Last time we were in the Book of Genesis, I spoke about God’s providence in Jacob’s life. That is, at Bethel, God made a promise to Jacob before he arrived in the land of his exile. That promise (Genesis 28:13–15) told that one day he would return home. Decades later—in Genesis 31:3, which we will read shortly—God commands Jacob to leave exile and return home. Subsequently, even if Jacob at one point feels as if he has “screwed it all up,” the reality is that God has providentially been directing him the whole time. Years before, Jacob had to flee home because of his sin; now, Jacob is commanded to return with God’s approval.
We will again see God’s providence at work in today’s Scriptures. What’s different now is that, as the Lord’s relentless grace begins to change Jacob, who he becomes and how he responds also change. As Jacob is progressively sanctified, he becomes less and less of a live-by-sight trickster and more and more who God has called him to be.
To set the stage for our story, let us remember what happened in verses prior: Leah and Rachel both struggled for their husband’s affection. Finally, God intervened and remembered Rachel. It was then that she gave birth to Joseph, Jacob’s eleventh son. This brings us to our first section of Scripture, Genesis 30:25–43. That text says:
Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.” But Laban said to him, “If now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that the Lord has blessed me on your account.” He continued, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.” But he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me. For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?” So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.” Laban said, “Good, let it be according to your word.” So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons. And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods; but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.
A big-picture observation about these verses is that Jacob’s cleverness may seem to be what enables him to outwit Laban’s trickery. Yet, as we shall see, it is God’s grace that enables Jacob to prosper.
Genesis 30:25–26 says, “Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, ‘Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.’” In other words, Jacob now tells Laban to “let my people go” so that he, his wives, and his children may embark on their own version of an exodus.
Verse 25 tells us that this yearning to leave is prompted “when Rachel had borne Joseph.” This phrase suggests proper timing and a trigger for Jacob’s departure. You see, in God’s narration of redemption, certain events—from heaven’s perspective—are pivotal. These events serve as transition points from one scene to the next. Accordingly, we may be focused on a myriad of things on earth, but in God’s eyes, changes or transitions don’t happen until there is a “fullness of time” that is God-dependent. There was even a right time for God to step onto the stage of human history. As it says in Galatians 4:4–5,
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Other examples of pivotal, God-dependent events can be seen elsewhere in Genesis. For example, Genesis 6:8 says, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” The result is redemption for eight people in an Ark. Also, in Genesis 12:1, it says:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.”
The result is a covenant, a child of promise (Isaac), and a biological lineage that leads to Jesus. The point is that by divine design, Jacob and his family were destined to remain in Paddan-aram until Joseph was born. Then it was time to start making plans to go.
In verse 27, it says:
But Laban said to [Jacob], “If now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that the Lord has blessed me on your account.”
As Pharaoh initially told Moses, his preference was that he and the Hebrews should go nowhere and stay in Egypt. Temptations typically want you to stay put when God has called you to be somewhere else. Still, the fact remains that Laban divined that he was blessed because of Jacob. So, what is divination?
Well, the details of the divination are not given in our text. What we do know is that the word in Hebrew for divination—nahas—is nearly identical to the words for sorcery or serpent. From the ancient world, we know there were two distinct types of divination. The first is called “inspired,” meaning a human intermediary relays divine communication; examples include prophecy or dreams. Said intermediaries can be under the influence of a mind-altering substance. The other form of divination is called “deductive,” where the spirit world communicates through events and phenomena, whether provoked (like a Ouija board or looking at animal guts) or passive (like looking at the stars). In one instance of deductive divination, a person could ask a binary (yes/no) question. A “specialist” would then examine the insides of an animal (like its liver) and look for indications that suggested either positive or negative.
Divination is specifically prohibited in the Bible in Deuteronomy 18:10, 14. Why the prohibition? Because if a person is seeking to obtain supernatural knowledge from divination, they’re not following God’s Word. People resort to divination when they regard God’s Word as not good enough; therefore, divination is an attack on the sufficiency of God’s revelation. Second, divination is an occult practice that may bring someone close to unclean spirits and those who are demon-possessed. Lastly, divination in Laban’s case is dangerous because, in this instance, it actually tells him the truth. It reveals to Laban that he in fact is blessed because of Jacob. The initial truth is a bait that divination uses to lure people in, only to resultantly saturate them in unbelief, godlessness, hurt, and darkness. Let us also not forget that throughout time, there are seeds of Satan who live in the world alongside the children of God. And guess what? Just as Christians have religious traditions and rituals, so do they. They have their own rites and ceremonies—like divination—that serve as false alternatives to God’s truth.
