Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. ~Proverbs 13:12
The mark of a barren woman is that boundless hope once thrived within your heart. Rachel, as the promised wife—mother— of a nation was full of hope. She was fertile ground for the seed of promise to be sown in. She was greatly loved, she was greatly pursued, she was well favored, young and beautiful.
And she was chosen, handpicked by God to be Jacob’s wife.
This was the revealed will of God. Jacob had been instructed to go and to “take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.” How much clearer could that be? And the purpose was just as clear: Rachel was to be the mother of “a multitude of people” (see Genesis 28:2-3). In this the promise of God to Abraham and Sarah lived in Jacob and Rachel.
No doubt Rachel spoke of “things that were not” as though they were, because the very nature of hope is an expectation that things are going to work out right. They had probably picked out the names of their first five children, especially the firstborn—that was most important. You would have found it impossible to discourage them at this point. Speaking to the “mountain” was no stretch for Rachel’s faith: she owned the mountain!
But sometimes God allows hope to be deferred. And it becomes apparent that you are on a fast track to a slow painful death to hope, in the natural. Everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. Everybody seems to pass you by.
To Rachel’s horror Jacob’s firstborn—the heir to the birthright—came through Leah: “And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben.” And then Leah had Simeon, Levi, and Judah. It was beginning to look like Rachel was going to lose her “birthright” to her sister. Sound familiar.
Reckon Jacob noticed?
I think it would have been hard to miss the fact that what Jacob had done to his brother, Leah—through Laban’s sin—was in a sense doing to her sister. Maybe that is why when he was faced with the problem, he got angry:
And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? ~Genesis 30:1-2
One thing is for sure: Rachel was asking the wrong person. Man in his best state altogether can’t meet your deepest need. Only God can. And the truth is, that need is not children or houses or mates or a thousand other things. That need is to know the Lord your God and to find your very existence, the core of your being wrapped up in his will. And His will is for you to be in his presence and to serve him with joy, trusting him, loving him, obeying him.
We know this to be true because "hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." Jesus is the tree of life, the highest desire of man.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. ~ Genesis 29:27-28
Words cannot describe the anguish Rachel felt as Jacob fulfilled Leah’s week. How her mind must have been flooded with questions:
“Why is this happening to me, what have I done wrong? What if Leah gets pregnant . . . Oh my God! What if she is already pregnant . . . we’ll celebrate our one year anniversary with my nephew, which is my husband’s son. That’s just great. Does that make him my step-son? No way would God let that happen, just to think about the possibility gets me depressed. This can’t be right. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Eve and Maria.”
How Rachel and Leah both suffered because of Jacob’s and Laban’s sinful deception. All of a sudden, they were pitted against one another—maybe this is where the demon of comparison originated.
For Rachel in particular, when her wedding day came seven days after Leah’s, it came with a whimper instead of the anticipated shout. Her brand new “dream camel” now had miles on the motor and less tread on the tires. It would be like buying a log house with five bedrooms for your children that were on the way, only to end up with a used trailer with one bedroom set aside for your husband’s other wife. Or for you to the spend the night in, when it was her turn to be with him, again.
What a mess.
And who says sin doesn’t affect your born again spirit? It affected Jacob’s. Not only his, but his wives also . . . and his sons. This is not to say that God in his infinite wisdom and mercy didn’t redeem the situation, but that doesn’t justify the sin. Neither did the fact that Jacob was a covenant man keep him from the consequences of his actions. Indeed he paid double.
Don't think that is only true in the Old Covenant. It is written in the New Covenant that God is the “God of Jacob” and that he changes not. Neither is He mocked, and what a man soweth, that shall he also reap--and those around him, especially family.
Just ask Jacob or Rachel. Or the millions of husbands and wives who have been divorced in a "Christian" marriage because of another man or woman. Or ask their children. They'll know.
