Genesis 30-31 (Day 22)

_ The LORD needed Jacob to take a step of faith and go back to the land of Canaan; the land his descendents would inherit. In yesterdays reading, in Genesis 28:15, the LORD said to Jacob, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." The only problem was that that Esau was in the land; the one who vowed to kill him.  

I find it somewhat humorous that God chooses to speak to Jacob to go back to his homeland at the same time he observes things are becoming hostel where he is presently at. Genesis 31:1-3 says, “Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has acquired all this wealth."  2  And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before.  3  Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."

After Laban accuses Jacob of stealing his gods (Gen. 31:30) Jacob says in Genesis 31:32, ‘“With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live.” This may have been the reason for Rachel’s early death (Gen. 35:19). Our words have power; we must respect the power of our words and always speak life. If we speak death we ought to repent, verbally cancel those words and speak life into what we had said.