When you look at Leah’s life in Genesis 29:31-35, you would realize that Leah was sad because she felt unloved by her husband. She thought she could find other means of making herself happy and so rather than depending on God for her happiness, she decided to find other alternatives. The bible tells us that Leah conceived her first son and named him Reuben; saying ‘The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore my husband will love me’. Leah thought conceiving a child for her husband would make him love her, which would in turn make her happy. She gave birth to her second son and still had not been loved and so this time she said, “Because the Lord has heard am unloved, He has given me this son also” and so she named him Simeon. Leah conceived a third time and bore a son, and said; “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons”. Therefore she named him Levi. Even after three sons, Leah’s husband Jacob did not fall in love with her.
This is what happens when we depend on our own strength and depend on others rather than God for our happiness. The bible tells us that, Leah conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now I will praise the Lord”, and called him Judah. Leah was expecting so much but yet depended on her strength alone. It took her four sons for her to realize that she was depending on the wrong people and things to make her fulfilled. It was after she bore her fourth son that she realized that her happiness was not in the hands of any man, but God alone. Leah finally accepted the truth and decided to lean on God; and so for the first time, Leah acknowledged God as the only person who could perfect her future. We would have to give our all to God and commit every aspect of our lives into His hands for Him to in turn give us those wonderful dreams we desire.
Some of us do get what we conceptualize, but we later realize it wasn’t as wonderful or perfect as we envisaged it to be; but by then, it would be too late to turn back the hands of time.
In Genesis 16:1-5, Sarai like Leah thought she could make her herself happy by giving her husband a child. Since she could not give him one, and rather than waiting on the promises of God, Sarai decided to convince her husband to sleep with her maid Hagar. What a grave mistake Sarai made. She might have dreamt and conceptualized that perfect future she would have with her husband once Hagar bore him a son. She visualized the joy on her husband’s face. That joy she couldn’t give him. Oh how perfect it was going to be but unfortunately, the table turned against Sarai. After her maid Hagar became pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai. If only she had waited on God.
Like Sarai and Leah, most of us expect life to happen just the way we expect it to happen; after school, work, after marriage etc. without consulting God first about His plans for us and when it doesn't follow in that order, we became frustrated. God says He knows the thoughts He thinks towards us, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give us an expected end. (Jer. 29:11). He says He’s going to give us an expected end; an end more perfect than what we envisaged; if only we would allow him to take the wheels of our lives. