United Against A Common Enemy
As we continue our look at various women in the Bible, we come to Rachel and Leah, the wives of Jacob. These ladies are another example of sibling rivalry helped along by parental trickery.
Jacob
loved Rachel and worked for seven years to win her hand in marriage. Unfortunately for him, Leah was the older
sister, and it was their custom that the older daughter must be wed first. The girls’ father, Laban, tricked Jacob into
marrying Leah and then demanded that he work another seven years to win Rachel’s
hand as well. The result was an intense
rivalry between the girls for their husband’s love.
Rachel was
the love of Jacob’s life, but it was Leah who was blessed with the sons that he
desired. After the birth of four sons,
Rachel, who was still childless, became jealous of her sister. The rivalry became so intense that they each
offered their servants to their husband so that they could continue to provide
children for him.
Meanwhile,
Jacob’s flocks increased, and his father-in-law began to look less kindly on
him. Jacob was aware of Laban’s attitude
change, and at the same time, the Lord instructed Jacob to return to the land
of his fathers. The only question was
how his bickering wives would react to his abandonment of their father and
family.
Probably
to Jacob’s surprise, for once his wives agreed.
Their father had taken what was theirs, and it was time to move on. Together, they encouraged Jacob to “do
whatever God has told you” (Genesis 31: 16b).
They were finally united against a common enemy.
With all
the animosity, hatred, and rivalry in our world today, we have forgotten that
we also have a common enemy. Our enemy
is not the government, or Republicans, or Democrats, or gangs, or the
progressives, or the conservatives. Our
enemy is Satan! He is a “roaring lion”
(I Peter 5: 8) and “masquerades as an angel of light” (II Corinthians 11: 14). Paul says it best in Ephesians 6.
“For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6: 12 NIV84).
We may
disagree with much of what the world promotes today, and we may dislike the
words that many proclaim as truth, but each one of those people is loved by God
who “wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I
Timothy 2: 4 NIV84). Our job is not
to change people’s minds but to change people’s hearts!
I think it’s
time that Christians put aside our disagreements about worldly things and join
together against our common enemy. Satan
is doomed for eternity in hell and desires to take as many souls with him as
possible. Our one job is to stop him by
turning hearts toward Christ. Like
Rachel and Leah, let’s put aside our rivalries and focus on doing what God has
told us to do.
Ephesians
6: 10 - 18
Matthew
28: 18 - 20
Good read and so very true. Our nation is more divided than I can remember. People are accepting things that are blatantly wrong and acting like there’s nothing wrong with it - even promoting it. I pray this world will get better for my grandchildren.
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