Calendar Frustrations

 “…but Rachel was barren…Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.” Ge 29:31, Ge 30:22

 

If you ever want to see a perfect snapshot of a dysfunctional family just peer into the window of chapters 29-30 of Genesis.  Family dysfunction in today’s society holds no candle to the twists and turns of the generational jealousy and manipulation of circumstances in Genesis.  But what it does show us is that we tend to have the same responses when faced with unfulfilled desires.  We complicate things by taking control of things God hasn’t moved on yet.  Both Rachel and her sister Leah were married to the same man, Jacob.  Leah was unloved but fertile and Rachel was loved but barren.  Each woman wanted what the other had and made decisions based on their lack, not their blessings.  Both women prayed their hearts out to the only One who had control over their longings.  Both women had more blessings than they could count but were obsessed with the one thing they didn’t have.  Then God ‘remembered’ Rachel.  ‘Remembered’ in verse 22 has significant meaning in the Bible.  ‘It is signaling to us that God’s upcoming work in Rachel’s life is significant and part of a grander story.  The word remember in the Old Testament indicates God’s action…and is used with the Lord as the subject and suggests the initiation of a major new activity by the covenant-making God.’ Finding God Faithful, Kelly Minter, p. 21.

 

Poor Rachel turned the calendar on many years before she got to her ‘year of remembrance’ – God’s activity on her behalf.  I began thinking about a longing I have in my heart.  Fifteen years have blown off the calendar and an answered prayer seems to be no closer than when I began praying about it.  But I noticed this morning our verse states ‘God listened to her’ and I’m flooded with peace.  No matter how long we pray for something it is not in vain.  Every word falls on the ears of the Lord and while we wait, He works.  While we wait, He is orchestrating a plan greater than we could ever imagine but things must align before He ‘remembers’ us with action towards the fulfillment.  

 

What are you waiting for?  I guess the spiritual question is more about how well are we waiting.  The manipulation of our Biblical sisters didn’t bring God’s activity in their longing any quicker but their impatience prompting action actually made a mess in the wait.  “While it’s good to wait on God for the things we long for, how we wait on Him is just as important.  In our waiting, tell the Lord you trust His timing and believe in His power to achieve your heart’s desire.  Surrender your agenda to Him.  And where your faith lacks, pray these words from Mark 9:24b, ‘Help my unbelief!’” p. 21