I had a moment in teaching a bible study tonight where a revelation just hit me. My notes were in front of me and my thoughts began to ramble until God just began to speak. To see the smiles and the revelation on my girls faces made my night. God was there with me and no matter how much I prepared, I came to the realization that He uses us, imperfect human beings, to bring forth His message.
Simply, by His grace.
We’ve been studying women of faith in the bible. The more that I’ve studied these stories, I’m blown away by how God used each woman for a specific purpose in mind.
Leah was described as a “woman with weak eyes” or “delicate, tender-eyed” in other translations.
Basically, Leah was not very attractive and was nothing in comparison to her ever so beautiful sister, Rachel.
As the story goes, Leah was unloved by Jacob and tried so hard to feel accepted by her husband. She continually faced rejection and disappointment. And, when God opened her womb, she named her son Reuben for she believed that surely her husband would now love her. There was a similar case with her next three sons and then, with her fourth son, there was suddenly a change in her heart.
Revelation.
She named him Judah as she said, “For now, I will praise the LORD.”
Leah came to the realization that her husband’s love or family’s approval was not going to give her the joy that she longed for. Her value and worth was found in the LORD.
Truly. So beautiful. A woman who society and man would just pass on by had suddenly become a God-fearing woman who arrived at a place where she decided to keep her faith and press forward towards her Heavenly Father’s promise for her life.
And, what a legacy she left. The bloodline of Jesus was not found in Jacob and Rachel, but rather, it is found in Jacob and Leah. God specifically chose Leah to carry on the covenant promise that was given to Abraham. I just think that is amazing. If Leah had given up, then we would have never been able to read the story about the power of a woman’s sustained faith. Through every storm, God is fighting for His children. Even when it seems that He has not answered our prayers, He is there. And, the answer may not be what we wanted to hear, but He is there and He has a plan to bring honor and glory to His name-to leave behind a legacy.
One of my girls said, “It is all just one story.”
Yes. That is exactly what the Bible is.
We are a part of that story today. The legacy and covenant that was given to Abraham and then carried to Jesus, where the new covenant could be established through the cross, is absolutely breathtaking.
To be like Leah. To fear the LORD, instead of society’s view on beauty, value and worth.
Leah didn’t fit a certain mold, yet God chose her. Leah tried to first find her fulfillment in being accepted by a world around her, when all along, she had already been accepted by her King.
Leah kept her faith and realized that her battle might be something that she would have to fight with for the rest of her life, but she didn’t give up.
God never left her. He sustained her through the roughest waters of life.
I don’t know what you are going through, but I was comforted in reading Leah’s story.
We don’t have it all figured out, but God is teaching us along the way. The bloodline of Jesus is found through Leah, so that the new covenant could be established.
Through Jesus, we are whole and are of infinite worth to Him. Leah is of infinite worth and is seen by God as a woman of great strength and perseverance. It is
truly beautiful and breathtaking to think that God is using each of us for the same greater purpose that He used Leah for.
