While studying Genesis 29 I was encouraged by the thought that God is nothing like Laban. We will not wake up one morning in heaven (if we sleep at all) to find that we’ve been tricked. God promised us Christ, and that is who He’ll give us. How can we know?
Unlike Laban God does not make us work for our relationship. Salvation is not a wage we’ve earned. We couldn’t earn it in seven years or seven thousand years. He is not seeking to employ us for His advantage, though He does call us to work. We work in joy because He adopted us, not because He hired us or because we must justify our position with Him.
Unlike Laban God will not switch the prize, and we know that because God already gave the prize for us. All our treasures are in Christ (Colossians 2:3), and Christ already came and died and rose again for those the Father gave Him. He will be given to us because He has been given for us.
Of course we are actually the Bride in the illustration, so we are also like Rachel, not just Jacob. God will not put another bride in front of us, either to be equal to us or to replace us. “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her…so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or writing or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27). There is no other Bride for Christ.
It is good to be reminded that God is true, His Son is true, His Spirit is true, His Word is trustworthy and unfailing. The bread and wine of communion represent our Beloved, and we cannot be separated from Him. That is worth celebrating every week.
