Battle of the Wits
We can trust God to provide.
Genesis(67) (Part of the Origins(65) series)
by Stuart Johns(73) on March 22, 2026 (Sunday Morning(95))
Accountability(1), God's Blessing(2), Provides(4), Sovereignty(9), Trust(11)
Origins
Battle of the Wits
(Genesis 30:25-43)
INTRODUCTION
“In the mid 1980s, my family moved to northern Saskatchewan to start a church. As a church planter, part of my support was funded by the local mission. Most months were difficult financially.
One week in April, when the ground is still frozen and snow-covered, we were down to only a few dollars in the bank. Our usual reaction to that need was to look for our own solution. This time, however, in a stroke of faith, I went before God and told him that we needed eggs, bread, and milk. I would wait upon him. [#1 – Young people, what did the church planter need? (eggs, bread, and milk)]
That afternoon, a man came to my little fix-it shop with a leaky teakettle. He said, ‘I know I could get another, but it's my favorite kettle. Please fix it.’ In a matter of minutes the job was done, and I didn't even charge him for it. But he pulled out a $10 bill and insisted that I take it—just enough to buy a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, and a loaf of bread.
As he left, with a bit of pride in my faith decision, I thanked God, to which he replied: ‘Don't you wish you had asked for a half a beef?’”
Source: Len Sullivan, Tupelo, Mississippi.
[https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/preaching/sermon-illustrations/god-provides-big-and-small/].
BODY
ME
God provided
I served with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) for ten years as a Local Director, State Director, and Associate Director of Finance and Administration in the USA Ministries Department at the headquarters
During those ten years we had to raise our own personal and ministry finances
That was a huge step of faith for us
We watched the Lord provide for us, every month, so that we never missed a paycheck
I taught at the Children’s Ministry Institute at the headquarters of CEF for four years and one of the classes I taught was about raising personal and ministry finances
I was able to encourage the new missionaries with how God had provided for us
They could trust God to provide for them as well
WE
Every one of us can probably reflect on a time when we saw God provide for us, even when we thought it would be impossible
Jacob had experienced the blessing of progeny from the Lord through eleven sons and one daughter. Would the Lord also bless him with property, so that he would be able to do something for his own household—so he could live independently of Laban? “God had met the conditions of Jacob’s vow at Bethel, providing him with the necessities of food and clothing (28:20).” [Mathews, The New American Commentary, Vol. 1B, Genesis 11:27-50:26, 491]. As we will see in this passage today, Jacob learned that he could trust God to provide through seemingly impossible odds. The same is true for us…
BIG IDEA – We can trust God to provide.
Let’s pray
GOD (Genesis 30:25-43)
Contract (vv. 25-34)
Timestamp (v. 25a)
The narrator has been giving us various timestamps throughout the book of Genesis to help us know when things were happening
We saw in Genesis 30:14 that it was during the wheat harvest that Reuben found some mandrakes
Now we see that Jacob talked with Laban, about sending him on his way home, after Rachel gave birth to Joseph
Some scholars believe that Rachel’s security in Jacob’s family was now established after she gave birth to her first child
“If a woman has not borne children, she can easily be discarded or demoted. The only protection she had came from her father’s family, who then took responsibility for her.” [Walton, The NIV Application Commentary, Genesis, 589]
Prior to bearing children for her husband, a woman, in the ancient Near East, ran the risk of being sent back to her father’s family, because her husband was displeased with her
That risk had now been averted
So, Jacob approached Laban to talk with him
Jacob’s request (vv. 25b-26)
Jacob asked Laban to release him, his wives, and children, so he could return to his homeland [#2 – Young people, what did Jacob ask Laban? (to be released)]
We learned in Genesis 29:18 that Jacob agreed to serve Laban for seven years in order to marry Rachel, but Laban tricked him and gave Leah to him
In Genesis 29:27, we learned that Laban required Jacob to serve him another seven years for the privilege of marrying Rachel too
Jacob had completed his fourteen year commitment to Laban and was ready to return to his homeland of Canaan
PRINCIPLE #1 – Honoring our commitments are important.
