Sunday, August 24, 2008

Genesis 31 - Secret Sins

Jacob had become weary of broken promises. Ten times his father-in-law had changed his wages. In the midst of his discouragement God came to him and told him it was time to go back home---that He would be with him. Jacob called his wives to him and told them how he had been cheated by Laban, but blessed by God, and that God had said it was time to leave. Leah and Rachel believed in their husband and his God. They agreed to go with him.


In our times of discouragement God is there to comfort us and lift us up and move us on. He knows the limit to our endurance, just as He knew Jacob’s. When we think we "can’t take it anymore", God intervenes. His intervention brings instant relief, and we can pick up and go on because He has assured us He will be with us.

After Jacob and his family and flocks had been gone three days, Laban realized what had happened. He began to pursue Jacob to punish him and bring him back, but God told Laban to not speak against Jacob. When Laban caught up with Jacob words were exchanged, but the disagreement ended with a covenant to not bring harm to one another. Laban blessed his daughters and grandchildren and then went back home, sending them on with Jacob to his homeland.

In this story we have one person who seemed to want the best of both worlds. Agreeing to go with her husband, but wanting to hold on to her past also, Rachel stole her father’s gods. When Laban searched for them, Rachel was sitting on them to keep them hidden. Jacob was totally unaware of these actions of his wife. Rachel reminds me of Lot’s wife who wanted to go with her husband out of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorra, but did not want to leave her comfort zone.

Perhaps Rachel had another reason for stealing her father’s gods…maybe to get even with Laban, maybe to keep him from consulting his gods to their whereabouts, or maybe even to gain any inheritance that these false gods would pass down. Regardless of Rachel’s reason for stealing Laban’s gods, disobedience to God can be fatal, as Lot’s wife found out. Will Rachel escape punishment for her disobedience?

Do we think we can hide some secret sin and not be found out? Surely a judgment day is coming for each of us when those deeds done in darkness will be fully exposed in the light. Am I living a life of honesty and integrity so that I will not have to hang my head in shame, nor have to pay the price of my "secret sin"?


"Search me, O God, and know my heart today.
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free."
(J. Edwin Orr, Maori Melody)

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Posting Schedule


I have now posted 30 chapters out of the 50 chapters that are in Genesis. At this point I am going to continue to post the remaining 20 chapters at the pace of one chapter per week. That should pretty much take this blog down through the end of 2008 before it is completed. The Journey of Hope Blog will be updated more frequently. I am currently posting my Hope Springs Eternal retreat messages, given at a spring 2008 Women's Retreat in Muskegon, Michigan. The messages are broken down into several segments to keep each blog posting a readable length. I plan to make Sundays my day to post a new Genesis Chapter...so see you next Sunday!

Genesis Chapter 30 - Let God Be God

Some of the stories in the Old Testament show how foolish we can be as humans. Let us rest assured that whenever we lose faith and take matters into our own hands, we are setting ourselves up for misery.

Rachel could not be satisfied with the love of her husband, Jacob, alone. She had to show up her sister, Leah. Rachel was very jealous of Leah’s children, so she entered into a game of competition in which there would be no winners, only bitter players. She gave her maid servant to sleep with Jacob to conceive a child for her. Leah decided two could play that game, and she also gave her maid servant to Jacob. Leah had more children herself, and eventually Rachel also bore two sons to Jacob.

The jealousy that existed in that bizarre household must have been unbearable at times. We will later see that the jealousy between the two sisters was also passed down to their children. The plot begins to thicken once again because people decided to play God, instead of allowing God to be fully in control. The happiness we seek through our own means often becomes bittersweet.


Jacob felt like he has served Laban long enough. It was time for him to set out on his own with his family. He asked Laban for the speckled and spotted sheep and goats and the dark lambs as his wages. Laban agreed to this, but then he once again deceived Jacob by hiding those animals with his sons in fields that were three days away from Jacob. Remember Jacob is just as crafty, and he in turn played a trick on Laban. He devised a method by which the stronger females mated and gave birth to speckled and spotted young ones, increasing Jacob’s wealth.

