Passage: Genesis 31

The Big Idea

After twenty years with Laban, Jacob senses it’s time to go home. How did he know God’s will? God gave him a desire, let his circumstances become unbearable, and then spoke a personal word: “Return… and I will be with you.” God often leads us the same way, always in line with His Word. Where Scripture is silent and no clear word comes, we’re free to choose, as long as we’re not mastered by anything. God wants us to be like a waiter, watching His eye for direction, not a stubborn mule that has to be dragged.

How Do I Find God’s Will?

There comes a time in your walk with the Lord when you start searching for God’s will for your life. You put away childish things, realize how short life is, and want your life to count. You want to know and do God’s will, not your own.

That’s often where we hit a roadblock. How do I actually find it?

In Genesis 31, Jacob heard Laban’s sons complaining that he’d gotten rich off their father. He noticed Laban’s attitude toward him had changed. And the LORD said, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

God led Jacob in three ways, always in line with His Word.

1. A desire

Before any of this, God had already put a desire in Jacob’s heart. Back when Joseph was born, Jacob told Laban, “Send me away, so I can go to my own place” (Genesis 30:25).

God works powerfully through the desires of our hearts. Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).
That doesn’t mean God gives you whatever you happen to want. It means He puts godly desires into your heart.
Our part is to seek Him for those Christlike desires, and for His strength to fulfill them.
Jesus said that if we remain in Him and His words remain in us, we can ask whatever we desire and it will be done. He chose us and appointed us to bear lasting fruit (John 15:7, 16). As we abide, His Word shapes new desires in us, and we ask Him for the grace to see them come to pass, however impossible they seem.
Maybe it’s a vision to serve people. Maybe it’s freedom from a sin. Do you think Satan is the one giving you the desire to love and honor God?

John says that if we ask anything according to God’s will, He hears us (1 John 5:14-15). How do I know it’s His will? By abiding, growing familiar with His character through His Word. When you know someone well, you can predict what they’d want. (What does Cookie Monster want to eat? You know!) As you get to know God, your prayers start lining up with His will, and they get things done.

2. Circumstances

Second, Jacob’s circumstances became unbearable.

In Acts 16, the Holy Spirit kept Paul and his team from preaching in Asia and from entering Bithynia. Then Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia pleading for help, and they concluded God was calling them there. In Philippi, Lydia believed. Then a slave girl with a spirit of divination followed them for days, shouting about them, until Paul, greatly annoyed, cast the spirit out. Her owners had Paul and Silas beaten and jailed. At midnight they were singing hymns, an earthquake opened the doors, and the jailer and his whole household believed in Jesus (Acts 16:6-34).

God arranges circumstances to accomplish His will. Even annoying ones!

3. Personal direction

Finally, the LORD spoke to Jacob directly. God often leads in this same pattern: desire, circumstances, personal direction.

Paul received a vision.
Isaiah says our ears will hear a word behind us: “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).
Jesus promised the Spirit would give us words when we need them (Mark 13:11) and guide us into all truth (John 16:13).
We grow confident in the Spirit’s voice as we get to know Him by abiding.

Picture a cartoon character with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Satan will try to deceive and mislead you. His voice may even be louder. But he can never lead you toward humility, faith or honoring Jesus.

How do we test what’s from the Spirit? Paul says no one speaking by God’s Spirit says “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). The Spirit always exalts Jesus and agrees with His Word. Ask: Does this honor Jesus?

“I want to get a divorce so I can be happy.” Nope.
“I want to hold on to hate.” Nope.
“I want to serve this little child.” Yep.
“I want to look at that woman with lust.” Nope.
“I want to read the Word.” Yep.
“I want to lead in the church to be seen.” Nope.
“I want to serve behind the scenes.” Yep.
“I want a pizza.” Hmm…

Freedom where Scripture is silent

That last one brings up an important truth. Sometimes God gives you freedom to make your own choice, and He’ll be with you whichever way you go. If Scripture doesn’t address it and the Spirit doesn’t give a clear word, you’re free.

Just don’t become a slave to any of your choices.

Test everything; hold on to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
In everything, set an example of good works (Titus 2:7).
Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful, and I won’t be mastered by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12).

It’s for freedom that Christ set us free (Galatians 5:1). But that freedom only thrives in a fully dependent relationship with Jesus, where He is our life.

So how do we know God’s will? Abide in the Word, and then pay attention to your desires, your circumstances and God’s personal direction.

