Nothing Lasts Forever

Genesis 35:16-21

Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor. When she was in her hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid; for now you will have another son.” As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to phrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar at her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Israel journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

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And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain,
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

"November Rain," by Axl Rose recorded by Guns N' Roses from "Use Your Illusion I"

Jacob loved Rachel. She was beautiful and he was in love. Joseph loved her enough to work as what we might call an indentured servant for fourteen years so that he might have her for his wife.

Fourteen years, what have you done in your life for fourteen years. Not public schooling, that was thirteen if you went to kindergarten. Not college unless you're a medical doctor or professional student. Jacob worked for fourteen years so that he might have the love of his life.

Of course, the star-crossed nature of their love is what makes their story memorable. Rachel's father Laban insists Joseph work seven years before marriage, then he gets Leah, the older sister, not Rachel because "giving the younger sister in marriage first, that's not the way we do things in this neck of the woods." Laban insists Leah have her wedding week, then he can marry Rachel... for another seven years service. It goes from bad to worse.

Then Rachel has difficulty giving conceiving a child. Finally, she conceives a son, Joseph. Then she conceives another, but this would be their earthly undoing. Rachel dies in childbirth. As she passes, she names her son Ben-Oni, child of my sorrow. Jacob renames him, Ben-jamin, son of my right hand. What is horror and sorrow is turned to joy.

Sorrow, pain, horror, all in the name of love. Tragedy falls the life of the great patriarch. Still, Jacob finds not the silver lining in the cloud, but the joy that will one day come instead of the pain that is now in his life. He will not dwell on the sorrow. He will not pin his son with a name of sadness. Even as his most favored bride dies, Jacob can remember...

So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

It is by God's presence and strength that the cold November rain will pass beyond the baptism of our tears.

Who Gets Hurt

Yeah, it's country, but it's right.
)

Exodus 20:18

Neither shall you commit adultery.

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You keep telling me, baby
There will come a time
When you will leave her arms
And forever be in mine
But I don't think that's the truth
And I don't like being used and I'm tired of waiting
It's too much pain to have to bear
To love a man you have to share

"Stay" by Sugarland

If you come to this blog just to read the words, thank you, but this time please watch at least a bit of the video. Look at the pain in the eyes of vocalist Jennifer Nettles. I mean look at it. This song is the story of a woman who is having an affair with a married man and her pain. Look at it.

Scripture says "you shall not commit adultery" but why? (Pretty obvious, but go with me here...) Yes, it messes with the family unit, no doubt about it, and that's a bad thing. Families are stronger when a wedge isn't driven into the log splitting it into pieces. But that's not what this song is about.

This song is about the "other woman." It's about the pain she experiences. She wants more, or by the end of the song wanted more. She knows he won't leave his wife and it's tearing her up. She's in pain. At the moment, in this perspective, we aren't imagining the couple's situation, we're in her shoes. Because of this song's hard lyrics and Jennifer Nettles' emotionally raw performance we can imagine it.

It's easy to imagine the pain and horror of a family coming apart, that's the plot of nearly every "cheating spouse" story ever told. Rightly this is the horror of cheating on your partner, but it is only one of the horrors of adultery. But there's another player in this story too. It's the horror of a woman who is hurt being the third point in the triangle.

Here's the thing about sin, it causes everyone who is touched by it to hurt. Even when it's a situation that begins so right when it turns wrong is goes so very wrong. Know this from the look on Jennifer Nettles' face and the tears in her eyes, because of sin everyone hurts, even those we don't tend to think of being hurt.