Genesis 31:9-12 (ESV)

Originally published 12/10/2014

Jacob was being cheated by his father-in-law, but Jacob explains to his wives how God has taken care of him. "Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am!' And he said, 'Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you'" Genesis 31:9-12 (ESV). In times of conflict we get afraid because we don't know what those around us are thinking or trying to do to us. Our comfort is that God does, so we don't have to figure that out. We only have to serve God and do what he tells us to do. Lord, don't let my behavior be controlled by what others do and say, but help me to do only what I know you want me to do.

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