April 10th, 2013

Matthew 1:2b
Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers

Deceptive ways. That is primarily what I see when I read through Jacob's story. Rebekah has Jacob deceive Isaac to get Esau's blessing.
Laban deceives Jacob and gives him Leah instead of Rachel first.
Rachel deceives Laban and says she did not steal his idols. Idols? How did idols creep into this family?
And there are all sorts of picking at each other and accusations between his sons and wives and his mother's brother. And struggles just like a lot of families.
Once again Rachel deals with infertility. Third one in this family line to struggle with not getting pregnant. And Leah struggles with being unloved.

My favorite passage in the midst of this crazy story is this: Genesis 29:31-35
Leah is unloved and unfavored by her husband.
In this passage it shows her striving for his love through conceiving children. When she gives birth to Reuben and to Levi she believes Jacob will now become attached to her.
But then, somewhere in between Levi and the birth of Judah God does a work in her, because this time when she gives birth to Judah, her response is this: "Now I will praise The Lord!" And Judah's name is linked into the genealogy of Jesus. That's pretty cool!

Application:

Obvious one: lying and deception can lead to all sorts of turmoil, and is also like a weed that digs itself in soil and spreads rapidly, and needs to be stopped in its tracks. And we set the example as parents in this. Our kids make choices, but we need to be guarding our homes from not letting lies take root.
Proverbs 12:22
Ephesians 5:1-21

But my main focus and draw out this is what Leah learned. My striving needs to not be for the approval of man but to praise The Lord :)
Colossians 3:23-25 & Colossians 3:12-17

❦



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