Human Sin, God’s Hand at Work
Genesis 30 is primarily a story about the sins of the
generations. There is really nothing
positive to say about this except one very important fact: God is willing to
work through our sinfulness to bring about His plan.
Every positive story about marriage in Genesis up to this
point is about monogamy. The one story
of a servant of God who acts in a non-monogamous manner, when Abraham goes to
Hagar and conceives Ishmael, is a tragic story that ends in strife. Given these facts, God certainly cannot be
pleased with the situation that Jacob has gotten himself into with respect to Leah
and Rachel. Yet, God does not abandon
Jacob and ultimately God does not abandon His plan for Christ.
I am even more certain that God is less pleased by Jacob’s,
Leah’s, and Rachel’s choices to involve Zilpah and Bilhah in the marriage. Essentially, this implies that we see Jacob as
having four wives. Just look at all the
internal struggle that it brings to the family!
Certainly God cannot be pleased with all of the self-centered decision making
happening. Yet, God continues to work
through Jacob in spite of the rampant sinfulness in the story.
Ultimately, this is precisely why I define sin as broken
relationships. Sin is our broken
relationship with God. Sin is our broken relationship with each other, with
creation, or even with ourselves. Jacob
and his family willingly participate in sin quite deeply. And I cannot believe this made God’s heart
beam with pride. But God continues His
work.
God does not abandon them.
God does give six children to Leah – half the tribes of Israel! He gives two sons each to Zilpah and Bilhah,
and eventually to Rachel when Benjamin comes along in Genesis 35.
How true is this of life?
We abandon God’s ways, but God does not stop blessing us. We bring pain to God with our actions and our
words, but God does not abandon us. We
choose ways that God would not have us do, but God does not remove His
blessings. In psite of our sin, we
continue to live. The sun continues to
shine. We continue to be able to
convince ourselves that all things are right between us and God.
In the end, I have come to believe that prosperity is not a
sign that we are right with the Lord. Prosperity
is a sign that God is generous whether we deserve it or not. God loves Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah
enough to bless them with what they desire in spite of the fact that they are
going about it in a way that is not according to God’s principles. He is gracious in spite of our sin.
Our Response to God’s Hand at Work
So does that mean we should walk all over God’s grace? Let it not be so! It will eventually catch up with us. If it doesn’t catch up with us in this life,
it will catch up with our poor offspring and mentees who will learn our ways
and embolden them. If you don’t believe
me, just wait until we get to the story of Jacob’s sons and how they mistreat Joseph! We either open ourselves to letting God deal
with our generational sin or it will be passed along to the next generation.
We should not go about our life ignoring God’s ways and
living as though we can get away with everything we want. It will catch up with us, and one day we will
have to stand before God and give an accounting of our life. God will demand an explanation.
Thanks be to God that even there He cares more about our
honest repentance, admission of guilt, and forgiveness of sins than He cares
about true justice! As I was reminded
this week, so long as I am alive and not condemned to Hell, I have not received
true justice but rather continue to live in God’s grace. Thanks be to God!
Jacob and His Wages
Look at this story of Jacob’s wages and listen to it painfully
as you read it. Not only does Jacob
honestly work for Laban to earn the privilege of marrying his daughters, but he
goes so far as to then cheat him out of his flocks. Jacob intentionally goes about making the
strong of the flock his own and making the weak of the flock to be Laban’s
flock.
There is no evidence that “God increased his wealth” as we
hear about God doing with Abraham or Isaac.
No, Jacob increases his own wealth.
No wonder he is remembered as Jacob – a name that means “deceiver.” Sure, Jacob prospers. Jacob gets his own way. But in the next chapter we will see how
destructive his behind-the-scenes maneuvering has been to the greater community. In fact, for the majority of the rest of
Genesis we will see how these destructive family patterns continually threaten
God’s plan more than they help it. Yet
we will also see that God is bigger than a dysfunctional community.
This pains me because I see it all too often in today’s
culture, and especially today’s church.
People are more interested in getting their way and out-maneuvering
their opponents. People can get nasty
and evil about it, too.
There are far too many Jacobs in our church and not near
enough Abrahams. I wonder if this is
really why so many churches stay small. People
are so interested in prospering themselves that they end up creating an
environment of distrust. That is exactly
what Jacob is up to in this chapter.
I think we should really take a strong and hard look at how
Jacob is pictured in this passage. Many
in the world today might consider Jacob shrewd and wise as he makes his own
position strong and increases his wealth.
But I cannot believe that God views Jacob in this manner. At the end of this chapter, Jacob is about
destroying the community that he has built with Laban. As we will see in the next chapter and the
rest of Genesis, it eventually catches up to Jacob again and again.
Consider your relationship with those in your life deeply. Are you like Abraham in that people look to you
with integrity? Or are you like Jacob in
that you seem to prosper but everyone really knows you are a schemer and a
manipulator? I think that is a very
important question to ask coming out of Genesis 30.
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