Scripture

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive.

~Genesis 29:31, NLT

Quote

Commit any sorrow, rejection, frustration or broken dream to His omnipotent hand and He will turn it into a blessing.

~Cahn/Bailey

Rachel and Leah were sisters. Leah was the older of the two and obviously not as attractive. Matter of fact, we find these words in Genesis 29:17, “Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of form and face.” {NASB} The NLT reads…“There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face.” Peterson says that Rachel was stunningly beautiful. We do know this: Rachel was the love of Jacob’s life and he never kept it a secret. Laban’s deceitful ways didn’t help matters. He wanted the older, less attractive daughter gone so he tricked Jacob. I was talking to someone just the other day on this subject of asking a father for then hand of a daughter in marriage and I can’t remember who I was talking to but he told me, “The only thing her father said to me was, ‘Don’t bring her back.'” I also bumped into an old friend in Danville a month or so ago. He and his wifed attended DBC back in the 90’s. He said, “What I remember about you brother Jack was the joke you told about the State Trooper.” It took me a minute to figure out what joke he was referring to. It was the story of the guy who tried to outrun a State Trooper. After a 20 minute high speed chase the Trooper finally got the old boy to stop. The first thing out of the Trooper’s mouth was: “Why did you try to outrun me?” The old boy paused and then said, “To be honest, my wife ran off with a State Trooper several years ago and I was afraid it was you bringing her back.”

Sorry I digressed: that has little or nothing to do with the blog. Leah had the unhappy distinction of being unloved and she knew it. She tried everything possible to win Jacob’s affection but it never happened. Leah carried this deep wound of rejection with her daily; it was the unceasing sorrow of her life. She desperately wanted what her sister had and she knew she would never get it, not in this life time, not on this earth. This is the way life unfolds for those who are hurt, rejected, broken hearted, frustrated, empty, discontent and longing for something more. Although Leah never saw it as clearly as we do, God made her the fruitful one and it was her children that became the leaders of the nation. From her son Levi would come the priest and the Levites who would lead in worship and maintain the Temple. Moses was a descendant of Levi and you know his contributions. Judah came from Leah and from Judah came David and the Dravidic line which culminated in Jesus the Messiah. Isn’t this something; Leah coveted Rachel’s natural beauty and yet she had something far greater but she didn’t know it.

Have you be scared by the past? Have you been rejected? Has your heart been broken? Do you sometimes feel a deep discontentment with this world? God still chooses to this day to use the children of Leah. The rich and famous are not much use to God. Think about it: what do you desire most? To be loved and admired by the world or to be fruitful in the kingdom of Christ? By the way, Rachel shed more tears than Leah because she wanted to be fruitful. Ironic, is it not; Leah envied Rachel for her beauty and status with Jacob and Rachel envied Leah for being fruitful.

One more tie-bit. Some 20 years ago about this time {Mother’s Day} a young woman said to me, “I envy you!” Of course I was shocked and asks her why would she envy me? She said, “Because you know your purpose in life and my life has no purpose.” I said, “Are you kidding, you are the mother of three children and one of them may grow up to become the president. You will be the key influencer in their lives so never say that your life does not have purpose.”

Extra

National Day of Prayer service today at 11:30, Southside Baptist Church, Decatur. We could us your support. I am task oriented but unfortunately, I am not a multitasker. I am way behind and my hope is that I can knock some things out as soon as the Prayer Service is over. I don’t preach at all this Sunday so I hope to have some extra time.

Keep praying for our friends in crisis and pray that we get some of that 80% chance of rain tomorrow.