Every woman wants to be Rachel. The one who was loved and desired by Jacob. He worked 14 years just to have her as his wife, and the Bible says she was beautiful and attractive. But Rachel had an older sister. A sister who was, also according to the Bible was dull looking and had weak eyes. Her name was Leah.
If Leah had a reality TV show in our lifetime, there would be no lack for drama. She was given to a man to be her husband when he thought she was someone else. Imagine her agony knowing through the entire night that he was not loving her, but who he thought she was, Rachel. The rejection she must have felt the next morning when Jacob saw her face must have been heart wrenching. The words spoken by Jacob to her father must have haunted her for years. She could feel is angered as he yelled, “Why have you cheated me, deceived me and thrown me down like this?!” Her brief happiness was over and her life filled with agony as her husband was also given to her sister. She was destined to live her life in a constant state of jealousy and competition with her sister Rachel. Who could be a better wife, who could have more children, who could be a better mother, who could win Jacobs love? Each day was more of a struggle than the last. Her one hope was her ability to bear children, a gift that was not granted to her sister right away. She had her first child Reuben and she said “maybe now my husband will love me”. The she had another son named Simeon meaning, God Hears, since God knew she was despised. She then had a third son named Levi and said “now my husband will be my companion because I have bore him three sons” but Jacob did not love her more. She continued to live a rejected and hurt life. But then something happened. Leah had a revelation. All the Bible says in Genesis 29:35 was that she conceived again and bore a son and called his name Judah for she said ‘Now I will praise the Lord’. But I believe so much happened in between these verses that we do not see. Somewhere in these verses, Leah began to realize she was striving for the wrong heart. She focused not on chasing the heart of her husband but on chasing the heart of God. It was in this moment that she said, Now I will praise the Lord! It was through this son that God chose to bring forth His son many years later. Birthed through the moment of PRAISE! But you see much more happened in this moment than just Leah choosing to praise God in the middle of her circumstances. It was here that her Praise did not just birth a boy, but a promise, not just a promise, but a gift, and not just any gift…a miracle.
As much as every woman wants to be Rachel, we all too often find ourselves staring back at Leah. We have become weak and dull with no sparkle in our eyes because we have allowed the weights of this world to bring us down. We have lives filled with rejection from friends, lovers, even family. We spend our time comparing ourselves to each other and deciding who is the “best” always trying to win the affection of the world. But what if we, for a moment, began to praise God for our circumstance NOW….began to praise Him for the things that have not yet happened, the things we know nothing about and the miracles we need today! What if we say, it does not matter what stands in front of me, I have God standing beside me! And we begin to praise not with mere words or a light clap of the hands but a praise that comes from the depth of your soul and calls on a God is capable of Miracles! Please read Psalms 146.
~Alison Mauro
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