Stuck In The Middle (Lessons From Gad) Series

Genesis 30:9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. (10) And Zilpah Leah s maid bare Jacob a son. (11) And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.

I. There are some lessons we can learn from Gad. The 12 sons of Jacob, in order of their birth, are: Reuben (behold a son or vision of the son), Simeon (hearing/hears and obeys/hearing with acceptance), Levi (joined/adhesion), Judah (object of praise/praise of the Lord), Dan (he that judges), Naphtali (obtained by wrestling), Gad (good fortune, troop, seer), Asher (happy), Issachar (there is here or reward), Zebulun (dwelling or wished for habitation), Joseph (may God add/increased), and Benjamin (son of my right hand).

A. Here Gad is the firstborn of Leah’s maid, but he is technically a middle child, stuck in the middle. He is the other son. I am a middle child, I get it. In those introductions you have the eldest, you have the baby, and then you have also our other son. Everyone seems to be talking about all the brothers. Even today you will hear preachers and Christians talk about the other brothers. Throughout the Bible you find very little information about Gad and his tribe, which is only mentioned 74 times out of the 783,137 words in the KJV Bible. In comparison, Judah is mentioned over 764 times.

1. Sometimes we feel stuck, stuck in our calling, stuck in our walk, always in the middle, not able to move forward. It seems like everyone is being talked about but you. It’s hard when you feel stuck. It’s uncomfortable. It plays with your mind and your emotions. You just can’t seem to get out of the middle.

2. You can feel like God is playing favorites. Everyone else seems to be blessed and highly favored, the head, and not the tail; …above only, …not be beneath; for you it just seems like a struggle. Everyone else seems to be talked about but you. It even appears God is talking about others over you.

3. I know because I feel that way. Just because I am a Child of God and serve in a ministerial position doesn’t exempt me from the flesh; For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Paul said: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!

a. I fight discouragement and depression too. I deal with a blast from the past. As a teenager and even in my early 20’s and now in my 40’s I keep battling low self-esteem, depression, self-worth. Sometimes those feelings rise up from time to time.

b. I am weary in well doing and feel like Job; My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. The words of David ring true within me; For my soul is full of troubles: O my God, my soul is cast down within me. The Bible says in Pr 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but [when] the desire cometh, [it is] a tree of life. Right now, I am just sick and as far as I am concerned that tree was cut down.

B. While we feel like we are stuck in the middle, guess who else knows what it’s like in the middle. Jesus hung between two thieves, one chose Him and the other rejected Him, but He still loved them both. One was forgiven and the other could have been forgiven. This is the world today, those that accept and those that reject but Jesus as our great High Priest “But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.” (Heb 7:24, AV) stands between us and God, connecting heaven and earth. 1Jo 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

a. There is no reason to get all tore up when the name that is above every name, the one who created all things, the one that saw satan fall like lightening, the one that stepped out of eternity clothed Himself as man, so that He could be our propitiation, who bare our guilt, our shame, and sin on the cross so that death, hell and the grave could be defeated. So that through accepting Him we would be saved by confessing and turning from our sins. So that soon and very soon we will take off this mortal, corruptible body and be as Him clothed in a new immortal and uncorruptible body where we will reign together forever in the new earth and heaven.