Now, you have just read that in inspired divination, human intermediaries are used. Well, biblically speaking, God does use human intermediaries to reveal His will. He spoke through the prophets and also breathed out His Words to human writers who recorded them. Yet, in contrast to pagan divination, God always used fully conscious, fully alert people; everything God says is true and consistent with everything else He says, His prophecies are 100% accurate, and His Word is never meant to ultimately hurt or destroy. His Word is always meant to reveal Himself to you and point you to the Messiah.
So, what is the next thing Laban says to Jacob? In Genesis 30:28, he says, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.” You see, Laban is a money-focused idolater who believes everyone has a price. That is what happens when you deify wealth and resources: You assume other people worship just like you, so everyone must have a number they will compromise for. But Jacob has more than a financial offer from his uncle. He also has a promise that God made to him at Bethel, where the Lord told him that one day he would return home (Genesis 28:15).
So, how does Jacob respond to “Name your wages!”? Verses 29–30 say:
But [Jacob] said to [Laban], “You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me. For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”
You see, Jacob does not respond to Laban’s offer because that would give Laban all the leverage. It also seems that Jacob has learned from his mistakes because the last time someone told Jacob to “Name your wages” was back in Genesis 29:15. Then, Laban asked Jacob the same question, and Jacob named his price—seven years of service—but he got Leah instead of Rachel. Jacob’s response to his uncle therefore demonstrates wisdom for three reasons. One, Jacob now knows Laban is not a trustworthy negotiator. Two, Jacob’s response emphasizes that God is the One who is ultimately in control, and He is the real reason anyone prospers. Three, Jacob emphasizes his value, cognizant that Laban needs Jacob more than Jacob needs him. Laban is blessed because of Jacob, because only Jacob has divine favor. Jacob’s favored position also reflects the prior promise made to Abraham that his seed would be a blessing to those around them. Genesis 12:2–3 says:
And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you,
and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Despite all this, Laban’s thoughts are saturated with money. Hence, he replies to Jacob, “What shall I give you?” (verse 31). Jacob then says, “You shall not give me anything.”
Jacob’s counter is that Laban should give him nothing. Allowing Laban to dictate the terms of the agreement would be a fool’s bargain. This echoes the wisdom put forth in Proverbs 23:1–7. Those verses say:
When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are a man of great appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for it is deceptive food. Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, or desire his delicacies; for as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” but his heart is not with you.
Both Jacob’s negotiating strategy and the wisdom of the Proverbs communicate similar themes: Whenever you are offered something, first consider who is offering it, and second, consider the cost of the offer. In the second consideration, a person isn’t asking, “What will I gain now?” but rather, “What will I lose later?” Because when Jacob considers who is making the offer of “name your wages,” that person (Laban) is a trickster. When Jacob remembers what Laban did before, I think it is fair to deduce that the future costs will exceed the present gains.
I will now use Jacob’s situation as a springboard and take a brief aside to those who have ever considered changing jobs or careers or felt burnt out at work. A few years ago, I read a book by a secular writer, Charles Hugh Smith, on work burnout and how to escape it. How did the author define burnout? As an involuntary tolerance for what no longer works for you in your life situation. Furthermore, in his book, the author details the “devil’s bargain,” which countless workers have taken countless times, leaving them miserable in the end. And what is the devil’s bargain? Where we accept compromises that are bad deals for us; that is, in said compromises, we trade away our agency (control of our lives) in exchange for a half-measure that gives us some security, but at a cost that’s higher than we recognize. And why do we endlessly take the devil’s bargain? Fear. Fear of loss, fear of change, fear of uncertainty, or fear of freedom and autonomy. In the author’s view, then, burnout results when a person fails to recognize who they are; thus, a person gets out of burnout when they take time to discern, “Who am I, really?” and consequently expresses themselves as an individual. Seen in this light, burnout is thus a painful gift that nudges a person to escape toxic attachments.
Now, what does all this have to do with Genesis 30? Jacob, throughout the course of his exile away from home, has now stopped living by sight and trusting in what he can do and see. Rather than jumping on the opportunity to “Name your price,” he has weightier things to consider, like “What about God’s promise?” You see, like Jacob, we may receive many offers in our lives that may seem attractive in the moment, but wisdom persuades us to ask, “Are these lucrative offers merely the bait that hides the hook?” Because God has promised to bring Jacob back to the Promised Land, anything that seeks to keep him away from home—like Laban’s offer—is merely a temptation in disguise.
