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Day 11 or January 11. Disappointments don't have to break you. Our thought today is rooted

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in Genesis chapter 29, verses 27 and 28.

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Finish this daughter's bridal week, then we will give you the younger one also, in

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return for another seven years of work. And Jacob did so.

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That's the big picture surrounding these verses. Jacob meets his match in trickery, when he

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encounters Laban, who will become his father-in-law, twice over. Jacob thinks everything is going

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very well, when he asks for Rachel to be his wife, and her father agrees. He must think

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back to his negotiations with God, when he raised conditions in return for following

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God. This time the sandal is on the other foot, so to speak, as Laban tells him the

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price for Rachel is seven years of non-paid labour. He agrees so easily that Laban must

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have wished he'd asked for more. The double-crossing brother is double-crossed as he marries Rachel's

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sister Leah, and has to give another seven years of free labour to get Rachel, too. In

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addition to two sisters, he also receives their two maids, who become his concubines.

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These four women give Jacob twelve sons and one daughter. As a wealthy man with many sons

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and fine flocks, Jacob leaves to head south, hoping to avoid Esau, and get back home intact.

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And now our action step for today. How do you react when things don't go according

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to your plans? Most of us don't like it. Some of us crumble. It's interesting to see

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how Jacob reacts to being duped by Laban. He seems to accept it quietly, but I suspect

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with gritted teeth and fresh determination. The mark of a true believer is how they respond

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to disappointments. When things are going well, it's easy to be a faithful follower.

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But when your world is falling to bits all around you, it's so much harder. If you're

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struggling at the moment, why not just hang on in there and trust that God will honour

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you and come through for you? After all, He is never a disappointment, and He is always

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holding on to you.