阅读经文 

我们大多数人在很小的时候就知道，这世上有些难以相处的人是不能信任的。雅各的舅舅拉班就是这样的人。雅各逃离哈兰的过程有点偷偷摸摸，但如果我们了解他在拉班家的生活后，就更容易理解了。

尽管如此，雅各本人并不清白。虽然他在舅舅手下吃了很多苦，但他自己也是靠诡计过活。我们还看到拉结也会撒谎。她偷了父亲家的“神像”，却对父亲说谎，掩盖了事实。

当雅各对拉班积累二十年的苦毒涌出来时，他说了句很重要的话：“若不是我父亲……的神……与我同在……” 雅各开始稍微地认识到，他需要神的同在，他不能掌控环境让自己得好处。

神有没有使用拉班的不义来显明雅各自己的罪呢？

好争吵的人相处起来会让人很不愉快，但神能使用这样的人来提醒我们祂对我们的忍耐和怜悯。神不仅仅会给我们一个休战的机会，祂的灵还会与我们同在，保护我们不受他人和自己罪的影响。

今天，你看见神在你生命中的恩典了吗？

Most of us learn early, even as young children, that there are difficult people in the world who cannot be trusted. Jacob's uncle Laban was a person like that. While Jacob's flight from Harran is somewhat devious, it becomes more understandable after we hear what life was like for Jacob in Laban's household.

Even so, Jacob himself was not innocent. Though he had suffered in many ways at his uncle's hands, Jacob himself also lived by trickery. We see too that Rachel could be deceptive. She stole her father's "household gods" but managed to cover that up by lying to her father.

As twenty years of pent-up bitterness against Laban comes out, Jacob makes an important statement: "If the God of my father . . . had not been with me . . ." In small ways, Jacob is beginning to recognize his need for God's presence, his inability to manipulate things for his own advantage.

Has God used Laban's injustice to reveal Jacob's own sin?

Contentious people can be unpleasant to deal with, but God can use such people to remind us of his patience and mercy toward us. God did more than offer us a truce; his Spirit remains with us to protect us from the effects of others' sins—and our own.

Do you see God's grace in your life today?