So, recognizing all of this, what is Jacob’s response? He says in verse 31, “You shall not give me anything.” He then goes on to say in Genesis 30:32–33,
Let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.
You see, what Jacob is now doing is defining the terms of his work instead of allowing someone else to define the terms for him. What is interesting about Jacob’s proposal is that—according to the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible—in the region where Jacob and Laban lived, the most common sheep is the Awassi fat-tailed lamb, which is white. Goats in the region are most commonly black. Which means what? That when Jacob told Laban, “Let me have the speckled, spotted black lambs and speckled goats,” in essence, he is saying, “I’ll take the minority, uncommon animals.” Laban therefore accepts the offer because it is low-risk.
And what is Laban’s response? He cheats. In verses 34–35, it says:
Laban said, “Good, let it be according to your word.” So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons.
In other words, Laban agrees that Jacob can keep all the black sheep and speckled animals, but before he gives his flock to Jacob, he removes all those animals that are black or speckled.
What is Jacob’s response? Verses 37–42 say:
Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods; but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.
In these verses, Jacob successfully uses selective breeding to cultivate sheep. And thus, the man whom the Bible previously referred to as a non-outdoorsy “tent-dweller” (Genesis 25:27) is now an effective shepherd. Only God has the ability to transform you from what you are right now into something completely different later. Those are the effects of love, irresistible grace, and providence.
I do not think that Jacob was a dumb, simple-minded man. I think he was sharp and gifted. Thus, this begs the question, “Why did Jacob propose a deal in which he stacked the deck against himself?” There are several possible explanations for Jacob’s dealings with the animals in verses 37–42. Perhaps it is all natural skill and technique. Or maybe it’s superstition (like using mandrakes). Or does it all point to something deeper? I am persuaded that Jacob’s prosperity does not make any natural sense unless God played a hand. You see, as mentioned before, if we just think about the animals naturally, it makes no sense whatsoever that a flock stripped of all colored, striped, and spotted animals would produce colored, striped, and spotted animals. Genetically speaking, that makes no sense—unless there is an explanation that transcends natural explanations. In my opinion, the text describes all the shenanigans Jacob goes through to get inexplicable results to highlight that it isn’t Jacob; rather, it is God. Only the Lord can reliably produce good results for His children when the odds are stacked against them.
Genesis 30:43 then says:
So [Jacob] became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.
God is the point of everything; our designs or desired results are never the ultimate point. In fact, once a person begins to shift away from God and focus primarily on works-based solutions, this invariably leads to trouble. Why? Because sometimes, our designs will succeed. And if I can trust in my own effort to solve my problems and create value, this can deepen unbelief. Hence, prosperity is not sinful, but it is inherently more dangerous than poverty because it can nudge you to trust in not God.
Accordingly, some may find themselves where Jacob finds himself in Genesis 30:43, being “exceedingly prosperous.” They may figuratively stop there and say, “I’m good,” meaning they can forget about God now that they have enough to see them through. What irony it is that if Jacob had stopped here, the rest of the narrative of Genesis—including Joseph and his brothers—likely would not have happened.
This brings us to our next chapter. Genesis 31:1–2 says:
Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.” Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.
It’s no shock that a covetous man sours on Jacob when he sees Jacob prosper. That is because covetousness is not related to what you have; rather, it is directly proportional to what you do not have.
Yet, although Jacob is prosperous where he is, God does not allow prosperity to blind Jacob. Even if prosperity is trying to anchor him, a bad relationship is nudging him to abandon ship. Hence, in some situations, the best way for God to get our attention and move us to new levels of obedience is by breaking down our comfort. In Jacob’s case, this manifests as former friends no longer being friendly. In your case, that may mean former allies are now hostile enemies.
Now, does that suggest that all soured relationships mean, “You must go!”? Of course not. How about when you get bored or hurt in your current situation? It is possible for a person to misread providence—which is not universal—only to allow God to step in. And by providence not being universal, what I mean is that God is working in and through creation to provide for His elect, but how his providence plays out in the lives of different people will be different. There is no universal Christian experience. Hence, a soured relationship for one Christian may mean, “It’s time to go.” For another, it may mean, “It’s time to stay and work this out.”
And so, even if Jacob is contemplating staying in the not-Promised Land, in Genesis 31:3, God steps in and says, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
It is also clear that Jacob has had enough of Laban’s deception, as he tells Rachel and Leah in verse 7, “Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me.”
And what happens next? In Genesis 31:10–13, Jacob says:
And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”
In these verses, it is clear that Jacob succeeds because of God. Jacob’s plan would not have succeeded without God behind it. As it says in Psalm 127:1,
Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.
