Genesis 35 - Loss and Blessing

So often we Christians look to our times of ease and say that God is blessing our lives and to times of hardship as trials. In Genesis 35 we see how God more often works, mixing the two.

As we enter the chapter, there is no doubt that Jacob and his family need to flee for their lives after his sons slayed the men of the region. God comes to Jacob and gives him direction to leave. Jacob then does one of the smartest things he has ever done - he gets rid of idols in his household.

Just an aside here. Jacob was addressing the root cause of the chaos. The entire house was not serving God fully. There may have been some half hearted service but idols were allowed to coexist. If you have chaos in your life consider the idols that may be present. They aren't hard to find. They are those people, things or activities that keep us from single minded service to The Lord. Address them and turn completely to The Lord.

Jacob buried the idols and set out to Bethel to build an altar. God kept the people of the land from pursuing them. The terror of God came on them.

Interesting that God brings Jacob back to the place where he deviated from the plan; to the place where he lied to his brother and did not come with him. By the end of the chapter you see returned to his father and his brother.

God reminds Jacob that the promises of Abraham are to come through his descendants and that it would be these offspring that would inherit the land of promise. Jacob worships The Lord and moves on from Bethel. What a time of joy and comfort that must have been for him after the rape of Dinah and the slaughter that ensued.

Three deaths occur in this chapter. Deborah the nurse of Rachel. Rachel dies in childbirth and Isaac dies. Even though God comes and speaks directly with Jacob, he is not spared suffering of loss. So much drama was taking place in his life .

Even his oldest son betrays him by sleeping with Rachel's servant Bilhah the mother of Jacob's sons Dan and Naphtali. It is hard to imagine a time of greater sorrow.

One special blessing was the birth of Benjamin. In the midst of great sorrow I am sure he was a comfort to his father.

More often than not drama continues to play out in the life of the Christian even when or perhaps especially when we redirect our attention to serving God. The real question is will you and I keep our focus on The Lord even in the midst of drama or will we use the drama as an excuse to return to selfish living? The way we spend our time, our talents and our money reveals our true motives.

I hope your days are a little less dramatic than Jacob's, but even if they are please know that even difficult times can be used by God to strengthen our faith and to bring Him glory.

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him today.