Genesis 32-34, Keep On Keeping On

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Today’s reading was from Genesis chapter 34-36.

I just wanted to leave a word of encouragement to those who are reading through the Bible with me this year. Keep Up the good work! Sometimes you might not feel like reading three whole chapters. Sometimes you just don’t connect with the story. Sometimes it just plain doesn’t make sense to you. KEEP ON READING!!! God will certainly bless your obedience and reveal to you what He wants you to get from reading.

Also, on those days that the passage just isn’t doing it for you, remember that it is important to get the full context of the story. It is important that you are reading through the Bible diligently because this gives you the whole picture of Gods word rather than bits and pieces. Your hard work WILL be recognized by the Lord.

Thanks for coming along side me for this journey.

Genesis 31-33; Don’t bring it!

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Today I read Genesis chapters 31-33. The saga of Jacob, Rachel and Leah continues…

Chapter 31 details the events of Jacob and his family leaving the house of Laban, his father in law who has been a pain in the booty to Jacob from the beginning. I guess Jacob finally had enough and decided it was time to move on and get going to that Promise Land that God spoke of to his father.

While on their way, Laban catches up with the group and is furious that Jacob took his daughters and insists that Jacob took his property as well. Jacob confident that nothing was stolen, allows Laban to search their tents.

Enter Rachel…

Genesis 31-34 says that she took the “household gods” and hid them from her father by sitting on them. These household gods were most likely little idols that were worshiped in Laban’s house. There is not telling why Rachel felt the need to take them. My goodness, she was headed to the PROMISE LAND that THE ONLY GOD had promised to her husband. I guess she was quick to forget that God had blessed Jacob and his family and that Rachel’s very own children would become the nation of Israel. None the less, she felt the need to bring these idols with her. There is nothing written in Genesis as to why she did this. But, I suspect that Rachel needed something from her past to comfort her. (this is only my opinion!)

So, of course this got me thinking. When we are committed to Christ and living for Him, God gives us an earthly promise land before we move on to our eternal promise land. We get to enjoy His many blessings on this earth as we look to His glory and His beautiful creation around us. But, we all have a past; some other life that we left behind. Many of us want to bring our “baggage” along with us like Rachel did. Is it a reminder of what life used to be like? Is it something that you just can’t get rid of because it is too comfortable? Often times, this baggage is very small and we think we can hide it from God and those around us. Here’s the thing…there is no use hiding it, God knows!

Why carry around that added load? Why hang on to something that is going to deter you from enjoying the things God has blessed you with now in your promise land? Jesus said to unload our burden on Him and take up his yoke. He said in Him, we can find rest for our souls and His burden is light. (see Matthew 11:29)

LIVE IT OUT! application:
Ask God to show you some kind of baggage that you might needlessly be sitting on. Take some inventory of your life and see what kind of things you can unload on Him and truly live burden-free in this earthly promise land of living in Christ.

Genesis 25-30, Desperate Measures

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Today I am combining my thoughts from today’s reading and yesterday’s reading.

Genesis 30 is interesting as it details the births of all of Jacob’s children. Read chapter 29 to get the full soap opera version of how Jacob ended up with both Rachel and Leah as his wife. I am not sure why Rachel and Leah put up with this situation; I certainly wouldn’t want to share my husband with ANYONE! But, both ladies loved Jacob desperately and that is why our saga continues into chapter 30 with all of their children.

So, Leah started giving birth to her sons and Rachel got jealous. To try to make the situation more favorable in her corner(it seems there was some competition between the sisters for Jacob’s affection) Rachel gave Jacob her maidservant to bear a child for her. WHAT?! Jacob actually agreed!! Later on in the chapter, Leah did the same thing with her maidservant.

I am unclear on if this was against custom to take on more than one wife, but I know that this did not please God. I started to think about times that I have taken crazy measures to get what I want. Ok, I’ll confess… I very Type A personality so, when I want something, I go for it! How often do we manipulate situations in our favor? While you are doing this, does it feel right? I always get a pit in my stomach when I am trying to make something happen in my favor. I think I know deep in my heart that I am trying to take the reigns when I should let God handle it.

Let’s not be like Rachel and Leah. Their manipulation just had to cause more heart ache and grief. When we want something, let’s take the time to first pray over it, read the Bible and ask God to guide us in His way. We would probably save our self alot of trouble if we did it God’s way rather than our own!