Jacob showed that he was a man of honor by completing his commitment to Laban
He could have continued his deceptive ways and simply left in the middle of the night after the first seven years, but he didn’t
It is important that we complete our commitments as well
How many of us know what it is like to be on the receiving end of a commitment that was not honored—that was broken? (employee that left, student that did not follow through on an assignment, marriage that ended in divorce, business deal that folded; athlete that quit in the middle of the season; spouse that stopped going to church or has left the faith; etc.)
We try to instill in our children the importance of honoring their commitments and not allowing other activities to override their current commitments
As adults, we need to model this for our own children and grandchildren and for the children we have influence with
I don’t know what’s going on in your personal life right now, but if you are questioning whether or not to back out of a commitment you have made, I want to encourage you to honor that commitment
If you have already backed out of a commitment, I want to encourage you to consider returning and honoring that commitment
#1 – My Next Step Today Is To: Honor my commitment of ____________________ by continuing/returning to (circle the one you are committing to) it.
Jacob honored his commitment to Laban and so he asked to have himself and his family released so they could return to his homeland
Jacob reminded Laban of his work ethic
Jacob had not used his status as Laban’s son-in-law to be lazy
Jacob did not have an attitude of privilege, but rather he worked hard, tending Laban’s flocks and herds
Shepherding was difficult work
They had to protect the sheep from predators, find lush pastures for them to eat, and still waters for them to drink from
They were in the elements both day and night
Laban understood how hard Jacob had worked for him, which is why he bargained with him
Laban’s plea bargain (v. 27-28)
Laban asked Jacob to stay
The phrase, “if I have found favor in your eyes…” was a courteous way of beginning negotiations [Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary, 418]
Laban probably started the negotiations this way, because he knew he did not really have any power over Jacob at this point
Jacob had fulfilled his commitments with honor
He acknowledged that God’s blessing rested on Jacob
Laban was the recipient of God’s blessing, because God had chosen Jacob as His covenant carrier
Laban was not a believer in Jacob’s God, which is evident through the fact that he used divination
“The question he brought to the divination process (whatever it was) may have concerned which god was bringing him a blessing.” [Walton, 589]
Laban’s confession about God’s blessing did not mean the conversion of his heart [Waltke, 421]
“…Laban wasn’t interested in Jacob’s God; he was interested only in the blessings he received because of Jacob’s God.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Pentateuch, 128]
This is a fulfillment of God’s word to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
PRINCIPLE #2 – God is the One who blesses us.
When we faithfully serve the Lord and are obedient to His commands, He blesses us
We can trust God to provide.
Through this we become a witness, a walking billboard of God’s blessing, that others see and recognize
How has God blessed you?
Have others recognized God’s blessing in your life?
Do you point those people to God, by praising Him?
Laban recognized God’s blessing through Jacob and he obviously did not want to lose that blessing, so…
He offered to pay whatever wages Jacob requested
It was like Laban offered Jacob a blank check [#3 – Young people, what did Laban offer Jacob? (whatever wages he wanted)]
This was an indication that Laban knew he did not really have any bargaining power
He was willing to pay Jacob whatever it took to keep him, because he knew God’s blessing would far outweigh anything he would need to pay Jacob
Laban and Jacob are in the middle of hammering out the contract details
Jacob’s proposal (vv. 29-33)
History lesson
Seasoned shepherd
Jacob reminded Laban that he was a seasoned shepherd
In Genesis 31:38-40 we learn about Jacob’s work conditions under Laban’s leadership [Read Genesis 31:38-40]
Jacob worked for Laban as though he were working for the Lord
We should do the same thing
I mentioned Colossians 3:23-24 last week when we talked about God exalting us in His timing
Colossians 3:23-24, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Because of Jacob’s excellent shepherding skills and God’s blessing, Laban’s livestock increased greatly
Increased wealth
Jacob reminded Laban that he did not have very much before he arrived
I think that negotiation point could be taken either positively or negatively
Negatively – Laban, you are not a very good shepherd
Positively – Laban, you chose the right man for the job
Jacob reaffirmed what Laban had already acknowledged that God blessed him because of Jacob’s presence
God’s blessing through Jacob meant that Laban’s livestock were now numerous
We can trust God to provide.
