Consequences of Falling Short of Obedience

 


Recently, in preparation for a women’s Bible study that I lead, I looked at the life of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob and Leah.  Dinah’s story is confined to one verse announcing her birth in Genesis 30 and then the entire chapter of Genesis 34.  It’s not a happy, feel-good story. 

Dinah, who was probably just a teenager at the time, went out to visit some of the women in her new city.  Instead of making friends, she was raped by the son of the town’s leader.  Then, in a strange turn of events, he professed his undying love for her and bargained with her family for the right to marry her.  Ultimately, two of her brothers avenged her by not only killing the perpetrator but also all the men in the town.  That’s the last we have heard of Dinah.

If you dig a little deeper into the back story, you find some interesting details that lead up to this horrible event.  Back in Genesis 29, her father, Jacob, meets God at a place called Bethel and vows that the Lord will be his God.  In chapter 31, as Jacob prepares to leave his father-in-law, God told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers.  Jacob acknowledged that God was the God of Bethel. 

After dealing with his father-in-law who had chased after him and then risked a potentially unpleasant reunion with his brother, Esau, Jacob decided to settle in the city of Shechem.  Maybe he and his family were exhausted or maybe Shechem just looked like a good place for his family to live.  We don’t know why he stopped there but this wasn’t just a stopping place.  Jacob made this city his home.  He began putting down roots by purchasing land there.  At first glance, that doesn’t seem like a big deal.  The problem was that Shechem was not Bethel, and he stopped only thirty-one miles from Bethel!

To be fair, with his large family and livestock, it would have probably taken another five to seven days to reach Bethel.  I’m sure that they were all emotionally and physically drained, but still, Bethel was the destination that God had chosen for him.  God made that clear later.

I wonder if Jacob ever regretted that decision to stop 31 miles short of his destination.  Did he ever feel guilty for what happened to Dinah?  Did he try to rationalize his part in the story by blaming others?  We don’t know.  We do know that he never forgave his two sons for their bloody vengeance, even condemning them on his deathbed, in Genesis 45. When he stopped at Shechem, did he think “this is close enough, God will understand”? 

I’m not saying that God caused the attack because Jacob disobeyed.  However, I do think that God sometimes allows us to suffer the consequences of our disobedience, and unfortunately, others often get caught in the crossfire. 

When was the last time God prompted you to go that next mile or two or 31?  Did you follow through, or did you stop short of the goal?  In chapter 35 after the story of Dinah, God told Jacob again to go to Bethel, so He didn’t give up on him, and He won’t give up on you.

Where is God leading you today?  Don’t be too lazy to follow.  The blessings of obedience will far outweigh the consequences of disobedience. I’m on my sunporch, doing my best to live in obedience to my Father.

Proverbs 4:11

 

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