What Goes Around Comes Around

Have you ever been treated unfairly or wronged and after thinking it through realized that you had done something similar in your history?

I wonder if that is what Jacob thought about when Laban tricked him.   For those of you who are already confused, let me share with you a bit of biblical history.

Jacob was known as the “Deceiver” because he stole his twin brother’s inheritance by pretending to be him and tricking his father into blessing him instead.

Fast forward a few years and he falls in love.   In Genesis 29 we read how he worked seven long years because he had been promised Rachel and when it is time for him to finally marry her, her father slips his his older daughter into the tent instead and Jacob has to work another seven years for Rachel.

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Do you think God brought the “stealing the birthright” situation to Jacob’s mind when he realized how he had been deceived so that he would remember and learn that “what goes around comes around” or that “you reap what you sow.”  

I have certainly had situations in my life where, while very frustrated at someone or at a situation, I realize and am humbled by the fact that I have done something similar in my past.  Each of those times it was a really good lesson for me and has kept me from repeating the same mistakes.  And it has caused me to be more gracious to the offender as I recognize how much I wanted to be extended grace from ones I had offended in the past. 

So don’t resist that whisper in your ear next time you feel wronged…. Take a look at yourself and realize that we all make mistakes.  Give grace to the person who has wronged you, learn, and move on.

One of the most frightening verses in Scripture comes from the beginning of Matthew 7:

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Ouch.   Extending humility, grace, forgiveness and mercy to others seems like a really good plan.