Jacob was not worried about his wages, but about doing something for his household
Two questions
“When may I do something for my own household?” (Jacob)
Jacob was an employee, but was now ready to lead his own household
I have spoken with young people today who struggle with working for someone else, because they want to build their own wealth—they want their hard work to benefit them
They want their hard work to benefit them and not a large corporation or a boss
They want to be able to set their own schedule and work at their own pace
Jacob recognized that in order to be obedient to the Lord’s plan for his life he would need to establish something for his own household
God’s long-term plan for Jacob was for him to return to Canaan
Jacob was certainly taken care of by Laban, but he would need livestock of his own in order to return to Canaan
Laban’s response to Jacob’s question was…
“What shall I give you?” (Laban)
Laban had already offered Jacob a blank check
He now realized that Jacob wasn’t seeking higher wages, but something more concrete, something that he could call his own
Jacob’s initial response probably shocked Laban
Poor negotiation skills?
Rotten reply
“Don’t give me anything”
My belief is that Jacob was saying to Laban, don’t give me any more monetary wages
He had something else in mind
Jacob requested physical property instead of money as his wages
Jacob promised to continue taking care of Laban’s flocks if he agreed to his proposal
Weak wages
Jacob asked Laban to go through his flocks and set aside certain sheep, lambs, and goats
Sheep – speckled or spotted
Lambs – dark-colored
Goats – spotted or speckled
[#4 – Young people, what did Jacob ask for as his wages? (speckled and spotted goats and speckled, spotted, and dark-colored sheep and lambs)]
Understanding Jacob’s request
Normally in the Near East goats are black or dark brown and sheep are white (monochrome/one solid color)
“Ancient shepherd contracts that worked on the principle of payment from the flock usually provided for a share of between 10 and 20 percent as well as a percentage of the wool and milk by-products.” [Walton, 589]
The speckled and spotted sheep and goats and the dark-colored lambs were usually a smaller percentage than 20 percent of the flock
The sheep and goats that Jacob requested were considered abnormal, irregular, and inferior
Jacob asked Laban for a lower percent than the customary contract for shepherds when he proposed separating the abnormal, irregular, and inferior sheep and goats as his wages
Trusting God by faith
“Indeed, it was an act of pure faith on his [Jacob’s] part. He had put himself entirely at God’s mercy. It would be up to the Lord to indicate, by a very unlikely set of circumstances, whether Jacob should prosper personally or not.” [Morris cited by Gangel & Bramer, Holman Old Testament Commentary, Genesis, 252]
PRINCIPLE #3 – Trusting God to provide is more important than being greedy.
What Jacob proposed showed that he was not greedy, he was not trying to take advantage of Laban, but trusted the Lord to provide for his household
That is what we should be doing in our lives as well – we should be trusting God to provide for us instead of being greedy
It is part of our culture to always work to achieve more and more – a bigger house, a nicer car, a longer boat, more “toys”
We are not content with what we have, so we are greedy for more
Hebrews 13:5-6, Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have; because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Those verses remind us that we can trust God to provide
God will always be with us through every financial situation we face
#2 – My Next Step Today Is To: Be content with what I have and trust God to provide for my future.
That was what Jacob did when he requested the abnormal, irregular, and inferior sheep and goats as his wages
Jacob went a step further in his proposal to Laban
Accountability
He gave Laban permission to hold him accountable
Whenever Laban inspected Jacob’s wages, he could consider any black or dark-brown goats or white lambs as stolen
PRINCIPLE #4 – Accountability builds trust.
