25. Now it came about when
Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban,
"Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my
own country.
26. "Give me my wives and my
children for whom I have served you, and let me
depart; for you yourself know my service which I have
rendered you."
27. But Laban said to him, "If
now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that
the LORD has blessed me on your account."
28. And he continued, "Name me
your wages, and I will give it."
29. But he said to him, "You
yourself know how I have served you and how your
cattle have fared with me.
30. "For you had little before I
came, and it has increased to a multitude; and the
LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when
shall I provide for my own household also?"
31. So he said, "What shall I
give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall not give me
anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will
again pasture and keep your flock:
32. let me pass through your
entire flock today, removing from there every speckled
and spotted sheep, and every black one among the
lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats;
and such shall be my wages.
33. "So my honesty will answer
for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every
one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats
and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be
considered stolen."
34. And Laban said, "Good, let
it be according to your word."
35. So he removed on that day
the striped and spotted male goats and all the
speckled and spotted female goats, every one with
white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep,
and gave them into the care of his sons.
36. And he put a distance of
three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and
Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
37. Then Jacob took fresh rods
of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white
stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the
rods.
38. And he set the rods which he
had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even
in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to
drink; and they mated when they came to
drink.
39. So the flocks mated by the
rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled,
and spotted.
40. And Jacob separated the
lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and
all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his
own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban's
flock.
41. Moreover, it came about
whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, that
Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock
in the gutters, so that they might mate by the
rods;
42. but when the flock was
feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were
Laban's and the stronger Jacob's.
43. So the man became
exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and
female and male servants and camels and
donkeys.
Today's passage is just
one of a number of interesting stories about Jacob,
the third of the Genesis patriarchs. Jacob was in a
taxing situation, and though he had an amazing promise
from God (see Genesis 28:13-15) he had no clue when
and how that promise would be fulfilled. As far as he
could tell, the conventional way in which he was
trying to get back to the "promised land" just wasn't
working out. He eventually figured that his situation
required an unconventional approach — and so he
took one.
What can we learn from Jacob's
unconventional determination?
Just like God promised Jacob,
He's promised you and me. If you want to know more
about His promise, click
here. One part of
His promise is that we are no longer in bondage to
sin. That means we are no longer in bondage to a porn
habit. But also like Jacob, we may be stymied and
wondering when and how God will deliver on the
promise.
If the conventional is stalled,
try something different. It may involve having to be
more up front with your struggle. You may have to
suffer some embarrassment at the hands of friends and
acquaintances. But it may be what God wants you to do.
If you're married, put pictures of your spouse all
over the place, especially around your computer
monitor. If you're a parent, do the same with pictures
of your children. I happen to have pictures of my
granddaughters as my computer wallpaper. Maybe just
putting signs around the house that simply say "no
porn!" or something a bit more subtle that you
(and possibly your family) would know like "not
today!" The bottom line is you've got a problem
and a promise. Don't mope about when God will deliver.
Go for it any way you can!