Rivalry

Recap 

Raising Godly Children Programme 25th May 2020 

 Anchor : Sis Leah 

Topic: Rivalry 

 Text: Genesis 30:1-25 

  

When Rachel saw that she conceived no children for Jacob, she envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.” Then Jacob became furious with Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has denied you children?” She said, “Here, take my maid Bilhah and go in to her; and [when the baby comes] she shall deliver it [while sitting] on my knees, so that by her I may also have children [to count as my own].” So she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [ secondary] wife, and Jacob went in to her. Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. Then Rachel said, “God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son [through my maid].” So she named him Dan (He judged). Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed.”So she named him Naphtali (my wrestlings).  When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing [children], she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a [ secondary] wife. Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad (good fortune). Then Leah said, “I am happy! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher (happy).  Now at the time of wheat harvest Reuben [the eldest child] went and found some mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But Leah answered, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Jacob shall sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me [tonight], for I have in fact hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. God listened and answered [the prayer of] Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. Leah conceived again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good [marriage] gift [for my husband]; now he will live with me [regarding me with honor as his wife], because I have given birth to six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. Afterward she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.  Then God remembered [the prayers of] Rachel, and God thought of her and opened her womb [so that she would conceive]. So she conceived and gave birth to a son; and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace and humiliation.” She named him Joseph (may He add) and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.” 

Genesis 30:1‭-‬11‭, ‬13‭-‬24 AMP 

Sis Leah: Let us type what we understand by the word Rivalry 

A: Rivalry is the act of competing for the same thing against another person 

Sis Leah: Yes... 

 Competition 

 Sis K: Rivalry is an act of competing, contention 

Sis S: Is an act of superiority, competition 

Sis Leah: Contention 

Rivalry competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field.... From online dictionary 

Genesis 30:1-25 is a story that show so much rivalry between sibling 

The story of Rachel and Leah we all will remember that Laban asked Jacob to work 7years for him so he can marry Rachel but at the end he gave him Leah 

Then Jacob agreed to work another seven years just for Rachel 

Meaning that he worked 14years for two sisters 

 I just think that sowing a doctor's seed between siblings already 

This was the beginning of their rivalry 

And Leah was so fruitful in fact she had 6 sons for Jacob and a daughter for Jacob before Rachel had Joseph 

If you read chapter 30 very well it got to a stage Rachel was competing with her sister. She even gave their husband her maid just because she didn't have a child 

She decided to create an alternative at some point when she asked for something from her nephew who is also her stepson Reuben and Leah was like you took my husband do you want to take my son again 

It must have been a very toxic environment even for the children because they didn't hide their competition towards each other at any point in time 

You might be wondering how this affects raising godly children 

The kind of seed you sow in the life of your children as a parent matter 

If you ask anyone who grew up in a toxic polygamous family 

They at some point must have gone through lots of competition due to attention they seek from their parents 

In fact, there might not even be a way to balance the love shown to each child from each wife 

And as we all know what eventually happened to Joseph as a result of his brothers' deeds 

Rivalry is something that should not be encouraged in any home 

It should not be encouraged in the life and upbringing of any child 

Do you know some parents are the cause of rivalry in their children's life 

They will rather treat a child different from the other and they make it so obvious that they have their favourite 

This shouldn't be something a parent should show or allow to fester in any home because the end product if not for the intervention of God can lead to division 

Do you know some parents fall into rivalry with their own children? 

Yes, it does happen perhaps they notice the child is gaining some attention than they normally would when they were at the child's age or it could be anything 

Some parent become their children's rival when the child start making it in life🤦🏽‍♀️ 

In as much as it sounds ridiculous it does happen 

For some reasons the mother of Leah and Rachel was not really mentioned in the scene there 

I must say that although Jacob loved Rachel, but God favoured and blessed Leah more than Rachel 

To the extent her husband was angry with her when she kept nagging him for a child 

You will notice that until God took away the delay in her life that was when she conceived and became a mother 

It is important as a Christian parent not to sow discord in between your children at any age or stage of their lives 

God's ways aren't our ways and His will surpass our will 

If only Rachel knew that God was preparing her womb to bring out a prime minister of its kind in a foreign land, she wouldn't have been battling unnecessary battle with her sister 

What cause rivalry most time is myopic vision of man 

If only many could look into the future and see the plans of God for them you will not fall into competition with anyone 

The plans of God for each child is great and it should not fall under the radar of comparison or competition with another 

Because a child is better or not in certain skill doesn't warrant maltreating that child should be put at odds with their siblings or any other child around them 

It is natural to have a child you love more but it's is not divine or godly to show it at the detriment of their siblings 

If you read that chapter very well you would have thought Rachel and Leah were strangers from beginning not knowing they were raised in same family 

As parent always remember you are a custodian. God has placed those children or that child in your custody for a purpose 

And that purpose doesn't include ruining their destiny or being at the centre of contention in their lives 

Some family are in disunity because of the discord their parent sown inside their lives 

As parent remember your future and that of your children is intertwined 

Imagine damaging that child's present life now and you desire to be taken care of when the child grow up 

: You will reap what you see except God touches that child to do right 

And perhaps you find yourself at that position where your siblings just want to compete with you 

You buy one thing today your sibling heard, and they just start running to acquire better 

It's worth checking out if they are okay 

I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the strong, and neither is bread to the wise nor riches to those of intelligence and understanding nor favour to men of ability; but time and chance overtake them all. 

Ecclesiastes 9:11 AMP 

https://bible.com/bible/1588/ecc.9.11.AMP 

Looking at the scripture above race is not to the swift nor battle to the strong but time and chance happens to them all 

The race of gaining the love of her husband drew Leah to have more children 

Each child was just another key to get the love of Jacob and Rachel was running same battle 

She wants to empower her own empire she even gave her maid to her husband 

But she forgot time and chance happened to everyone 

There is time and chance for each individual 

For each child there is time and chance 

: Because child A is excelling more than child B presently doesn't mean child B is a doomed failure 

Every destiny has a road to pass before getting to their destination 

If peradventure you fall into this type of toxic upbringing will advise you to let go of all hurts 

Let go of all hates bottled up 

If as parent, you find yourself doing this to your children it's time to back off and reflect on the impact of your actions 

There is no point raising children that will end up being at war with each other when you're no more 

What gain is it when you have already caused a dent in the relationship of your children either due to favouritism or whatever it may be 

My prayer is that God will heal everyone who has been hurt due to rivalry 

I also pray for siblings and families falling apart as a result of this that God almighty will heal you in Jesus name 

The Bible stories we read are to enlighten us and guide our part. I pray that God will enable us to apply the wisdom from His word to guide us daily in Jesus name 

For that parent who didn't even know their action hurts their children may God reveal to you the right way to go about situations in Jesus name 

For anyone who due to growing up in polygamous or toxic home have developed lack of trust I want to advise you let go of everything to God and trust Him to help you through 

I pray that we will not fail God in our parenthood in Jesus mighty name 

I pray we will not use others clock and time in life to judge the plans of God for us but we will wait patiently for Him to fulfil His plans concerning us all in Jesus mighty name