Part Four, where Jacob gets booted out the door (not really)

So it's been a while since I wrote about good ole Jacob. Last time Laban pulled the old wife switcheroo and more or less got 14 years of service out of Jacob while also managing to mary off both of his daughters. Jacob, however, is not done being sneaky.
Jacob tell Laban he's ready to split. He's got wive and oodles of kids and is ready to head back to his homeland. Laban know what kind of loss this would be, as Jacob was a valuable worker. Laban asks Jacob what his wages are. Name your price says Laban, I want you to stay. Here's what happens:

25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 26 Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you."
27 But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that [i] the LORD has blessed me because of you." 28 He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."

29 Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. 30 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?"

31 "What shall I give you?" he asked.
"Don't give me anything," Jacob replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32 Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen."

34 "Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said." 35 That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.

37 Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 38 Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39 they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40 Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals. 41 Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, 42 but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
Gen. 30:25-43

Jacob returns to his scheming ways, this time in the form of animal breeding. Jacob tells Laban the only wage he wants is the speckled and spotted sheep and goats. Laban says sure thing and heads off in some random direction. I'm not really sure how to explain this next part. Apparently the bark from these certain types of branches is the livestock equivalent to Marvin Gaye music and he uses them to get the strong sheep and goats to mate with certain spotted ones producing these super sheep and super goats. So now Jacob has the best flock in town and this makes him wealthy.

Now in Chapter 31 Laban's sons start grumbling about Jacob and what a punk he is. And Laban's attitude towards Jacob isn't as sweet as it was before either. So God tells Jacob that if he head on home, He'll take care of him. Jacob and Rachel and Leah work themselves up a pity party about how they've been mistreated and split town. Laban finds out a few days later and follows Jacob. As he gets closer, God speaks to Laban in a dream and says, "Be careful what you say to my boy" (Gen 31:24). Laban comes to Jacob and says "What's the big deal? you took my children and little grandchildren and ran off in the night and stole my idols on top of that!" Jacob says he was scared because he thought Laban would take his wives away by force. He also tell Laban to search his things because he didn't take any of Laban's stuff. In reality, Rachel did take Laban's idols but when Laban went to look for them she hid them very sneakily in a way we won't discuss here. Laban can't find his things and Jacob gets all self righteous and huffy at Laban and complains about how bad he was treated all these years. Laban makes up, tells his grandkids goodbye, and heads back home leaving Jacob alone.

I'm utterly confused by this. God has promised to be with Jacob and take care of him, and yet Jacob continues to be sneaky and dishonest. It's like he just really can't quite believe God can take care of these things and so he has to take things into his own hands. But God keeps His promise to Jacob and takes care of him still. How wonderful to have a God that always keeps His promise even when we don't always hold up our end of the bargain. How many time have I not completely trusted God yet He still follows through? Too many. Thank you Father for your faithfulness and steadfastness in upholding all you say.

Next time is part five, the final chapter and where I get to share the lesson that this whole thing was originally about and probably could been told in a paragraph instead of 5 blogs. Peace.