Feast of the Epiphany-January 6, 2015
Genesis, Chapter
31, verse 31:
31 Jacob answered
Laban, 'I was afraid, thinking you were going to snatch your daughters
from me.
According to
Kabalistic sources[i]
Laban was a powerful man. Laban was a
magi and the whole world feared him. Jacob
feared him too, and that was why he fled from Laban in the middle of the night
with his wives Rachel and Leah. Laban
had cheated Jacob many times but in spite of Laban’s sly tricks God had ensured
that Jacob prospered. Jacob feared Laban
but when the Lord said to him, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to
your relatives, I will be with you”, he did so, but in secret.
It is natural to
fear powerful men or women who can do us grave harm.
What does a person do who finds themselves afraid
of powerful, selfish and perhaps evil people?
Naturally your choices are you can either fight, run, do nothing, come
to a compromise or grow by developing a
third alternative as described by the late Dr. Steven Covey[ii]. That is to come to a solution that is better
than Jacob or Laban in this example, could have come up on their own. In this case God intervened for Jacob by
coming to Laban in a dream warning him not to harm Jacob and as a result both
Laban and Jacob came up with a solution that was better than they separately
had in mind; and parted as friends.
Next time you
are faced with fear; resist the temptation to react in the classic fight or
flight method and try to discover a way for everyone to win. That is not always possible but that should
be your goal.
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