Walk in Wisdom

Israel in the Making

Genesis 29:20

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

Have you ever wanted something so fervently that you not only devoted years of your time, strength, and resources to pursue it, but afterward, when the sacrifice was complete, you looked back over your shoulder and said with full conviction, “I’d do it all again if I could!”? I think Jacob’s attitude of resiliency here is amazing, friend. The comfort-loving, tent-dwelling man we met back in Genesis 25 is growing up. Maybe his days of cheating are over. Now, he’s ready to strive for Rachel, to prove his manliness, to become the kind of godly lover a woman like her needs. A fighter. So, for the joy set before him, he surrenders his back to the blazing sun and his hands to the rugged plow and his shoulder to the heavy yoke, not with bitter groans or weary sighs, but with smiling countenance from day one all the way to day 2,555.

Friend, will you face your own labor of love today with that same resiliency? Remember as you do: Jacob’s heroic example here is just a teeny-tiny, drop-in-the-bucket of God’s love for you.