Life Goes to the Bible
Ever have one of those kinda deja vu moments. I'm not talking about the regular deja vu kinda thing where you think or feel you've already seen or been a part of what's happening. Like that's not strange enough. Let's admit here and now that something like that happening is stinkin' freaky.
What I'm talking about is one of those moments where you hear or read about something and you can picture that happening in real life. Know what I mean? Maybe it's not deva vu in it's literal sense, but you've lived or know someone who's lived what you're reading or seeing. Kinda spooky for me, too.
Anyway, so I'm walking through the life of Jacob and the macabre relationship he has with Laban and his two daughters, Leah & Rachel. In verses 1 & 2 of Genesis 30 Rachel is all "Give me some babies, or I'll die!!!" Jacob responds angrily, "Don't blame me. Blame God! He's the one keeping you from having babies!" I felt like I was reading the script from a day-time soap opera. I started looking around for really bad actors. Yet, it was the interaction between two people - husband and wife - who lived real lives right here in the Bible!
Now I would cut Rachel some, not much, but some, slack, seeing as how she was jilted by here father, Laban, and used as bait to get more work from her future husband. Then it doesn't help that her old sister, Leah, who took her place at the wedding, was spitting boys out like a Pez dispenser. After all that Rachel was probably feeling a little rejected, displaced, or overlooked. Ever feel like that?
So in typical the Bible-comes-to-life fashion, Rachel goes a little over the top on the dramatic scene. She runs to her husband and makes some overly-dramatic statement like "Give me sons, or I'll die!" I know we look at Rachel and think, "'Give me a break!" But then how many time have you and I done, thought, or felt something similar? We work hard, put in the extra hours and 9-to-5 Bob down the hall gets the promotion. You wait for Mr. Right - find him, marry him, then find out he's not all you thought he was. You see the pastor down the street who has a bigger budget and more people and wonder why not you. How many times have our teens cried out when they didn't get their way? Yeah, we could all name a time or situation where we cried out some extreme, over the top statement about fairness or the lack of it or when things didn't go quite the way we thought they should.
Then there's Jacob. "Don't blame me! I'm not God!!" And he's right, you know? Jacob is not God. And he did NOT want to take responsibility for a God-thing. Love the way he oles right past the blame. He side-stepped the issue and kept right on going. And we are not any different. We are so about that, aren't we? "Don't get me involved." "It's not my fault!" "Go talk to so-and-so." Comforting dude. Then again, you could probably put my name there. Mercy is not one of my spiritual gifts. I'm about solving the problem, not comforting the hurting.
Then if that wasn't enough, Rachel drags an innocent bystander into the mess. She gives Jacob her handmaiden to him to give her children. What's up with this family? Didn't this happen a couple of generations back? I'm thinking, "YES!" Jacob's grandparents, Abraham & Sarah, did the same thing. Hasn't he heard the stories? Hasn't he shared the family history? And like most men, he went right along with Rachel.
Oh, now don't you point a finger! We do the same thing whenever we don't get our way with God. Something doesn't happen or end the way we think it should and we throw a tantrum, then start putting our paws all over it. We are going to make it happen! Come hell or high water, it's going to turn out the way we think it should! We don't wan to wait on God. We've planned it all out in our head or in our journal and we already know how it should end. How arrogant of us.
Take a lesson from Rachel and Jacob. Life doesn't always turn out the way we planned it. If it did we would be a bunch of spoiled little brats thinking life revolves around us. That is so us, isn't it? Listen, no one likes a bunch of spoiled brats who all want their way. Ever worked in the 2-year old room at church? Then you know what I mean.
Wait on the Lord and be faithful to what He's called you to do - a housewife, a boss, a mailman, a student, or a dad. He is faithful and his plans, like His timing, is always perfect.
Mike
What I'm talking about is one of those moments where you hear or read about something and you can picture that happening in real life. Know what I mean? Maybe it's not deva vu in it's literal sense, but you've lived or know someone who's lived what you're reading or seeing. Kinda spooky for me, too.
Anyway, so I'm walking through the life of Jacob and the macabre relationship he has with Laban and his two daughters, Leah & Rachel. In verses 1 & 2 of Genesis 30 Rachel is all "Give me some babies, or I'll die!!!" Jacob responds angrily, "Don't blame me. Blame God! He's the one keeping you from having babies!" I felt like I was reading the script from a day-time soap opera. I started looking around for really bad actors. Yet, it was the interaction between two people - husband and wife - who lived real lives right here in the Bible!
Now I would cut Rachel some, not much, but some, slack, seeing as how she was jilted by here father, Laban, and used as bait to get more work from her future husband. Then it doesn't help that her old sister, Leah, who took her place at the wedding, was spitting boys out like a Pez dispenser. After all that Rachel was probably feeling a little rejected, displaced, or overlooked. Ever feel like that?
So in typical the Bible-comes-to-life fashion, Rachel goes a little over the top on the dramatic scene. She runs to her husband and makes some overly-dramatic statement like "Give me sons, or I'll die!" I know we look at Rachel and think, "'Give me a break!" But then how many time have you and I done, thought, or felt something similar? We work hard, put in the extra hours and 9-to-5 Bob down the hall gets the promotion. You wait for Mr. Right - find him, marry him, then find out he's not all you thought he was. You see the pastor down the street who has a bigger budget and more people and wonder why not you. How many times have our teens cried out when they didn't get their way? Yeah, we could all name a time or situation where we cried out some extreme, over the top statement about fairness or the lack of it or when things didn't go quite the way we thought they should.
Then there's Jacob. "Don't blame me! I'm not God!!" And he's right, you know? Jacob is not God. And he did NOT want to take responsibility for a God-thing. Love the way he oles right past the blame. He side-stepped the issue and kept right on going. And we are not any different. We are so about that, aren't we? "Don't get me involved." "It's not my fault!" "Go talk to so-and-so." Comforting dude. Then again, you could probably put my name there. Mercy is not one of my spiritual gifts. I'm about solving the problem, not comforting the hurting.
Then if that wasn't enough, Rachel drags an innocent bystander into the mess. She gives Jacob her handmaiden to him to give her children. What's up with this family? Didn't this happen a couple of generations back? I'm thinking, "YES!" Jacob's grandparents, Abraham & Sarah, did the same thing. Hasn't he heard the stories? Hasn't he shared the family history? And like most men, he went right along with Rachel.
Oh, now don't you point a finger! We do the same thing whenever we don't get our way with God. Something doesn't happen or end the way we think it should and we throw a tantrum, then start putting our paws all over it. We are going to make it happen! Come hell or high water, it's going to turn out the way we think it should! We don't wan to wait on God. We've planned it all out in our head or in our journal and we already know how it should end. How arrogant of us.
Take a lesson from Rachel and Jacob. Life doesn't always turn out the way we planned it. If it did we would be a bunch of spoiled little brats thinking life revolves around us. That is so us, isn't it? Listen, no one likes a bunch of spoiled brats who all want their way. Ever worked in the 2-year old room at church? Then you know what I mean.
Wait on the Lord and be faithful to what He's called you to do - a housewife, a boss, a mailman, a student, or a dad. He is faithful and his plans, like His timing, is always perfect.
Mike
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