Thank you Laban!

Do you know a Laban? A Laban is a sly fox! A Laban wants to cheat you. He wants to pull a fast one; or even has pulled a fast one!

You can find the story of Jacob and Laban in Genesis 29 thru 31. Laban was Jacob’ uncle. Remember Jacob was a trickster who tricked his brother Esau out of his inheritance. And because of Esau’ vehement anger, Jacob escaped to Paddan Aram from Harran. There he met Laban and stayed with him. In the meantime he fell in love with Rachel, Laban’ daughter. Unfortunately Laban was a con. He tricked Jacob into laying with his eldest daughter because he wanted her off his hands. After this he made Jacob work another 7 years for his true love, Rachel. He gladly did the work because of his love for her. And then he worked another 6 years for his livestock.

By the end of twenty years he had changed. His character had been dealt with. Many of us refuse the time it takes for our character to be dealt with and changed. We just cannot wait. Can you wait for your character to be molded, refined, renewed, made more like Jesus Christ’?

Experiencing a Laban is no fun. We have experienced Labans these past years, who have not only received the blessings of our ministry, but in time judged and almost tore us apart. These are believers. These are Bible talking believers. But we are not wounded. We are strengthened. And so if I were Jacob, I would say ‘Thank you Laban. Thank you for being such a good fox!Yes, thank you for your lies. Thank you for your gossip. Thank you for your pretense. Thank you for your harshness. It all worked for me in the end. I was being changed. I was being molded. You were my tool. You were just what I needed to change. You were what I needed to be broken and molded. You were what I needed for my blessings to increase and overflow. And so thank you Laban for being so horrible to me. You worked for my good in the end.’

I encourage you to embrace whatever will strengthen you and make you more like your Jesus. And then go on and have an even greater victory! That was exactly what Jacob did. He went on to be the Father of the tribes of Israel. He went on to be prosperous, and live a long life. God keeps His promises, regardless of what a Laban might or might not do!

Linda Faith

Linda faith is the Editor in Chief of Jewels Magazine. She has authored eight books. She is a prolific writer and powerful speaker, inspiring many women to be all God has called them to be. She is the founder of Joy Women’s conference which reaches out to empower, inspire and motivate women in their faith walk. She was a software developer before she started writing.

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