After Jacob reconciled with his brother, Esau, he and his family settled in Shechem, which was part of the land that God had promised Abraham. Jacob bought a piece of land from the sons of Hamor, who owns the land in that region. It so happened that Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob through Leah, visited the daughters of the land that the son of Hamor, Shechem, raped her. It was devastating to Jacob's family. Jacob kept silent, but his sons were furious. Hamor wanted his sons to intermarry with Jacob's family, but Jacob knew that it was not right to intermarry with them because they would lead his family to idolatry and sinful ways.
Jacob's sons wanted to avenge their sister, so they devised a deceitful plan and suggested to the sons of Hamor that if they wanted to intermarry with them, all their males had to be circumcised. Hamor and his sons agreed with the suggestions. As all the men of Hamor's family were in recovery and pain, Jacob's two sons, Simeon and Levi, took up their swords, killed all the males, including Hamor and his sons, and took their sister, Dinah, from them. Jacob was afraid that the other tribes in the land would avenge what his two sons had done. God eventually told Jacob to move to Bethel, which is south of Shechem. (Genesis 34:1-31).
Dinah was not supposed to intermingle with the people in the land because they worshiped idols. But she was curious and maybe wanted to explore; as a result, she was raped and led her two brothers to commit murders. As believers, we need to be careful not to compromise our faith in God with the sinful ways of this world because if we are not careful, it will burn us, just like what happened to Dinah. We need always to remember that our decision can have devastating consequences, and sometimes the results of our decision have irreversible effects. Let us not intermingle with the ways of this world. Before we make a decision, we need to pray and follow the ways of God, even if it is a difficult, uncomfortable, not a popular road to walk on. God's way is always the best way for us.
Ask yourself these questions: What should I do before I make a decision? Who can guide me to the right path? Am I compromising my faith in God with the ways of this world?
Write down all the worries that you are facing today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, your ways are better than my ways. Please help me not to compromise my faith in you with the ways of this world. Please help me to be strong in saying no to those things that are not pleasing to you. Please forgive me if I have been compromising. Please continue to change my heart to surrender my life to you fully. In your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.
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