READING FOR MAY 14, 2024: GENESIS 30, 2 CORINTIANS 12, PSALM 41:1-4 GENESIS 30 How do we know if we are doing well in life? Perhaps we compare our possessions, our family, our career, or even our health with others to make that judgment. It is hard to avoid. In this chapter we see sisters Rachel and Leah keep trying to get an advantage over each other, principally in the number of sons they could claim. The very first verse states the reason Rachel wanted to have children was because she was jealous of Leah. In verse 8, Rachel was happy not because her servant had a child with her husband (which we find a strange practice today); she was happy that she prevailed over her sister. Likewise in verse 13 Leah was happy not because her servant also had a child with Jacob; she was happy that other women would be impressed.
In the tradition of Jacob and Esau earlier and sports teams today, Rachel and Leah make a deal in order to get the competitive advantage. Rachel acquires mandrakes (roots that may have been thought to increase fertility) in exchange for Leah getting a night with Jacob, likely to increase her child count. Leah does in fact conceive, although she attributes this to God blessing her for her giving her maid to Jacob (vs.18). We must be cautious when claiming that God’s blessings result from a specific action. This is a danger of prosperity theology. Leah conceives again and identifies the benefit of this child is that Jacob will acknowledge her. When Rachel then gives birth to Joseph, her joy is not in the child but because her personal disgrace is removed. Both women seem preoccupied by getting the advantage and being considered valuable by others. Before we judge too harshly, ask if we are the same.
Obviously, this is a problem only for women. WRONG! Laban and Jacob keep score based on the number and quality of their livestock. Laban does not want Jacob to leave, not because he is fond of his daughters and son-in-law, but because he thinks he is wealthier due to God’s blessings on Jacob. By the way, he believes this through divination, a practice forbidden throughout the Bible (e.g., Duet. 18:10, Jer. 14:14, Acts 16:16). Jacob negotiates his release with a deal that, through his knowledge of animal breeding, leaves him with the largest and healthiest herd possible, at the expense of his father-in-law. Where is the golden rule and the rest of Jesus’s teaching in all of this? Where is it today in how all of us act?
Amazingly, God was able to take these self-centered actions to microwave a nation out of which came the Savior of the world. All persons were still accountable to God for their selfish actions (Rom. 14:14), but God was able to use them for His Kingdom: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive” (Gen. 50:20). He is doing this again, even in our current messy world. HAVE HOPE.
READING FOR MAY 14 CONTINUED: 2 CORINTHIANS 12, PSALM 41:1-4 2 CORINTHIANS 12 Paul returns to validating his apostleship and seeking a fruitful relationship with the Corinthians. If this were the situation between a pastor and a modern-day church, probably the pastor would leave, or all the congregants would leave. Paul chooses to keep working through these difficulties. Maybe we give up too quickly these days when there are so many choices available.
This next section is perhaps intentionally indirect. Paul talks about a believer who experienced the third heaven, possibly above the sun (first) and the stars (second). He said it was so incredible that the words spoken there were unable to be uttered on earth. Also, he was not sure if this believer was there in person or experienced a vision of heaven. Then in verse 7 he said because he, Paul, experienced such an extraordinary vision, he was given a thorn in the flesh to keep him from getting conceited. At this point, it seems that Paul was the person who had the vision of heaven.
Notice some similarity with Job’s story. Satan’s messenger provided the torment, but it was with God’s permission for an ultimately godly purpose. Paul, as did Job, prayed for relief. In this case the answer was the sufficiency of God’s grace to withstand the pain and knowledge that God’s power was perfected in Paul’s weakness. Might this ever be the case in our lives? It is not the result we usually desire, but Paul says he can honestly delight in weakness on behalf of God. Perhaps we should consider this as a possibility when we are in distress.
Paul gives helpful information about discerning apostles’ identity: those who consistently perform signs, wonders and miracles in our presence. In certain circles many people claim this role today. Check them against this rubric. Paul, again somewhat sarcastically, then defends his ministry by saying, even though it is proper, he has not been and will not be a financial burden to them. It seems to him that the more he loved them and gave of himself the less he is loved by them. Yet, he stresses he is not concerned about this. His main worry is that they have not descended into the kind of sinful lifestyle they practiced before. Let’s not disappoint our Lord by practicing the kind of lifestyle described by Paul in verses 20-21.
PSALM 41:1-4 In these first verses David states the general principle that those who consider the helpless are blessed. He implies that the considerate person will also experience days of trouble, illness, and opposition like all of us, but that the Lord will sustain and restore this person, who will be called blessed. Think back to Matthew 25:38-40: “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’”
