Okay, I promise I posted on Monday. And yet… the post is gone. What is up with the blog this week? It’s Wednesday, which in my house means it’s “the day which means we only have to get up early for two more days this week.” I love my job. I am not such a huge fan of five in the morning.
We’re in Genesis 31 this week, and likely one of the more recognizable (and more misused) verses of Scripture. Yep, I chose a familiar one this week.
Genesis 31:49a (GW)–“May the God of Abraham and Nahor–the God of their father–judge between us.”
Don’t recognize it? Well, how about if I said it the KJV way, “The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent from one another”?
It’s often used as a beautiful sentiment, an “I love you, and while we’re apart, may God protect us both.” That’s nice. But that’s not this particular scripture. Jacob left Laban Laban came after him. They agreed, at Mizpah, to not harm one another and, further, Jacob agreed not to harm his wives, Laban’s daughters. I like the God’s Word translation, because it’s more what the original intent of the verse was. “I won’t come after you. You won’t come after me. We’ll let God watch out for the whole thing and deal with it.” (Well, that’s the stripped down version of it all.)
But it got me thinking. What if we did that with our “enemies”? I mean, we’re not going to get along with everyone in this world. It’s just not possible. Sometimes we’ll disagree with people. Instead of badmouthing and backstabbing, what if we said, “Hey, we aren’t going to get along. That’s obvious. So we’ll just walk away now and leave it here, and we’ll let God deal with it whether one of us did wrong or not. I won’t judge you and you won’t judge me.” Then we walked away and left it in God’s hands, and we didn’t dwell on that person or that situation any more. Done. It would rid our lives of a lot of unforgiveness and bitterness and anger and hatred and hurt feelings, wouldn’t it?
Oh, to be that mature.
-JB
Sandy Rosser says
I LOVE THIS VERSE! Kelly and I each wear half on a chain around our necks. I wear it as a mitzpah for my marriage — not so much that I’m saying “I love you” but that I want God to be the judge of my faithfulness to Kelly…that I will be faithful even when God is the only one looking.
I know that’s not exactly what the verse means here. But I wear it because I made a contract to Kelly and God, like Laban and Jacob made a contract between themselves and God.
The verse that caught my attention was Genesis 31:2 “And Jacob noticed that Laban looked at him less favorably than before.”
Sometimes, you just have to know when to cut your losses. Jacob recognized it and he allowed God to control what happened next. God showered Jacob with his protection because it was time to move on.
That requires maturity as well. In fact, maturity is a running theme in this chapter. Loved the post.
Sandy