Waking up with Leah

Scripture: And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” Genesis 29:25

Observation: After working seven years to earn the money to marry Rachel, Jacob wakes up from his wedding night to discover that his father-in-law has deceived him. He has substituted Leah the older sister for Rachel the younger. Maybe this was to insure the older sister married first, maybe it was to swindle another 7 years out of Jacob. Jacob, stunned, asks Laban why. But what is ironic is that Jacob’s whole life has been about deceit. Years before, Jacob swindled his older brother out of the birthright he was due. What goes around comes around. Later, Laban tries to cheat Jacob out of the rightful wages he has earned, and Jacob, in turn, cheats the cheater to make sure he gets his pay. Overall, these two chapters are sad stretches of lies, deceit, mistrust, dishonor, loneliness, barrenness. No one comes out clean from this mudfight.

Application: Why Jacob asks why, I want to say, “You got what you gave, buddy.” I have always believed that how we deal with and treat others is how we can expect to be dealt with. If I cheat and use deceit, then at some point, that will come back to bite me, as it did Jacob. If I am speak behind other’s backs, at some point, they will speak behind mine. Some may call this karma; I call it reaping what you have sown.
One of the most challenging aspects of a leader is to have people deal with you in a dishonoring way. They say things that are not true, they mistreat you. After a long time of living in good faith which each other, it is like a switch is thrown and you wake up with Leah instead of Rachel. Maybe, like Laban, they have a reason for the way they are acting that seems to make it all right. (Especially if they are believers, then they have a verse that endorses them!) In dealing with a situation like this right now, I want to be careful to not be Jacob to their Laban. This means I deal honestly, and firmly. I don’t continue to build on a foundation of deceit. I am learning that leaders are under attack, and we have to be used to that, and accept that as part of leadership, and learn to lead without giving in to callousness, or weakness, but to boldly love and lead in the manner of God.

Prayer: God, I need your wisdom today to learn how to respond to those who mistreat me.