Backatcha!

 “When morning came, there was Leah!”  Genesis 29:25

Jacob’s wait was almost over. The cake had been cut, the guests greeted, the feast finished, and it was finally time to hit the tent for the honeymoon!  But as the groggy groom awoke the morning after, the wife snuggled by his side was not his ravishing Rachel but her not-so-lovely sister, Leah.  “When evening came Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob slept with her”(Genesis 29:23).

Jacob had met his match.  The master of deception had been duped.  His father, Isaac, and brother, Esau, had been his victims, but this victory belonged to Jacob’s dad-in-law.  Laban’s reason for the mix-up was rather lame.  “‘We generally don’t marry off the younger sister first, so have a fun week with Leah, and then, for seven more years of free work, you can have Rachel too”(Genesis 29:26-27).

The sister-swap was ruthless and wrong.  It was unjustified and indefensible.  But it was deserved.  Craftiness had caught up with Jacob, and craftiness will catch up with us.  Sooner or later, we’ll be trapped in our trickery and stuck in our sham.  “Do not be deceived:  God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows”(Galatians 6:7). The grace of salvation removes our sins forever, but the consequences of our choices don’t disappear on earth just because we’ve been forgiven in heaven. 

What goes around comes around, and it can hurt when it hits, so boomerang integrity and not duplicity.  That way, life will be much easier to handle when it comes backatcha!