Word of Encouragement (03/31/2022)
We saw how the name, Joseph, sounds like two Hebrew words: “taken away” and “may he add”. We briefly reflected on Rachel’s gratitude to God for taking away her reproach. Now, let’s briefly reflect on her prayer that the LORD may add another son to her.
Matthew Henry points out how this prayer
“may be looked upon either as the language of her inordinate desire (she scarcely knows how to be thankful for one unless she may be sure of another), or of her faith—she takes this mercy as an earnest of further mercy. ‘Has God given me his grace? I may call it Joseph, and say, He shall add more grace! Has he given me his joy? I may call it Joseph, and say, He will give me more joy. Has he begun, and shall he not make an end?’”
What do you think? We must affirm that greed and discontentment are evil and dangerous. But can we have any desire without some sense of discontentment and lack? And would we pray if we don’t have any desire? There will come a day when all our prayers (i.e., petitions) will turn to praise. But until that day, there is nothing wrong with praying for God’s blessing; in fact, God commands us to bring all our petitions to God. Christ assures us that nothing we ask for will be too great for God: “Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him” (Mark 11:23). We believe it to be true when we sing, “Thou art coming to a King, / Large petitions with thee bring; / For his grace and pow’r are such, / None can ever ask too much.” Indeed, God would grant Rachel another son, Benjamin, in due time.
Discontentment becomes evil and dangerous when it stems from an idolatrous heart—that is, when we desire something as if we could not live without it, as if God were not enough. But when we desire something according to God’s promise and pray for it, believing in His promise, why would He not be delighted to give us what He promised according to the bountiful riches of His grace? Rachel’s prayer for another son was in accordance with God’s promise to Jacob that He would make him fruitful and multiply his descendants (Gen. 28:3).
There is interesting logic, which connects Rachel’s two thoughts on God’s gift of a son: as God has taken away her reproach, she desires that God would add another son in exchange! At one level, this makes perfect sense: she is asking that, since God took away something, He would exchange it with something else. But at another level, this logic is so audacious and even absurd, isn’t it? God took away something bad from her—her reproach—by giving her a son. Now, she is asking God to give her another son in exchange for the reproach! And yet, even more amazing is that God would listen to this and do what she asked of Him!
What is fascinating is that this is the very logic of the gospel—the principle of double imputation. According to the gospel, Jesus takes away our sin and gives us His righteousness in exchange. This is the most glorious demonstration of God’s grace, isn’t it? It is so wonderful and generous of God that it sounds almost absurd. But that is the glory of God’s grace. I doubt that Rachel was mindful of these things when she uttered those words. But her deep longing expressed our need for the kind of radical grace we need for our redemption. How marvelous is God’s grace! How wonderful it is to come to such a gracious God and offer our petitions! Let us not waste this marvelous gift of prayer by our prayerlessness!