Day 5: Vayetze/Genesis 31:1-21
Times of discomfort can be for purification. Yet, another aspect of discomfort is to get the believer to move out of his comfort zone, readying him the next season. Discomfort can be YHVH’s answer for a rescue so that the believer leaves the current situation behind them.
YHVH inspired discomfort or dissatisfaction is about getting the believer’s attention. Yacov knew change coming when he overheard Laban’s sons discussing Yacov and his wealth. Upon calling his wives to the field, it was understood that Laban had already changed Yacov’s wages ten times. However, neither the overheard conversation nor the change in salary had caused Yacov to pick up his family and move or flee from Laban’s reach.
It was a matter of hearing from Elohim that would cause a lifestyle change for Yacov and his family.
The change in wages ten different times would have driven most people to quit or leave, but not Yacov. This was a foreshadow of his posterity in Egypt four hundred years later. It could have been that Laban had Yacov over a barrel, but whatever the reason, Yacov knew it was not time to leave Paddan-Aram, each of those times.
Israel, four centuries later, could have viewed each and every plague as insights or oracles to flee Egypt and their bondage. The ten wage changes and the ten plagues were not permission slips to run away. They were precursors to the specific time and the ordained moment when YHVH would tell His people to take action. It was only at the time when YHVH spoke to Yacov, and later to Moshe, that the time was right to make a move and transition out of one spiritual season and into a new one.
YHVH gives us warnings and insights into the times ahead. Just living life makes us understand that changes occur and paradigms shift. Maturity teaches us lessons, one being: At the first sign of trouble, adversity doesn’t mean we should pack it up and leave. The journey of life is ongoing wrangling, while not constantly knee jerk decisions.
The whole purpose of ongoing change and build-ups to spiritual season shifts is to refocus our attention back to the Father. As we do this, He reveals just the right time to leave or arrive, the proper method or route to take, and the perfect destination for the next stop. Without these directives, our judgments remain cloudy about where we are to go, what to do, or how to accomplish anything in proper accord to His will and sovereignty. It should be that when we make our own plans or sit in our own self-reliance, we fight against the Almighty and His plans for us.
Yacov’s premature departure could have meant a miscarriage for Rachel carrying Benyamin. It could have been that Laban was mentally defeated enough and would have fought to keep his possessional reach intact. Could it have been that leaving before twenty plus years serving Laban would have put Yacov and his family in danger with Esau? Was Esau still seeking vindication against Yacov?
Who knows except YHVH. The point is, YHVH’s timing is perfect, who are we to question His reasoning for choosing our times or seasons to stay or make haste?
In a day when many are saying to look here for end-time prophecies being fulfilled or literally searching for trouble that is looming everywhere, it’s easy to assume all is gone to hell in a handbasket. Instead, we should remember that YHVH is directing the times and epochs of our lives and our destinations. To pick up and move to other counties, countries or, even, to Israel when we are not called to do so only spells trouble for us.
Rather than making assumptions that the end is here, we should look at the signs and season AND listen to the Ruach. Remember, Yeshua’s disciples and that generation were seeing signs, which made them think the end was nigh, way back then. We should remind ourselves Whose in charge and listen to His voice—not what man thinks, not what our flesh says, and not what soothsayers think we want to hear.
The Ruach knows and will reveal the exact time for us to move to the next destination, season, or situation. To simply ramrod our way through difficult times or tribulation means we have to go to the next destination not having dealt with the issues in our hearts, which YHVH was trying to purge before we left the last place.
Let us take heart. YHVH has not abandoned us, nor will He forsake His own. At the right time, in the right inspired way, He will disclose to us the timing, route, and destination of the next season of our lives. The next stop may not be Israel; yet, the closer we come to being like the Master, the closer we come to be ready for His return.
Dwell upon Isaiah 49:8-10, “Thus says YHVH, ‘In a favorable time I have answered You, and in a day of salvation I have helped You; and I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, to restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages; saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves’ along the roads they will feed, and their pasture will be on all bare heights. They will not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; for He who has compassion on them will lead them and will guide them to springs of water.”
