I'm Following Jesus – Page 1918 – Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Chapters: Genesis 30-31
Message: Our Great Advocate

Hello My Friend,

Advocate; One who pleads the cause of another in a court of civil law. Did you know that Christians have a great advocate on their side who pleads with God to not only go easy on us, but to pardon us from every sin we ever commit? Praise God that we do. And our great advocate is Jesus Christ. One thing is for sure, we certainly can thank our advocate for pleading our cause before our Father because our human nature sure has a way of messing things up. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” – I John 2:1-2.

If you thought the sibling rivalry between Jacob and Esau was bad, that was nothing compared to the two sisters that were married to Jacob. Jacob loved Rachel, he literally served his father-in-law for fourteen years so that she could be his wife. Leah on the other hand, was just handed to him, and I believe he never got over the fact that she was part of the deception when he first thought he married Rachel. Leah knew that Jacob loved Rachel, and I believe that is why God blessed her with so many children. Rachel, on the other hand did not have children, and that made Rachel envious of her sister, so envious that she took her maid and told him to sleep with her in hopes that she would have children through her. “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.” – Genesis 30:1-3,9.

“Rachel envied her sister;” Envy can bring us to do some crazy things, and quite frankly some ungodly things. While Rachel envied her sister because she could not have children of her own, Leah envied Rachel because Jacob actually dwelt with her. So, Leah took every opportunity she could to get Jacob to spend a night with her. Mandrakes were plants with fruit on them, often called the devil’s apple because they not only stimulated the body sexually they also caused people to fall asleep. Leah’s son found some and brought them to her.

“And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes. And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.” – Genesis 30:14-17.

“for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes.” Obviously, they all knew what these flowers could do, Leah considering them a very good price to pay for a night with her husband, desperately wanting another child it seems, which God did bless her with and another as well. Rachel finally would conceive and have a son of her own. Between four women, Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter, God certainly did not condone all this nor did He need Jacob to be married to four women for him to have so many children, and you will see later on why this also cause problems in itself, but He used this crazy love triangle to make a nation, one in which Jesus would descend in the flesh. The crazy thing about us making those ungodly decisions is that God will still use us for His purpose. “This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” – Isaiah 14:26-27.

“and who shall disannul it?” No one can alter or change God’s plan, they may prolong His plan, they may even fight His plan, but they will never stop Him from doing what He has purposed in His heart to do. Let me tell you, envy is the number one cause of feuds between family and loved ones, it can destroy relationships as I am sure Jacob had a lot to deal with having four wives and thirteen children and on top of that a conniving father-in-law of his. After Rachel had Joseph, and it seemed everything was settling down, Jacob decided it was time to leave, and take his family back home where he came from, he talked to Laban about leaving.

”And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock: I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.” – Genesis 30:25-27,31-32.

“for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.” Laban knew that the only reason he was prosperous not because of Jacob being there, but God was there with him. Laban wanted compensation, Jacob seeing this as an opportunity after twenty years of dealing with Laban’s deception came up with a scheme to get all of his father-in-law’s cattle before convincing Leah and Rachel to leave and head back to Canaan.

“And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle. And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.” – Genesis 30:37-42.

“that they should conceive when they came to drink.” I pointed out this Scripture to help understand what all this was for, Jacob knew what to feed the sheep so that his flock would be spotted and speckled, and even what to put in the water so they would populate quickly. Jacob’s personal history is the sad tale of deceit and wrong done to him as a result of the wrong that he had done to others, regardless, God used every one of his schemes to fulfill His purpose. However, the scheming was over, it was time to take his family back home because God said so.

“And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, And said unto them, I see your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.” – Genesis 31:3-9.

“but God suffered him not to hurt me.” God’s will will never take us to places that would bring us to sin, and should we fall into sin we have a great advocate who will not suffer us to be hurt. We are not always going to be in the will of God, but He never stops working on us, we may get frustrated, confused, impatient, and make some bad decisions, but even that is used so that we not only become a reflection of Christ, but bring others to Him as well. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” – I Corinthians 10:11-13.

Jesus Christ Magnified: “And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.” – Genesis 30:23-24.

Today’s Prayer:

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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