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?
                                                                 

Bibledoorajaar Reports On God's Loving Kindness

"Once more she conceived and had a son; and she said, "Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons."
                                                                         Genesis 29: 34-35

 So Leah, sure that God was establishing her relationship with Jacob,  named the boy Levi which means joining. Three times God's loving kindness and goodness toward the unloved Leah had resulted in sons. It was His kindness toward Leah that made her productive, but His goodness also can be seen in His providing the sons for the patriarch who would provide the seedbed for the children of Israel and a coming Messiah. God loves to identify with the lost and the unloved. Just think how happy He made Leah with these sons. Did she love Him more than the man she was trying to get? I don't know, but clearly we know she knew of His care for her in her dilemma. Are you in a dilemma? Are you lost and at your wits end? Do you believe that God loves you enough to help you? I say with a resounding YES, he does. He sent His Son on a mission of loving kindness and goodness to people just like you and me.

"For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost."
                                                                       Luke 19:10

He is excellent at displaying the loving kindness and goodness of the Father.  The Father said so Himself.

"And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in whom I am well pleased."
                                                                                 Luke 4:22

Trust Him today with your life, its' productivity and its' ability to be pleasing to God.
                                                                              

Bibledoorajar Looks at Progeny

       "Children are a gift from God, the fruit of the womb is a reward. The children born when one is young, are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. How blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them; he will not have to be embarrassed when contending with foes at the city gate."
  
                                                                                   Psalm 127: 3-5

If the psalmist was correct all those years later, then truly Leah was going to do her part to see that Jacob's quiver was full! Quickly she became pregnant again as her sister Rachel remained barren. The second fruit of her womb she named Simeon, which means hearing. Sure that God was blessing her womb because her husband did not love her, Leah proclaimed His role in the naming of her son. Since Rachel remained barren, Leah felt that Jacob's pride in his sons would soon win him over to her. All this time, Jacob is busy working off a fourteen year debt to Laban for his two wives. In the power of producing two sons, Leah might render Rachel defeated.  But so far Rachel is holding her peace, although surely she is watching all this with a heavy heart. When will she take action? Will her actions be wise? Will it be now, with the score Leah 2, Rachel 0?

"Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him demonstrate it by the good way of life, by actions done in the humility that grows out of wisdom. But if you harbor in your hearts bitter jealousy and selfish ambitions, don't boast and attack the truth with lies. This wisdom is not the kind that comes down from above; on the contrary, it is worldly, not spiritual, demonic. For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there will be disharmony and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is, first of all, pure, then peaceful, kind, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And peacemakers who sow seed in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."

                                                                                                   James 3: 13-18

         

Bibledoorajar Looks at Getting to Know Your Spouse(s)

 Young Son: Is it true, Dad, I heard that in some parts of Africa a man doesn't know his wife until he marries her?
Dad: That happens in most countries, son.

Jacob is a man with two wives to get to know. One he accepts with all his heart and the other whom he must accept even though his heart is not in it. Two wives means dual blessings, but two also means the capacity for division and/or opposition within the home. In the home of Jacob we will see God at work, but we will also see the enemy's inspiration for malcontent. Not only were there two wives but they were sisters! But even with all this marital chaos, Jacob's house will be a beginning for God's plan for a great house of His own.

Here's the problem in a nutshell: each wife had her own point of view and she did not cease to express it!  And when the children started coming there was more than enough room for bickering and jealousy.  The interesting part of this story for me is how much God plays a role in the conception and delivery of Jacob's children. Early on in the marriages, God saw that Leah was unloved. So, he made her fertile and she conceived. She delivered a child that she called Reuben which means "see, a son". She gave the credit to God, that the Lord had seen just how humiliated she was within the home and had given her a son so that her husband would love her. Leah 1; Rachel 0. And life goes on.

Bibledoorajar looks at Home

Christian experts have said that to have a happy home at least four things need to be present: 1)Affection must be high, 2) marriage must be in the Lord, 3)marriages should be established with the good will of parents and close friends, and 4) a man should see how he can make a livelihood. If you were fortunate to have been brought up in such a home as this you have been truly blessed. For those who grew up in homes that were established on lessor grounds have felt the pain in so many ways.

Let's take a look at how Jacob was doing. We know he truly loved Rachel for the text tells us so. He served seven years for her as if it was but a few days. We know his parents wanted him to seek a wife from godly stock and that he did. He did not take his wife as he could have from the peoples from which Esau did. When it was time for Jacob to leave his parents his father, out of good will, called him to him and blessed him as he sent him away. Jacob's best interest was his parent's goal. When Jacob sought Rachel, he consulted with her father. Lastly, Jacob found himself in a wealthy land and there seemed to be reason to feel he could support a family.

Jacob had met every criteria that Christian experts have agreed upon. In the love relationship between Jacob and Rachel we can see reflected the great love relationship that Jesus has for His bride. Affection runs high, for He gave Himself in death for us. Ours marriage with the Lord will be one made in Heaven planned for and directed by the Father. All the resources of the Father's realm will be at Christ's disposal to care for His bride.  For Jesus, the wait will seem like a few days for He loves us so. Is that how you feel about the time you are now spending waiting for Him to return and sweep you into that beautifully prepared wedding feast?

Bibledoorajar looks at God's Wisdom and the Motives of People

                              "... in my dream, I seemed to see a woman
                                both young and fair; along a plain she gathered
                                flowers, and even as she sang, she said:
                               Whoever asks my name, know that I'm Leah,
                                and I apply my lovely hands to fashion
                                a garland of the flowers I have gathered."

                                                         Purgatorio by Dante

Jacob had set as his goal to live for God. God had set as His goal for Jacob to father a great nation. Jacob had declared that if God would bless Him, he would follow Him. He had found the girl of his dreams and was ready to move forward. But his uncle disappointed him by giving him Leah in marriage instead. But Laban calmly says that it is the custom for the elder to marry first and that Jacob could also have Rachel in exchange for another seven years of labor. Some would call this unfair persecution, but Jacob immediately agreed to the seven years in order to gain the one he dearly loved. It sets the scene for much human conflict. Two women and one man and a price to be paid for both.

It seems that in God's realm there is often a price to be paid in following Him and accomplishing what He desires. People disappoint yet through these experiences God's will moves forward. Isn't it wonderful that God's will can be accomplished in spite of questionable motives and hard situations?
Jacob was willing to do whatever was necessary to get Rachel. Are you willing to take steps no matter how costly or hurtful to achieve something for God? Can you endure the ways of a fellow Christian in order to accomplish a ministry goal? Leah was needed by God and, though she became a thorn in the flesh of Rachel, she produced six of Jacob's sons. Remember no price we pay for accomplishments in God's realm can ever outweigh the price He paid when He gave us Jesus. Faith calls for endurance.