The God of Bethel (Genesis 31:4-16)

Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field and explained: their father had turned against him, but God had been with him. Laban had changed his wages ten times, yet God didn’t let him harm Jacob. Whatever Laban promised, the flocks produced exactly that. God had shown Jacob in a dream that He’d seen everything Laban was doing. And God said, “I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to Me. Now get up and go home.”

God protected Jacob the whole time. Even when someone does wrong, God is still in control.
Your boss isn’t more powerful than God. Don’t give him more fear and respect than you give God. The LORD is on my side; I won’t be afraid. What can man do to me? (Psalm 118:6)
The God of Bethel: “Remember where we first met, where I revealed Myself to you? Go back to that place.” It’s like Jesus telling Ephesus to return to their first love (Revelation 2:4-5).

Rachel and Leah agreed (for once!): their father had treated them like outsiders and spent what should have been theirs. “Whatever God has told you, do it.”

Sneaking into God’s Will (Genesis 31:17-21)

Jacob put his family on camels and left with everything he’d gained. Laban was away shearing sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household idols. (Maybe to keep him from idolatry, or maybe she was just being a punk.) Jacob slipped away without telling Laban.

Jacob acted in the flesh again, letting fear drive his decisions.
One Bible teacher observed that Jacob could have announced his departure and left in triumph, but fear made him sneak into the will of God instead.
Sometimes the only difference between merely getting by and walking in triumph is fear.
Will you trust God’s Word and direction, or worry about what people might do to you?

He crossed the Euphrates and headed for the hill country of Gilead, back toward Esau, who had vowed to kill him.

Laban Catches Up (Genesis 31:22-55)

Laban learned on the third day that Jacob had fled and chased him for seven days. But God warned Laban in a dream not to say anything to Jacob, good or bad.

When Laban caught up, he complained: Why sneak off? I would have thrown you a party! And why did you steal my gods? Jacob answered that he’d been afraid Laban would take his daughters by force, and he told Laban that whoever had the gods should die. (He didn’t know Rachel had them.)

Laban searched every tent. Rachel had hidden the idols in her camel saddle and sat on them, telling her father she couldn’t get up because she was having her period. He didn’t find them.

Some gods! Hidden under a saddle, and sat on.

Jacob finally exploded: Twenty years I’ve worked for you! Your animals never miscarried. I never ate your rams. I paid for every animal lost to wild beasts or thieves. I was scorched by day and frozen by night and barely slept. Fourteen years for your daughters, six for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. If God hadn’t been with me, you’d have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my hardship and rebuked you last night.

Laban insisted it was all his anyway, but proposed a covenant. They piled up stones as a witness and ate together there. Laban called it Mizpah: “May the LORD watch between you and me when we’re apart.” (A lovely-sounding verse, but between these two it really meant, “God keep an eye on you, because I can’t!”) They agreed not to cross the line to harm each other. Jacob offered a sacrifice, they shared a meal, and in the morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and went home.

Laban represents the world, and Jacob needed to be freed from it to live wholeheartedly for God.

We serve God alone. If a boss is trying to run your life in a way that keeps you from what God is clearly calling you to do, there will be conflict. God sees your life as His to use as He pleases, and He leads you through your heart: desires, circumstances and personal direction.

Grace Takeaway

God promises to guide you: “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye on you. Don’t be like a horse or mule without understanding, which has to be controlled with bit and bridle” (Psalm 32:8-9). Be like a good waiter, watching his master’s eye, ready to move at a glance. Abide in His Word, watch your desires and circumstances, listen for His voice, and walk freely and fearlessly, knowing He is with you.

For Discussion

What are the three ways God makes His will known that we studied?
What does Psalm 37:4 mean?
What do we do if God doesn’t give specific direction?
How does 1 Corinthians 6:12 guide our freedom?
What’s the opposite of a mule?
Dig deeper: God’s will. Fill in what each verse says is God’s will.
– John 6:40: __ in the Son and be saved.
– Ephesians 1:5-12: to the praise of His _.
– Ephesians 5:17-18: be with His Spirit.
– Ephesians 6:5-8: do God’s will from the .
– 2 Corinthians 8:1-7: excel in .
– 1 Thessalonians 5:18: in everything give .
– 1 Peter 2:15: by doing , silence foolish talk.
– 1 Peter 4:19: entrust yourselves to God even in .
– Colossians 1:9-12: bear in every good work.
– 1 Thessalonians 4:3: your ___.

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Finding God’s Will: A Waiter or a Mule