Envy Fails to Account for God

Imagine sharing your spouse with your sibling, both of you married to the same person. That is absurd and obscene. What you get when you come to Genesis 30 is the story of a family of manipulators, forcing their way on God’s plan, the story of Jacob and his two wives who were sisters, Rachel and Leah.

All of us compare ourselves to others to pinpoint our standing in the universe. We wonder, “Are we rich? Are we poor?” As a child I asked these questions, and I have heard children ask their parents these questions. Are we rich? How do you know unless you compare yourselves to other people. If you compare yourself to the upper society in an American city, then you feel like you are poor. If you compare yourself to almost anyone else in the world, you may well be better off than you think.

“Am I pretty?” says a little girl to her parents. That is a question to compare ourselves to others to find our standing in the world. The problem is that when we compare ourselves to other people, it is not wise. We either become arrogant, thinking, “Look at me,” or we become envious of other people. That is what you had with Jacob and his wives, Rachel and Leah, and it was even more than that. The two wives had servants that they gave to Jacob as wives in a competition to have the most children by Jacob. You have a family of manipulators.

Genesis 30 is about generating family. You have the children of Jacob and the flocks of Jacob. In all of this, instead of living lives of faith, these people were tempted to live lives of manipulation, taking things into their own hands. I don’t think God would have you sit on your hands and do nothing, but I do think that envy fails to account for God.

Genesis 30:1-2 says, “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?” This is rich coming from Jacob. He says, “Am I in God’s place?” Up to this point, Jacob pretty much thought that he was. He schemed against his brother, lied to his father, and subsequently was lied to by others. This was a family of people who vacillated between faith and lying, trusting God and being untrustworthy themselves.

Who withheld children from Rachel? Genesis 29:31 tells us that “when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.” There are so many ironies and repetitions of previous stories it almost makes your head swim. However, wives not having children was par for the course in this story of a family of faith. God had made a promise that He was going to make of them a great family and nation by which all the nations of the world would be blessed, yet Sarah was barren, Rebekah was barren, and now Rachel was barren.

So, Jacob says he is not in God’s place, yet he had tried to be in God’s place over and again. It appears as if he is beginning to realize his place in the universe and God’s place in the universe. Envy fails to account for God. Am I in God’s stead? For many of us the answer is yes. We are trying to do God’s part. Envy fails to account for what God knows. Genesis 30:1 says, “Rachel saw.” Verse 9 says, “When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her to Jacob to wife.” So, there was a lot of scheming going on.

When Rachel saw and when Leah saw, they became jealous. In contrast, verse 17 says, “And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob a fifth son.” Verse 22 says, “And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.” So, envy fails to account for what God knows. God knows the big picture, as we have often said, and He has a grand purpose. I don’t always know what that purpose is. What envy does is look at other people instead of realizing that God looks at us. Envy fails to account for what God knows.

Envy fails to account for what God plans. Again, this multigenerational story of Abraham’s family is a story of favoritism and pain. Isaac preferred his son Esau. Rebekah preferred Jacob. Jacob’s favorite wife was Rachel. Jacob’s favorite son was Joseph. There was all this favoritism.  This caused heartache every single time. Perhaps you know the pain of being compared to someone that is preferred above you.

The favoritism of the patriarchs and their families is in contrast to God’s sovereignty. God chose Isaac, not Ishmael, for the line of the Messiah. God chose Jacob over Esau. Over and again you find God choosing the younger amongst siblings. Even the Rachel and Leah competition was an older versus younger rivalry. Envy just fails to account for what God plans. Why wish to be someone else or something else. You cannot do better than what God made you to be and what God has given you. God loves you. God loves you not because you are great, but because He is a gracious God. Envy fails to account for God.

Finally, envy fails to account for God as to what God does. Could Jacob simply produce the family God had promised. No. “Who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?” Jacob asks correctly. The answer is God. Who multiplied? The answer is God. Throughout this chapter we find the sons of Jacob being born. Each one has his own story and a name that indicates something significant. Verse 8 Rachel says, “With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.” Who prevailed? Rachel said she had prevailed; she had won. But she hadn’t won. God is the one who was graciously giving to each what He gave as the great provider.

In verse 27 Laban said, “I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.” This is in relation to the multiplying of herds. Laban said, “I don’t want you to leave and go back to your own country. Stay here and I’ll pay you what you want.” In verse 33 Jacob, in making an offer to Laban to take care of his herds, said, “So shall my righteousness answer for me in times to come.” In other words, “I’m not depending on my cleverness or craftiness to answer to me, but my righteousness to answer for me.” Jacob had a long way to go, but perhaps the light was beginning to dawn on him that there was a God in heaven. He said, “I’m going to let my righteousness speak for me,” then mentions he would keep the cattle that were not as plentiful, and that anything that was otherwise would be counted as stolen if it was with him.” This doesn’t indicate trust between Jacob and Laban, but that Laban might have expected Jacob to steal from him.

So, a healthy life is simply expecting what God gives with vigor. It is not looking at other people and comparing yourself, but realizing God sees you. Envy fails to account for God, what God knows, what God plans, and what God does. God is great and good and can handle things on His own as we obey Him.