Archive | October 2014

Genesis 30

Oct27

Good morning y’all. Today we in Genesis 30. In this chapter we see end and jealousy at work in life of Rachel and Leah. Laban a greedy man tried to dupe Jacob again but it backfired on him and Jacob lived up to his name as trickster as he tricked Laban and got the good flocks and left Laban with the not so good ones.

I pray the Holyspirit fills us with insight as we study. Be blessed 🙂

Rachel became Jealous and envious of Leah to the extent that she started taking out her frustrations on Jacob. Constantly nagging him for a child.

I like Jacobs response to her constant nagging and ranting. He said “Am I God? Am I the one who refused you babies” Jacob knew only God could give Rachel what she wanted. This is one situation where he just couldn’t fix the issue. Her constant nagging was putting a strain on their marriage. Scripture says his anger was kindled against her. That’s what Jealousy and envy does. It causes strains in relationships.

Rachel should have spent her time petitioning God and thanking him in advance for the children he will give her. Or she could have been nice to Leah and helped with her kids but instead she chose to be jealous and envious of her sister.

Envy is described as “desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable thing belonging to (someone else)”

Jealousy is described as “feeling or showing an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions, or perceived advantages”

Proverbs 14:30 NCV: Peace of mind means a healthy body, but jealousy will rot your bones.

Proverbs 27:4 NCV: Anger is cruel and destroys like a flood, but no one can put up with jealousy!

From these two scriptures and definitions, we can see that envy and jealoysy are not good traits to have in our lives especially if we  intend to live a healthy long life.

Rachels desire for a child was not because she really wanted one. I believe it’s because she just wanted something that her sister had. Come on, this was the beautiful Rachel and now for the 1st time in her life there is something the ugly Leah can do that she cannot do! Can anyone relate to this…i sure do. Number of times I find myself just like Rachel wondering why someone else can have something I don’t have seeing as I think I’m better than them!. Thank God for his mercies and grace, now I know better 🙂

Her jealousy was so bad that she was okay with giving her maid to her husband to sleep with.  Like really! Is this the bible or what? Another woman petitioning her husband to sleep with another lady so the lady can get pregnant and have a child for her, just so she can compete with her sister. Funny though Jacob also agreed to the idea. He impregnated the maid twice. I guess probably he was just tired of Rachels nagging 🙂

Leah now realising what’s going on decided to retaliate as well. She also gave Jacob her maid to sleep with. It seems Leah and Rachel are always in competition with one another. Their relationship definately was not an healthy one and I can imagine the strain and strife this caused within the family especially amongst the kids. There must have been so much tension.

Envy and jealousy robbed them of their joy. They could have been having a good time together as a family. But they wasted so much time in competition. Scripture says in John 10:10 that “the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy” and that’s what he was doing with Rachel and Leah. He clouded their eyes with so much bitterness and hatred that they couldn’t enjoy the blessings God gave them.

Eventually God gives Rachel a son. Even at that she still wasn’t satisfied though. She named him Joseph which means adding. That is she was expecting God to add more to her. Envy consumes you so much that you can’t see past that thing that you want. One becomes so self absorbed in one self that one fails to notice all the blessings and good things around.  Here she was with a new baby and all she was thinking is God adding another to her. Envy is never satisfied. It always wants more and more.

No wonder Heb 12:15 tells us not to let the root of bitterness grow in us there by causing trouble.

looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; Hebrews 12:15 NKJV

Today I want us to examine ourselves. How do we respond when others have something we want badly. Do we rejoice with them or are do we become a Rachel who gets jealous about it.

All hope is not lost for us. Their is grace and help available for us today.  Hebrews 12:1-3 says:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

Today lets keep our eyes on Jesus and the course that He has set for us to run in this life rather than on other people’s course.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. Thank you for your word. We ask for your forgiveness for the many times we have been envious or jealous of others around us. We ask for the grace to learn to be content with what we have and to be happy with others when they are being blessed and we feel we are not. Teach us to keep our eyes on you at all times and be satisfied each day as we walk along the path you have set for us. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name.

Thanks for joining today.

Have a great Monday and remember to keep your eyes on Jesus 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Genesis 29

Oct26

Good morning y’all. Happy  sunday!!!.
Today we in chapter 29 of Genesis.

Jacob fell in love instantly with Rachel. Who says there is no such thing as love at first sight!…lol. Jacob was smitten. He even agreed to work 7yrs for her. (What love can make you do eh..lol). Scripture says the 7yrs felt like days to him because he Loved Rachel :). When his 7yrs came to an end he demanded for Rachel, oh but he was tricked and given Leah. Jacob was unhappy and agreed to work another 7yrs for Rachel. He wasn’t gonna be satisfied until He had what his heart wanted.
He got Rachel eventually but she was unable to conceive because the Lord made it so when he saw that Leah was unloved. He enabled Leah to have children.

