Genesis 30:27-31: a reflection

27Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.” 28He said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.” 29Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. 30For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. The LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?” 31Laban said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.

After years of Jacob's faithful service, his father-in-law Laban does not want him to leave, and he gives a revealing reason: I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you. Laban, no worshiper of Jacob's God, has nonetheless noticed that his own prosperity multiplied during Jacob's years with him; his flocks and fortunes flourished, he recognizes, because God's blessing rested on Jacob and spilled over onto him. Jacob's presence had been a channel of blessing to the household he served.

Notice what Laban observed: that God's blessing on Jacob overflowed to those around him. Jacob served faithfully, and God blessed him, and that blessing benefited even Laban, an outsider to the covenant, who prospered simply by being near a man God was blessing. The presence of one who walked with God became a source of blessing to the whole household, even to those who did not share his faith.

That is a quiet encouragement about the influence of a life lived with God. Those who walk with God can become a blessing to the people around them, their families, their workplaces, their communities, sometimes even to those who do not share their faith. God's blessing on us is not meant to stop with us; it can overflow to bless others. Live faithfully with God, and you may become, like Jacob, a channel of blessing to those around you, so that others are better off for your presence. Ask God to make you a blessing to the people among whom he has placed you, that his goodness to you might overflow to them.

Lord, Laban recognized that his prosperity had multiplied because of Jacob, that your blessing on your servant had overflowed even to an outsider's household. Make me, likewise, a channel of blessing to those around me. Let your goodness to me not stop with me, but overflow to bless my family, my workplace, my community, even those who do not share my faith. Help me walk faithfully with you, so that others are better off for my presence, as Laban was for Jacob's. Make me a blessing to the people among whom you have placed me, that your blessing on me might spill over to them. Let my life bring good to others, for your glory.