“And Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son.
And Rachel said, God has judged and vindicated me,
and has heard my plea and has given me a son; so she
named him Dan [judged].
And Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and bore
Jacob a second son.
And Rachel said, with wrestling [in prayer to God]
I have struggled with my sister and I have prevailed;
so she named him [this second son Bilhah bore]
Naphtali [struggled].
Genesis 30:5-8
I am sad to say this but Rachel was wrong! God had not yet
answered Rachel’s prayer for a child! She may of thought
God was answering her prayer but He really hadn’t. God
would answer her prayer by giving her Joseph and
Benjamin. So what was happening here?
How did she get so lost concerning what God had promised
her?
First, there was Leah, she was giving Jacob sons, a lot of
sons…..haha
In her day that was a good thing. Everything was going
right for her in that respect and she needed it to go right
because her husband Jacob loved Rachel more but she
was unable to give him children.
It must of been hard for Rachel. She was being taunted
by her sister most probably. She was looked down by the
community for not being able to bear children and to make
it worse, her prayers to God didn’t seem like they were being
heard. So she did what a lot of us do, she settled. She settled
for whatever came! The deception was so bad
that she thought God was answering her prayer through her
maid. Jacob was having sex with Rachel’s maid who was
bearing children and Rachel thought, God was answering her
prayers!!
I don’t blame her at all. I understand totally! I remember a time
I prayed to God for something and I got something close to
what I was praying for and I settled. I told myself God answered
my prayer but I was wrong. I deceived myself. But that’s not even
the crazy thing about this whole situation,
I had settled a lot!!!!
It’s crazy to think but I have done that so many times but God
doesn’t want me to settle. He doesn’t want you to settle. An
answered prayer is not “almost getting it”, or “it’s close
to the thing I prayed for so it’s all good”.
So in Rachel’s case, an answered prayer was giving birth to
Joseph and Benjamin! Nothing less would do……
Where have you settled in life? God doesn’t give half – baked
answers to prayer.
Don’t compromise on your standards. Don’t compromise
when it comes to God’s promises. He is faithful friends.
It can be hard waiting for God to come through but He
will come through. He knows you have been waiting. Like
I said in one of my previous posts,
“Waiting is one of the processes God uses to bless us.”
“Because He loves us, He makes us wait”
If you are discouraged know this, God will come through
for you. He will give you a complete, more than you ever
imagined, beyond expectation kinda answer!
Trust Him to complete what He has promised in your
life. It’s not easy but hold on.
God’s plan for our lives
will always be too much for us, but it’s like that because
God wants us to come to Him. He wants us to trust Him
and He wants us to realise He is the only One who can bring
what He has promised to pass. When it gets hard don’t
settle, trust Him!
He has heard your cry and prayer…..
Rolain
photo credit: google images
kingspeech 