Words cannot describe the anguish Rachel felt as Jacob fulfilled Leah’s week. How her mind must have been flooded with questions:
“Why is this happening to me, what have I done wrong? What if Leah gets pregnant . . . Oh my God! What if she is already pregnant . . . we’ll celebrate our one year anniversary with my nephew, which is my husband’s son. That’s just great. Does that make him my step-son? No way would God let that happen, just to think about the possibility gets me depressed. This can’t be right. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Eve and Maria.”
How Rachel and Leah both suffered because of Jacob’s and Laban’s sinful deception. All of a sudden, they were pitted against one another—maybe this is where the demon of comparison originated.
For Rachel in particular, when her wedding day came seven days after Leah’s, it came with a whimper instead of the anticipated shout. Her brand new “dream camel” now had miles on the motor and less tread on the tires. It would be like buying a log house with five bedrooms for your children that were on the way, only to end up with a used trailer with one bedroom set aside for your husband’s other wife. Or for you to the spend the night in, when it was her turn to be with him, again.
What a mess.
And who says sin doesn’t affect your born again spirit? It affected Jacob’s. Not only his, but his wives also . . . and his sons. This is not to say that God in his infinite wisdom and mercy didn’t redeem the situation, but that doesn’t justify the sin. Neither did the fact that Jacob was a covenant man keep him from the consequences of his actions. Indeed he paid double.
Don't think that is only true in the Old Covenant. It is written in the New Covenant that God is the “God of Jacob” and that he changes not. Neither is He mocked, and what a man soweth, that shall he also reap--and those around him, especially family.
Just ask Jacob or Rachel. Or the millions of husbands and wives who have been divorced in a "Christian" marriage because of another man or woman. Or ask their children. They'll know.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
NIGHTMARE ON LABAN STREET
And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.~ Genesis 29:10
When Jacob met Rachel he was full of the promise of God, a man on a divine appointment with destiny.
1. He had clear direction from his father Isaac: “Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.”
2. He was blessed by his father: “And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people.”
3. He had a God given dream and a direct word from God: “And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.”
You can be sure that this word from the Lord produced faith in Jacob. You can be sure that, having the spirit of faith, he spoke it. And you can be sure the when he saw Rachel that he put the two together: “God has led me the right way! This is my wife, the mother of my children!”
And you can be sure that for the next seven years that Jacob and Rachel dreamed together, planned together, and spoke often of the certainty of God’s blessing on their lives. It was all part of God’s miraculous plan. After all, Jacob was the son of a miracle and the grandson of the father of faith, Abraham. What could possibly go wrong?
Was there anything that he hadn’t told her?
You can be sure that God had seen Jacob deceive his Isaac by pretending to be Esau in order to steal his birthright. And what a man sows is what a man reaps. And the truth is, when Jacob looked at his Uncle Laban, he was looking in a mirror at himself. What Jacob had done to Esau, Laban was fixing to do to Jacob.
And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. 21And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. 22And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 23And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her. ~ Genesis 29:20-23
I believe Laban had this planned for some time and that Leah was probably informed of the switch. Not that she was guilty, she was a victim herself. But I bet you she was more than a little tired of all the talk of Rachel and Jacob this and Rachel and Jacob that. And I bet there was a smug and a smile that came on her face when she realized what was fixing to happen.
And I bet Rachel was devastated. “What! You’ve got to be kidding? He loves me, not Leah . . . THIS AIN’T RIGHT!! NOOOOOO . . .”
A river of tears must have flowed that night with an undercurrent of torturous thoughts of Leah with Jacob. During the seven years he had worked for her,time had flown because of their mutual love for each other. Now it was as if time was suspended because of anguish of heart, a nightmare on Laban Street.
And so begins the diary of a sad barren woman.
When Jacob met Rachel he was full of the promise of God, a man on a divine appointment with destiny.
1. He had clear direction from his father Isaac: “Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.”
2. He was blessed by his father: “And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people.”
3. He had a God given dream and a direct word from God: “And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.”
You can be sure that this word from the Lord produced faith in Jacob. You can be sure that, having the spirit of faith, he spoke it. And you can be sure the when he saw Rachel that he put the two together: “God has led me the right way! This is my wife, the mother of my children!”
