In God's Perfect Timing

Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel." -- Genesis 29:18

Have you ever met someone at a social gathering and the sparks flew? You noticed not only the color of that person's eyes but also the sparkle in his or her eyes that seemed to invite you to explore that person more deeply. That's what happened between Jacob and Rachel. Genesis 29:17 says that Rachel was lovely in form and beautiful. Jacob fell so hard for her that he was willing to work for her father for seven years just to marry her.

If you were presented with Jacob's situation, would you have worked for seven years for the one you loved? Think back to what you were doing seven years ago. Were you working at the same job you are now? Attending the same church? Courting the same person? Our lives change a lot over a seven-year period, don't they?

Imagine what Rachel must have felt like. She found the man she wanted to marry and then had to be around him often over the next seven years without being able to marry him. She must have struggled with doubts about whether they would ever marry. Then, when the time finally arrived, she must have been devastated to find out that her father had tricked the man she loved into marrying her sister, Leah.

What Rachel could not possibly have understood at the time was that God would eventually bring the Savior of the world through the bloodline of Jacob and Leah. Jesus descended from a marriage that was based on deceit—at least on an earthly level—but God had bigger plans. Rachel eventually married Jacob in God's perfect timing.

God is orchestrating events in our lives to bring himself glory. Like Rachel, we don't know God's timing for our future, but we can trust that just as he knew what he was doing with Rachel, he knows what he is doing with us.

Digging Deeper into Genesis 29:18

1. Have you ever fallen in love with somebody only to have God tell you to wait for marriage?

2. Did you question God's timing? Explain.

3. What did you do during this period of waiting?

4. Did you ever think about the big picture? That God was at work orchestrating the events of your life for his glory? Or were you more self-focused? Explain.

5. How can this verse change the way you handle future relationships if God tells you to wait for marriage?

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Excerpted from Single Servings: 90 Devotions to Feed Your Soul by Lee Warren. Used by permission of Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, copyright © 2005. All rights to this material are reserved. Materials are not to be distributed to other web locations for retrieval, published by other media, or mirrored at other sites without written permission from Baker Publishing Group. Visit the publisher's Web site at www.BakerPublishingGroup.com.