_{“Then God said to Jacob, “Then Go up to Bethel and settle there and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone” So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem” – Genesis 35:1-4}

I was interrogating God’s silence as I stumbled on the portion of scripture in Genesis 34 that described how Dinah – Jacob’s daughter was raped. The Injustice she endured had me furious. Jacob and his family had moved far away from where God had told them to. In this city, a man named Shechem, mentioned as the Son of Hamon took to Dinah and raped her. I was confused as to why the bible mentioned that he loved her and only after the rape did he seek to marry her. Why didn’t he just do things the right way. Love her? What kind of love is that? What wild passion. Of course we understand later that her father Jacob appears to be passive about the situation but her brothers avenge her. At face value, we are tempted to point fingers at God. Ask him why he didn’t rain down fire and brimstone when Dinah was being raped. Why didn’t he save Dinah? Why was He silent?

You see our disobedience has consequences. And those consequences not only affect us, but can also impact others by proximity as well. the concept of free will is very much at play here. And whilst we expect God to save everything, we must also understand that our choices leave us vulnerable as well. God had instructed Jacob to settle in Bethel, but he chose another path that took him far away from God’s will. To the point where he was buying land and making strange deals with a people God had not endorsed. The bible also tells us that Dinah had gone to mingle with the daughters of the land and it was then that she became vulnerable to the depravity of Shechem. As devastating as the situation was, this was the repercussion of Jacob’s choices. The situation had Jacob returning desperately back to God. That the people had to get rid of their foreign gods and purify themselves before returning to Bethel – shows how far they had gone mingling away from God’s original intent.

Sometimes it takes us sitting in the consequences of our actions, in order for us to find our way back to Him. Whilst God is not responsible for evil, He can use difficult situations to draw us back to him. We learn here that – Our choices do matter!

God is not that Dad, who wants to drag you along the trail, screaming your head off – just so you can do His bidding. He longs for your partnership and your willful surrender too. Our choice to obey God saves us from several heartache, as well as it can do others. Whilst God would always choose mercy, we can save ourselves the hassle of unnecessary pain by just doing things His way. It’s always much safer.