God provided for Jacob, in spite of his bickering wives, and Laban’s conniving ways. Jacob always found God to be faithful even when life threw him curve balls. When there seems to be no one that we can turn to or trust, it is comforting to know that God is just a prayer away.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Genesis Chapter 29 - Justice Is Served

When Jacob arrived in the land where his mother’s brother Laban lived, Laban’s daughter was one of the first persons Jacob met. Rachel was a shepherdess and had brought her father’s sheep to be watered at the well. Jacob’s initial act of kindness toward Rachel was to water the sheep for her. When Rachel found out that he was a relative she ran to tell her father. Laban went out to meet Jacob and invite him into his house.


It did not take any time before Jacob fell in love with Rachel, and he agreed to work for Laban for seven years to gain her as his wife. After seven years of labor, his wedding night came, but the next morning he found that he had been deceived. Instead of Rachel Laban had given him her older sister Leah. There was a custom in the land that Laban neglected to tell Jacob…the older daughter must be given in marriage first.

One might feel sorry for Jacob until it is remembered that Jacob himself had deceived others. Getting a dose of his own medicine was not pleasant. However, Laban would give him Rachel for his wife also if Jacob would work for Laban an additional seven years. Sounds like Jacob had met his match in his father-in-law, a man as crafty as he had been in working things out to his own good.

Justice is always served. It may not be immediate, and it may not come in the way we expect, but it does come. When we choose to do things ahead of God’s plan, and in our own way, we need to remember God is still ultimately in control. He will call us to an accounting, and we will pay the price.

Leah was not loved by her husband, but God looked on her misery and cared about her, and He gave her children. Rachel, however, was not able to have children. This did not change Jacob’s love for Rachel. After Leah gave birth to her fourth son, she decided to give praise to the Lord for her children instead of trying to continually win her husband’s favor.

When life seems unfair, we need to look around and count our blessings. We need to focus on what God has done for us rather than focusing on our disappointments. In all things we need to praise Him, and trust Him. Proverbs 3:6 reminds us, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Jacob was beginning to learn this in his life. His name meant "he deceives", but as we continue on through Genesis, we will find that his name is changed to Israel, meaning "he struggles with God". He became a Godly man because he sought to honor his Creator in all that he did.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Genesis Chapter 28 - Gift Exchange

To save the life of her son Jacob, and to preserve her own family line, Rebekah requested Isaac to send Jacob back to her homeland to find a wife. Isaac sent Jacob off with his blessing. At this point Esau must have realized how his marriages to heathen wives were a source of grief to his parents. In trying to gain their favor, he married a daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s other son.

I wonder about these extra wives that some of the Old Testament characters had. I do not believe that multiple marriages were in God’s plan. Instead I believe it was man’s way of trying to find fulfillment for a void in his life. It is a void we all have…a spiritual cavity. It can only be filled and satisfied with God Himself. He created us to seek after Him and His fellowship, but far too often we use substitutes. We fail to understand God is Who we need, and God is All we need.


The focus of Genesis at this point turns to Jacob. One night, on his journey to Haran to seek a wife, he had a dream. In this dream God spoke to him and told him He would give Jacob and all of his numerous descendants the land where he was resting. This was a continuation of the promise God had made to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob was the third in line to receive God’s promise. God also promised Jacob He would be with him and would watch over him. What a tremendous promise to hold on to!!


Jacob took the stone he had used as a pillow and poured oil on it, naming the place Bethel, meaning "house of God." He then made a promise back to God. Jacob promised to give God a tenth of all that God gave him. This appears to be Jacob’s way of saying thank you…"Since you have been faithful to me, Father God, I will be faithful to you."


In our lives has God been faithful? Has He watched over us and been with us all along the way? He has probably provided for us in more ways than we will ever know. What can we give Him in return? What can we say thank you with? To return a tenth of all that God gives us is the least we can do. To say, "Here I am, Lord, use me." is the least we can give in return. As God continually blesses our lives with His presence, His promises, and His provision, may we willingly say to Him, "All that I am, all that I have, is yours, God!"


