Scripture:
Genesis 31:19 ESV
[19] Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
[34] Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent but did not find them. [35] And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I can not rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.
Observation:
I know that again, I have skipped a few verses, but I thought it was important to zero in on this point. I could have also brought more verses out that had to do with what Rachel had done, but I feel like this made the point. Here is what I know. If GOD thought it was important, HE put it in the bible, and if HE thought it was invaluable, it was in there more than once. In this chapter, it was said 3 or 4 times what Rachel had done. She had taken her dad’s household gods. Before I go too much further, I want to say how quickly she forgot the one that opened her womb so that she could have a baby. Ok, enough of that. First of all, she took something that was not hers. It belonged to her dad, and she went to great lengths to make sure it was not found. As we read in the next few days, I wonder what kind of repercussions this is going to have.
Application:
GOD has called us out of the darkness into the marvelous light. Are you willing to leave all the trash behind? Or do you like to carry around worthless baggage? Do you trust what GOD has called you to? Or are you putting your faith in what you can do with your own hands? I’m going to assume that most of us have driven before, and honestly, I just like this way of looking at things when you are driving a car the window you look out of to see where you are going is way bigger than the mirror you look at to see behind you. This says to me we should pay more attention to where we are going instead of where we have been the reason. The rearview mirror is there to make sure we are putting distance between us and our past. That doesn’t work if we take it with us, Rachel was on her way to a new life. But something about that old life had a hold of her. GOD wants us to be looking at where we are going, and I can see the evidence in the bible for that. HIS mercy is new every morning. HE casts our sin into the sea of forgetfulness, as far as the East is from the West. GOD does not want us to live in the past. We have to let that old stuff go. He is taking us to a new place, one dripping with milk and honey. The road is going to be hard and long if you can’t let go of the gods we used to worship, such as addiction, sexual immorality, anger, and so many others that could be easily mentioned listen guys it’s time to go to a new place let’s drop those old things, pick up our cross and fallow HIM.
Prayer:
Father, we love you, and we know that your plan is a good plan. We pray that you help us to see that we don’t need our past. We don’t need any of that old stuff. It’s all trash it never did us any good. We know that you are good. Help us drop our past and focus on you. Because you are all that matters, and if we seek you first, you will meet all our needs. We cast down all strongholds the enemy tries to place on us, and we pick up our armor to place it over our lives and families right now in the mighty name of Jesus I pray amen.