If your life were a movie, what would you cut?
Most of us wouldn’t just edit a few scenes. We’d remove entire chapters. We’d remove the regret. We remove the moments we wish we could take back. We’d remove the moments that still don’t make sense.
But the Bible doesn’t do that. And we should be grateful for that.
In Genesis 35:21–29, we get a raw, unfiltered stretch of Jacob’s story. Let’s read it.
21 Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Jacob had twelve sons: 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
Genesis 35:21-29, New International Version
27 Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 28 Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. 29 Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
There’s movement, and then sudden dysfunction. Reuben commits a serious sin, and the text simply says, “Israel heard of it.” No resolution. No explanation. Just silence.
Then life keeps going. A list of sons. A father’s death. A family reunion that quietly closes a long, complicated story.
It feels messy because it is. And that’s the point.
If we were editors on this story, we would clean this story up. But the Lord doesn’t do that. He leaves the tension in place to show us something important: His faithfulness doesn’t depend on a perfect story.
Right in the middle of sin, silence, and sorrow, God’s promise is still moving forward.
We all have parts of our story that feel unresolved.
- Mistakes we wish we could undo
- Situations that never got closure
- Seasons that don’t make sense
Here’s the truth to hold onto: Don’t let the mess in your life make you doubt the faithfulness of our Lord.
He is still working, even in those places we wished weren’t there.
Instead of avoiding the messy parts of your life, bring one of them to the Lord. You don’t need to clean it up first. Just invite Him into it, and trust that He’s not waiting for perfection to keep writing your story.
Genesis moves forward not because people get it right, but because the Lord keeps His promises.
And He still does.
Your story doesn’t have to be clean for the Lord to be present. It just has to be surrendered.
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