Foundation for flight

It's only been a few chapters, but there's a lot of water under the bridge since we saw Jacob fleeing from his angry brother and seeking refuge with his mother's relatives. Life has come full circle, and in Genesis 31 we find Jacob ready to flee again. Twenty years have gone by, Jacob now has two wives, eleven sons and a daughter, and he has become a wealthy man with large flocks of animals. It appears on the surface that Jacob’s reason for fleeing is because of the jealousy of his male cousins (who perceived him to be appropri-ating their family wealth and inheritance) and because of the increasingly negative and hostile attitude of his uncle, Laban.

The jealousy and hostility were only the trigger for the flight, though. We read twice in this chapter (vs 3 and 13) that God had spoken to Jacob, telling him to get ready to leave and return to the land of his birth. God can use our negative circumstances as a way of moving us out of one context and transferring us to another setting and season of fuller blessing in our life.

But that’s not always the way it works. Sometimes God will prompt us to stay in a difficult context despite the hardships... and that’s often when He wants to do a deeper work within our own character, or wants to use us to bring change in that negative situation. So it’s important that we never simply “run away,” but, before leaving that job or church or team, that we check in with God, “Do you want me to leave or do you want me to stay?”

Both require courage, and sometimes the one that God’s asking us to do is the way that requires the greater courage in that context. You need faith and courage to stay in a hard situation, and sometimes fleeing would be the cowardly choice. But there are other times when the decision to leave would actually be the right and most courageous one. That’s why we need to trust and obey the Holy Spirit’s prompting, always checking in with Him before making this sort of decision. For twenty years, Jacob had stayed in Paddan Aram, despite the many challenges and injustices. But now He has the word of the Lord that it’s time to make a major life change, uproot his kids and move on to a place of God’s greater purposes for his life and family. That’s a strong foundation for flight.