Daily Devotional • Genesis 37:31

- Genesis 37:31

Talion law (eye for an eye) is a principle we see play out over and over in Scripture.

Jacob's sons take Joseph's robe and dip it in goat's blood to deceive their father.

This is more than ironic, this is talionic…as Jacob had slaughtered a goat, using the meat for a stew and the skins to deceive his father Isaac and rob his brother Esau of his blessing (Genesis 27).

The deception Jacob had sown, decades before, had come home to roost.

Galatians 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, this he will also reap."

Jacob had sown deceit, and here, in the later years of his life, he is being deceived by his children.

Notice that the talionic principle does not respect "time."

Sowing and reaping is an agricultural illustration, not an industrial one.

We are farmers, not computer programmers, when it comes to life and our deeds.

Our life is a garden, not a microwave.

What you are sowing today, you will reap, not tomorrow, but many years from now.

And know this, "God will not be mocked." The principle of sowing and reaping is immutable, regardless of whether you believe in God or not.

Do not be like the man who refused to believe in gravity; climbing to the top of a 20 story building, he jumped off. On his way down, as he passed by the 5th floor, you could hear him yelling, "Hey, nothing has happened yet!"

Remember…by our thoughts, actions, words, and attitudes, each of us is planting for a future reaping. Time will pass before the seed flourishes, but the harvest is inevitable.

Press on,
Pastor Chris