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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***

Genesis 28

Oct25

Good Morning y’all. Happy Saturday :).
Today we in chapter 28 of Genesis. Here, Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry canaanite women. Sent him away to his brother in law and asked him to marry one of his daughters. On his way Jacob encountered God.

I pray like Jacob, we too will have an encounter with God today as we study his word.

Be blessed 🙂

Isaac sent Jacob to his brother in-law Laban and he commanded Jacob not to take a canaanite wife but marry one of Laban daughters. Esau over heard the command and realised his father didn’t like canaanite women so he went to his uncle Ishmael and married his daughter Mahalath. Esau was hoping to win his father’s favour again. He wanted to please his father so bad. Perhaps his father will change his mind and bless him.

Esau’s problems started the day he carelessly handled the gift of God in his life (trading his birth right for a meal). He made a bad choice that came back to haunt him. Now he wants so bad to please his father. He wants so bad to win his father’s favor.

We need to be careful how we handle the gift of God in our lives. When we abuse them and repent, God will forgive us but that doesnt mean there wont be consequences for our actions. In Esaus’ case he lost the blessing and now he is trying to please and do things his father’s way but it was too late for him. I pray it won’t be too late for us. Whatever it is that we are involved in that is not pleasing to God, I pray the Holyspirit will give us the grace to walk away from them and God will have mercy and restore us back.

Jacob started on his journey to Labans house. On his way he stopped to sleep and he had a dream where God appeared to him and made promises to him. The promise are the same as He told Abraham and Isaac. God promised He will give them the land and their descendants will be as a many as the dusts of the earth and all the families of the earth will be blessed through him and his descendants.

Then we get to verse 15 which I must say is my favorite verse in the chapter :), this verse is so powerful and amazing. I want us to disect the verse one by one and I pray the truth of the words in the verse will settle in our hearts and fill us to overflow with Gods peace and assurance of his love for us. Amen

I am with you and will protect you everywhere you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15 NCV

1) I am with you – this tells me that God is always there. I am is a present tense. It’s a fact that’s always true in the present. Its not in the past but today. Which means even when we don’t feel it or think so, God is always with us!. He is everywhere at all times. That’s why we say He is the Omnipresent God. He is Emmanuel; God with us. Whatever it is you are going through today no matter how bad, I want to assure you God is with you. It might not look like it but that’s the truth. Be encouraged :).

2) I will protect you – this tells me God is our protector. To protect according to the dictionary means to ‘defend or guard from attack, invasion, loss, annoyance, insults, etc’. God does all of that for us. So why should we fear…If God is on our side. He has promised He will protect us. Today hold on to this word. Whatever it is, God is able and will protect you and defend you. One man in the bible who understood what it meant to be protected by God is King David- he had loads of enemies during his lifetime but He knew not to worry about them cos He knew who was backing him – God. In the psalms you see a trend where he is constantly asking God to protect him or declaring that God is his shield and defence. One of my favorite is psalm 18.

I love you, Lord . You are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my protection, my Savior. My God is my rock. I can run to him for safety. He is my shield and my saving strength, my defender. Psalms 18:1-2 NCV

3) ….everywhere you go – that is there is no where we can go that God can’t reach us. He is everywhere and so can protect and shield us wherever we are. So if you are in a situation like Jacob that you are having to leave your comfort zone for the unknown, take comfort in Gods promise this morning, He will protect you everywhere you go. Be encouraged 🙂

4) I will not leave you – (wow! are you excited already. I’m pumped up ready to get up and shout till the world hears me – God said he will not leave me!!! I just want to chant it everywhere 🙂 ). Again God is reminding us that not only is He always with us, not only will He protect us, but He will also not leave us.
The key words here are ‘will’ and ‘not’. Now let’s look at the definition/usage of each one.
a) ‘Will’ is used to express futurity. What I realised here is God said 1st of all to Jacob, I am with you…that’s the present. Now he said I will not leave you, that is the future. That is, for today I am with you and know that cos I will not leave you, you will also have me tomorrow. I am overwhelmed at this point at God’s great love for us.

b) ‘Not’ is used to negate something that is positive. In this case I will leave you is positive but once you insert the word not, it negates the possibility of leaving. That is, God is saying leaving us is something that will never happen at any time!. (Are you excited or what :). At this point, pls indulge me as I ask you to pause and give God some praise, just worship him from the depths of your heart for his love towards you. This God is too much. There is no searching of His power, no question of His greatness…words are failing me to express how i truly feel about my God)

5) ….until I have done what I have promised you –  (Wow I’m done. I’m just too excited! Don’t know if I can take anymore without bursting 🙂 ) here, God is saying every single promise I made to you will come to pass. I am going to be around to make sure those promises come through. Friends, God is not a man that He will lie. Honestly He is faithful to the end. He is reminding us this morning that no matter what, we need to remember He is going to stand with us till what He promised comes to pass. He will hold our hands through it all.

Be encouraged this morning. Invite Jesus into the situation. Let him take it over for you. He never intended for you to have to carry the burden, that’s why he is there – to carry them for you. 1Peter 5:7 says cast your cares to the lord for he cares for you. Give it all to Jesus, let him heal, restore and comfort you. His love for you is unconditional. Jeremiah 31:3(NCV) says “I love you people with a love that will last forever. That is why I have continued showing you kindness.”

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you so much for today, we are so grateful for your word this morning. Words are not enough to express our gratitude to you. You are just too much, in a class of your own, God all by yourself! Who is like unto you or who can we compare you to. Thank you so much for your love and for reminding us this morning that you are always with us, that you will protect us, that you will never leave us until you bring to pass all you have promised us. Wow God it’s too much for us :). We pray you help us believe today and that the truth of those words will wash over us, settle in our hearts and fill us with your peace till we overflow. Oh Lord we love you so much. May you always be the object of our affection. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Thanks for joining. I have faith that you have been blessed today 🙂

GO FORTH TODAY WITH BOLDNESS AND CONFIDENCE KNOWING THAT YOUR GOD IS ALWAYS WITH YOU, HE WILL PROTECT YOU, HE WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ALONE! 🙂

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