August 5, 2020
Scripture – Genesis 29: 15-30
In this Old Testament story, Jacob meets Rachel and falls in love with her. He works for Rachel’s father, Laban, for seven years to “earn” the right to marry her. But on their wedding night, Laban brings Rachel’s older sister, Leah, to Jacob instead. In the morning, Jacob discovers the trick and confronts Laban. Jacob then works another seven years to earn Rachel’s hand. Jacob fathered sons with both wives, which caused trouble between then. Later, when Leah and Rachel could no longer have children, both women gave their maids to Jacob to father even more children. At the end, Jacob had 12 sons by four different women! What a mess!
Yet, out of this chaos, God created the men who would later found the 12 tribes of Israel, the names of the 12 areas of the Promised Land that Moses would lead God’s people to hundreds of years later.
Even in a chaotic situation with human frailty on obvious display, God still works His well through us!