Day 14 - Worn out in so many ways

Today is a sad day. Today's going to be the last blog for a while that our beloved Craig will read in Warrington. He's disappearing to the not properly South to try and win me the heart of a girl. And maybe get a degree. As such I'm off out tonight with him and maybe some of you to a comedy club. Should be fun fun fun. Thus I'm doing the blog relatively early. Hurrah! Onto business then,

Today’s readings:

Genesis 29:1-30:43
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2029-30:43&version=MSG
Matthew 11:16-30
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2011:16-30&version=NIV
Psalm 9:7-12
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%209:7-12&version=NIV


Today's Old Testament passage is another one of those rather challenging tales which gets watered down for Sunday School. Basically we have a really nice start and an ok ending but the middle is so... strange. Let's do the easy stuff. Jacob starts off by meeting Rachel and the way he meets her is very similar to how his mother was found for his father. I like when God does things like this to show that He's still there. Of course He could do it differently, but would we spot it then?

Then it gets a bit murky. Everything starts great with Jacob's uncle Laban welcoming him into his household. He's delighted at how Jacob works for him and is happy to offer his daughter as wages. And for all his faults, what a romantic bloke Jacob is! 7 years he toils for this woman and in that time he's not getting paid beyond having somewhere to sleep and food to eat. But then the wedding happens and rather confusingly he marries the wrong woman. Even MORE confusingly, he manages to sleep with her before he realises it's not Rachel. Now I can believe that it was dark and there were veils and after seven years, Jacob was probably quite keen to have a smooch, but really Jacob... Poor show for not noticing! I guess sometimes we can also get so caught up in something we enjoy that we actually start to forget what makes it special. If there's someone in your life that you're fortunate enough to love, then maybe today is the day to spot the little things that made you fall in love and really relish them :) Gosh I've gone all soppy...

Next Jacob works another 7 years and finally gets his prize. Happily ever after? Not by a long shot. God is brilliant here because He realises that Jacob isn't going to honour his commitment that he made to Leah. Yes he was tricked into it but if he'd paid a little bit more attention he wouldn't be in the mess he's in. So God blesses Leah with sons so that Jacob values her. Of course this does mean that Jacob's quite happy to sleep with Leah time after time but still doesn't really love her. Sometimes people can be such idiots and I can just see God getting more and more distraught at how Jacob is getting everything wrong. I always thought the ten commandments were really obvious but when you look at how God's people were living before that... Yikes!

Then Rachel gets jealous of her sister being able to have children and in the Soul Survivor blog today, Ali paints her in quite a sympathetic light. But personally I think Rachel's really naughty here. She's been with Jacob for a good number of years and hasn't been blessed with children. However, her husband loves her so much that it's noticable just how much he loves her compared to her sister. Which would be normal if they weren't both married to him... This is why you shouldn't two time guys. Girls are crazy and having two at once will end with your death...

So what does Rachel do? Does she pray that she be blessed with a child? Let's not forget that she's related to Jacob's mum and so would have known how old Abraham was when he had children. No. She doesn't even try and ask God and that's the most challenging thing to me. Her desire to have children seems less about being blessed herself and more about scoring points. Jacob then sleeps with both maid servants of his wives and gives them children. Put it in your pants Jacob!!

Then Rachel gets even crazier!! She decides that she wants some flowers and so happily lets Leah sleep with Jacob again. Seriously woman... decide what you want!! Then God blesses Rachel with children. So in fact, all the problems that will come with Israel having all these tribes, all of the heartache that every person in this whole situation must have gone through could have been avoided by just trusting in God and relying on Him. People can be stupid... this is a very important lesson. Stop trying to fix situations by doing things you know God wouldn't approve of.

Into the New Testament we get more of Jesus' fiery preaching. It must have been a pretty exciting spectacle seeing Him in full flow. First He talks about how people are never satisfied and will always want things or people to be slightly different. How can we want Jesus to be slightly different? To me this is a challenge in our attitudes towards people and I know I can be guilty of being judgemental and Jesus here is saying that people are the way they are for a reason.

He then talks about how it is vital that we respond to the news that we have heard. If you know that Jesus is love and that having Jesus in your life is the most fantastic thing ever, but you're not living that? Then you're in trouble. He also talks about how the message of God's love is a simple one that anyone can understand so don't panic if you don't think you understand bits of what you've been reading. Here Jesus says that the true message is for everyone to understand. If you remember that God loves you and everyone else then life is very simple.

Finally Jesus offers us the best holiday ever. If you're feeling tired then go to Him. If you feel weary and like you can't go on then go to Jesus. Well what does that mean? This is more than a call to faith. This isn't just for new and non Christians. We all get tired and run down and Jesus is there to listen to our problems, carry our burdens and refill our hearts with joy. And I'd like to at this moment point to all the bits of the Old Testament we've read so far where people didn't believe God could help or that they had to do the majority on their own and how it blew up in their faces because God CAN do amazing things and WILL do amazing things if we ask and wait to receive his love.

Lastly the Psalm from yesterday continues today. We read about how David sings for joy that again, we have a place to rest and dwell with God. That there is a peace and a comfort to be found in just waiting on God's word. Stop rushing oh you teenagers. Stop fretting oh you housewives. Stop distracting yourself oh you Craiggy. (I think that's all my demographic covered) Take some time to stop, clear your heart and your head and just listen and wait on what God has for you. Because He loves you and wants to give you peace.

And that's your lot for today. Hopefully I'll keep up this sort of time rather than five hours later! Questions, criticisms and comments welcome as always

Jon