My prayer is that everyone of us has someone to hold us accountable
We need accountability partners in our…
Spiritual life, work environment, financial affairs, etc.
Accountability partners help us to remain above reproach in all areas of our life
What areas of your life do you need someone to hold you accountable?
Consider reaching out to someone you trust and ask them to hold you accountable (men with men and women with women)
Jacob sought accountability from Laban, which built trust between them
From a human perspective, we may look at Jacob’s negotiation skills and think they are poor, but God had promised to bless him
Laban was not going to counter offer
Laban’s agreement (v. 34)
He agreed immediately, probably because he assumed this deal would benefit him more than Jacob
He told Jacob to move forward with his proposal
Now that the contract had been agreed upon, the contest could begin
Contest (vv. 35-43)
Laban’s plan (vv. 35-36)
Separate the goats and lambs
Laban removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted
He removed all the female goats that were speckled or spotted
He removed all dark-colored lambs
Send them away
Laban placed them in the care of his sons
He had his sons take them three-days away to ensure that the abnormal, irregular, and inferior animals would not breed with the normal, regular, and superior animals [#5 – Young people, how many days journey away did Laban send the separated sheep and goats? (three)]
Perhaps Laban’s thought process was that he would not have to pay Jacob any wages or very little wages at that
Jacob’s plan (vv. 37-42)
“If he is to increase his flock, Jacob’s challenge is to get monochrome animals to produce spotted young.” [Hamilton, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50, 283]
Breeding practices
Peeled branches
Jacob employed a superstitious folk custom of placing a visual aid, of what he was hoping for, in front of Laban’s flocks
His first visual aid was fresh-cut branches from three types of trees
This strategy was for the goats
Jacob 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 [pick up a branch and peel back the bark to expose the white wood on the inside]
He then placed the branches near or in the watering troughs, so the goats would focus their attention on them
The belief was that whatever they focused their attention on while mating would be marked on their young
His second visual aid were Laban’s streaked and dark-colored animals
This strategy was for the sheep
I know what you are thinking, “I thought Laban agreed that the streaked and dark-colored animals were Jacob’s pay and at the beginning he separated all of the streaked and dark-colored animals and sent them a three-day journey away, so how does he now own streaked and dark-colored animals?”
Here is how that would have happened over the six year period Jacob remained in Laban’s service [Read Genesis 31:6-8]
“Jacob places the (white) sheep so that they face the streaked and dark goats. The result of the double strategy is that the mating process issues in the birth of speckled, spotted, and dark sheep as well as white ones, and spotted and speckled goats as well as black ones, and Jacob can divide the flocks into animals that will belong to Laban and ones that will belong to him.” [Goldingay, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament, Pentateuch, Genesis, 485]
Jacob’s first tactic was to use visual aids to grow his flock
His second tactic was to prioritize the stronger females when they were in heat
Strong and weak female animals
He placed the strong female animals by the troughs that had the peeled branches
He placed the weak female animals by other troughs that did not have peeled branches
So, the result was that the strong females would produce the streaked, spotted, speckled and dark-colored offspring while the weak females would produce solid colored animals
It was probably not a perfect science
The one thing that is important to note is that God’s sovereignty was at work and not a folk custom
God’s sovereignty at work
Acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty at work
In Genesis 30:27, Laban acknowledged that God had blessed his livestock because of Jacob
In Genesis 31:10-13, Jacob acknowledged that God was the one who increased his flocks
We can trust God to provide.
