Does God need your help?

Or "Jacob's Ingenuity"

"Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks.
He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink,
the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban's flock.
Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks,
but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys. "

Genesis 30:37-43

I’ve had a theory, or my own interpretation of this passage for some time now, but I wanted to do some appropriate research before posting on my blog an application we could glean from this passage. I will state at the outset, I could be wrong, but I think I’m right.

Have you ever wondered how on earth doing what Jacob did had any influence on the mating practices and the offspring of Laban’s flock?

For background context for those unfamiliar with the story, our figure Jacob had decided to leave for his home country after working a number of decades for his father-in-law Laban. They came to an agreement that since Laban was blessed abundantly and prospered as a result of Jacob’s work, that he’d give him something to part with: all the speckled, spotted and black lamb and goat.

To paraphrase, Jacob basically had confidence in his honest work before Laban, but verses later it says Laban went through the flock and took the male goats and lambs who matched the description of the ones he agreed to give Jacob. Laban has consistently ripped Jacob off through out this story as we already read in the chapters previously.

So here’s where we’re at: Jacob takes matters into his own hands yet again, instead of trusting God. Jacob already was destined to get the blessing from his father Isaac, even though he was the second born and not the first, and seems like he had gotten it from his own cunning, but God had planned on giving it to him anyway, despite any efforts he went to to manipulate the circumstances himself.

God often times does things despite us, not because of us.

I believe the Lord did the same thing to Jacob here. The Lord was going to give Jacob the spotted, speckled, striped and dark goats and sheep from Laban’s flock. But then the story mentions this weird detail of what Jacob did to help it to come to pass in his favor.

Months ago, I asked some young ladies at the FIRE Holland Summer School, who I knew had grown up on farms, to explain to me how what Jacob does in this passage would have any bearing on the physical traits of the offspring born, just because they mated in front of these almond sticks with the white exposed on them. They all told me the same thing: “I have no idea why that worked.”

I looked up several commentaries recently for insight into this passage. None of them dealt with how this bore any influence on the physical appearance of the offspring produced. Instead they just said things about our eyes being windows to our soul. But I fail to understand how looking at something while animals are mating will produce specific offspring.

The more I’ve studied this and sought insight into it, the more my opinion and conclusion solidified itself.

Have you ever wondered, when you read this passage how on earth Jacob’s actions manipulated the outcome of the flock’s physical appearance? Do you want to know how pealing almond sticks and placing them by the feeding toughs where these animals mated, is connected to them bringing forth spotted, specked, and striped offspring?

It’s not. There is no connection whatsoever, which is exactly the point.

God had it all under control, through no involvement of Jacob’s human ingenuity. Maybe I’m wrong and someone more familiar with farming and tending flocks could prove to me how this worked, but until then I’m convinced it doesn’t. But the application we can draw from it still applies even if this worked scientifically somehow. I’m not going to be airtight about if this is the case or not, just want to point something out in the way we trust God with our lives. Jacob's life and destiny were in God's hands all along, no matter what Jacob tried doing.

To quote someone who said it better than me:

"It is clear from Ge 31:10-12 that God had instructed Jacob to choose the off-color animals for his wages, but there is no indication that He had instructed him to employ any means to procure the multiplication of such animals. It would appear therefore, that this expedient was nothing less than the evidence of Jacob’s lack of complete faith in God. And what he did is what we ourselves also do. He felt that he must give God some help in the accomplishment of His purposes. God doesn’t need our help, nor is He glorified by it: all He requires of us is a quiet simple faith in His omnipotence."

Jacob stated all we need to know in verse 33: “So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen."

Jacob’s actions were not honest when he set about trying to be cunning again in yet another instance where the Lord’s favor was already upon him despite whatever he could try doing to manipulate the circumstances.

How often in our own lives do we try to ‘help God’ when He’s already promised to do something?

Learn to trust God, and things work themselves out without you making them work out.