Praise Him in the midst of the mess Leah has to be the most unloved woman in the Bible. She was married off through deception, described as having weak eyes, which is a sharp contrast from her sister who was “lovely in form and beautiful.” Over and over we hear her plea for love: “She named him Reuben, for she said, ‘It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.’ She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.’ So she named him Simeon. Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ So he was named Levi(Genesis 29:32-34). …Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, ‘This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.’ So she named him Zebulun” (Genesis 30:19-20). In the midst of an otherwise depressing account in the Bible there is a little glimmer of hope. It came with Judah, Leah’s fourth son. “She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ So she named him Judah”(Genesis 29:35). Leah’s circumstances hadn’t changed. We know that because Judah was number four and with Zebulun (number six) she’s still hoping to gain some honor with her husband. The only thing to change was Leah’s attitude. She chose to praise the Lord despite her circumstances. She chose to not dwell on the negative, but see the positive. It is hard in the midst of the mess to do. When we’re frustrated with circumstances and our expectations aren’t met it’s easy to fall into despair. How much better to remember the characteristics of a God who is crazy about us, watches and looks after us, protects us, shapes everything we’re going through into good, and promises to give us all we need to endure? Life unfortunately does not come in a neatly wrapped package of bliss. We’re all in the midst of a mess of some sort, and if we aren’t than there’s one coming. The way we face that mess is pretty indicative of where our heart is. Do we feel we deserve more, that we’ve been robbed of the happiness that should rightly be ours? Or, have we learned to praise God in our storms while waiting for Him to calm the waves?
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 16:19:34 +0000
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