Hello, dear one!
You may still remember the nursery rhythm: Row row row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
life is a dream.
The nursery rhythm is beyond its face value; it is a life principle.
We’re always in a boat of life, streaming somewhere.
In the ocean of overwhelmingly bombarded life, are you rowing your boat, or someone else’s?
The story of Jacob’s wives in the Bible offers insights into human desires, which is ego-centered with competition, versus God’s purpose, which is eternal love.
Jacob married two sisters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel, but God had compassion on Leah and opened her womb. She became pregnant and gave birth to four sons for Jacob.
However, Leah only focused on gaining attention from Jacob and forgot what God did for her. She stopped conceiving children after the fourth son.
Meanwhile, as Leah’s sister Rachel saw Leah keep having children, she was jealous of Leah’s success.
She demanded Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die (Genesis 30:1).” This of course angered Jacob, he shouted back to defend himself, “Am I supposed to be God for your pregnancy?”
Well, since Jacob is not God, Rachel decided to play God herself at all costs. She gave her maidservant Bilhah to Jacob as a wife. Bilhah gave Jacob two sons.
Rachel finally relieved herself in a sense of accomplishment, “I’ve had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won (Genesis 30:8).”
When Leah saw what Rachel did with Bilhab, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
When Zilpah first gave a son to Jacob, Leah called him Gad, a good fortune to her. After Zilpah delivered a second son, Leah felt the women in her circle would call her happy, so she named him Asher. Now, Leah felt she has won the competition.
Somehow God’s compassion fell on Leah again. She was pregnant again and gave Jacob a fifth son, a sixth son, and a daughter.
Then God “remembered” Rachel and opened her womb. Rachel gave birth to a son that came with God’s purpose at last.
The boy was named Joseph, a blessing to humanity.
Throughout this sister rivalry, both Leah and Rachel failed to row their boats.
They abandoned who they were in God, competing for Jacob’s attention and rowing his boat.
In the process of competing for his approval, the sisters struggled with an upstream battle to obtain their selfish human goals.
In reality, God never forgot about them and always gave them the right children at the appropriate times.
In the messy drama, Jacob was at ease and benefitted the most from the sister rivalry.
All along, Jacob was rowing in his boat, gently down the stream with whoever was sent to him.
He effortlessly participated in human procreation, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, living the life of his dream.
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