GENESIS 28:6-30:24
Genesis 28:12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
I just heard someone but I can't remember who it was say that this was not a stairway to heaven but it represented a way for heaven to come down to us. A way for God to come down to Jacob. Which I see as supported in the following verse.
Genesis 28:15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
This to me implies that God is with Jacob in a way that is different than He has been. And different than how He will be once Jacob returns this land. God came down to Jacob and stayed with him. We will read about how vastly blessed Jacob is while he is with his uncle's family.
Genesis 29:22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. 24 And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.
25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”
Here we see some shady conduct from Laban and Jacob is let down because of it. He is experiencing some of the same deceit toward him that he showed his father and brother. But even in middle of the poor choices of man God will use it all to accomplish His promises. Jacob will be blessed with many descendants because of this union.
Genesis 30:1 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!”
2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”
3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”
It is not surprising to see Rachel also trying to take things into her own hands when she saw that her sister was giving Jacob children and she had not. As we look at this we can see that God is providing Jacob with children who will become the tribes of Isarael but they didn't know it at the time. We can't see what the plan is that God has for us so all we can do is what we think is best. But I do think we can learn from these stories that if God says He is going to do something or He gives us a word of what His plan is for us, that doesn't always mean that it is going to happen right away. It may mean that we have to wait for God to put everything in place. We might not like the way things are going but we can trust that in the end all will be just as He has determined. We might have to dig a lot of wells to get one that is ours.
Genesis 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”
When the time was right Rachel had a child of her own. Joseph who experiences God's providence in a dramatic way and will one day stand before his brothers and tell them that what they intended for evil God used for good. A scripture that is commonly memorized and used to help sustain us when things are not going our way. Thank you for your word Lord and the stories that we are reading. May they be a light to path.
Comentários