Now Dinah the daughter of Leah,
whom she had borne to Jacob,
went out to visit the daughters of the land. When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite,
the prince of the land, saw her,
he took her
and lay with her by force.
Genesis 34:1–2
How dangerous it is for us to stop short of total obedience to God’s Word. We must never settle with “almost” and “close enough” when following the Lord. How careful we must be not to set up camp outside the umbrella of His will.
God does not hide from us the consequences of being outside His will. God does not hide the faults of His people. He does not sugarcoat the recording of the history of His people.
Jacob stopped short of where God called him to go, and now we are seeing the results. Dinah is raped, and things are about to get even worse. Shechem wants to marry Dinah, so he and his father come to Jacob to work out the arrangements. Dinah’s brothers speak deceitfully to Shechem and his father.
My friend, our children are watching us. Do you see the way of deception passing from generation to generation? Laban was a deceiver, as was his niece Rebekah, as was her son Jacob, and now we see, so were the sons of Jacob.
They devised a plan, claiming that Shechem and all the men of his land were to become like them and be circumcised, and then they would allow the marriage. Then they could all live peacefully together as one people.
When the men of the city complied with the circumcision (basically because they thought they would eventually end up with all that Jacob owned) and were in great pain, Simeon and Levi came in and attacked the city and killed every male, including Shechem and his father. They then took Dinah, along with all the wealth and possessions of the city, including all the women and children, and they returned to Jacob.
Jacob is not happy with his sons, and he scolds them for they have put the entire family in danger; yet Simeon and Levi show no remorse: “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?” (Genesis 34:31).
Doesn’t the old saying go “What a tangled web we weave when we deceive”?
Oh yes, my friend, our choices matter. Our children and all those little eyes and young hearts around us are watching.
Oh Father,
How I want to follow You. More than anything, I desire to be in Your will; to go where You go and be in Your presence. In complete obedience to You and Your Word, this is my desire. My Jesus, I want to serve You, and I want my family to serve You. The last thing I want to do is jeopardize my children simply to satisfy the desire of my flesh. Oh Father, make the way clear, the path straight; lead me in accordance with Your will. Strengthen me when I am weak and revive me when I am tired and help me to press on until You have completed Your work in me.
My Jesus, it is in Your name that I pray,
Amen.
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