God Sees Your Suffering, Burdens And Life

Genesis 31:7-12, “And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.”

I was listening to Willard Waggoner read the book of Genesis yesterday and today, and I heard this passage of Scripture, and two phrases caught my attention:

1. but God suffered him not to hurt me (verse 7)
2. for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee (verse 12)

I love the book of Genesis. I love the amazing true stories, especially the story of Joseph. God is so beautiful the way that He always works behind the scenes. Dear reader, we have a wonderful, good and faithful Creator, God.

Jacob had cheated his brother Esau out of his inheritance. Jacob had deceived his father conspiring with his manipulative mother Rebekah to trick Isaac. When Rebekah heard that Esau was plotting to murder Jacob, she sent Jacob to live with her brother Laban. So, Jacob married his cousins Leah and Rachel (and their two handmaidens), and they all bear unto him 12 children. Laban cheated Jacob 10 times, lowering his wages. When a wild animal killed some of the livestock, Jacob took the loss instead of Laban. Again and again, Laban defrauded Jacob, just as Jacob had defrauded his brother Esau. What goes around comes around! This is the reciprocating law of life.

Jacob said if Laban could have robbed him of everything, he would have (Genesis 31:42). But God protected Jacob and his family. I love these two statements that Jacob made:

1. but God suffered him [Laban] not to hurt me (verse 7)
2. for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee (verse 12)

I especially love that last statement from Genesis 31:12. God told Jacob that He had seen all the horrible things which his uncle Laban had done unto him. I love that truth because it means God sees everything which happens in our life too.

Psalms 139:1-4, “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.”

Nothing escapes the eyes of God! Dear reader, you are known to God. The LORD knows the very number of hairs on your head...

Matthew 10:29-31, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”

I'm sure you've often prayed like I do and felt like it's a big waste of time. I admit that I don't see God answering my prayers. In fact, not any of them! I used to struggle with religious scrupulosity and feel like it must be my fault. Maybe I did something wrong, or didn't do something that I was supposed to do. But as I grew in grace I came to understand that it wasn't anything I had done wrong. It is normal for God to appear to ignore us when we pray. Anybody who says differently is a liar!

There were periods in the Old Testament when several hundred years passed by without a single miracle happening. Jesus taught the people in the synagogue that in the time of famine in the days of Elijah, only one widow was provided food by God (Luke 4:25-26). Joseph and his family sojourned in Egypt in peace for 30 years. But then a wicked Pharaoh rose up who knew not Joseph, killing the Hebrew male babies. The Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years! The lesson to be learned here is that God doesn't always work in our time frame!

When I pray today, I don't look for visible results. The Scripture tells us in 2nd Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” If we pray and wait for visible results, we are trying to force God into our thinking and mold, walking by sight. I have learned that God works behind the scenes in mysterious ways. The LORD loves to work that way!

We see this truth bared out in the Old Testament book of Esther. In those ten intriguing chapters we see the hand of God at work, yet “God” is not mentioned even once in all ten chapters. There is no mention of the “Lord.” The lesson to be learned here is that when you cannot see the HAND of God at work, just trust the great HEART of God.

God sees your burdens, heartaches, needs and suffering dear reader. It burns my heart with joy and comfort to know that God told Jacob, “I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee” (Genesis 31:12b). God sees when our spouse does us wrong. God sees when thieves rob our possessions. God sees when someone does evil against us, whether it be bearing false witness or trying to destroy our name and reputation with slander. God sees it all.

Another Scripture passage comes to mind from Hebrews 4:13, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” We all have an appointment to answer to God.

Nothing escapes the scrutiny of God. He is the keeper of our soul. Proverbs 24:12, “If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it?  and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?  and shall not he render to every man according to his works?”