Don't Stick With Sticks

Photo by Lorenzo Campregher on Unsplash
​We love a good come back story, don’t we? It is the subject of our favorite movies and stories we like to tell, how people pull themselves up by their bootstraps, facing long odds, and with nothing but their own ingenuity and creativity, they win. This informs our own country’s ethos of rugged individualism and self-reliance, and it is very easy for us to unhelpfully mix this in with our Christianity. 
Now, the Bible is all for working hard and taking personal responsibility, but the Bible is quite clear as to Who gets the credit for the outcome of that hard work. Proverbs 21:31 “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.” Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” These passages (as well as others) are not saying that preparing and building are bad, but we just have to remember who to thank when it is done. 
This text in front of us is beginning to drive that message home, although it won’t do so explicitly until the next chapter. Though it is only a short passage, we are about to review six years of Jacob’s life after the 14 years he has spent in serving for Laban’s daughters (Gen 31:41). 
The main point we are going to be walking away with today is God is not halted by our adversaries And God is not helped by our antics. 
God is Not Halted by Our Adversaries

Jacob is ready to leave Laban. We begin our section right after the birth of Joseph, a son from Rachel’s own body. Jacob is ready to leave now, having served all his time. At this point, he has been gone from home for 14 years since he tricked his father into the blessing. It has been seven years since that awkward wedding week. He’s ready to leave. 
Laban is not quite so ready to let Jacob go. Aside from just having another person around the homestead to help out, Laban has learned through some sort of witchcraft that Jacob has been uniquely blessed by God, and Laban has benefitted from being near him. This brings to mind the blessing that was given to Abraham that he and his descendants would bless the nations that blessed them. Laban doesn’t want that blessing to leave. 
Laban re-opens negotiations in an attempt to make Jacob stay, and Jacob has an idea. He needs flocks of his own, so he is going to take the speckled and spotted lambs and goats to be his, and not just taking the spotted ones that are already here but just the ones that will be born in the future. 
Jacob’s idea would be very favorable to Laban as presented. As one scholar points out (Belcher): 

Genesis: The Beginning of God’s Plan of Salvation God Is the Source of Jacob’s Wealth (Gen. 30:25–43)"Jacob is requesting the irregular of the flock. Normally the wages of a shepherd would be about 20 per cent of the flock, but rarely would the speckled portion of a flock be that high of a percentage. So it seems like this would be a good deal for Laban and he agrees to it immediately (v. 34)."


Laban agrees to the deal, and then goes about making sure that this already advantageous deal really goes his way, he removes all the animals with spots on them so they don’t have lambs and goats with spots. Laban is a man of science and knows that parents often pass on their traits to offspring. He doesn’t want Jacob to have much of anything, so he gathers up anything that would make Jacob’s plan easy, puts those animals in the charge of his sons, and then walks a three days journey away. This could be as much as 60 miles away (Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible)! In our context, that would be from here to a little beyond Birmingham. This means that those spotted sheep aren’t going to get anywhere near Jacob’s flock. 
This is classic Laban, isn’t it? He offers to make a deal, and then he makes absolutely sure that it always goes his way. Those people still exist, don’t they? Maybe you even work for a few of them! Maybe, like Jacob, they are family! Yet, as powerful as they seem, God is the one ultimately in charge. This doesn’t mean that you have to resign yourself to be walked over or taken advantage of, but it does mean that you are not in the fight alone. The One who created the world and died for you, knows the situation you are in. If He has provided a Biblical way of escape, take it! Switch that job, get out of that abusive situation, and on the way to that escape rest in the fact that God knows and provides for you. That powerfully crooked person doesn’t stand in the way of God. And if you can’t, pray for the strength and joy to endure. One day, you will be delivered. 

