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A Lesson From Leah

9:00 AM

Leah and Rachel's story is found in
 Genesis 29 – 31; Genesis 33; Genesis 35; and Ruth 4:11.


Leah lay there, pulling the blankets up as tight as she could around her neck and shoulders as though they might offer some form of protection to what was coming, for it was almost morning, and soon Laban's charade would come to light. Soon, Jacob would learn the truth; that the deceiver had been deceived. But for just a few minutes more Leah would savor the warmth and misguided affections of her new husband. 

She lay there trying not to think about Jacob's reaction when he saw her homely face instead of Rachel's beautiful one. She didn't want to think about how her heart might shatter into a million pieces at his reaction to this deception. Instead, she would lay here just a few minutes more and pray that Jacob would one day come to love her just as much as he already loved Rachel.

Just then morning dawned and 

"... behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” Genesis 29:25

And so began the heartbreaking marriage of Jacob and Leah. 

"For Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah." Genesis 29:30

Can you relate to Leah in some way?  I mentioned previously in writing about Hagar that I tend to root for the underdogs, perhaps because I have found myself in second place, overlooked, last pick and alone a time or two. 

Leah may never have felt loved by another in her lifetime, for what kind of father would cast off his oldest daughter to a man he knew loved another unless he wanted to be rid of her too, or thought there was no hope of another marriage for her?

And I'll admit, I've often wondered why Leah would have gone along with this charade unless she too felt she was left with no better choice. Can you imagine believing that marrying a man who is in love with your sister, is your best option moving forward?

Fortunately, feelings are not always a good judge of the realities around us. In Leah’s case, as well as ours, she IS very much loved and actually favored by God. God was looking down on the whole situation and took action;

"When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called is name Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. Genesis 29:31-34

Did you catch Leah's longing when naming her third son, Levi? "Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons."

Still longing for Jacob's love. But I want you to take note that through all these years of heartbreak, God was right there walking with her, granting her one blessing after another and the same is true for all of us! He has promised to never leave us, or forsake us, (Hebrews 13:5) no matter how desperate and lonely we feel. 

The Bible is full of precious promises of God's love and faithfulness to each of us! This just happens to be one of my favorites:



And sometime between the birth of Leah's third son and forth, I believe Leah figured this out, for when Leah bore her fourth son, her heart’s focus shifted from trying to earn the affections of her husband, to praising the God who had comforted her through these years,

"And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Genesis 29:35 (emphasis added)


At this moment she became part of the linage of the promised Messiah (Matthew 1:2-3) But God didn't stop there! Leah went onto be the mother of six sons and one daughter in all and upon her death she was laid to rest next to her husband whose name had now been changed by God to Israel. 

Blessings,

Sue

Blindness

Rachel and Leah - “Jealousy Blinds Us To God’s Blessings”

1:00 PM

 



Rachel and Leah. Two sisters instrumental in the history of the Jewish people who spent their lives competing over the affections of the same man. This caused deep  jealousy between the sisters. And the envy boiling inside of Rachel, made her blind to the blessings she received from God. 

Rachel and Leah - “Jealousy Blinds Us To God’s Blessings” 



Rachel nibbled on a long piece of grass as she drove her father’s herd to drink. The animals knew the path, so only once or twice did the young shepherdess have to swat a wayward lamb back into line. As the flock neared the watering well, Rachel saw the figure of a strange man standing among the shepherds waiting to water their sheep. Upon getting close enough for his face to come into full view, their eyes locked, and it was love at first sight. And so began the tormented triangle between Rachel, her sister Leah, and Jacob, the man they both loved.


As Rachel adjusted her bridal veil, she could hardly wait for the ceremony. Finally after agreeing to work seven years for Laban, Rachel and Jacob were to be wed. Her father was holding a great feast, and after would bring her to her new husband so they could consummate their marriage. But as the time passed, and with no one coming to get her, Rachel began to worry. And when Laban finally did come to her tent, her expectant joy soon turned to sorrow. For her father broke the news that her beloved had instead married her older sister Leah. Feelings of confusion, devastation, and betrayal filled Rachel, and she crumpled to the ground in a pile of tears. 


