UNCOMMEN: On The Waiting ListSample

Little By Little

With our final day on the study of waiting in regards to dating, I thought it would be right to finish with a hopeful story. While there are several options throughout the Bible, we will be talking about the story of Jacob and Rachel. Once you have read through Genesis 29, you will see what I mean when I say a hopeful story.

The section of the story that we will be talking about is the point in Jacob's life where he is staying with Laban, his uncle, while he works for Rachel's hand in marriage. It says that Jacob saw that Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. So his natural response was to work seven years with Laban for Rachel's hand in marriage. Seems like a pretty straightforward objective, right? It even says that he was so in love with her that the seven years seemed like days. That's a pretty intense love. 

What stands out the most at this point of the chapter is how willing he was to work for seven long years for Rachel's hand in marriage. The amount of time meant nothing to him. It reminds me that we should always find joy in our work, especially if we are doing it with our hearts in the right place. 

We talked in our first day about working on ourselves until the right woman came along, and I felt like this story harkened back to that sentiment. Jacob put in the work, and I am sure there were grueling hours, but when he remembered who he was doing it for, he took the job gladly. What I see with this story is that even when we aren't dating anyone, we should be working to better ourselves for that person that does comes along.

I can say from experience that the right woman can come along at any point. As I am writing this devotion, my fiancé and I are planning our wedding. Before her, I never had a girlfriend, and there were plenty of lonely nights where I wondered why I couldn't find someone. But through those moments, I was humbled, and God shaped me into the man I am today.

Questions:

1. When you are putting in the time to work at being the man God wants you to be, are you doing it with a song in your heart? If not, it is time to change your tune.

2. Are you better than the man you have been in the past? Strive for little improvements.

Challenge: 

Waiting can be hard but look back on how far you have come and thank God for the challenges, the heartbreaks, and the lonely nights. God uses all of them to glory Himself and to make you a better man.

Scripture Verse:
Genesis 29:13-30