And you can be sure that for the next seven years that Jacob and Rachel dreamed together, planned together, and spoke often of the certainty of God’s blessing on their lives. It was all part of God’s miraculous plan. After all, Jacob was the son of a miracle and the grandson of the father of faith, Abraham. What could possibly go wrong?
Was there anything that he hadn’t told her?
You can be sure that God had seen Jacob deceive his Isaac by pretending to be Esau in order to steal his birthright. And what a man sows is what a man reaps. And the truth is, when Jacob looked at his Uncle Laban, he was looking in a mirror at himself. What Jacob had done to Esau, Laban was fixing to do to Jacob.
And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. 21And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. 22And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 23And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her. ~ Genesis 29:20-23
I believe Laban had this planned for some time and that Leah was probably informed of the switch. Not that she was guilty, she was a victim herself. But I bet you she was more than a little tired of all the talk of Rachel and Jacob this and Rachel and Jacob that. And I bet there was a smug and a smile that came on her face when she realized what was fixing to happen.
And I bet Rachel was devastated. “What! You’ve got to be kidding? He loves me, not Leah . . . THIS AIN’T RIGHT!! NOOOOOO . . .”
A river of tears must have flowed that night with an undercurrent of torturous thoughts of Leah with Jacob. During the seven years he had worked for her,time had flown because of their mutual love for each other. Now it was as if time was suspended because of anguish of heart, a nightmare on Laban Street.
And so begins the diary of a sad barren woman.
Monday, March 15, 2010
GET THE BABY ROOM READY
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. ~Isaiah 54:1
To learn what barren means, you need not look any further than Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah. Here you will find that it means to be married to a promise, yet unable to produce, unable to put down roots. And in case the barren needs any further proof of their impotency, they are subjected to the horror of watching their promise prosper in the bosom of their rival’s, Hagar, Leah, and Peninnah.
To be barren is to be desolate, which means: “to be deserted, to be deflowered, to be awestruck.” It is the feeling of, “How can this be happening to me.” The exact feeling Tamar felt when she was raped by her half brother Amnon: “So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house” (2 Samuel 13:20). It also means to be a widow, but in the sense of “dead woman walking.” In other words, Hannah had to watch all of Peninnahs’ kids run around and call Elkanah daddy, all the while her womb was dead.
But her heart wasn’t dead. And in that heart lived a promise that refused to die and in that heart lived a new found strength that relied on God and God alone.
God had her right where he wanted her: “With God all things are possible.”
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. ~Isaiah 54:2-3
This is the word of the Lord: Get the baby room ready, there’s an Isaac coming, there’s a Joseph coming. Get ready! Samuel is on the way: Not one good word of his promise will fail you!
To learn what barren means, you need not look any further than Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah. Here you will find that it means to be married to a promise, yet unable to produce, unable to put down roots. And in case the barren needs any further proof of their impotency, they are subjected to the horror of watching their promise prosper in the bosom of their rival’s, Hagar, Leah, and Peninnah.
To be barren is to be desolate, which means: “to be deserted, to be deflowered, to be awestruck.” It is the feeling of, “How can this be happening to me.” The exact feeling Tamar felt when she was raped by her half brother Amnon: “So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house” (2 Samuel 13:20). It also means to be a widow, but in the sense of “dead woman walking.” In other words, Hannah had to watch all of Peninnahs’ kids run around and call Elkanah daddy, all the while her womb was dead.
But her heart wasn’t dead. And in that heart lived a promise that refused to die and in that heart lived a new found strength that relied on God and God alone.
God had her right where he wanted her: “With God all things are possible.”
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. ~Isaiah 54:2-3
This is the word of the Lord: Get the baby room ready, there’s an Isaac coming, there’s a Joseph coming. Get ready! Samuel is on the way: Not one good word of his promise will fail you!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
INVESTORS PARADISE
Her princes within are roaring lions. ~ Zephaniah 3:3
Mike Murdock recently stated that “the next two years will be an investor’s paradise.” I hope he got that through a praying heart instead of a preying heart. I hope that he is not implying for the rich to take advantage of the poor, those who are set to lose their houses and land because of the economic downfall in America with its loss of jobs.
