Bibledoorajar Thinks of Memorial Day

I awoke this morning thinking of all who had gone before me and what they had given to secure my future. I read a story about a 90 year old woman who traveled to the WWII museum in New Orleans.
She hoped to see a picture of the boy she dated in High School and to whom she had given a diary just before he joined the Marines. The diary never made it back to her but years later she was surprised to find it in the museum, a memorial to the young soldier's life. He had said in the diary that it would be a memorial to his days in the Marines. One of the first things he wrote before he was shot between the eyes by an enemy sniper, was that he hoped whoever found the diary would return it to that girl who filled his heart in high school and to whose memory he  had clinged. That girl, now 90, had hoped to see a picture, maybe of him working with some of his fellow Marines, but instead she found his memorial to his life and her enduring influence on it.

We often disregard our connection to others and how the doings of our lives affect them and us. We discount many things that under the Divine become "dots" that connect much more than we realize. The Bible tells that human connections, if bad, can lead to Divine retribution, if good, to Divine blessings. Laban took advantage of Jacob in many ways thinking he would prosper. And he did prosper because God was prospering Jacob, not because his wily ways garnered the blessings. Laban's ways perplexed Jacob, but he waited patiently for God to make plain His way for him. Jacob was in a strange land and pressing questions about whether he should leave began to be a part of Jacob's thought processes.

Today, we think of all those whose thought processes led them to agree to put their lives on the line for our freedoms. We honor God for all the ways He blessed during these horrible encounters and for all the thoughts that turned to Him in times of trouble. I hope many of them are written in God's book of remembrance--the Lamb's Book of Life. Have you considered whether yours is recorded there as an everlasting memorial to His goodness?

Bibledoorajar emphasizes God's Need to Form Character

     For the last several lessons we have been looking at how God formed Leah's realization of His great power to give her sons even though her husband did not love her. After number four, she seemed to finally understand the importance of giving her praise to the eternal One. As we mentioned, the name of her fourth son, Judah, was given with only praise to Him in mind. Well, ole Dad had been collecting sons from the woman he did not love, so, how was he doing on his learning curve? Remember, he had already recognized the all powerful nature of God on the way to his uncle's house and knew that he would be His servant. The text implies that Jacob got the point. But still God was at work. The fact that Jacob took the right of the firstborn, Esau, meant that Jacob needed to see the wickedness of this action. So, for four babies straight, the rights of the firstborn, Leah, were emphasized. Laban had put Jacob in a position where he had to serve both the right of the firstborn and Laban his human master. Clearly, Jacob was going to have to learn patience and how to wait on God's timing. This was surely something he had been unwilling to do while in the home of his father, Isaac.
     On a personal note, I have recently moved to live full time the Texas home. It was a move that I thought would have happened about four years ago. I made a big announcement to my church family that I would be selling my place in Alabama and moving to Texas. But God saw fit to take the "I" out of the equation and reminded me of His timing and His ways. I had to be reminded of how much better it is to say, "as the Lord wills." Once on a less proud footing, a peaceful approach to the sell occurred. During that time of waiting, God provided miraculously and I was able to make many necessary changes to the house and belongings that would enhance the sell.  And, I was still able to pay expenses on two places which was getting more difficult to do. When the necessary changes were completed, and when I had declared the house would sell in His timing, it sold and did so very quickly.  How great it is for us, when we keep things in perspective and recognize that God is in control and is always teaching us valuable lessons all along the way. How much He wants His children to reflect His characteristics! Thank you Father for shaping our lives.

      "Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way,
       Hold o'er my being absolute sway."

     When Adelaide Pollard wrote this hymn, she was learning a godly lesson. She had wanted to go to
Africa as a missionary, but had been unable to raise the necessary funds. Despondent, she attended a prayer meeting. There an elderly woman prayed, "it does not matter what You do Lord, just have Your own way in our lives." That night, Adelaide penned the four verses of this hymn before she retired for the evening. Lesson learned. Find a hymnal and read all four. It will give you peace.

