A Lesson from the Patriarchs

Our church provides a Bible reading calendar each year. Right now we are reading through Genesis, specifically the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Today it got me to thinking about how each of them (and their wives) took matters into his own hands instead of waiting for God's plan to come to pass. Abraham listened to Sarah and took Hagar as his wife to bear seed, rather than wait for God's promised offspring through Sarah. We still see the consequences of their action today in the Israeli-Arab conflict. Later Abraham took another wife (after Sarah's death) and had more sons, including the father of the Midianites, one of Israel's enemies in the book of Judges. The Bible merely states the facts about this, without mentioning whether this was OK with God or not, but it did cause more trouble for Isaac's descendants. Isaac and Rebekah each had a favorite son. God had told Rebekah before their twins were born that the older would serve the younger. Rather than trust God, Rebekah convinced Jacob to resort to deceit in order to gain his father's blessing and thus secure the higher place. This resulted in Esau's anger, Jacob being forced to leave to save his life, and Rebekah never seeing Jacob again. Jacob spent many years away from the land of promise, serving his uncle who deceived him by giving him Leah first, and changed his wages ten times. Jacob married four wives, causing a lot of trouble in his household. Rachel envied her sister's fruitfulness, and went so far as to ask for mandrakes found by Leah's son in an attempt to conceive a child (part of a superstitious belief) rather than pray and trust God to open her womb. Later she stole her father's household idols. Rather than trust God for protection, Jacob took all he had and sneaked away from Laban's house while Laban was busy elsewhere.

These events were very convicting as I had to ask myself how many times I have run ahead of God, thinking I knew better than Him and taking matters into my own hands rather than waiting for Him to work. Too many!

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts."
(Isaiah 55:8-9)

"Show me Thy ways, O LORD; teach me Thy paths.
Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me;
for Thou art the God of my salvation;
on Thee do I wait all the day."
(Psalm 25:4-5)