Word of Encouragement (03/30/2022)
The name, Joseph, sounds like two Hebrew words: “taken away” and “may he add”. It was a perfect name to express her thoughts.
The first thought that came to her mind was, “God has taken away my reproach.” This could not have been a mere statement of facts. Think about how long she must have felt the burning heat of reproach on her soul for her barrenness. Oh, how long she had been waiting for this moment to hold her own child in her arms and nurse him in her bosom like all other women in her life! As she held her precious child, she felt her lifetime of shame rolling away from her. How could she say this in a matter-of-fact tone? This was an expression of deep gratitude. When God answers our prayer, we should express our gratitude in some meaningful way.
In this, there doesn’t seem to be any sense of resentment for all those years of barrenness. If God could open her womb, was it not God who closed her womb all these years? If so, shouldn’t she feel at least a bit resentful that God had only now opened her womb? Thankfully, she had none of that. We must realize that the biblical worldview starts with the fallenness of man’s condition: “All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever” (WSC #19). God in His common grace sustains this fallen world by granting undeserved blessings to the fallen humanity. But, insofar as it is “grace,” we are not entitled to it: whatever common grace we receive, we should be grateful, not take it for granted.
Reproach was what Rachel had borne for a long time. But it was not unique to her. Underneath whatever veneer of happiness and contentment there may be, deeply embedded in the soul of every sinner is reproach—the reproach he has incurred for his lifetime of sin. Mistaking God’s common grace for his merit, the sinner continues his life of sin glibly, oblivious to the reproach that is festering in his soul until it is exposed before the tribunal of God. But how fortunate it was that Rachel’s reproach was in plain sight for all to see so that she would be constantly aware of it!
Of course, Rachel’s understanding of her reproach was not complete. It was more about her barrenness, not about her deeply rooted sin. But the afflictions God allows in our lives are a megaphone that shouts at us for our need for God’s gracious redemption beyond His common grace provision for our earthly needs and desires—“redemption” because we are under condemnation, “gracious” because we cannot save ourselves. So then, anything that drives us to God is a blessing, just as Spurgeon said, “I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.”
When we examine our hearts, do we see more gratitude or more resentment? Is there anything we resent about the way God is dealing with us? What if God is using it to wean us from this world of change and decay and direct our attention and affection toward Him and His eternal kingdom? If so, shouldn’t we be grateful for the very things we are resentful about? May the Lord clarify our vision to see His goodness even in our tribulation, not just in our success and accomplishment, so that our gratitude may increase day by day!