LIFE SCRIPTS

31 Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 32 But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods. 33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. 35 Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my Lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” So he searched but could not find the household gods. 36 Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? 37 Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us. 38 “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39 I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 40 This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41 It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.”
Genesis 31:31‭-‬42 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.31.31-42.NIV.

This passage starts by highlighting Jacob’s fear. He left in silence because he feared that Laban would withhold his daughters and never allow him to go with them. However, Laban had an accusation. He had noticed that his household gods were gone and he suspected Jacob. Perhaps he had thought that Jacob stole them and that they were the main reason he chose to slip away. Laban was accusing Jacob without any justification for it. Isn’t this the way we treat our servants sometimes? When things go wrong at home, the first people to lay blame on more often than not are our house assistants. Infact on many occasions, we jump into conclusions about them. It seemed as if Laban was used to accusing Jacob even when the fault was not his or the situation was beyond his control. In verses 38 onwards, Jacob recounted how he had to repay flocks devastated by wild animals or the ones that miscarried even though these are part of a shepherd’s life. Of course in this case, Rachel had stolen the idols. But Laban couldn’t find them either. So Jacob seemed justified before others and Laban seemed the bad man. Jacob looked innocent to the bystanders but in reality neither him nor Laban were. What followed was a verbal let-off by him to prove to Laban how bad a man he was. Jacob, the man who had conned his father and brother, the man who had connived with his mother to sin was now the champion of right while pointing the wrong in others. We might think that we are right. We might see ourselves as deserving. Indeed even past events might favour our position…we might have been mistreated, hated or even despised. However the goodness in us is not our own. It comes from above. From God. Whatever good that exist in us is by His grace. The same Jacob who looked innocent to the bystanders was at once a man who did wrong. He might have looked better before others in comparison to Laban, his trickster uncle. However the only difference between the two was God’s grace upon Jacob. We might be tempted at times to justifiably point out the wrongs in others. Wrongs they might even have committed to us. However, this only leaves a bitter taste in our mouths. But if we choose to make peace with other people, God is exalted.