Daily Devotional #1

Day 14

Then Jacob continued his trip. He went to the country in the East. He looked and saw a well in the field. There were three flocks of sheep lying near the well, where the sheep drank water. There was a large rock covering the mouth of the well. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the rock away from the well. Then all the sheep could drink from the water. After the sheep were full, the shepherds would put the rock back in its place. Jacob said to the shepherds there, "Brothers, where are you from?" They answered, "We are from Haran." Then Jacob said, "Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?" The shepherds answered, "We know him." Then Jacob said, "How is he?" They answered, "He is well. Look, that is his daughter Rachel coming now with his sheep." Jacob said, "Look, it is still day and long before the sun sets. It is not yet time for the animals to be gathered together for the night. So give them water and let them go back into the field." But they said, "We cannot do that until all the flocks are gathered together. Then we will move the rock from the well, and all the sheep will drink." While Jacob was talking with the shepherds, Rachel came with her father's sheep. (It was her job to take care of the sheep.) Rachel was Laban's daughter. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's mother. When Jacob saw Rachel, he went and moved the rock and gave water to the sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and cried. He told her that he was from her father's family. He told her that he was the son of Rebekah. So Rachel ran home and told her father. When Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he ran to meet him. Laban hugged him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban everything that had happened. Then Laban said, "This is wonderful! You are from my own family." So Jacob stayed with Laban for a month. One day Laban said to Jacob, "You are a relative of mine. It is not right for you to continue working for me without pay. What should I pay you?" Now Laban had two daughters. The older was Leah and the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were gentle, but Rachel was beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel, so he said to Laban, "I will work seven years for you if you will allow me to marry your daughter Rachel." Laban said, "It would be better for her to marry you than someone else. So stay with me." So Jacob stayed and worked for Laban for seven years. But it seemed like a very short time because he loved Rachel very much. After seven years Jacob said to Laban, "Give me Rachel so that I can marry her. My time of work for you is finished." So Laban gave a party for all the people in that place. That night Laban brought his daughter Leah to Jacob. Jacob and Leah had sexual relations together. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter to be her maid.) In the morning Jacob saw that it was Leah he had slept with, and he said to Laban, "You have tricked me. I worked hard for you so that I could marry Rachel. Why did you trick me?" Laban said, "In our country we don't allow the younger daughter to marry before the older daughter. Continue for the full week of the marriage ceremony, and I will also give you Rachel to marry. But you must serve me another seven years." So Jacob did this and finished the week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife. (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid.) So Jacob had sexual relations with Rachel also. And Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. Jacob worked for Laban for another seven years. The Lord saw that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, so he made it possible for Leah to have children. But Rachel did not have any children. Leah gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben. She named him this because she said, "The Lord has seen my troubles. My husband does not love me. So now maybe my husband will love me." Leah became pregnant again and had another son. She named this son Simeon. She said, "The Lord has heard that I am not loved, so he gave me this son." Leah became pregnant again and had another son. She named this son Levi. She said, "Now, surely my husband will love me. I have given him three sons." Then Leah gave birth to another son. She named this son Judah. Leah named him this because she said, "Now I will praise the Lord." Then Leah stopped having children. (‭Genesis‬ ‭29‬:‭1-35‬ ERV)