How could her father do this? How could her sister betray her? And how could the man who had pledged his love for her marry another? The next morning, with Laban’s deception revealed, Jacob agreed to work yet another seven years for the hand of Rachel. But the wedding wouldn’t happen for another week. And each day that passed, Rachel watched the celebrations held in Leah’s bridal tent. And each day that passed, the heart of Rachel seethed with jealousy.


The wedding came and went without much fanfare. There was no feast, or celebration, yet at least Jacob and Rachel were married. But instead of beaming with honeymoon happiness, Rachel was sullen. Yes it was true that she was able to marry for love. But she had waited 14 years. And yes she was beautiful, and cherished by Jacob. But she had to share her beloved husband. And yes she didn’t need to worry about her sister, because she too was well taken care of. But that came about as a result of her father’s deception. Because of her bitterness and jealousy, Rachel was blind to all of her many blessings. 


Rachel spent the rest of her life bitterly competing with her sister. And even though she knew the pain deception can cause, she too many times, practiced the art. God had blessed Rachel with much, but all she could see was what she didn’t have. And it was that blindness which eventually cost Rachel her life. Being barren, God had opened her womb and blessed her with her precious son Joseph. But Rachel wasn’t satisfied, for her sister Leah had more sons. And so her first words after the birth of her baby were, “May the Lord give me another son.” The Lord did give her another son, Benjamin. But Rachel died giving birth, leaving her beloved Joseph, Benjamin, and Jacob behind and broken-hearted.


Jealousy made Rachel blind to her blessings, and it can do the same to us. Sin, an ungrateful heart, and bitterness, all cloud our vision to the blessings God so generously gives. But when we start each day with gratitude, praise, and rejoicing, not only are our eyes opened, but so is our heart. And we can joyfully sing to the Lord, “amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found, was blind, but now I see.”

Esau

How Bad Do You Want It?

6:32 AM



Are you familiar with the story in Genesis 32 where Jacob wrestles with God? Jacob, who twenty years earlier had fled to the land of Paddan-aram to escape the fury of his twin brother Esau whose birthright he had stolen, was now headed back to his home of Canaan with his wives, children, servants, and livestock.

He sends a messenger ahead to inform Esau of his coming, and much to his dismay Jacob learns that his brother is on his way with four hundred men by his side! Afraid this could only mean destruction, Jacob divides everyone and everything into two camps with the hopes that if one is destroyed the other will be spared. And after praying to God for deliverance, Jacob sends his entire company ahead in groups one after the other, until finally he is the only one left. 

Scared and alone, Jacob is approached by a strange man who mysteriously shows up and wrestles with him until daybreak. But this is no mere man. It is God Himself. And after deciding the match has gone on long enough, God dislocates Jacob’s hip with a touch of His hand and demands to be let go. But instead of releasing the Lord Jacob cries out, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” (Gen. 32:26) 


Jacob wanted that blessing from God and nothing would stop him until he got it. No amount of pain, fatigue, or fear was going to keep him from prevailing! So how about you? Is there a blessing that you want from God? Are you willing to be a warrior like Jacob to get it? Will you go to the mat with God wrestling in the dirt, fighting through the pain, enduring the exhaustion, and never letting go unless He blesses you? God rewarded Jacob’s dedication with that blessing he battled so hard for, and promises the same to us. All we have to do is ask ourselves, “How bad do you want it? “



Genesis

A Loving Invitation {Genesis 31:1-36:43}

10:30 PM



For so many years Jacob was a “supplanter” , someone who would always have his way. He became a successful man like many we would actually know, but he lacked of something no money could buy: the Peace of God.  Jacob was about to meet his brother and the angels of God appeared to Jacob, to encourage him with the assurance of the Divine protection, (32:1-2). This encouraged him to carefully plan meeting his brother… his enemy, but still he was consumed by fear! (32:2-8). Would this meeting be peaceful?

