When Simeon and Levi ultimately take revenge on the entire city by murdering all of the men, Jacob has a puzzling response to them:
"You've made my name stink to high heaven among the people here, these Canaanites and Perizzites. If they decided to gang up on us and attack, as few as we are we wouldn't stand a chance; they'd wipe me and my people right off the map." (34:30)He's worried about his own reputation among the pagans and his personal safety instead of his violated daughter! His self-centeredness is outrageous to me.
However, I appreciate the sons' response to Jacob: "Nobody is going to treat our sister like a whore and get by with it." (34:31) Thank you!
I guess this story bothers me because I see a father unconcerned about his daughter, unwilling to stand up for her or protect her. It hits close to home because growing up, that's often how I experienced my own father. For many years, I thought that was God's attitude toward me too - unconcerned, uninterested, too busy to notice me.
But I'm reminded that I have a Heavenly Father who IS concerned about me, who stands up for me, who protects me. That truth heals deep places in me. The King of Kings treats me like a treasured daughter and chooses to give all of Himself to me! Unfathomable.
And I'm grateful that my Gracious God has revealed Himself through His Word and continues to show me what He's really like and how much I mean to Him. A small sampling from The Message:
God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love and more love!" Jeremiah 31:3
He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. Psalm 147:3
You're well-known as good and forgiving, bighearted to all who ask for help. Psalm 86:15
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. Psalm 46:1
God is bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight. Psalm 18:1-2
God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. Isaiah 40:28
"Don't be afraid. I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine...I am God, your personal God, the Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you...That's how much you mean to me! That's how much I love you! I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you." Isaiah 43:1-4
6 comments:
Cici, thank you for these beautiful reminders of who I am as a daughter of God. As the mother of 3 daughters, I know that Eric and I can never fully fill all of those deep needs they have to be treasured, loved, protected. But, I can trust God to meet all of their needs and longings.
Chapter 32, Jacob's wrestling with God has also been mysterious to me. I'm drawn to it in one sense because Jacob struggled with God, as I do, emotionally and spiritually. But, I'm perplexed by God not "winning" and yet He gives Jacob a limp. Why?
Dan Allender gives insight to this in "Leading with a Limp". "[Jacob] wrestled with God and comes away broken and renamed. His limp is a reminder that when God renames us, he also makes each one of us a new person through a redemption that requires brokenness...No matter how far off the mark we might be, we see in this account the promise that if we open ourselves to meet God, we will not come out of the encounter the same."
So, instead of seeking perfection for my redemption, I must embrace my brokenness. I don't want to be the same -- I want to be open to meet God.
Great food for thought CiCi and Staci. My focus for today's reading rested on Esau and his apparent forgiveness and acceptance of his brother, Jacob. Obviously it was God who had moved in Esau's heart; for Esau had every right to still be livid with his brother for the deception from years ago. Yet, not only did Esau greet his brother with a hug, he initially refused the gifts and wanted to help Jacob reach his destination.
I know that later there will again be strife between the descendants of Esau and Jacob (Israel) but yet what a tender moment for these brothers. Reminds me a bit of Joseph and the forgiveness he extends to his brothers.
Pondering in my heart if I tend to hold a grudge (even if it's just inward) or do I graciously offer the love and forgiveness that God so wondrously extends to me.
I also focused on the response of Esau and his forgiveness towards Jacob (after all he did to him!). I loved how it sounded quite similar to the parable of the prodigal son, in that, when Esau saw him, "he ran to him" and they embraced and wept. What a beautiful picture.
What a precious reminder that God does the same to us when we turn back to Him after we have rebelled and done our own thing. He RUNS to us, He EMBRACES us, He WEEPS in joy over us.
Cici-Your post took my breath away, reduced me to tears. I was raped at 16. My mom felt it was my fault because I was drunk, passed out. One day God will right every wrong. So stirred by Jacob reminding God 2ce that HE promised He would be good to Jacob. Protect me from Esau! But 1st, Jacob must wrestle w/God & leave with a limp. Gen 32:30 Then off to Esau & his 400 men. As a victim of family violence, I'd be so panicked. But it was a new Jacob. But what was more alive in Jacob's heart? The next story about his daughter Dinah reveals... What's most alive in me this day?
Oh Bev, your story wasn't on my mind as I wrote the post. As you said, one day every wrong will be made right. I'm grateful that you wrestle so well with your circumstances - and that you have lots of stories. :-) I have learned so much from you. I'm really glad you're on here with us!
Thanks again all for sharing so much with me. I am so eager to learn with you all and love the Lord together each day. It's so strange because when I read the story first about Dinah, I was saying yay! Jacob paid them back, what a good plan. But then I read wrong and realized, it was the sons. So first, i questioned if even wanting payback was good or not. Second, i thought about how i'm in for so many surprises with all of the Bible. And how i'm constantly in awe of the sin and wrong here. I'm thankful to be shown all of this because it also helps me to show me wrong in my heart and in others. All of us. I've been learning in the past months that I'm often surprised by my sin. And I don't know why because I already know I'm a sinner.
Today, I was reminded to keep my hope, joy and contentment fixated on Jesus, our Savior. Because without Him, we have NO ONE to stand up for us, to pay for our sin, to fight for us, who has ALREADY OVERCOME the world. WITHOUT Jesus, we can not be with our loving Father truly. Without Jesus, I am stuck in my sin with no way out. Just like the wrongness of so many things.. rape, killing others, oh so many things!! And I started meditating on the song, "In Christ Alone".. In Christ Alone, my hope in found! Only in Him. I am thankful for Jesus today. Desiring, desperately to celebrate the Gospel one day at a time, everyday.
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