when our wants create idols

When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

Genesis 30:1-2

False worship, idolatry really, can spring up from our hearts in everyday circumstances involving “normal” wants and desires. And with idolatry comes a lot of pain and difficulty precisely because our worship priorities are out of whack. In Rachel’s case, her heart craved motherhood more than the worship of God. Pregnancy and childbirth became what she looked for in order to find ultimate fulfillment and happiness. And every child born to her sister Leah, every month in which Rachel did not conceive, provoked a jealous envy in her broken heart to the point that she wanted to die if she remained without a child. Her idol was disappointing her.

Rachel took all that pent up disappointment and bitter envy until it all built up into a moment where she launched it all against her husband Jacob. She pleaded for a child from him as if he was the one responsible for giving children to her sister and not to her. Her anger and despair made things even worse for her. It stoked an angry outburst from Jacob that ironically got to the very heart of Rachel’s real problem. She had put children and motherhood in place of God as her heart’s supreme worship. And God will not be so replaced without some severe consequences.

The messed up nature of Jacob’s home is apparent in the stories of his polygamous household. He would eventually father a family from four different women. The envy, discord, fighting, distrust, family politics, and idolatry that would constantly mark his home were all sad results of this sinful lifestyle. Only when Jacob finally turned to God would he find some measure of family stability. But it would take one more generation of Jacob’s household to settle most of this unrest.

When we look to the stuff of this world, even good things like children or family, to provide for us only what is found in the worship of God, will will always be hurt and disappointed. Rachel is proof of this in a very sad way. Only God can give us, in Christ Who is our life, what we were made to worship.