You Get To Name It!
"During one of her pains, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid! You're having another son!" Rachel was dying. As she took her last breath, she named her son Benoni (son of my sorrow), but his father named him Benjamin (son of my right hand).
Genesis 35:17-18
YOU GET TO NAME IT
In Genesis 35 we read the heartbreaking story of the death of Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel.
They had left Bethel and were heading to Ephrath and Rachel went into labor. And it is severe. It is not going well. In the ancient world, they estimate that 1 out of 50 died while giving birth.
And so, Rachel is in hard labor, and it is not going well:
"During one of her pains, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid! You're having another son!" Rachel was dying. As she took her last breath, she named her son Benoni (son of my sorrow), but his father named him Benjamin (son of my right hand).
Genesis 35:17-18
Look closely at this. She named her son Benoni (Son of My Sorrow), but his father named him Benjamin (Son of My Right Hand.)
And what we learn from Jacob is that you can’t control the things that have happened to you, but you can control the narrative of what happened to you.
Rachel named her son, Son of My Sorrow. If Jacob let that narrative stand, every time he saw his son, he would have to say, “Here comes sorrow”. But Jacob said NO! This child will not carry around this narrative his whole life. This is NOT the Son of My Sorrow, this is the Son of My Right Hand. The right hand was a powerful metaphor for strength and power in the ancient world.
And the important thing to see here is that Jacob rewrote the narrative of his painful experience. This is what resilient people do. And if you and I are going to make it through hard times, we need to understand that we can’t control everything that happens to us, but we can control the narrative. With God’s help, Jacob could say, “I am so sad I lost my beloved wife, but look at what a gift she gave us. Look at the good that God brought out of it. Benjamin. Son of my Right Hand. Son of My Strength.
Question to contemplate: What narrative do you need to rewrite today?
You get to name it! And with God’s help, you will turn sorrow into strength!
