http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2030-31&version=NIV
Desperate Housewives
Jacob loves beautiful Rachel more than Leah his first wife. Leah is trying to earn Jacob’s love by bearing him children. Jacob is deceived by his father-in-law. Rachel is unable to bear children so she allows her maid servant to bear Jacob’s children. Leah not to be out done by Rachel gives Jacob her maid servant to bear more children. Rachel bears a son. The TV series Desperate Housewives couldn’t match the schemes and plots of what we are reading in these chapters.
The interaction between Jacob’s wives, Rachel and Leah, are filled with envy and jealousy. These sins are a real danger for the people of God. It will rob us of our joy and bring us much miserly if we allow these sins to take root in our life. Sometimes we don’t even realize how jealous we can be. We see a co-worker who gets a job promotion which we disired and instead of thinking “Praise God” we think, “How could they get the promotion?” “Don’t they see how hard I worked and how lazy he or she is?” Then we move into gossip which only cuts the other person down so we can be exalted in our own mind thus proving our point. Gossip is often motivated by jealousy.
If we allow jealousy or envy to rule our spirit, it will consume us! Even ministers of the gospel can have jealousy or envy. Been there and done that! You hear someone say, “O that was the best sermon I’ve ever heard or someone says, “This is the best Bible study class at church” Instead of rejoicing and thanking God for the work He is doing in their life, you feel a knot in your stomach and think, “What about my message” or “What about our class” Yes, jealousy can rob us of our joy and peace if we allow these sins into our life.
But thank God, we can get the victory over these sins As soon I sense a jealous thought, I confess it to God and ask for His help to overcome it. Then I do the opposite of what I might be feeling. I rejoice with those who are blessed and thank God for His favor I see upon them. It’s a good feeling to be free from this sin so we can rejoice with others who are being blessed by God. Instead of being jealous, I ask God, "Lord, I want some of what they have"
Some more truths from our chapters: Just as Leah is trying to earn Jacob’s love by bearing his children, we can also try to earn God’s love by doing good works. God visited an ordinary man like Jacob and greatly blessed him. God is showing Himself as the God of grace and mercy because of His covenant He made with Abraham - Jacob’s grandfather. Many believers’ are still struggling with the meaning of God’s blessing and why would God bless me? Or some might even think God won’t guide them in their daily affairs of life. That kind of relationship is only reserved for “special religious people”. We must realize no one deserves anything good from God…nobody...only Jesus Christ deserves God’s blessing because He fulfilled all of God’s righteousness. Jacob was blessed because of the covenant of Abraham and we are blessed because of the covenant Jesus made with His Father. We call this GRACE. Whenever we call upon His name He will answer our supplications. Whenever we ask Him to come into our life, He will come and never leave us. His love toward us will never fail so we don’t have to be afraid to hold anything back from Him. His love will never fail because Jesus is alive for evermore. God can fulfill all our needs. Call upon him today like Jacob did.
Has God showed you something from the chapters we are reading? Share with us on the blog. It’s easy to post. God brought all of us together so we can learn from each other.
KW and Abrianna
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Abrianna had an interesting perceptive concerning Jacob’s two wives.
ReplyDeleteIn Old Testament times, some men had more than one wife. How does a woman cope with sharing her husband? Often this resulted in one of the wives feeling unloved, insufficient, unfulfilled and insecure. We also see jealousy and anger between the wives. These same attitudes can affect a biblical marriage or relationship. Leah is mother of 7 sons and 1 daughter but she was an unloved wife always thirsty of husband’s love and attention. Rachel has her husband’s love but she didn’t have a children so she always jealous of her other sister. She was trying to find fulfillment by having children
What is God’s truth here? Both women weren’t finding their fulfillment in God but in getting their circumstances changed. Only if I had children, I would be fulfilled but they weren’t. It only produced jealousy and resentment of the other wife.
If we feel unloved or unfulfilled, we can only find our contentment in God. We can’t find the peace and joy we are looking for in others or better circumstances. Are we trying to find fulfillment in relationships? In others? In changing our circumstances? Only God can give us fulfillment.