Readings for today: Genesis 35-36, Matthew 12:1-21, Psalms 15, Proverbs 3:21-26
When I first became a Christian and started reading the Bible, I made the false assumption that the men and women of the Bible lived charmed lives. Once they came to faith everything was good. They grew healthy and wealthy and happy and nothing bad ever happened to them because the Lord was on their side. This reading became deeply problematic for me for a couple of reasons. First, it certainly didn’t square with my own life experience. I found myself frequently struggling with hardship and pain. Second, the more I read and the more closely I read, I realized these men and women were just as messed up as I was!
For example, Jacob wrestles with God. Fights with Him all night and as dawn breaks, obtains a blessing. Gets a new name. Essentially a new future. One would think Jacob would walk faithfully from this point forward having had this intense, face to face encounter with God. Not so! Jacob again lies to his brother Esau. He actually never shows up in Seir as he promised. Jacob refuses to demand justice for his daughter’s honor thereby opening the door for his sons to take matters into their own hands. Jacob lives in fear of the tribal nations that surround them. Even his journey to Bethel seems fraught with danger. Finally, grief hits him hard as he loses his beloved wife Rachel in childbirth and his father soon after. Life in the ancient near east was not easy. Even for a man who walked with God.
Over and over again, the Bible declares God is with His people. God protects His people. God guards the lives of His people. God blesses His people. How can this be true when we read about such tragedy in the life of Jacob? Or we experience similar tragedy and heartache in our own lives? The answer - if we have the ears to hear - is that we, like Jacob, are simply sojourners in this world. We are just passing through. And while it is true that God gives us a home. God gives us a name. God blesses us to be a blessing. It is also equally true that health and wealth and happiness are not going to be found this side of heaven. We may experience these things for a season. Perhaps even a long season. But death comes for us all. Poverty comes for us all because we can’t take anything with us. Sadness and grief find us as we face our own mortality or the mortality of those we love.
Strangely enough, we all know this isn’t right. Even the ardent atheist experiences death as a violation of sorts. It’s why so much work is being put into longevity projects. Billions being spent to find the “aging gene” in order to turn it off. We want to live forever. We know we should live forever. It’s a primal instinct embedded deep within us. We were made to be fruitful. To multiply. To fill the earth. This is the creation mandate and we see it renewed here in Jacob - now Israel’s - life. “And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.” (Genesis 35:11) This mandate transcends our lives on earth. It follows us into eternity. It gets passed down through the generations. It will not end even when Christ returns.
Readings for tomorrow: Genesis 37-38, Matthew 12:22-45, Psalms 16, Proverbs 3:27-32