God is Not Helped by Our Antics. 
Let’s check back in with Jacob. While God isn’t halted by his adversary, what role is Jacob playing in acquiring wealth? We pick up our story in verse 37. 
Jacob resorts to a folk belief, a local technique for sheep breeding, the pealed back stick method! The idea was that whatever was in front of the animal’s face during conception or pregnancy was imprinted in some way on the animal in the womb (Matthews). So if you wanted to have spotted sheep, you would put a spotted stick in front of the sheep while it was breeding. 
Now, we in our modern sophistication know that this is not how genetics work. There is a reason that Laban took his spotted lambs far away, as that is actually how genetics work. We don’t have any indication that this stick method was told to him by God. In the next chapter, Jacob describes a dream God gave him about spotted sheep, but that chapter doesn’t include how they were to be born, so I think that Jacob is simply relying on folk legend like the mandrakes of the previous section (Matthews). 
Despite this superstitious practice, God blesses Jacob’s efforts over these six years. Why? Was it because God wanted him to use sticks? No. God blessed him because He promised to. That’s it. Jacob isn’t doing anything sinful here as far as it goes, and eventually he does acknowledge that it was God who blessed him in the next chapter. But the sticks did nothing to advance God’s agenda here. 
What does this mean for us? We have superstitions as well. Be good friends with anyone who plays sports regularly, and they will eventually admit to their lucky socks or pregame rituals. We can even do this as Christians. While we are blessed by reading our Bibles and praying, we can quickly assume that because we did those things that God owes us to have a successful day as we imagine it. Yes, we should pray about the day ahead, but we should not assume that if we do what is right, we are owed ease. Just because we had the right response to a hardship does not mean God won’t bring that hardship again. 
This is even true with stuff that we “know” works that isn’t pure superstition. Yes, being careful with your money means that you will be able to address financial emergencies, but that doesn’t mean that God isn’t the one ultimately behind your provision. Yes, studying well and consistently for a test generally means that you will get a good grade on the exam, but we don’t get to take all the credit. Yes, going to the doctor, eating right, and exercising will generally lead to good health, but God is the ultimate provider of health. 
To put it another way, the section of the Lord’s prayer, “give us this day our daily bread” has not been made obsolete because Walmart exists now. This doesn’t mean we don’t need to go shopping or study for our tests. God uses our efforts, but we don’t give glory to our efforts. We give glory to God. This keeps us humble and keeps our confidence where it needs to be. 
Imagine what would have happened if one of Jacob’s sons stepped on one of those sticks and broke it. That might have seemed like all hope for an inheritance was lost! Imagine the strife within the family as Jacob looks at that broken stick, fuming at what his son did. And it all would have been for nothing! The stick isn’t the hope, God is! 
Take comfort in the hope you have with God. When the visual evidences of God’s care fade (think: health, wealth, quiet in the home), God doesn’t fade. We don’t have to mourn the bank account number. We don’t have to fear the boss at work. We don’t have to yell at the kids to just get them to behave. We don’t have to do something sinful just to keep a friend happy. Those are just sticks. 
Here’s a crazy one: your life doesn’t even depend on you. One pastor friend (Martin Wagner) put it this way, “You aren’t the answer to all your own problems.” God is caring for your life. You are not your own personal messiah, nor are you such for your workplace, home, or ministry, so stop thinking and acting like you are. Take a rest on Sunday. The world will keep spinning. Spend some more time praying and less time running around. 
Now, you may say, “But, Pastor, this is going to make people lazy!” Well, I actually want you to be lazy in work that isn’t yours to do. Be lazy in trying to hold up the world! That’s not your job. It is distracting you from what is your job, namely, to love those around you. We spend too much time acting like we must be constantly busy or we aren’t useful. Do we work hard? Sure, but not at the expense of time with Jesus and resting in Him. See Mary and Martha. Be diligent in the handful of things that God is truly calling you to right here, right now. 
Now, I can almost hear someone else saying in their heart, “Pastor, you don’t understand. My whole house really does depend on me completely. Unless I do the laundry/cook dinner/file taxes, my family will be unclothed, hungry, and in prison! I’ve tried taking a break, and everything fell apart.” I hear this, and I have been praying for you these last few days. Being the engine of the home is hard, and at the end of the day, someone does have to do those things. If this is you, let me offer you some practical suggestions. Assuming you have already clearly and with words communicated to your family that you need help with specific tasks and will let them do those tasks in their own way to no success, then pray not only for energy to do these things, but joy in that work. Jesus actually is there with you, so do the task with Him. Laundry can be an act of worship by praying for each family member as you wash their clothes. Laundry is a holy work when it is done for Christ. Secondly, know that this season of life is just that, a season. It can feel like you are trapped in this life forever, but you are not. Jacob was at work for Laban for twenty years. That means he probably left Laban when he was close to 100 years old. But he would live for 47 years away from Jacob and eventually living in Egypt with a son second-in-command of of the place! Crazy things can happen in this life, but glorious things will happen in the next. Your whole life is just a season, so keep looking to the promised land, comforted that neither adversary will halt it, nor antics advance it, because Christ died for it, rose again to it, and will one day bring you along, too.