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Daily Devotions

Genesis

Genesis 
Day 
Day 217

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High." Psalm 92:1

Text: Genesis 29:1-35

ACCEPTANCE OF PROPOSAL

Laban must have smiled as he listened to Jacob’s offer. He must have known immediately that he was listening to a man madly in love with his daughter! Nobody would ever pay so high a bride-price! Swiftly, he accepted Jacob’s offer, before he changed his mind.

“And Laban said, ‘It is better that I give her to you
Than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.'”

GENESIS 29:19

The proposal that Jacob had offered was more than acceptable. Surely Jacob would serve him well for the next seven years! His love for Rachel would be the power that would drive him to serve faithfully the next seven years!


THE POWER OF LOVE

Jacob had probably never loved his twin brother very much. He also probably did not have a deep relationship of love with his father. He had cheated his brother and deceived his father. Those were not actions that would come from a heart full of love.

While Esau had married twice already, Jacob had never been married. There was probably one person whom he loved with all his heart. That would have been his mother, Rebekah. Yes, here we read of Jacob having a deep and intense love for Rachel, whom he had known for just a month! The proposal was accepted and so began seven years of hard work for the hand of Rachel.

“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed
only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.”

GENESIS 29:19-20

What were those seven years of hard work? To the lovelorn Jacob, those years were only “a few days”. The love that he bore for Rachel had changed his perspective of life completely.


POWERFUL LESSONS OF LIFE

God’s work in Jacob had begun. Perhaps, unknown to him, a great work was being done in his life. The discovery of human love had taught him many lessons that he would not otherwise have learned had he remained at home in Canaan.

Jacob had been born into a wealthy family. He had servants to attend to all his needs. He never had to work hard. For the first time in his life he had to work very hard – for the hand of his beloved Rachel.

There were other lessons as well. He who had always schemed to obtain what he wanted, now had to learn what it meant to do an honest day’s labour. For seven long years, he worked diligently, always looking forward to the day when he could obtain the prize – his reward – Rachel’s hand in marriage! God was going to make a man out of him.