The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 34:1-2,
“Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and violated her.”
Jacob and his family have returned from Paddan Aram. Having settled in Shechem Jacob’s daughter is “violated” by Hamor’s son, Shechem. This is an astonishing story as it unfolds. Shechem wants Dinah as his wife and when he approaches Jacob, Jacob’s sons plan to avenge their sister. In verse 13 we read, “Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor.” No surprise here, the patriarchs have a history full of deceit in their pursuits. They trick all the men in town into getting circumcised and then slaughter them all on the third day when they are all in pain and unable to fight back.
I am reminded that all of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith are God’s children. As his children we have wonderful promises that are ours. Some of these promises from God we enjoy now, and some we will enjoy later in the resurrection. Although we are God’s children in this life, we nevertheless live in a lost and fallen world and are subject to the dangers that exist in it. Just as Jacob’s family and Dinah in particular found, we may face the hardship of being mistreated, violated and taken advantage of. God has never promised to protect us from all danger in this life.
There are those these days who say that because God loves us he will not allow bad things to happen to us. However, just as this account of Dinah portrays, we as believers face many dangers in this world and we may or may not be delivered from them by our God who loves us. Just ask the many martyrs of the early church and those around the world today – often God expresses his love to us in ways other than delivering us from danger. Often it is by walking through that danger with us so we don’t face it alone. Always his love is expressed to us as we know he listens to us and cares for us, “Cast all your anxiety on him [God] because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7. Certainly at life’s end we will all be delivered from all danger on the other side of resurrection day. Until then we have these words from John, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” 1 John 416a.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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