Or maybe he is encouraging the rich to invest in the poor, to give abundantly towards their debt. Maybe give a $58,000 seed faith offering to a struggling widow who is getting further and further behind due to rising utilities and medical bills. Then they would get 58 million dollars back and then they could give that to the poor and soon they would have all the money in the world!
Reckon?
Mike Murdock recently stated that “the next two years will be an investor’s paradise.” I hope he got that through a praying heart instead of a preying heart. I hope that he is not implying for the rich to take advantage of the poor, those who are set to lose their houses and land because of the economic downfall in America with its loss of jobs.
Or maybe he is encouraging the rich to invest in the poor, to give abundantly towards their debt. Maybe give a $58,000 seed faith offering to a struggling widow who is getting further and further behind due to rising utilities and medical bills. Then they would get 58 million dollars back and then they could give that to the poor and soon they would have all the money in the world!
Reckon?
Monday, March 1, 2010
THE PRODICAL SON--BEHIND THE SCENES
A certain father had two sons. Adam, the younger son, was created from the dust of the earth and placed in the Garden of Eden with permission to eat of all the trees there except for one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was told explicitly: “If you eat of this tree you will surly die.”
One day Adam said in his heart, “My wife has already eaten of this tree. She’s not dead, matter of fact she says it is good . . . and I can’t live without her.” And so he ate and immediately died. Just like God said he would. Just like a flower that is cut and placed in a vase with water. Separated from its root, it is dead, even though it is still green for the moment.
And so the father watched as His youngest son lived in the pigpen of his choice, where there were murders and rapes and adulteries and drunkenness. Soon his heart was filled with adultery, hate, and fear. Anger became his way of living and one day he murdered another man and was sentenced to death. He was lost and undone, blind and crippled.
And unable to come back to the Father on his own.
But there was another Son, Emanuel, an elder brother who was from everlasting to everlasting. This Son was always with the Father and all things the Father had was His. He was one with the Father, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He was a life giving Spirit, before all things and creator of all things. And because the Father so loved the youngest son, he sent Emanuel to the pigpen to talk some sense into the younger son, Adam:
“Adam, be washed from your filth and be clean. You must leave this place and return to your Father.”
“But I don’t know the way.”
“I am the way, the truth and the life,” Emanuel said. “It is only by me that you can return home to your Father.”
“But I’m guilty of murder . . . and I’m bankrupt . . . and I smell like a pig . . .”
“I will die in your place, but you must leave at once and never come back. You will find your Father waiting for you with open arms and a change of clothes . . . and clean water. Tell him that I will be home in three days.”
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ~John 14:6
One day Adam said in his heart, “My wife has already eaten of this tree. She’s not dead, matter of fact she says it is good . . . and I can’t live without her.” And so he ate and immediately died. Just like God said he would. Just like a flower that is cut and placed in a vase with water. Separated from its root, it is dead, even though it is still green for the moment.
And so the father watched as His youngest son lived in the pigpen of his choice, where there were murders and rapes and adulteries and drunkenness. Soon his heart was filled with adultery, hate, and fear. Anger became his way of living and one day he murdered another man and was sentenced to death. He was lost and undone, blind and crippled.
And unable to come back to the Father on his own.
But there was another Son, Emanuel, an elder brother who was from everlasting to everlasting. This Son was always with the Father and all things the Father had was His. He was one with the Father, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He was a life giving Spirit, before all things and creator of all things. And because the Father so loved the youngest son, he sent Emanuel to the pigpen to talk some sense into the younger son, Adam:
“Adam, be washed from your filth and be clean. You must leave this place and return to your Father.”
“But I don’t know the way.”
“I am the way, the truth and the life,” Emanuel said. “It is only by me that you can return home to your Father.”
“But I’m guilty of murder . . . and I’m bankrupt . . . and I smell like a pig . . .”
“I will die in your place, but you must leave at once and never come back. You will find your Father waiting for you with open arms and a change of clothes . . . and clean water. Tell him that I will be home in three days.”
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ~John 14:6
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
