Genesis 31:14-19: a reflection

14Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money. 16For all the riches which God has taken away from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.” 17Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, 18and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. 19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.

God has told Jacob to return to his homeland, and when he lays the situation before Rachel and Leah, they agree without hesitation. They know how their father Laban has treated them, using them for his own gain and leaving them nothing. Whatever God has said to you, they tell Jacob, do it. Together the family gathers its flocks and possessions and sets out to obey God's call to go home.

There is a shadow in the story, though. As they leave, Rachel secretly takes her father's household idols, the teraphim, and carries them along. Even in a moment of stepping out in obedience, an old attachment comes too, a piece of the family's former ways smuggled into the new journey. The departure is genuine, but not entirely clean. Something of the old life is being carried into the place God is leading them.

The two halves of this story often travel together in our own lives. When God calls you to leave something behind and move toward him, part of you may say yes wholeheartedly, and another part may quietly pack an idol for the road. Ask what you are tempted to carry along from the old life even as you follow God's call, some habit, comfort, or loyalty that has no place where he is taking you. Answer his call as Rachel and Leah did, and leave the idols behind.

Lord, when you call me forward, let me answer as Rachel and Leah did: whatever you have said, I will do it. But guard me from the quiet impulse to carry an idol along for the road, some piece of the old life that has no place where you are leading. Show me what I am tempted to smuggle in, and give me the grace to leave it behind and follow you cleanly. Amen.