Jacob Builds his Family (Genesis 29-30)

"She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, 'This time I will praise the Lord.' So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children."
-Genesis 29:35
     Yesterday at the Genesis Bible Academy I was designated to give a testimony on the passage. To save myself some energy, I decided that I would just post my testimony instead of writing a reflection as I normally do. I hope you enjoy it.
     Genesis chapters 29 and 30 present a very interesting story. When I first read the chapters, I didn’t even really know what I should focus on. Chapter 29 talks about how Jacob searches for a wife after being sent out by his parents. Jacob finds his uncle Laban, and decides to live with him. Jacob sees that Laban’s daughter Rachel is very beautiful, and he wants to marry her. Laban sees Jacob’s desire for Rachel, and decides to use it as leverage. This is similar to when Jacob saw Esau’s desire for food, and used it as leverage to get the birthright. I guess it’s true; what goes around comes around. Jacob works for Laban for seven years, only to find that Laban gives him Leah instead of Rachel. Jacob demands an explanation, only to get a lame excuse from Laban. Laban then makes Jacob work another seven years to have Rachel as his wife. I don’t know about you, but if I were in Jacob’s situation, I would just cut my losses and take Leah as my only wife. However, Jacob does agree to Laban’s terms, and works another seven years for Rachel.
     After finally marrying Rachel, Jacob must have felt relieved. He finally married the woman he loved dearly. He probably thought this was a great chance to settle down, have some kids, and enjoy life. However, in chapter 30, Jacob’s life gets a bit complicated. His wives Leah and Rachel start to compete with each other. They keep telling Jacob to sleep with them, or their servants, so that they can be the one to bear the most children. What’s funny to me is that Jacob never really argues with his wives; he just does what they tell him to do. I guess Jacob knew the secret to living a longer life as a married man.
     One common theme in this passage and even throughout Jacob’s life is his struggles. Jacob struggles with Esau, with Laban, with his wives, and eventually with God. The Bible says that when Jacob worked for seven years it only felt like a couple days, but I know that working seven years must have been terrible. What is admirable about Jacob is that he was willing to go through so much struggle in order to receive Rachel as his wife. Even when he finally got Rachel as his wife, he still had struggles in his household when Rachel and Leah competed with each other.
     In the spring of this year, I wanted to find an internship for this summer. I knew that since I was a junior, I needed to find an internship if I wanted to get experience in my field. I thought that since I had a decent resume, GPA, and favorable major, that finding an internship wouldn’t be too difficult. I applied to some places, thinking that I would hear back from some if not most of them. However, as time passed, I only heard back from one company. Despite only hearing from one company, I was optimistic because they asked me for an interview, and they seemed to have decent interest in me. I went for the interview, thought I did well, only to find out later that they didn’t want me. Now I started to panic a little bit, because my most promising opportunity ended up not working out. I started to apply to more internships, hoping that someone, anyone, would hire me. More time passed, but I still hadn’t heard back from any of the places I had applied. I thought I was doomed to never get an internship for this summer, which would really hurt my chances of getting a job after college. One day my professor sent an email to the class asking if any of us wanted an internship. I immediately responded to him and sent him my resume. Honestly, I didn’t think I had a chance at getting the internship because my classmates are all just as smart if not smarter than me. However, after a couple weeks passed, I was asked for an interview. I was extremely happy, and I prepared myself for the interview. After the interview was conducted, I thought I did pretty poorly. I was sure that there was no way they would hire me, since I’m sure other students were being interviewed. At this point, I decided that the best course of action was to pray. I prayed that God would grant me this internship. Only a couple days later, the company emailed me back and said that they would hire me for the summer. The last time I was as happy as I was then was probably when I was accepted into college.
     So what does my story have to do with this passage? Like Jacob, I really wanted something. If you think about it, I’ve been working for more than 14 years to put myself in a position to get a job or internship, because that’s how long I’ve been in school. Like Jacob, I met disappointment. I didn’t get the first internship that I thought I would, just like Jacob didn’t get the wife he thought he would. However, like Jacob, God provided for me. God is so amazing, and I know that the only reason I got this internship is because of His grace. I still have many human struggles in my life. I’m not going to lie and say that knowing God gets rid of all of my struggles. I have many things that I struggle with that are not in God’s plan. However, as in Jacob’s life, God always finds a way to take my struggles and use it for His purpose. When Rachel and Leah opposed each other, God used their struggle to make the twelve tribes of Israel. My next biggest struggle is the Summer Bible Conference. I have the responsibility of giving the opening message, which coincidentally is about a passage in Genesis. I pray that I would struggle with God’s Word and that He would use my struggles for His plan.  
-Smart