Genesis 30:2 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
Genesis 30 is the story of a family of schemers. Everyone in the story is trying to get ahead and is trying to play, sell, or scheme someone else. Jacob deceives and gains the birthright from his father. Laban schemes about which wife he gives to Jacob. Jacob’s wives scheme about which one will have the affections of their husband. Laban schemes about how cheaply he can get off with Jacob’s labor. It is like you shook a bag of schemers like a hive of angry bees, let them fly off, and see how happy they are. They are all scheming.
No one is scammed more easily than a schemer. When you scheme, you get scammed. If someone is running a scheme, some kind of a con, they appeal to the greed of others to fulfill their own greed. Greedy people get scammed by greedy people. Think about you, your life, your decisions, your temperament, your home. Are you a giver or are you a taker?
In Genesis 30, Jacob really says something remarkable, not just because of its truth but because it comes from a man like Jacob. Genesis 30:1 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.” Much of the rest of this chapter is essentially about a competition between the two sister brides of Jacob. Verse 2 says, “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 amazing because it comes from Jacob. Here is a man who for his entire life had been a schemer and trickster, trying to get ahead, to foist things on people, to clutch, to get any way he could. Now he is getting to a point where he realizes, “I am not in God’s place.” What about you? Are you trying to take God’s place? Are you trying to be God?
It is exhausting to play God when you are not. Can you imagine how utterly exhausting it would be to have to know everything, do everything, and make everything that God does, to do as God. God is never hurried and never worried, but I oftentimes am when I try to be what God alone can be. So, what should I do instead?
First, give what you’ve got and get what you need. Verse 17 says about Leah, “And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.” In verse 22 it says, “And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.” Give what you’ve got and get what you need. Sometimes we wish we could give what other people have. We want to have the abilities, family, or something else that other people have. Stop trying to give what you don’t have. Give what you’ve got and get what you need.
That getting what you need comes from God. I’ve often said that people who try to control everything are controlled by everything. So, contentment is just giving what you have and getting what you need. That is exactly what began to happen in this family of Jacob, this family of schemers, when they trusted God and let God do what only God could do.
Later on, Laban tries to scheme Jacob out of his earnings, and Jacob says, “Just give me the odd cattle, the speckled, spotted, and brown of the herd.” These would have been the fewest in number, yet they ended up being the most numerous in number because God was with Jacob. In fact, Laban says later on, “Don’t leave. I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” In other words, this wasn’t Jacob’s scheming; this was God’s provision. So, give what you’ve got and get what you need.
Second, let God be God. Who is God in your life, your thoughts, and your actions? Let God be God. In Genesis 31, Jacob is thinking of leaving Laban because he says to his wives, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me.” He was beginning to realize that God was the one who is the provider. In verse 9 he says, “Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given then to me,” yet before they leave, Rachel and Leah say to Jacob, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?” They were constantly thinking about what they could get, what they could scheme or connive.
Let God be God. Your prospects are only limited by what you can see and by who you trust. God sees farther. He is more trustworthy. You do need to do your part, but let be God.