Bibledoorajar Observes God's Next Move

The "score" according to the sisters is now Leah: 4, Rachel: 0. But according to the power of God it is not a score but a step in a process of grace and mercy that will ultimately form the foundation of the nation of Israel. God, having redeemed Leah, and made her to feel she is His, and that He is totally aware of her and her needs, will still move in His power. However, after four sons, He does close the womb of Leah but not before she realized that, though unworthy, she was truly blessed by God. It was God that set His love on her, not Jacob. God had something else to which He must give His attention. That something was Rachel and her attitude toward her sister and their husband.    

With a score of 0, Rachel was having a hard time coping. Jacob's great love for her may have been rewarding, but apparently it was not enough to quell the envy boiling up within. She took stock of the situation and found herself wanting. Her great envy became evident when she retaliated against her husband. As Yoda said in Star Wars, "envy leads to jealousy, jealousy leads to hate, hate leads to anger, anger leads to the dark side." Well, Jacob saw (and probably felt) Rachel's dark side. With great anger, Rachel demanded of him, "give me children, or I am going to die!" Jacob was flabbergasted. He told Rachel that she had confused him with God, that it was God that was denying her what she wanted. But here in the story, alas, we are told not that Rachel humbled herself and sought God. We are simply told of her second option if Jacob could not be God for her.

Envy led God's people to turn over Jesus to Pilate.  Matthew 27:18 reports that Pilate knew they had turned Jesus over to him because this "green-eyed monster" dwelt in their hearts. Their darkest side cried out to save the criminal, Bararbbus, not Jesus. The Bible lists envy as one of the deadly sins. In Proverbs 14: 30 we read:
         
 " A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones."

The goal is to approach life peacefully, content in whatever state we find ourselves. I once her a preacher tell a story about a Christian woman who lived next door to an atheist. Every day he heard her shout praise the Lord and it grated on his nerves. There came a time when the Christian experienced financial reversals, even to the point of having no food. One morning, as she arose and went to her porch, she found groceries. She, of course, praised the Lord! This infuriated the atheist and he said,
 "there is no God, I put the groceries there!" The Christian lady praised the Lord and said, "Lord, not only did you supply me with food, You made Satan pay for them!" The atheist could not disturb her peace. I pray all, including myself, will have just this attitude this week no matter what challenges are before us.
    

Bibledoorajar Applauds God's Material Creativity

     "Oh, Jacob, I'm pregnant again!" God has been demonstrating His ability to open doors for the kingdom of Israel to be established. With this fourth son, God will be well on his way to establishing a house of Jacob. Leah must have been ecstatic at God's creativity within her for this time she named her son Judah. The name means praise and with this birth she said she would now praise the Lord. The focus is off the husband and his desire for her and more on God Himself. To establish a house of Jacob is surely God's arena and Leah recognizes this as she gives birth to her fourth son.  Now we begin to see the seed of a people put on earth to praise God multiplying and, Leah started the praise parade.

When Jesus came to earth, the Jews (Judah) told him they recognized their lineage through the patriarchs but they did not want to give praise to God for Jesus. Jesus told them that praising the Father for the gift of Jesus would exactly be what the patriarchs would be doing if they were there because that is what they did when they were living. But most continued to have this problem of not praising God for Jesus. Even the ones to whom He greatly ministered had this problem. Sometimes the foreigners did better than the children of the house of Jacob:

Jesus said, weren't ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found coming back to give glory to God except this foreigner?
                                                                   Luke 17: 17-18

In Acts we find that God opened the door for foreigners to join the kingdom via the church. We would be grafted in as a real "Jew" because of our inward turning toward God through Jesus and accepting our ability to give Him praise and glory.

On the contrary, the real Jew is one inwardly; and true circumcision is of the heart, spiritual, not literal, so that his praise comes not from other people but from God.
                                                       
                                The apostle Paul writing in Romans 2: 29

So welcome each other,  just as the Messiah has welcomed you into God's glory. For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the Jewish people in order to show God's truthfulness by making good His promises to the patriarchs, and in order to show His mercy by causing Gentiles to glorify God.

                                                         Romans 15: 11ff.

I like to think that God opened a window of awareness in the heart of Leah about His glorious part in the creation of her children and she was compelled to give Him praise and glory. How about you? Have you allowed God to compel you to bring Him praise and glory? Jesus said He was the door to this wonderful place in the kingdom. Have you dealt with the compelling going on in your heart to give Him all the praise and glory?