“When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night.”
Are you ready for this?
Here in Lancaster, PA it’s 34°, there is a chance of snow in the forecast, and we are staring down Covid Semester III.
This is daunting and wearing. None of us signed up for this, but here we are anyway!
Masks are ubiquitous. Covering the face has become (for now) a part of our daily routine. We get that. But don’t you miss seeing the full face? So much is communicated with pursed lips, a smile . . . or a frown. This virus has robbed us of that joy; leaving in its place the kind of tension those surprised by “masked men” must have felt.
Gone is the easy movement of life in general, and college life in particular. I don’t like that. I want my normal back! How about you?
It’s easy to get frustrated by this; to join the doom and gloom chorus performing daily across our country. Then I read Genesis 30, and take renewed hope that in the midst of the craziness, God IS in control.
Let’s title Genesis 30, “The Baby Wars.” In this sad and comical sliver of Israel’s history sisters Rachel and Leah strive to build their identity (and win the affection of Jacob, their husband), by outdoing one another in having children, male heirs to be exact.
The climactic low point for me is verse sixteen. Leah barters mandrakes for sex. It’s plain and simple. Leah’s son, Reuben, finds some mandrakes in the field during wheat harvest and brings them home. Rachel notices what must have been to her a tasty treat, and offers her a deal — I’ll let you sleep with Jacob tonight if you let me have those roots.
Can someone point these girls to the nearest therapist!
The deal is struck! When Jacob arrives home, Leah, wearing no mask and displaying all the sisterly one-ups-man-ship she can muster, directs hubby to her tent.
And she conceives!
I have a tendency to forget this moment. The biblical narrative moves on and so do I, to the twelve tribes of Israel, to those blessed by God with the promise and with miracle after miracle in their storied history.
As I read this passage this morning, it was a fresh reminder that the Divine trumps the dysfunction. It is the beauty of God, of walking with God, that there is nothing in our lives over which He is not sovereign and able to transform.
He even turns dysfunction into good. This includes a Covid Semester, a Covid loss, or any Covid-related challenge you will face.
Nope, I do not take delight in another COVID Semester, but I do take great delight and CONFIDENCE in God‘s ability to work in and through it!
Let’s go!