"I’m yours, Lord, everything I’ve got,
Everything I am, everything I’m not;
I’m yours, Lord, try me now and see,
See if I can be completely yours!!"

(Gary Chapman, Copyright 1979 Paragon Music Corp.)

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Genesis Chapter 27 - The Price of Deceit

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when others we try to deceive..."









Rebekah probably died of a broken heart, or at least had reason to. She overheard Isaac give Esau instructions to hunt game and prepare a last meal for him. In return he would give Esau the blessing of the firstborn. Rebekah immediately went into action. Her plan was to have her favorite son Jacob wear Esau’s clothes and to appear as Esau with a meal of wild game. She prepared the meal and helped Jacob with his costume as she wanted him to receive the blessing instead.


Even though her plan worked, did she get what she really wanted in the end? Could her husband respect her for deceiving him? Love is based on respect, and her acts of deceitfulness were damaging to their relationship. Also, she ended up having to send her beloved son Jacob away to her brother’s land to escape being killed by Esau.

What a mess she made of things, and it cost her the close relationships she cherished the most. So often when we go after what we think we want, it usually turns out sour, and we regret having the desire in the first place. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." When we choose to live pleasing to the Lord, His desires become our desires, and they bring joy, not heartbreak.



One cannot help but feel somewhat sorry for Esau who was once again tricked by his brother. Esau was honoring his father’s final request, doing what his father instructed him to do…hunt game and prepare a meal. Perhaps his motive was not to please his father, but to receive something in return…his father’s blessing. The end result for him was not only losing his first born’s right, but also a curse was given him. He would serve the brother who deceived him and took his blessing. This was the final straw, the one that broke the camel’s back. Esau made plans to kill his brother Jacob after their father died.


We need to check our motives in all that we do. If greed and selfish ambition are our motives, we can rest assured that the outcome will be bitter, not better. There is a verse we should make our daily prayer to keep our motives pure: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)

Friday, August 1, 2008

Genesis Chapter 26 - Setting An Example

Like father, like son. Isaac displayed some of the same qualities of his father Abraham, both his strengths and weaknesses. During a famine, Isaac went to Gerar, the land of the Philistines, whose king was Abimelech. The Lord instructed him to stay there during the famine, rather than going to Egypt. He stayed, but he was worried about being killed because of his beautiful wife. So Isaac lied about Rebekah, calling her his sister rather than his wife. Sound familiar? He was reprimanded by King Abimelech just as his father had been.


Isaac was very successful in his farming endeavors, as was his father, and he became very wealthy. He had to move to new land because he became too powerful for Abimelech’s territory in Gerar. As Isaac moved, he dug wells and built altars in worship to the Lord, carrying on the practice of his father, Abraham. Like father, like son. Because Isaac continued to grow in wealth, the Philistines were jealous, and would claim the wells that Isaac had dug out. Rather than go to battle with them, Isaac chose to display patience and keep peace by picking up and moving on. Because of these character traits, he eventually won the respect of the Philistines.



To what lengths will we go to keep peace? Are we willing to surrender our "rights" to win friends, or do we choose to enter into conflicts and make enemies? I have to admit it is much easier to battle for my "rights" than to swallow words, turn, and walk away. But if I desire to be an instrument of God’s peace, then I must learn there are times to give up my rights. God will honor that, just as He did Isaac’s patience and perseverance.




Esau, Isaac’s first born, became a source of grief to his parents. Complete details are not given, but we can assume his choice to marry pagan women led to the disappointment his parents felt. What a contrast between Isaac, a man of patience, and Esau, the impetuous son. Hebrews 12:14-17 is a good summary of the contrasts in lifestyles of the two sons: "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. After, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears." Which son do we pattern our lifestyle after?


What attributes and values are we passing on to our children? We should strive to live lives of integrity so that our children will have role models before them to imitate. We will be blessed for the wise choices we make. Wisdom is simply a matter of seeing things from God’s perspective. Let us choose wisdom and live a life pleasing to God, and leave a godly example for our children.