Gen 31:7, Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me. In this morning’s reading, we see that Jacob is caused to leave the service of his father-in-law and to return home. Notice that Jacob had been working for Laban for around twenty years. He had been fearful of his brother, Esau’s rage and had run away from the land of the inheritance of God.
In his service to Laban, Jacob had been the instrument of increased wealth and prosperity in the growth of Laban’s flocks and herds. The sons of Laban were jealous and making known their displeasure and Jacob was keenly aware of the dissension that was developing. In the light of that animosity, God told Jacob that it was time for him to go back to the land of his fathers, the land of God’s promise. Jacob then announced to his wives that even though Laban had cheated him, God had not allowed Laban to hurt him. 
	Please note that Jacob still had been wrongly treated. There was no statement that he would not be abused or cheated or mishandled. In spite of Laban’s deception, God did not allow harm to come to Jacob; rather the opposite had been in place. God had blessed Jacob with an abundance of family and herds and flocks of his own. Despite the ill treatment of his father-in-law, God had made Jacob to prosper and not be hurt in any fashion.
	This extended even to the fact that as Laban was about to overtake Jacob, God visited him and made sure that Laban would not even speak evil to Jacob. Gen 31:29, It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.' Laban had the force of arms and the men to do very much damage to Jacob and his family, even to the point of death. Yet, God would not permit Laban to do so much as to speak anything untoward to Jacob. He was just to present the facts and his displeasure at Jacob’s swift departure. Even in terms of seeking after the stolen goods from his home, Laban’s tongue was bridled to simply announce the loss and wait for Jacob to determine what would take place.
	This statement of Jacob presents a key reality of our Christian walk that many of us may take very much for granted. This is something that is in place whether we recognize it or not and for which we should be offering God great praise and honor and very much thanksgiving in our appreciation for all that He does in our lives every day. The truth is, that as Christians, we are very, very blessed on this earth. We do face all the trials and the circumstances and the elements of hardship and worldly animosity, yet in our lives, all those things are not to be understood as for our detriment, but for our coming into the greater depths of a living relationship with God in Our Lord Jesus Christ. 
	The Psalmist knew of this and announced it in a very wonderful way in Ps 37:28, For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever; But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. God does not now or ever forsake His godly ones, they are preserved forever. In Jesus Christ, at the very core reality of this truth is the assurance that we have eternal life. On this earth, the very worse that we can face is physical death. It will not be a pleasant experience, but it will hasten our home going to Jesus Christ. You see, we do not look at death in the same manner as those of this realm. We do not fear it but rather recognize it for the very means by which we are translated from this earthly realm into the loving arms of our Lord. As such, our understanding of what is true means that we do not see death as an end, but as the transition between this current life and the life for which we were created from before the ages of the ages began. 
	As well, we are never left alone. No matter where we are, no matter what we are going through, no matter how desperate our earthly situation, we can know the abiding presence and comfort of Our Lord God Almighty. He indwells us through His Holy Spirit and makes Himself known to us in all the fullness of His love and faithfulness. Nothing else is so assuring as to know that we are never left by God, even in our deepest struggles with the sins that so easily beset us, we are able to call unto Him and He will respond. When all others forsake us, when everyone and everything else that we counted on dissolves into nothingness, God is still our rock and our fortress, our safety and our hope.
	The Psalmist continues to encourage us with the reliability of God’s promise of protection from all that could harm our spiritual reality of life in Ps 105:10-15. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance," When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and strangers in it. And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm." 
	The divine protection of the Hand of God shelters us as we proceed through all the wanderings of this age. Everywhere we go, God is there with us, going before us to prepare those whom we will encounter. How many of us have given this the great consideration that it deserves. Whenever we meet anyone, they will have been screened, so to speak, by God in order to be allowed to come in contact with us. Each one is presented to us in the terms of the working plan and purpose of God to be further established in some manner, often in ways of which we have no concept. 
	As this passage points out, even the kings were reproved and instructed by God in the manner in which to treat God’s anointed ones. We stand in this earth in that place, as the anointed of God, His living testimony to draw forth those who will receive life everlasting in Jesus Christ. This will be done in all the love and the mercy and the grace of God, shown through His work in our lives. 
This is no small thing. It has eternal purposes and consequences at the very heart of our every interaction with others. In that course, it is imperative that we seek God to go before us and to prepare those with whom we are privileged to share the good news, whether in word or deed or simply encouragement by living forth daily as is pleasing to God.   