Rachel saw that she was not giving Jacob any children. She became jealous of her sister Leah. So Rachel said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I will die!" Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, "I am not God. He is the one who has caused you to not have children." Then Rachel said, "You can have my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, and she will have a child for me. Then I can be a mother through her." So Rachel gave Bilhah to her husband Jacob. He had sexual relations with Bilhah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. Rachel said, "God has listened to my prayer. He decided to give me a son." So she named this son Dan. Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. Rachel said, "I have fought hard to compete with my sister, and I have won." So she named that son Naphtali. Leah saw that she could have no more children. So she gave her slave girl Zilpah to Jacob. Then Zilpah had a son. Leah said, "I am lucky." So she named the son Gad. Zilpah gave birth to another son. Leah said, "I am very happy! Now women will call me happy." So she named that son Asher. During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the fields and found some special flowers. He brought them to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's flowers." Leah answered, "You have already taken away my husband. Now you are trying to take away my son's flowers." But Rachel answered, "If you will give me your son's flowers, you can sleep with Jacob tonight." Jacob came in from the fields that night. Leah saw him and went out to meet him. She said, "You will sleep with me tonight. I have paid for you with my son's flowers." So Jacob slept with Leah that night. Then God allowed Leah to become pregnant again. She gave birth to a fifth son. She said, "God has given me a reward because I gave my slave to my husband." So she named her son Issachar. Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son. She said, "God has given me a fine gift. Now surely Jacob will accept me, because I have given him six sons." So she named this son Zebulun. Later, Leah gave birth to a daughter. She named her Dinah. Then God heard Rachel's prayer and made it possible for Rachel to have children. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, "God has taken away my shame." Rachel named the son Joseph, saying, "May the Lord give me another son." After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Now let me go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and my children. I have earned them by working for you. You know that I served you well." Laban said to him, "Please, let me say something. I know that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Tell me what I should pay you, and I will give it to you." Jacob answered, "You know that I have worked hard for you. Your flocks have grown and been well while I cared for them. When I came, you had little. Now you have much, much more. Every time I did something for you, the Lord blessed you. Now it is time for me to work for myself-it is time to do things for my family." Laban asked, "Then what should I give you?" Jacob answered, "I don't want you to give me anything! I only want you to let me do this one thing: I will go back and take care of your sheep. But let me go through all your flocks today and take every lamb with spots or stripes. Let me take every black young goat and every female goat with stripes or spots. That will be my pay. In the future you can easily see if I am honest. You can come to look at my flocks. If I have any goat that isn't spotted or any sheep that isn't black, you will know that I stole it." Laban answered, "I agree to that. We will do what you ask." But that day Laban hid all the male goats that had spots. And he hid all the female goats that had spots on them. He also hid all the black sheep. Laban told his sons to watch these sheep. So the sons took all the spotted animals and led them to another place. They traveled for three days. Jacob stayed and took care of all the animals that were left. Then Jacob cut green branches from poplar and almond trees. He stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. He put the branches in front of the flocks at the watering places. When the animals came to drink, they also mated in that place. Then when the goats mated in front of the branches, the young that were born were spotted, striped, or black. Jacob separated the spotted and the black animals from the other animals in the flock. He kept his animals separate from Laban's. Any time the stronger animals in the flock were mating, Jacob put the branches before their eyes. The animals mated near those branches. But when the weaker animals mated, Jacob did not put the branches there. So the young animals born from the weak animals were Laban's. And the young animals born from the stronger animals were Jacob's. In this way Jacob became very rich. He had large flocks, many servants, camels, and donkeys. (‭Genesis‬ ‭30‬:‭1-43‬ ERV)

"What can I say about the people who live today? What are they like? The people today are like children sitting in the marketplace. One group of children calls to the other group, 'We played flute music for you, but you did not dance; we sang a funeral song, but you were not sad.' Why do I say people are like that? Because John came, not eating like other people or drinking wine, and people say, 'He has a demon inside him.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and people say, 'Look at him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine. He's a friend of tax collectors and other sinners.' But wisdom is shown to be right by what it does." Then Jesus criticized the cities where he did most of his miracles. He criticized these cities because the people there did not change their lives and stop sinning. Jesus said, "It will be bad for you Chorazin! It will be bad for you Bethsaida! I did many miracles in you. If these same miracles had happened in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have changed their lives a long time ago. They would have worn sackcloth and put ashes on themselves to show that they were sorry for their sins. But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be worse for you than for Tyre and Sidon. "And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No! You will be thrown down to the place of death. I did many miracles in you. If these same miracles had happened in Sodom, the people there would have stopped sinning, and it would still be a city today. But I tell you, it will be worse for you in the day of judgment than for Sodom." Then Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. I am thankful that you have hidden these things from those who are so wise and so smart. But you have shown them to people who are like little children. Yes, Father, you did this because it's what you really wanted to do. "My Father has given me everything. No one knows the Son-only the Father knows the Son. And no one knows the Father-only the Son knows the Father. And the only people who will know about the Father are those the Son chooses to tell. "Come to me all of you who are tired from the heavy burden you have been forced to carry. I will give you rest. Accept my teaching. Learn from me. I am gentle and humble in spirit. And you will be able to get some rest. Yes, the teaching that I ask you to accept is easy. The load I give you to carry is light." (‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭16-30‬ ERV)

The Lord set up his throne to bring justice, and he will rule forever. He judges everyone on earth fairly. He judges all nations honestly. Many people are suffering- crushed by the weight of their troubles. But the Lord is a refuge for them, a safe place they can run to. Lord, those who know your name come to you for protection. And when they come, you do not leave them without help. Sing praises to the Lord, who sits as King in Zion. Tell the nations about the great things he has done. He punishes murderers and remembers those who are in need. When suffering people cry for help, he does not ignore them. (‭Psalms‬ ‭9‬:‭7-12‬ ERV)