Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!" Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?" Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family." So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son. Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son." Because of this she named him Dan. Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won." So she named him Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" So she named him Gad. Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So she named him Asher. During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well," Rachel said, "he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes." So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. "You must sleep with me," she said. "I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night. God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. Then Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband." So she named him Issachar. Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, "God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun. Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken away my disgrace." She named him Joseph, and said, "May the Lord add to me another son." Genesis 30:1-24
Question: Have you ever longed for something for yourself only to find another person gets what you cherish the most? How did you handle the situation? Were you simply happy for the other person’s good fortune or were you envious to the point of resentfulness? Maybe it came in the work place where you were passed over for promotion by another. Or maybe it came in the way of a person being blessed with financial success that allowed them to afford the things you only dreamed of having. Or maybe still, you might be like Rachel in today’s scripture…so obsessed with having a child that she was unable to be happy for her sister Leah when God blessed her with the ability to bear children for Jacob. And when I say you might be like Rachel, I’m not just speaking to the ladies. Because in place of children in this place, substitute what you might be envious over. It all applies the same.
Well, as we pick up the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah, you’ll recall that Leah was the first wife to bear children to Jacob, although she was favored less by him. You’ll remember that God watches over the unloved and will show His special grace and mercy unto them to let them know He is with them and they are not alone. We can’t help but be happy for Leah but there is one who is less than happy for her…and that’s Rachel.
As we start Chapter 30, we see Rachel in a rage over what has happened. In a fit of jealousy, she vents on Jacob saying, "Give me children, or I'll die!" as if the problem in the matter was Jacob. Jacob replies with wise words that we should all keep in mind…for the crux of the life lesson in this passage is in his words. He says, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?" Listen to the essence of what Jacob said here. He said that God is the One who is in control. He is telling Rachel that she is directing her frustration at the wrong person…that she should be seeking God to see why she hasn’t been able to bear children when Leah has. The problem with Rachel is that she hasn’t learned to trust God…to know that He is in control and will allow things to happen only in accordance with His will.
Question: How much are you like Rachel? Do you expect everything to happen in your time and in your way? Do you covet what others have so much that you are unable to just be happy for them and share in their rejoicing for being blessed? Do you blame others for what has not happened for you vice accept that it is God’s will for you to have what you have when you have it? Maybe, you, like I can see where a part of Rachel’s sinful attitude is in each of us.
But Rachel does not stop at just blaming Jacob for her misfortunes. So tormented is she by falling second to her sister that she claimed children born of her maidservant, Bilhah, as being her own…as if they had emerged from her own womb. After Bilhah had given birth to her second child by Jacob, we see the sinfulness still pouring our from Rachel’s heart as she says, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won." It was a competition against for Rachel, using the precious children sent by God as mere statistics to keep score. If she only had just turned to the Lord, she would have realized that these children would become representatives for the very 12 tribes of Israel. They weren’t statistics, they were holy blessings from the Father sent to carry out the future of Israel.
Question: Have you ever thought that there’s more to God’s grand plan than what happens in your own little universe? Jealousy…covetousness…envy…all are selfish emotions that cry out that "It’s all about me." God would say WRONG! It’s all about Me…and ME alone.
Well…if Rachel’s antics had not already went far enough, she still has a third mistake to make. Our scripture tells us that she asked Leah, the very Leah she despised, for some of the mandrakes that her son, Reuben, had picked from the field. You see there was a superstition about mandrakes…that they would stimulate fertility within a woman who ate them. So Rachel would do anything to get her hands on a few, even if it meant allowing Leah to have Jacob again to bear children that she still yet was able to bear. "Surely…surely the mandrakes will allow ME to get pregnant, " you can almost hear Rachel thinking to herself. It didn’t happen as she expected. In fact, in the time she waited for those mandrakes to work, Leah had two more sons and a daughter! Rachel didn’t understand that nothing besides God Himself would allow her to bear children.
Question: Have you placed your trust in things other than God to try and help you get what you want? Maybe you thought playing the lottery would instantly bring you the jackpot and answers to your financial woes. Maybe you thought taking some stimulant would help you reach your goal or aid your performance whether it was athletically, dietetically, sexually, etc. Maybe…just maybe…you were willing to follow any superstition, hunch, horoscope, ritual…whatever you needed to do to get your way…when you should have just trusted God and God alone.
Well, our scripture does end on a good note. Rachel does bear a child and she does so because of it was God’s will for her…and nothing else. In fact, Rachel proclaims, "God has taken away my disgrace." Jacob didn’t take away her disgrace…mandrakes didn’t take away her disgrace…no, God took it away and the good news is that He is willing to take away ours as well.
So we come to the end of a valuable piece of scripture. Along the way, God has sought to teach Rachel…and us…some valuable life lessons…lessons we can use as we walk this Christian Walk. I can relate to Rachel. I have acted like Rachel before in my life. And I have been taught, as God taught Rachel, that He, and He alone is in control. He has a plan for all of us and it is as unique as the snowflakes that drift down from a winter sky. So accept the plan that God has for you. Ask Him for His will to be done for you. Rejoice when others around you are blessed and avoid falling to the envy trap. And above all things, count the blessings that God has given you. Count them once and then count them again. Keep counting them until you fully realize His goodness in your own life. And when you look at you life alone and not in comparison to others, you will realize your own rich abundance and can remain in the spirit of thanksgiving and praise for what He has done for you and look forward to the blessings yet to come, none better than the eternal life we’re promised through our faith and trust in His only Son, Jesus. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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