The deceiver was deceived. Isn’t it satisfying to see people reap what they sow?

Jacob, who once disguised himself to steal his brother’s blessing, now stood blindsided on his wedding morning in Genesis 29. The veiled bride he had worked seven years for wasn’t Rachel—it was her older sister Leah. Laban’s words, Rachel and Leah’s daddy, must have stung when Jacob confronted him: “It is not our custom to give the younger before the firstborn.” How perfectly this mirrored Jacob’s own theft of the firstborn’s blessing!

This is the satisfying yet sobering reality of sowing and reaping. It’s satisfying when it happens to somebody else. It’s sobering when it happens to us. Galatians 6:7 reminds us: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Jacob’s deception had found him in the desert. The seeds he planted years earlier in his father’s tent now bore bitter fruit as he had to work another 7 years for Leah, the wife he really wanted.

Beloved, you and I should take that to heart as we choose what to sow around us. We will reap what we sow.

Yet here’s the remarkable truth: God’s purposes aren’t derailed by our poor sowing and reaping. Through this painful, messy situation—two wives, rivalry, heartache—God built the twelve tribes of Israel. From Leah, the unloved wife, came Judah, through whose line the Messiah would come. God redeemed what was broken.

Perhaps you’re reaping consequences today and feeling disqualified from God’s plans. Take heart. While we cannot escape the harvest of our choices, God specializes in bringing redemption from our messes. He doesn’t wait for perfect situations to accomplish His purposes.

Confess where you’ve sown poorly. Accept the harvest with humility. But don’t lose hope—God is still writing your story, and He can bring beauty from ashes.

Change begins in you!