Shechem then spoke
for himself, addressing Dinah’s father and brothers: "Please, say yes.
I’ll pay anything. Set the bridal price as high as you will—the sky’s
the limit! Only give me this girl for my wife."

Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their
sister, after all, had been raped. They said, "This is impossible. We
could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d
be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if
all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange
daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become
one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we
will take our sister and leave."

That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem. Genesis 33:11-18 (TM)

Lust and infatuation will make you do silly, stupid things. [ouch] No wonder they call it love "sick".

Shechem then spoke
for himself, addressing Dinah’s father and brothers: "Please, say yes.
I’ll pay anything. Set the bridal price as high as you will—the sky’s
the limit! Only give me this girl for my wife."

Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their
sister, after all, had been raped. They said, "This is impossible. We
could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d
be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if
all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange
daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become
one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we
will take our sister and leave."

That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem. Genesis 33:11-18 (TM)

Lust and infatuation will make you do silly, stupid things. [ouch] No wonder they call it love "sick".

The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on
it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come
through." Genesis 32:28 (TM)

I feel myself wrestling with God, too. Every relationship has its’ struggles. God sometimes eludes me. He slips through and escapes my grasp no matter how hard I try to hang on. At other times I feel Him driving me to the mat – in complete control, and I’m powerless to alter it no matter how hard I try to escape. There are times when I feel on top of things and have my arms wrapped around God – but I know that it’s momentary. He’s too good a wrestler to let me control things too long.

There are lessons in winning, and there are lessons in losing, but sometimes the most important lesson is in the struggle.

When Rachel realized that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she
became jealous of her sister. She told Jacob, "Give me sons or I’ll
die!" Genesis 30:1 (TM)

Many people dismiss the Old Testament or ignore it – but I constancltyReading the Old Testament constantly shows me that while cultures have changed, traditions have changed, and times have changed – human nature has not changed. Rachel was feeling the biological clock and the female jealousy that are just as real today. I’ve seen it. That’s why the truth of scripture will never grow old or be outdated. The Bible is a story of human nature – sin nature – and God’s redemptive work. That story is just as real today as it was for Jacob, Rachel, and Leah.

Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife; I’ve completed what we
agreed I’d do. I’m ready to consummate my marriage." Laban invited
everyone around and threw a big feast. At evening, though, he got his
daughter Leah and brought her to the marriage bed, and Jacob slept with
her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.) Genesis 29:21-24 (TM)

Let’s see, so far in Genesis we’ve seen…
Abraham (father) deceive Pharaoh & Abimelech
Isaac (son) deceive Abimelech
Jacob (grandson) decieve Esau (grandson)
Rebekah (grandaughter-in-law) & Jacob (grandson) deceive Isaac (son)
Laban (Rebekah’s brother) deceive Jacob (grandson)

Hmmmm…do you think there’s a behavioral pattern in this family? Isn’t it amazing how certain behaviors and sins flow down through the generations? It almost makes you feel doomed to repeat it. It’s like you’re stuck in this pattern that you didn’t create but you’re powerless to change.

That’s when I remember these words from Romans 7:17-25 (TM):

"But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t
keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best
intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it
takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I
don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My
decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has
gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It
happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do
good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands,
but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts
of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take
charge.

I’ve
tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there
no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

The
answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set
things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God
with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do
something totally different."

When Esau realized how deeply his father Isaac disliked the Canaanite
women, he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath the sister of Nebaioth
and daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. This was in addition to the
wives he already had. Genesis 28:8-9 (TM)

Anger and bitterness cause us to do stupid things.

Stop it.

Isaac built an altar there and prayed, calling on God by name. Genesis 26:25a (TM)

It wasn’t until Isaac knew God – until he was formally introduced (vs. 24) – that Isaac was able to worship God personally and to call on God by name. There are people I know for whom God is an impersonal pronoun – it’s a vague, general sense of diety out there. How awesome to have a personal relationship with Jesus – to know Him and to be known by Him. Like Paul, I can say:

I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. 2 Timothy 1:12 (NIV)

"Then I’ll know that you’re working graciously behind the scenes for my master." Genesis 24:14 (TM)

I love the way Abraham’s servant worded his prayer. Shakespeare said that, "All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players." If that is true – and I believe it is – then God is Writer, Producer, Director, Stage Manager and prop master. In our lives, God is always "graciously working behind the scenes."

In any stage production, the actors must have faith that the army of people working, unseen, behind the scenes are doing their jobs to ensure things happen on stage the way they are supposed to. In life, we must have the same faith in our heavenly Director.

Places everyone!