Genesis 35-37

I’m very thankful our parents raised us girls without giving us reason for sibling rivalry. I think all five of us felt equally loved and special. And, even though our dad would joke that he had four “good” girls, neither parent treated us like they had a favorite.

Not so Jacob. He obviously favored Joseph, and his other eleven sons knew it. Jacob’s special treatment of Joseph stirred up jealously, then hatred toward their brother. And in the end, Jacob spent years mourning what he believed to be the death of his favorite son.

I pray for every parent reading these chapters today in Genesis. Often, because of personalities, a parent might find one child a little easier than another. But that child needs discipline as much, if not more so, than the child who is more of a challenge. And that difficult child needs affection and attention and affirmation much more than the easy child.

Do your kids know who your favorite is? Remember how that knowledge turned out for Jacob and his family.

Genesis 30-31

I have to admit I don’t like Jacob very much. First he deceived Esau. He wasn’t very sensitive to his wives. He did the white-rod-thing so his animals would give birth to striped ones, had the strong ones mate with his and the weak with Laban’s animals.

Then he sneaked off at night like the coward he was. He was a liar and a cheat.

Yet God blessed him.

But this morning I am aware that God’s blessings weren’t given to Jacob as a reward for good behavior. God’s blessings were given because God is who He says He is!

And it’s no different today. I am glad God continues to bless His people even when we fail Him. I’m thankful He blesses me, as weak as I often am. I don’t deserve a portion of what He has given me.

Every good and perfect gift comes from our God who is good.

Genesis 27-29

Leah makes me sad. I mean, who wants to be married to a man who obviously loves someone else? I wonder what the conversation between Leah and her dad was like the night she was given to Jacob in place of her little sister? Did Leah take part in the deception willingly? How must she have felt when her new husband woke up the next morning and was disappointed to see her?

But Leah must have believed she could make Jacob love her, perhaps even forget Rachael. The names Leah gave her first four sons tell a story:

1. Now my husband will love me.

2. God knows I’m unloved.

3. At least my husband will be attached to me.

But her fourth son tells another story:

4. This time I will praise the Lord.

It took her a while, but Leah finally came to the realization that her relationship with God trumped everything else.

My take-away today is to praise God in every circumstance. Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks.

I don’t want it to take as long for me as it did for Leah to realize just how loved I really am. I am blessed. Praise God.

Genesis 25-26

Esau was starving. At least he was very, very hungry. And the stew his brother Jacob had made smelled good. So for a little food, Esau gave up his right as Isaac’s firstborn son.

Just like that.

I wonder how often I have made a snap decision in the middle of circumstances I felt was hopeless. I’m caught up in the “woe is me” feeling of the moment and I do or say something I wouldn’t do ten minutes later.

I wonder how many of God’s blessings I have missed because of my careless decisions. I want to learn from Esau. I want to take a step back, give it some time, pray about it before I do something I’ll end up regretting the rest of my life.