Day 10 - Are we ever satisfied?

GENESIS 28:6-30:24

This part of Genesis has really got me thinking. Are we ever satisfied with our lives or are we always looking for more, for better, for greater? Are we rushing into what we want instead of waiting on what God has in His plan for us? Are we selfish and never satisfied with anything in life? Jacob had a heart for one woman, Rachel. Even when given her sister, he still loved Rachel and wanted her as his wife. Seven years is a long time to wait, and I think Jacob really did grow to love Rachel during those years, but why did he marry Leah anyways? Why didn't he attempt other options? Are we just like Jacob in life? Are we ever satisfied? Are we ever willing to ask God what He wants in our lives and wait for His answer before making a mess? Are we willing to lay down our selfishness in order to make sure that the ones that love us know they are loved?

Leah really seemed to love Jacob from the start. You almost can feel her longing for him to love her back. She went along with her father but found very little satisfaction in the husband she had gained by deceit. Tricking someone into marriage is dangerous, but is still being done today. Some women try to buy a man with sex, or trap him with a baby, or by being someone they know they are not. On the other hand, men may also trap women by promising wealth, or trick a woman by pretending to be something he is not, hiding his faults until after the ceremony. It may not take any longer than the honeymoon for his wife to discover that she married a monster she never really knew. The consequences of deception are usually painful. So here we have the first record of people entering into a bigamous relationship. It was not God’s perfect will. God made one woman for one man. Although Jacob was tricked, I believe there were alternatives. Why didn't he reject Leah? Why didn't Jacob just accept his marriage to Leah as the will of God for his life and learned to love her alone? Jacob’s father accepted the consequences of his deceit when he impersonated his brother Esau and stole the family blessing. We later learn that Isaac was commended for it in the New Testament. Maybe Jacob would have been commended for accepting these consequences from the sovereign hand of God had he exercised that degree of faith. Leah, not Rachel, was the mother of Judah, through whom the Savior would ultimately come (Gen. 29:35). Jacob was not willing to believe that God was in control of these circumstances. Although we know He always is in control! He was going to have what he wanted in spite of God’s will. The events that follow should be evidence enough that bigamy was never part of God’s plan for the human race. Rachel really started to become upset. She began envying her sister and not living the life that God wanted for her... she wanted the life she thought that she should have! She wanted to die because she was not the one providing children for Jacob, instead it was Leah who had given him children... and not just one, many!

The sin of discontentment has ruined countless relationships. There are couples that get angry with God for not giving them children, while others who do have children look forward to the day when the kids will be grown and gone. As happy I am as a homemaker I am guilty to having said many times how nice it would be to have a job. While there are many moms and working wives that want to be full-time homemakers. Christians are dissatisfied with the places where they live, their jobs, money, and the houses they live in. Something else always looks better. How many wives do you know that are always discontent with their husbands? They whine and scold because the men don’t pay enough attention to them, don’t spend enough time with the children, won’t do little jobs around the house, work too many hours, focus more on their hobbies, television, or sports than they think of them. Many husbands are discontented with their wives, criticize them for the way they dress, the way they fix their hair, the way they cook, the way they keep house, or the way they treat the children. No matter how hard some wives try, they can never please their husbands. When we can recognize the presence of discontentment in our lives and acknowledge it as sin, we can seek God’s grace to overcome it and find new joy in living. Why is it so hard to be happy with the man or woman that we said I do to? Why is it the beginning of our relationship is so full of compliments, love, lust, and desire and through out the years we ask what were we thinking? God made a wife with the need to rest secure in her husband’s love at all times. He made a husband with a desire to not just be loved, but to be respected and adored! Do you think that when Jacob lay with these other women that Rachel felt the love that she should have? Do you think she believed he loved her at all? Rachel died during child birth of their second son, leaving Jacob to be with her sister who she envied her entire life! Jacob never recovered from this. He loved her to the end of his life. But what good did it do her? She could not fully enjoy his love. The discontentment kept her from enjoying anything totally, and it kept others from enjoying her. It isolated her to loneliness. My challenge today for myself is this: take a look at my life and all the things I complain about, look at them closely and realize that for every single thing that I am complaining about, there is God's hand in that! What I mean by this is for everything that I find wrong in my life, for everything I fail at, for everything I don't like, for everything I do and don't feel rewarded for - I have to STOP! I have to look around me and I have to thank God for every blessing He has given me to even complain about. He has given me a man who I not only respect, but that I do adore, 4 wonderful children, parents that love me, siblings that are dear to me, and friends that treasure God and the gifts we are given! Take today as a day to Thank God for every blessing you have. Take today to let go of the negative thoughts, feelings, emotions, and baggage in your life and lift each of them up to our father and ask Him to bring the positive to light and to show you what it means to be truly satisfied!

Very Respectfully,
Leslie

But godliness actually is means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment - 1 Timothy 6:6