Determination

Determination

Rev. Karen Weiss at Woodycrest UMC, July 30, 2017

Rev. Karen Weiss talked about “Determination” in the continued series of sermons “Dog Days of Summer” in this morning’s service.

Our scripture reading was from Genesis 29:15-28.  

Our regular pastor, Pastor Renee Ford, is recovering from shoulder surgery.

 When we are determined to accomplish something, are our motives pure or selfish? Let’s look at four people, Jacob, Laban, Leah, and Rachel, in the above Genesis scripture. As we learned from an earlier sermon, Esau’s birthright was stolen by Jacob who had to leave his homeland to avoid being killed by Esau. Jacob traveled to Laban's home, a relative who lived 500 miles from Jacob’s home, and offered to work for him.

Laban asked Jacob what he should pay him for his work, and Jacob replied that he would like to marry Rachel, Laban’s second daughter, who was beautiful. Laban agreed to give Rachel to Jacob after he completed seven years of work. The seven years went by quickly for Jacob, and Laban planned the wedding to be held at night in order to trick Jacob.  He gave his older daughter, Leah, rather than Rachel to be married to Jacob.

Leah had poor eyesight and was not as attractive as Rachel, so Laban felt no one would ask for her hand in marriage and tricked Jacob into marrying her. The morning after the wedding, Jacob realized what happened and asked Laban to give him Rachel, as he had promised, but Laban said that Jacob would have to work another seven years. Jacob agreed to work another seven years for Rachel’s hand.

As we can see, Jacob was a determined man. He had the patience to steal Esau’s birthright when Esau was at his lowest, and he was willing to work for 14 years to marry Rachel. Laban was a determined man, too.  And we don’t know if Leah was in on her dad’s plot to marry her, rather than Rachel, to Jacob.  It seems she could be because the first daughter is married first, so she may have turned down offers of marriage which we don’t know. These are examples of determination driven by unhealthy thoughts.

How can we use determination for the betterment of the world without hurting someone else? Our motivations count because God sees our heart.

Rev. Weiss encourages us to pray to God for direction to help us know if our desires are pure or selfish.

Rev. Karen Weiss is an ordained deacon in the UMC and provides spiritual direction through Water Works Ministries. She has a Masters of Religion, Spiritual Formation, 2013, from Evangelical Seminary, and a BS, Environmental Systems Engineering, 2001, from Penn State. She has travelled as a ministry volunteer three times to Thailand, one time to Mongolia, and various times around the United States.