that Jacob worshipped anyone other than God. In Fact, when he set out on his journey under his father's direction, Jacob declared that if God would direct his path and he succeeded, God would be his God. Later, the people of Israel used the term "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" to declare who their God is. Once again, we should consider if we have created a god of our own making. Not that we do not worship the Lord God Almighty and have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but are we looking to something we have, or have worked to obtain, as something of value? What we value can become a treasure, and we are told not to store up treasures here on earth, but to lay up treasures in heaven, where rust and moth cannot destroy them. Laban looked to his possessions and his god as sources of value he created himself. Jacob understood his labor and success were because the LORD was with him. This is the story of two men: one who looks to self, the other looks to the LORD. Let us always look away from self, and keep our eyes on the Lord, for He is our God, and we are His people. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.