Jacob then prays with thankful acknowledgment of undeserved favors; he humbly confessed his unworthiness, his fears and distress!  He was finally seeking God with all his being! He was confessing with faith God’s promises to him: “ 12 And You [Lord] said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and make your descendants as [numerous as] the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’”   (32:9-12) For a while this prayer seemed to calm him a bit, then he continued to plan the meeting with Esau by sending  a great present to him: “… For he said [to himself], “I will try to appease him with the gift that is going ahead of me. Then afterward I will see him; perhaps he will accept and forgive me.” 21 So the gift [of the herds of livestock] went on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night back in the camp.” (32:13-21) Then he sends his wives, children and servants ahead of him and is left alone.

 “A great while before day, Jacob being alone, more fully spread his fears before God in prayer. While thus employed, One in the likeness of a man wrestled with him. When the spirit helpeth our infirmities, and our earnest and vast desires can scarcely find words to utter them, and we still mean more than we can express, then prayer is indeed wrestling with God. However tried or discouraged, we shall prevail; and prevailing with Him in prayer, we shall prevail against all enemies that strive with us. Nothing requires more vigor and unceasing exertion than wrestling. It is an emblem of the true spirit of faith and prayer. Those who would have the blessing of Christ, must resolve to take no denial. The fervent prayer is the effectual prayer. “  M. Henry

Jacob was blessed, and His name was changed from, Jacob =“supplanter” to Israel= “a prince with God”

Jacob gives a new name to the place. He calls it Peniel, “the face of God, “because there he had seen the appearance of God, and obtained the favor of God! (32:30-31)

What about you? Are you anxious about a particular situation in your life? Are you feeling distressed, weary? Let me remind you of a loving invitation from our Heavenly Father to you:

1 Chronicles 16:11 (AMP)
10 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.11 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually [longing to be in His presence].

Psalm 27:8 (AMP)
8 When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You,“Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].”

Amos 5:4(AMP )4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel,
“Seek Me [search diligently for Me and regard Me as more essential than food] so that you may live.

Jesus said:  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation].” (Matt. 11:28)
We must remember: “If God is for us, who is against us?” If He is for us, we have the victory! 

Neither human nor demonic opposition can thwart the purposes of our sovereign God (Romans 8:31-39). Let us Praise Him as we wait on that which God has promised to do! Let us take a lesson from Jacob and hold fast to the One who has promised to never let us go!

Blessings!
Mari



Becky Austin

Trusting the Outcomes to God (Genesis 28:10 - 30:42)

2:31 AM




When you are in love, even time has a special quality all its own. Jacob loved Rebecca and willingly served 7 years with the joyful expectation of making her his wife.   “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” (29:20)
But, Jacob’s happily ever after would prove a bit more complex than what he hoped for. Jacob would have to deal with  disappointment and delayed gratification for Jacob would have to deal with a difficult in-law. 

Meet Laban.  Laban is manipulative and self-seeking. He tricks Jacob, substituting the less favored wife, Leah and then requiring another 7 years labor from Jacob to secure Rachel as his 2nd wife. All the years that Jacob remains there serving Laban he is blessed by God with many children and Laban too prospers because of God’s favor toward Jacob. It’s no wonder that when Jacob wants to take his family and return to his own people that Laban tries to manipulate circumstances to his favor with no concern for Jacob. Jacob agrees to stay longer but asks for the spotted and speckled sheep and goats. Jacob agrees but once again he tries to turn the odds in his favor. 
 “But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.” (30:35-36)

Sometimes God requires us to deal with difficult people who try to manipulate and use us for their own benefit. Sometimes it can seem like the odds are stacking up against us.  We have 2 choices.
  1. We can get caught up in the frustrations and circumstances and allow bitterness, anger, and despair to overcome us. 
  2. We can endure, trusting in the promises of God and his desire to bless us in spite of our circumstances. 
Jacob chose to endure and trust God for favorable outcomes. He put an action plan in to place and let God provide what he needed.  When studying about the sticks Jacob used to promote speckled and spotted sheep, I found conflicting opinions. I found a few articles that presented some scientific basis that might have been involved in influencing the genetics of the sheep to promote speckled and spotted offspring from solid colored animals. I also found many articles saying there was no genetic explanation and it was just simply God at work. Either way, the glory belongs to God and Jacob knew where his help came from.