One cannot but help feel sorry for Leah. She was the one who wasn’t beautiful. Verse 17 says she had ‘weak eyes’, another translation says her ‘eyes were dull’, another says her ‘eyes didn’t sparkle’. Basically she wasn’t as beautiful to behold as her sister Rachel. Rachel is described as having a lovely figure and was beautiful to behold.

I can imagine how Leah must have felt growing up with Rachel knowing that she was the beautiful one that everyone loved but she was the outcast, the one that didn’t have the right figure, the one who isn’t as beautiful. I can imagine she must have been living in the shadows of Rachel and perhaps secretly in her mind trying and hoping she could be like Rachel.
To make matters worse, her father then decided to use her as a bait in his silly plan of getting Jacob to work for him longer. She was married off to Jacob without him knowing it was her. Jacob was unhappy when he found out after the wedding night that he had been tricked.

Let’s try understand Leahs pain here. She is just newly married and the following morning her husband looks at her and is like who are you, what are you doing here, I didn’t want or ask for you, I asked for your sister. Can u imagine the rejection Leah must have felt that morning. To make things worse, after Jacob complained, the father agreed to give him Rachel after his week wedding celebration to Leah was over. Those 2 weeks must have been the worst for Leah. Having to endure a week immediately after her own wedding of Rachel the pretty sister being the centre of attention and her left to enjoy her pitiful state.

My heart bleeds for Leah cos I can relate to her pain. I have felt and experienced rejection from people I expected to love me. I spent so many years trying to win and gain their affection but all to no avail. I constantly thought to myself but why don’t they want me, am I not good enough for them, maybe if I loose some weight they would love me more. Oh I tell you those were my days of ignorance because all the hard work and effort was in vain. I still didn’t receive the love I wanted from them no matter how hard I tried. It was constant rejection. Leah was like that too.

By giving her husband kids when Rachel couldn’t, she was hoping he would start to love her. Let’s look at the names of the kids.
1) Reuben- the Lord has noticed my misery and now my husband will love me. She was hoping that this son will make Jacob love her since she has done something Rachel was unable to do.
2) Simeon- the Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me another son. Again hoping now with 2 sons, Jacob will definately love her the more.
3) Levi- surely this time my husband will feel affection for me since I have given him three sons. Same theme again as the other 2 names. You can see here that Leah was desperate for love. She wanted her husband to show some affection to her. She desperately needed to feel wanted and not just the elder sister that was forcefully given to a man who didn’t want her. Leah self esteem must have been damaged.
4) Judah – now I will praise the Lord. At this point she was tired of trying to gain her husband affection. She finally came to a point where she realised only God can satisfy her and take away the pain. So she named her last son Judah implying that she will praise the Lord. A decision to be happy. Her earthly husband may not love her but her heavenly husband -God, does

But im glad to tell you that Leahs story doesn’t end like this with all the sadness bitterness and rejection. No, God saw her and lifted her up. He made her a mother before Rachel which is one of the greatest status a woman can have – being a mother. Out of Leah came 4 out of the 12 tribes of Isreal. 2 of her kids were used in Gods plan of salvation. The tribe of Levi was chosen by God as the tribe to fulfill the priestly duties for the children of Isreal. The tribe of Levi was a shadow of a type of Jesus to come. Jesus is our high priest (See Hebrews 6:19-20  and Hebrews 7:11-22). Can you see what God was doing here :). The tribe of Judah which is the royal tribe was the tribe Jesus came from (see Matt1: 1-17 ). Thats why one of his titles is “The Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5).

How great is our God. Leah who was rejected by men was now the one loved by God and her children included in the plan of God for salvation of the world.
God is always in the habit of using the people that are rejected by men. He sees their pain and comes to their rescue. He takes delight in exalting those who are rejected.

If God could honor and exalt Leah  the one who was rejected in such a way, He can do the same for us too. He is the same yesterday today and forever. In his own timing he will exalt us. We just need to trust him and cast those cares unto him.

If you are feeling unloved and unwanted today, just remember God sees you, loves you and will raise you up in his good time. Scripture says He makes all things beautiful in his own time.

I will end todays blog with the lyrics of one of my fav songs titled ‘He knows my name’ by Tommy Walker

I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He’ll never leave me
No matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call

Be encouraged 🙂

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today.  We thank you for you are a good God who loves us and takes delight in us. Today pray you will fill us with your love today till we overflow. For as many that are feeling unloved unwanted at the moment,  Lord pls comfort and encourage them. Wrap your arms of love around them and let them know how much you love and care for them. Thank you Lord cos we know you love us so much. In Jesus Name.

Thanks for joining today.

Enjoy the rest of your sunday and remember God takes delight in you, He sees, He hears and cares for you 🙂

***With God all things are possible***