Proverbs 10:16 The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin.
Genesis 31:41 For twenty years in your household I served you — fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks — and you have changed my wages ten times! Most of us have all worked for an unscrupulous Laban at one time or another in our lives. Many of us have been manipulated, mistreated, and taken for granted by an employer, leader, or boss who didn’t care about our well-being.
In the above scripture, Jacob was fed up with being duped and mistreated for twenty years by his father-in-law, Laban. Jacob was voicing his case in front of Laban and God. He had laboured during the very hot days and the bone-chilling nights, plus the constant pressure to produce wealth for his ungrateful father-in-law. Jacob had hit the proverbial wall, and enough was enough.
The fact that we can all relate to Jacob in this situation should give us pause. Why are we so quick to gather our forces to deal with a bully and a Laban-type spirit when it is prevalent in the everyday workplace? Yet, we put up with the attacks of the enemy when it concerns our souls. This Laban craftiness and rip-off approach is the same attitude the devil uses on us in the spirit realm. When are we going to shout? “Enough is enough, I rebuke you, devil, in the name of Jesus!” Matt. 4:10a Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan!
I once worked for an owner-manager of a company who had this same Laban spirit. He changed my method of remuneration three times in three years. He kept changing the program to suit his fiscal advantage. Work became hard to accomplish anything of worth because the pay structure could not be trusted. If it hadn’t been for God’s favour in my life during those hard days, I would not have prospered. The day came when I had to say, “Enough is enough. Time to move on.”
The Lord led me toward better prospects in life, work, and ministry. Prov. 10:16a The wage of the righteous leads to life. I learned how to hear what God was saying to my heart, rather than listening to the crafty speeches Laban was using. Isa. 30:21 And whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk-in it.”
So many people think they are stuck in a dead-end job, life, or career with no future. They wrongly believe that no one knows they exist and that God does not even care whether they make it or not. This is so far from the truth. They have been listening to Laban’s voice for so long that they have become tone-deaf to the voice of possibilities. With God, all things are possible!
The devil will lie and steal our dreams and visions. A liar will always lie and will blind many with tricks and traps. 2 Cor. 4:4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. If we would just turn our eyes upon Jesus, then the bright light of truth would break through the bald-faced lies being told twenty-four-seven by the enemy of our souls.
Jesus came to break us free from the vice-grips of poverty, sickness, and spiritual death. We do not have to work for our salvation as the devil would have us believe. Salvation is a gift from God, the Father, for those who would receive Jesus as Lord. Grace upon grace has been lavished on us, and the love of God overflows toward us continually. If God freely gave Jesus to us, will He not give us all the grace we need to have victory in life? Rom. 8:32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
The Lord has broken the spirit of Laban’s ruthlessness over our lives. The devil has no authority, hold, or legal right to our lives. We have been bought and paid for in full with the blood of Jesus. Leave the dead-end thinking that can happen when working under Laban’s labour laws. It is time to shout, “Enough is enough, I am a child of God, and I am fully loved by my heavenly Father. In the Lord’s presence is where I live, work, and play.” Acts 17:28a For in him we live and move and have our being. Blessings and peace be on us all.
So true! Good encouragement.