Reading Rachel

UPDATE: Oops! Girls, I left GENESIS 30:1-24 off the online reading selection posted yesterday - and it will be key to the discussion this afternoon, so be sure you read it if you used the online link. I've linked it here, and added it below. (Thanks, Ann.)

We left off last week with Rebekah carrying out her deceptive plot to have her youngest and favorite son receive the blessing that tradition and her husband would have given to her eldest. This results in the lineage of Jesus coming down through Jacob rather than Esau.

Part of the intrigue of the Bible is frequently it doesn’t give us all the details… explain all the motives… or provide all the answers. It can leaves us pondering and questioning – and hopefully trusting God nonetheless. Although it was God’s will for Jacob rather than Esau to get the blessing and birthright, God did not force or even persuade Rebekah to deceive anyone or do anything immoral. That was her choice, her actions.

Every woman has the God-given ability to choose what she will or will not do - theologians call this having "free will." We might expect God to only use women's moral actions, but the reality is God also uses the immoral actions of women (and men) to advance His ultimate will. Reread that sentence a time or two.

Realizing that fact can help us understand history, the Bible, and the future. It can also help us understand how God works in our lives. As followers of Christ, we can make wrong decisions (selfish, controlling, or impatient decisions for example), and God can still bring about His will in our lives. But make no mistake about it - those decisions will cost us in terms of time, stress, heart ache, and/or our relationships. Just as it did for Eve, Sarah and Rebekah.

Better to pray and wait for God to open the doors than for us to beat them down and storm through them. Abiding in Him, His Word and prayer - as we are doing together these 6 weeks - will help us discern when to wait, and when to take action and walk in what He has prepared for us.

Switching gears now ... One hot July day in the early 1970s, an 8 lb. 2oz. baby girl came into this world, nameless. Her parents had discussed names but hadn't settled on one. Her mother thought perhaps “Leah” or “Leigh Ann.” But when her father held her in his arms for the first time, he looked into her face and said, “Well, I think she is pretty enough to be named Rachel.” And so I was. Named Rachel that is. I think the “pretty enough” designation is still up for debate.

Today we’re reading my namesake – Rachel. Her story spans from Genesis 28 to the end of Genesis 35. If you’re up for it, you can read all six of those chapters. You’ll learn about what happens to Rebekah’s sons Jacob and Esau along the way. Or...

**To read just the portions that deal directly with Rachel, click here to read her selected readings online. (Gen. 28:10-17, Gen. 29:1-24, Gen. 30:1-24, Gen 31:3-20, 25-35, 43-55, Gen. 35:1-20)

Post your “I did it” here once you’ve finished, and if you’re willing, also tell us where you live – your country or your state.

PS. Some of you asked what the women’s names mean. Eve’s name means “Life Giving Mother.” Sarah’s name means “Princess.” Rebekah’s name means “Loop” or “Tie.” And Rachel’s name means “Little Lamb” and you’ll see in the reading that she was a shepherd.