God controls the inside (genetics)
“The flock tended by Jacob had only monochrome animals in respect of phenotype [physical appearance on the outside]. As regards genotype [genetics on the inside], however, a third were pure monochromes (homozygotes) and two-thirds were heterozygotes (who contained the gene of spottedness). By crossing the heterozygotes among themselves, Jacob could produce, according to the laws of heredity, twenty-five percent spotted sheep.” [Hamilton, 284]
What is fascinating is that what seemed like poor negotiating skills was actually savvy negotiating skills
The historical percentage that shepherds could expect in a contract was 10-20 percent of the flock
Through heredity, Jacob probably saw 25 percent of the flock being spotted, speckled, streaked, and dark-colored
With God’s sovereignty in play, I would guess that the percentage was even higher than that
That was probably why Laban kept changing his wages over the six-year period, because his monochrome flock under Jacob’s care were producing non-monochrome offspring at a higher rate
God was the One who was controlling the growth of Jacob’s flock and not what Laban’s flock was focusing on when they were mating (streaked branches or streaked and dark-colored animals)
PRINCIPLE #5 – Human schemes cannot thwart or aid God’s sovereign plan.
Laban and Jacob’s schemes
Laban’s plan to separate the speckled, spotted, streaked and dark-colored animals did not thwart God’s plan to build Jacob’s flocks
Jacob’s plan to use visual aids of streaked branches and streaked and dark-colored animals did not affect God’s sovereign plan to add to Jacob’s flocks
Our schemes
No scheme that we dream up will either thwart or aid God’s sovereign plan for us
Our schemes may just take us on a longer route to God’s sovereign plan
#3 – My Next Step Today Is To: Confess my scheme of __________ to the Lord and follow His sovereign plan instead.
God built Jacob’s flock to prepare him for his return to Canaan
Jacob’s prosperity (v. 43)
Jacob grew exceedingly prosperous
“Jacob barters the strong sheep and goats for servants, camels, and donkeys.” [Waltke, 420]
“The possession of camels shows that the man was exceptionally rich (e.g., 12:16; 24:10; 32:15; 37:25), since these animals were rare and costly.” [Mathews, 503]
PRINCIPLE #6 – The Lord is faithful to His promises.
YOU
Are you ready to honor your commitment by continuing/returning to it?
Do you need to be content with what you have and trust God to provide for your future?
Is there a scheme that you need to confess to the Lord and follow His sovereign plan instead?
WE
Are there commitments that we need to honor as a church?
Are we content with what the Lord has given us?
Do we need to trust the Lord for our future?
Do we need to confess any schemes to the Lord and follow His sovereign plan instead?
CONCLUSION
“Years ago, Dave Phillips and his wife, Lynn, had a talk about the callings they felt God was stirring in them. As they discussed what they were most passionate about, they agreed that bringing relief to suffering children and reaching the next generation with the gospel were at the top of the list. The thought of starting a relief agency was considered, but Dave's response was, ‘But that would mean I have to talk in front of people.’ By nature, Dave is a very quiet, behind-the-scenes man.
But after much prayer, Dave set aside his fears, and he and Lynn started Children's Hunger Fund out of their garage. Six weeks after CHF was launched, in January of 1992, he received a phone call from the director of a cancer treatment center in Honduras asking if there was any way he could obtain a certain drug for seven children who would die without it. Dave wrote down the name of the drug and told the director that he had no idea how to get this type of drug. They then prayed over the phone and asked God to provide.
As Dave hung up the phone, before he even let go of the receiver, the phone rang again. It was a pharmaceutical company in New Jersey asking Dave if he would have any use for 48,000 vials of that exact drug! Not only did they offer him eight million dollars’ worth of this drug, but they told him they would airlift it anyplace in the world! Dave would later learn that the company was one of only two that manufactured this particular drug in the United States.
Within forty-eight hours, Dave had the drug sent to the treatment center in Honduras and to twenty other locations as well. It was then he believed that God was at work, validating his calling to this ministry.
Year after year, God continues to provide supernaturally.”
Source: Francis Chan, Forgotten God (David C. Cook, 2009), pp. 135-136.
[https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/preaching/sermon-illustrations/god-supernaturally-provides-for-couples-ministry/].