 God may have required Jacob to be patient and endure many challenges but he was faithful to his promises to bless him. God intervened to offset all that Laban had done to manipulate and control Jacob’s circumstances. 
“...So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.”(30:42-43)

Do you have difficult people in your life? Parents, in-laws, siblings, employers, co-workers, etc? You have the same choices Jacob had.  You can be a bitter, distraught, self-pitying victim and take matters into your own hands.  Or, you can persevere, endure, take action as directed by God and trust the final outcomes to Him. 

blessings

God's Messages to Us Through Jacob {Genesis 25:19-28}

12:00 AM



The very first time I decided to read through the Bible, I began in the middle of the year with the New Testament. I finished Revelations in December and started reading Genesis in January. I was completely taken aback by the sharp contrast of seeing God in all His glory, worshiped incredibly at the end of the Bible and seeing the sin of man and his lack of worship on display in the beginning. I couldn’t help but wonder how or why Almighty God would ever want to deal with man! Have you ever wondered the same?

Jacob’s parents knew that their son, Esau, sought to kill Jacob so they sent him away. Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. Along the way, Jacob stopped for the night to sleep. He placed a stone under his head to use as a pillow. Do you find yourself wondering how Jacob is feeling at the moment? Was he sorry, worried, fearful (remember he was never the adventurer)?

While sleeping, Jacob dreams of a stairway that reached from the ground to heaven. Along the stairway, angels of God were moving up and down, and above the stairway, Jacob sees God who tells Jacob,

“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread from the west to the east, from the north to the south. All people on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until my promise is fulfilled.”

When Jacob woke, “[he] took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.  He called the name of that place Bethel…

 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey so that I may one day return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house and everything that you give me, I will give back one tenth.”

Here’s the exciting messages Jacob has for us that we can hold onto to:

God never gives up on us!

Jacob is a perfect example of how sinful man/woman can be drawn nearer to God!  Jacob had made a mess of things because of his selfish desires and was NOT seeking God, but in spite of all Jacob had done... in spite of his evil intentions and heart, God came to him and gives him a precious promise, “I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread from the west to the east, from the north to the south. All people on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until my promise is fulfilled.”

Just like with us. God seeks US, and blesses us with great and precious promises when we are not worthy or deserving of any of it!

God is with Jacob no matter what, and He will also be with us!

We’ll see this scenario played out quite often in the Bible. Even though, up to this point, Jacob’s actions have been less than worthy of God’s grace, God reiterates his plan to Jacob. When God gave the message found in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you… plans for [your] welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” It was during a time of discipline to give them hope, which is exactly what God is doing here with Jacob.

God’s plans for us will always be fulfilled!

God reiterates to Jacob the covenant he made with Abraham and Isaac, promising them land and descendants. The path Jacob took to get where he was was full of deception but, God’s plan for Abraham’s people would still be fulfilled no matter what, and that’s also true in each of our lives. We can rest assured God’s plans will succeed no matter how we mess up.

Jacob makes a vow, but why was Jacob’s promise conditional?

There have been various translations of this section but most agree that Jacob’s vow appears to be conditional. However, they also agree that the emphasis does not necessarily have to be placed on the word “if”. Jacob could have meant something along the lines of “when I return home safe and alive, I will make him my God forever”.
In Jacob’s day, vows were as serious, and binding, as a written contract today. Jacob’s affirmation to follow God was a well-thought-out promise that he certainly intended to keep.

How about you? Have you vowed to follow God? Have you placed conditions on that vow? Or have you vowed to follow Him no matter the consequences? Would you today, build an altar to God and reiterate any vow you’ve made to Him and your intent to keep it!?