Jacob means "Trickster" and he spent his life living up to it. He however, encountered a bigger trickster in his Uncle Laban. He tricked him into marrying Leah before Rachel even though all Jacob wanted was Rachel. Laban then tricked Jacob into working another 7 years for Rachel. When Jacob finally said enough is enough he had worked for Laban for 20 years. Jacob was ready to go. He was ready to pack up and leave. When he got ready to leave, he went to Laban and let him know he was leaving. Laban convinced him to stay. He offered him anything he wanted. Jacob recognized that Laban had all he had because he was connected to Jacob. When God blessed Jacob, Laban received a blessing as well.... Long story short, Jacob, in the middle of the night, packs up his wives, his children, his servants, and all of his possessions and left. When Laban realized he had left, he traveled after him. The reason that Laban was chasing after him was because one of Jacob's wives had gone into Laban's tent and stolen his gods. Jacob did not know that the gods were in his possession.(Genesis 31:15-49)
Jacob's story is a warning to us.... We may have people who are in our camp, in our inner circle, who have brought idols into the camp. Idols can be money, fame, power or even other gods. We may not even know that they are there and we wonder why things are not going the way that they should be. From time to time, we have to take stock of those around us.. We have to make sure that our camp is not with us just because of the blessings they are receiving, but that they are with us because they are supposed to be with us. We have to make sure that they are not bringing idols or false gods into the camp. I have found in the reflection of my own camp that there are people who don't always have my best interest in mind and have had to be cut loose in order for me to move onto the next level. I have also found in my own camp that there are people in which I thought might not have had my best interests, but in reality, were just coming from a different experience.
My challenge to you is to pray on it, then take stock of your own camp. There may be people that have to be let go... And don't be afraid to do this from time to time....
The reason I bring this particular story up is because it goes to show you that the actions of those in your camp affect the overall outcome of things as much as your actions do. We see this throughout the Bible. Adam went through it, Moses had to wander 40 years because of it, Joshua went through it... Even Jesus had to deal with betrayal in his own camp. Why do we keep finding examples of this throughout the Bible? We find it to let us know that not everyone who is connected to us has our best interests in heart. It is to let us know that we have to be very careful who is allowed to move with us. We have to be careful because as we see in the case of Jacob, a member of his own camp, his inner circle, brought with them foreign gods. They did this knowing that the God of his father Isaac and his grand-father Abraham was the only God that they served. They also did this without telling Jacob....
Jacob's story is a warning to us.... We may have people who are in our camp, in our inner circle, who have brought idols into the camp. Idols can be money, fame, power or even other gods. We may not even know that they are there and we wonder why things are not going the way that they should be. From time to time, we have to take stock of those around us.. We have to make sure that our camp is not with us just because of the blessings they are receiving, but that they are with us because they are supposed to be with us. We have to make sure that they are not bringing idols or false gods into the camp. I have found in the reflection of my own camp that there are people who don't always have my best interest in mind and have had to be cut loose in order for me to move onto the next level. I have also found in my own camp that there are people in which I thought might not have had my best interests, but in reality, were just coming from a different experience.
My challenge to you is to pray on it, then take stock of your own camp. There may be people that have to be let go... And don't be afraid to do this from time to time....
