Well, we begin to see some Rules of the Universe here at work, don’t we? You know the ones about “As you sow, so shall you reap?” Or “By the measure you mete, it shall be meted unto you?”
The name Jacob means “deceiver” or “supplanter.” And he lived up to his name when he deceived his father and Esau. Now he’s eating the fruit of his deception. Laban tricked him into marrying the wrong daughter.
One time I heard John Kilpatrick talk about Rachel and Leah. Rachel was the one Jacob desired. She was beautiful to behold, and he loved her. But he got Leah.
The interesting thing about it is that God had a greater blessing for Leah. She was more fruitful. Rachel was actually barren at first, and Leah bore four sons in a row. Further, one of her sons was Levi, who brought forth all of the priesthood for Israel. Another of her sons was Judah, whose descendant was David – and eventually Jesus Christ. What a blessing to her!
Pastor Kilpatrick emphasized the fact that very often the more fruitful callings we have are not that “desirable” in the natural. We want something that looks good; appealing to our carnal nature. But sometimes God calls us to something which is not that “showy,” but extremely fruitful. (And sometimes only God Himself sees the fruit).
If we want to look good to other men, we want Rachel. If we want to do the will of God, sometimes we will have a Leah as our call. The important thing is to trust God and just continue in the path He sets before us. Our true reward is from HIm.
One interesting note is that when Jacob was dying, he gave instructions to his sons about where he wanted to be buried. He was in Egypt, but he charged them to take him back to Canaan so that he could be buried with his father and grandfather. He said, “There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, and there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah.”(Genesis 49:31)
I believe that over the years his love for Leah grew. He “fell” in love with Rachel. But he “grew” to love Leah, and she was the one he chose to be buried next to. He knew that she had been a blessing to him.
Matthew 10:1-20
This gets really good! So far we have just seen Jesus perform the miracles; now He is sharing the gifts.
So He calls His disciples to follow Him, and then He sends them out to do the things He has been doing. They are to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received. now freely give.”
I wonder if they are ready for that! They have been seeing Jesus do those things – performing miracles. Now He is telling them to do the same things! Would you like to have seen the looks on their faces? I would. I’m sure that as they were following Him, they didn’t realize that He was going to empower them to do the same.
You know the saying, “What would Jesus do?” When people say that sometimes it seems that they are implying that “Jesus would bake a pie for that person, or Jesus would say something sweet.”
I’m not knocking those natural acts of kindness, for they are truly necessary. But what Jesus would do is what we see in this passage. Jesus would “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, etc.” Are we ready to really do what He would do?
Unfortunately, the gospel has been watered down by “precepts of men,” so that many people do not even know that God’s power is still available today. When I first realized that it was, I felt like I was entering a new world. (Actually I had entered a new world. I had entered the Kingdom of God).
I pray that as we continue to discover the truths of God that our eyes will be opened to see more of what He has for us. As I have continued in my walk with Him, I have come to believe that no one – not even the greatest ministers around – have completely tapped into all that God desires for us.
I want more of Him! I want to continue to press toward the higher mark He has for us! Don’t you?