In Genesis 31:12b, the angel of God tells Jacob:
… [F]or I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
The comfort for us is that God sees the wrong that we suffer. Yet, the same patience that He extends to us, He also extends to others. On the other hand, no one ultimately gets away with anything.
Psalm 73:17–20 speaks of the enemies of God when it says:
Until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.
And Psalm 37:1–6 says:
Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.
Back to the narrative in Genesis. Jacob hears directly from God, who basically tells him, “Go back home.” And what is Leah and Rachel’s response to God’s command? In Genesis 31:14–16, it says:
Rachel and Leah said to [Jacob], “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price. Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”
Leah and Rachel’s response is telling both in what they say and in what they don’t. You see, neither woman says something to the effect of, “You are our husband, and we love and trust you. Therefore, we will follow you.” Their response does not echo that of Ruth, who pledged undying commitment to Naomi (Ruth 1:16–17). Instead, both women—finally in unison—essentially say, “We have no future with our father, who has squandered all his wealth, and to him we are basically like human objects.” It therefore seems as if both Leah and Rachel are willing to go along with Jacob merely because there is no advantage to either of them in staying.
And let us not forget that Jacob tells us in Genesis 31:7 that Laban has treated him poorly: That is, he has cheated Jacob on many occasions. Now, Laban is going to begin to reap what he has sown. He has cheated Jacob out of money, but now he is about to lose the reason for his prosperity; he initially tricked Jacob with his daughters, and now he is about to lose both of them and his grandchildren.
Next, Jacob and his family prepare to leave Paddan-aram, but it seems like Rachel wants to take a keepsake with her. Genesis 31:19 says, “When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s.”
Rachel already showed a proclivity for superstition when she believed that mandrakes could help her get pregnant (see Genesis 30:14–21). Now, it appears she’s looking for a “Plan B” along with God’s command to leave. The Old Testament often represents spiritual realities with physical things, and the numerous individuals holding on to idols is a fitting example. The historical narrative isn’t meant to point a finger at “backward” or “antiquated” practices but draw our attention to those unseen spiritual realities within our own hearts. You see, when it comes to a person saving themselves, idols are an essential part of that redemption plan because, after all, they are our idols. We choose them, we carry them, we design how we worship them, and somehow we also believe they will bless us and give us security. Rachel is leaving with Jacob and is therefore with the right person and going to the right place, but with the wrong luggage. Along with her faith, she’s also carrying some literal idols and a healthy dose of unbelief.
Ultimately, Jacob, Leah, Rachel, and all their children leave for the Promised Land. After some back-and-forth, Laban and Jacob officially cut ties, and the two make a covenant. Genesis 31:43–55 says:
Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.” So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, and Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.
Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.
What’s interesting is that when Laban enters the covenant, he swears by the God of Abraham and Nahor. Nahor could refer to either Abraham’s grandfather (Genesis 11:24), his brother (11:27), or a city (29:10). Regardless, Laban doesn’t regard God as his but rather as the deity of those other people. In contrast, Jacob swears by the fear of his father, Isaac, and refers to God by His covenantal name, Yahweh. Jacob thus swears by the God whom he knows, who met him at Bethel.
How Laban and Jacob perceive God is revealing because there is a crucial difference between people who are spiritual and those who have been personally saved by God. For the spiritual, “God” is someone, somewhere out there, and tends to be nebulous and ill-defined. For the Christian, God is my God. God is personal, has a proper name (Yahweh), died on a Cross, and has revealed Himself finally, fully, and specifically in Scripture.
At the end of Genesis 31, Jacob and company are officially on their way back to Bethel. But right after Jacob settles things with Laban, he must now come face to face with his brother, Esau, whom he tricked out of a blessing many, many years ago. Jacob has completed the first leg of his way back home, and next time, God willing, we will talk about the second leg.
I will close with a broad reflection on our Scriptures. As Iain M. Duguid writes in Living in the Grip of Relentless Grace:
“Unlike Jacob, who went out into the wilderness with nothing and through the blessing of God there became rich, the Lord Jesus left behind the glories of heaven and for our sakes went out into the wilderness of this sin-stricken world with nothing. There He faced all the temptations and trials of this earthly existence without resorting to deceit and trickery, without accumulating idols. Instead of trying to save Himself, at the Cross, Jesus took upon Himself the wrath of God and the curse that we deserved for our idolatry, deceit, and trickery, for our failure to fear and reverence our God as we ought.”
Without Christ, there would be no way back home to God. But praise be to God that through the Son, the path is now open to all who trust in Him.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal