Genesis 30 - 31

When Rachel realized that she wasn't having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She told Jacob, "Give me sons or I'll die!" Jacob got angry with Rachel and said, "Am I God? Am I the one who refused you babies?" Rachel said, "Here's my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her. Let her substitute for me so I can have a child through her and build a family." So she gave him her maid Bilhah for a wife and Jacob slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son. Rachel said, "God took my side and vindicated me. He listened to me and gave me a son." Genesis 30:1-6 THE MESSAGE

Have you ever said something was a "God-thing?" I'm afraid we often claim something as a "God-thing" in which the Lord had nothing to do with. I wonder if that were true for Rachel. She couldn't have children, was jealous of her sister, Leah, and decided to give her maid to her husband, Jacob as a substitute in order to get what she desperately wanted, a son.

I think we could all say that we have claimed something from God in order to justify our selfishness and to disguise our sin as being God's will.

Lord, help us not to short change the plans You have for us with our own attempts to substitute for something less than You have desired for us.

Despite Rachel's actions, the Lord later blessed her with her own son: And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, "God has taken away my humiliation." She named him Joseph, praying, "May GOD add yet another son to me." Genesis 30:22-24 THE MESSAGE