Jacob Consults with his Wives

01/10/2007

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Jacob consults with his wives

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 31: 4-13

            Message of the verses:  “4  So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5  and said to them, "I see your father’s attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me.  6  "You know that I have served your father with all my strength.  7  "Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me.  8  "If he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped.

9  "Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.  10  "And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled.  11  "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’  12  "He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.  13  ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”

            Jacob now comes to his wives and consults with them, which was a good idea, for the Scriptures tell us that we should seek the console of others when we face problems.  Jacob tells his wives that the Lord had come to him in a dream and told him to leave, and he also told them that God was with him in order for him to become a wealthy man through the sheep and goats being born with stripes and spots, which was done through the Lord.

            The mistake that Jacob made was not going to confront Laban and tell him exactly why it was that he was leaving and therefore he would not have had that confrontation with him after Laban had run them down to find out why they were leaving without saying anything.  Another point that could be made along these lines is that because Jacob did not confront Laban earlier Rachel had the opportunity to steal the idols from her father and then Jacob said that whoever had the idols would die, and then Rachel died shortly after that giving birth to her second son, Bingaman.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Once a person knows the will of God for their lives, as Jacob did in this section, a person can go about doing the will of God in a wrong way, thus not bringing glory to the Lord, and that is the chief end of men.

The Word of God has been challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to seek the Lord to teach me contentment in my life along with godliness which is of great gain, and to continue to ass the Lord to direct my paths and then go down that path bringing glory to the Lord.