	As well, the Prophet Isaiah directs our attention to the fact that God has given us His protection as our heritage. Even as it was for His chosen people in the Old Testament, it is our heritage in Jesus Christ. Man may develop all sorts of weapons in their threatening demeanor and attitudes of displeasure with us, but none of it will stand against the Hand of God as He moves forward with His plans in our lives. Isa 54:17, "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me," declares the Lord. God is the One Who will vindicate us against all those who plan and purpose wrong to us, just as He stood for Jacob despite all the scheming and wicked intent of Laban. 
	In Jesus Christ, we are blessed by the knowledge that God is Our Heavenly Father Who looks upon us in all His loving kindness and tender mercies as we walk on this earth. We are to take courage and proceed with the heart that wants to please Our Lord God Almighty in all that we say and do. In that course of walk, despite all the evil of men, we will know the fullness of God’s ruling and overruling in our lives each and every day. This brings to mind what Joseph so adamantly proclaimed to his brothers after they had sold him as a slave in their anger and jealousy of him. Gen 50:20, "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 
	Despite all that this world forces upon us, God is still the One Who works to bring about His plan and purpose in our lives. We may find ourselves in the harshest of situations, much like Joseph who was sold as a slave, falsely accused, and then imprisoned for all those many years. Yet, despite all those wrongful and completely unfair actions against him, God was with him and used those supposed ill treatments to establish a safe haven, not just for Joseph, as the second in command of all Egypt, but for the Children of Israel. By God’s Hand, His Chosen People were provided a place of safety from famine and a place in which they became so numerous that they were to become considered a threat to the overall realm of Egypt, as we will see in Exodus.
	Again, we read the pronouncement of the Psalmist in terms of just how much we are to trust in the Hand of God to cover our every day’s adventures on this earth. Ps 56:9-13. Please turn to it so we can rejoice in it together. Ps 56:9-13, Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, In the Lord, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Thy vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to Thee. For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living. 
What can man do to you and to me? There is nothing that we should look at in fear nor anxiety nor dread. Rather, even in the midst of the calamites of life, we should be finding ourselves settling into the fact that God is for us. We are to honor Him in the study of His Word and in praise and in thankfulness for all the wonderful deliverances that He gives us each and every day. Some are small and some are huge, but in all of them we see His mighty hand of salvation in action.
	As we read together Ps 121, let us do so with hearts that fill with that worship and praise and thanksgiving to God for His saving grace in operation in our lives. Ps 121, I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever. Amen!
	What a joy to know and to recognize that we are so beloved by God, that our every footstep is sheltered in Him. He never sleeps, nor does He give up on us. He is the only true constant of this earthly life. No matter what happens, no matter what takes place, no matter the earthly storms, no matter the economic stresses and strains and the upheaval of our society, God is Our Protector and Our Shield and Our Life.
	The Apostle Paul made this very evident to all who read the Letter to the Romans. In Chapter 8, we have the ultimate anthem to the full reality of just how closely God keeps those who belong to Him. The Apostle also highlights the fact that our perception of how and what is behind everything that comes into our lives needs to be ever adjusted to see it all from the heavenly perspective. We do not experience the daily ups and downs of life as those who have not received the salvation that is in Jesus Christ. 
	This world sees troubles and strife and abuse and unfair treatment as reasons to despair and to give up and to run away into drugs and alcohol and all sorts of other things to try to deaden the pain and the anxiety and the stress. However, as the beloved of God, we see all things that come into our lives as Joseph saw the treatment that he received from the hands of his brothers. While they intended it for evil to Joseph, God caused it to bring life and safety to His Chosen Ones.
	Please read with me, as we conclude this morning Rom 8:28-39. As we do so, let it be with those hearts that desire for the Lord to make this reality of His love and promise and grace and protection to be the every conscious thought of just how blessed we are in Him. Rom 8:28-39. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!
	As we consider all that comes our way in this life, let us do so with the prayer that God would further open our eyes and our hearts and our minds to see Him demonstrated in all His glory as He is Our Divine Protector and Shield. Let us also seek to no longer take this certainty for granted, but rather learn to appreciate Him more and more each day and offer Him the praise and the adoration and the thanksgiving that He absolutely deserves. So be it. 
Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is 1 Peter 1:6-9. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. Amen.