Genesis 29 is a love story. Jacob travels to the land of his ancestors and comes upon a well and asks about his uncle Laban. He comes across Rachel, who is shepherding her dad’s sheep, and falls for her. The story goes that he comes to Laban’s house and asks for Rachel’s hand as his wife, and the price was to work for seven years. Several things that happen in this chapter sure do remind me of love. When Jacob gets to the well and asks why no one is watering their sheep, the problem is that the well is covered by a stone too large to be moved until more flocks arrive so there is enough manpower to move it. Rachel shows up and scripture tells us that Jacob “went and single-handedly rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep”. A little showboating going on. Did you ever do that when looking for a spouse? Scripture also tells us “Jacob worked seven years for Rachel. But it only seemed like a few days, he loved her so much”. We also find out that time flew as he worked to win Rachel’s hand as his wife. We all need to return to that first love and re-ignite the feelings we had that brought us together. It never leaves, we just manage to push that fire down and cover it with the junk of life. We have to work hard to keep the spark alive and allow it to get air to keep burning.
Of course the rest of the story was that after Jacob’s seven years, Laban gave him Leah instead of Rachel and told him he had to work another seven if he wanted the younger daughter. Talk about a switcharoo. He goes along with the plan and now has a couple wives who are sisters. Anyone else see trouble here? Well it comes and Leah feels like she is being slighted, which she was, and God gets involved. Check out the result of Jacob’s failure to love Leah: “When GOD realized that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb”. Rachel is kept barren and Leah gives Jacob four sons. Does God care about love in marriage? I think so. In fact He desires that we find it and keep it alive. We need to work hard at making sure we love our spouse, that we keep them the center of our world, that we give them all that we are. Too often we move away from the things that drew us together during courtship and we lose sight of that first love. We fall into the trap that Jacob did and fail to love. God desires us to love, and love completely. He set the standard when He taught us what real love was through Jesus. Too many today just let it slide away and then say they have fallen out of love. Love is a choice. It doesn’t just happen to us. We choose to love, or we choose not to. God wants us to choose to love. I think He demands it. Are you loving your spouse and family His way? It is an absolute choice. Make it!
Posted by asorensen 
