Choosing God Instead of the World - Learning From the Lives of Jacob and JosephSýnishorn

Week 2

Read: Genesis 29:31–30:24; Colossians 3:1–3

SOAP: Colossians 3:1–3

Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Into the text

A consistent theme throughout the latter half of Genesis is the difference between a life that seeks the things of God and one that seeks the things of the world. Jacob and his family members were constantly faced with choices, forcing them to decide whether or not they would choose the things of God. In today’s reading, we see how a life that chooses the things of God may include the surrender of our heart’s greatest desires.

Leah and Rachel were in constant competition. Rachel was loved by Jacob; Leah was able to have many children. They even used their maidservants to produce more children as a way of winning against the other. The rivalry between the sisters was a symptom of their weak faith. It showed that their greatest desires were things of the world: the love of a husband and bearing children.

Desiring children or a husband’s affection is not in itself sinful. However, when these desires caused Leah and Rachel to compete against one another, use others as objects, and create strife in their family, it led them away from the things of God.

While this rivalry displayed the sisters' weak faith, their confidence in God's character is nevertheless shown by the way they named their children. The children of Israel display the character of God through the names they were given: He remembers and pays attention to the needy, He blesses the oppressed, and He removes the reproach of His people, even if they make a mess along the way.

The narrative of Jacob’s family is meant to display how God blessed the family of promise. Jacob’s many children show the beginnings of God’s promise to make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Yet, throughout the narrative, we are distracted by the competition between the sisters. The rivalry distracted the sisters from appreciating the blessing of the many children whom God was giving to Jacob.

Even though Leah and Rachel were often distracted by jealousy and competition, God still poured out His blessings on them. We do nothing to earn any of the gifts He gives us, but He indeed blesses our obedience. The things we desire should not keep us from praising and obeying God; they should drive us closer to Him, either through fervent and desperate cries for help or through glad and thankful worship.