Over the past two days, we’ve seen how the Philistines contended with Isaac over wells he and his men had dug. Like Isaac, a lot of people are being contended with and these contentions can either be physical or spiritual.
With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them.
Genesis 31:32, 34
Genesis 31 gives an account of how Jacob fled from his Uncle Laban’s house, where he had lived for 20 years. Rachel, his second wife and daughter of his uncle Laban, stole her father’s gods as they were fleeing. When Laban realized that the gods had been stolen, he got so furious and chased after Isaac, accusing him of stealing his gods. Jacob, knowing he was innocent, cursed whoever stole the gods, not knowing it was his wife. Rachel eventually died while giving birth to her second son Benjamin as a result of the curse.
Just like Rachel, sometimes we open ourselves up to contention without even realizing. What then are the sources of these contentions?
- The gods of your family.
The gods from her father’s house that she took were responsible for her death as she would not have died if she hadn’t stolen them in the first place.
- Your past
Even though she had been introduced to a new God by her husband, she could not let go of the past and embrace the new life. She still wanted to depend on her father’s gods.
- The words of a superior person. Jacob didn’t curse her but only spoke, and those words came to pass.
“Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.”
Proverbs 13:10 (KJV).
Pray with me:
Father, I come against every contention in my life. I silence the gods of my father’s house and destroy every altar speaking against me. I reverse every negative word spoken over my life in the name of Jesus, Amen.