Learning From Experience

-September 26, 2023-

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

“And Laban said to him, ‘Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned from experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.’”

(Genesis 30:27).

Laban was Jacob’s uncle and father in-law. When Jacob came to visit he graciously welcomed him, giving him his two daughters Leah and Rachel as wives. He deceived Jacob over and over until they finally parted ways. He changed his wages ten times and took advantage of him, and they weren’t raises but decreases. It was often a contentious relationship.

Laban learned from experience that God blessed him for Jacob’s sake. In God’s school, experience is an important class for us to take. From our childhood we learn from experience. When we misbehaved, we got disciplined; when we touched a hot stove, we got burned; when we didn’t study, we got a poor grade; when we got into trouble, we were sent to the principal’s office; when we rebelled, we were grounded. Later in life we learned if we didn’t get enough sleep, we paid the price the next day. When we were speeding, we got a ticket.

As Christians we must learn from our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks to us through His Word and uses experience to teach us valuable lessons in life. If we fail to learn from experience, we are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over. Someone once said, “A smart person learns from his mistakes, but a wise person learns from the mistakes of others.” In actuality, we must learn from both continually.

With a few exceptions, Christians make the best employees since they work for the Lord as well as for their employers; and Christians make the best bosses for they know they are responsible to Christ, the Lord, Master, and Boss. Whether we are employees or employers we seek to please the Lord. We have learned from experience hard work pays off; honesty pays off; integrity pays off; faith pays off; obedience pays off. We walk the straight and narrow path to victory. We get into trouble when we turn to the right or to the left.

May the Lord teach us through His Word and experience. We will find we can share our experiences with others in order to help them avoid the pitfalls we fell into, and to be a blessing to them. We have been blessed through trials, troubles, and testings. Let us learn from them. Aldous Huxley said it well, “Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with happens to you.”

Have a blessed day in God’s classroom continually learning, changing, growing, and improving. Stay safe and healthy.

Learning from experience makes a real difference,

Dean