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Context No. 2607 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 31:20-24: in context

20Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away. 21So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. 22Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23He took his relatives with him, and pursued him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. 24God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

Jacob, afraid of his father-in-law Laban, slips away in secret with his family and flocks, not telling Laban he is leaving. When Laban finds out, he gathers his relatives and pursues Jacob for seven days, overtaking him in the hill country of Gilead. But before Laban can act, God comes to him in a dream by night with a warning: be careful that you say nothing to Jacob, either good or bad.

Jacob fled in fear, and not entirely honestly, and yet God was quietly guarding him the whole way. Laban caught up with anger likely burning in his heart, and God put a bridle on him with a single dream. Jacob never saw it coming, and never saw the protection either; it happened over his head while he ran. There is comfort here for anyone tangled in a mess partly of their own making. God can restrain the one pursuing us, put a word in the night that we know nothing about, and hold back a harm we could not have stopped ourselves. The protection we cannot see is often the realest thing keeping us safe.

Do I trust that God may be restraining threats I cannot see, guarding me even in situations I have partly created by my own fear?

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