Dysfunctional Family

Dysfunctional Family
I know there are many of you out there that come from a very dysfunctional family, and some of you still are living in this environment. For those of us that had normal families it isn’t as easy for us to understand. I have a very young friend who has lived in an unstable environment her entire life. Fortunately she got to know Jesus during her trials and was able to follow Him, till recently and things have become very hard for her. So before I start this I would like to Ask for some answers for my friend from God. Lord I raise her up to you and ask for peace for her young heart, give her direction and Lord help her to feel she belongs, she is loved by many, unfortunately Lord we can’t give her the same kind of love that she needs, so I ask that you take over where we can’t go. Lord give me direction as I write this blog so that it is of you and give understanding to all those that will read. I thank you in Jesus name. Amen!
As I was researching Gods word I was reading a story about a very dysfunctional family and that is Jacob’s family. I hope you too will get some fulfillment out of his story.
Jacob came from such a dysfunctional family that he grew up being a very manipulated man, let’s see who Jacobs family is and where this all began. In the book of Genesis you can read so much about this family. Jacobs’s dad was Isaac and his mother Rebekkah. What I found interesting in those days was that men didn’t go seeking a wife, they would meet them at either a well or a spring. Well not Isaac let’s say Isaac was lazy or passive, he sent a servant to the well for him and had her brought back to him. To make a long story short Rebekkah ended up being in control in their marriage, In Genesis 3:16 you will see that it is a woman’s desire to take over when the man does not lead, she wants to rule the man, and because she knows he will eventually rule over her. Rebekkah was a woman who would have many problems and difficulties. When she bore twins, she automatically was partial to Jacob, because he seemed to be the weaker of the two. Genesis 25:27 tells us that Isaac just wanted to spend all of his time at home, so this was the perfect opportunity for his mother to control his life and make choices for him. You might say a momma’s boy, she taught him how to cook, she made sure he would get the blessings and she even later on in his life made sure he would be delivered from Esau by letting her brother Labn take him. I come to the conclusion that Rebekkah was like she was because she too came from a controlling family. From the beginning her marriage was arranged by the servant and Rebekkah’s were made with Laban. Well I got confused here, why would this happen, her father was still living (Bethuel) but it does say her father gave his permission but yet he didn’t make the negotiations himself he let the servant (who is Abrahams servant). This tells me that her family wasn’t very involved in her life, so she had to take care of herself, so now she was very controlling with her own kids and husband. Isaac’s brother is Esau, he was never home much, he was a hunter, so he spent most of his time away from home, leaving the responsibilities’ of caring for the sheep and other chores to Isaac. You might say Esau lived for himself, he did want to please his father when it came to choosing a wife, he didn’t follow the laws of God he married a daughter of Ishmael which was a foreigner.
Jacob is just normal, where his brother was a man of the world, he cared about worldly things. So you ask why this makes this a dysfunctional family. Throughout Jacob’s life Isaac was favored by his dad, his dad loved that Esau was a hunter, something he had always wanted to be, he just saw Jacob as the weak one. Do you think Esau loved this, well the bible tells us he didn’t in Genesis 25:34 “Thus Esau despised his birthright”
You need to remember though that Jacobs mother had taught him about Jesus and he was blessed from the beginning, so in the long run did weakness make him stronger? If you continue to the next chapter in Genesis you will see that what God did for Isaac, as well as what happened with Jacob. This story of Jacob is so amazing in the sense that even though he comes from a dysfunctional family he had Gods promise from the beginning that he would inherit the Promised Land. This story I will continue for I am as curious as you are as to what happens in-between, I will tell u it goes so far that Isaac wanted to kill Jacob. As the bible tells us you should never show favoritism, for each of us is created equal as I wrote about earlier in the week. So if you are raising a family and find yourself being unfair to one or more over your favorite please take time and pray to God about this and please pick up your bible and read this entire story, for its one of the most fascinating in the Bible. I WILL PICK UP TOMORROW WITH THIS FASCINATING STORY; FOR THIS IS WHERE God leads me. I look forward to learning with you, God bless all that read this.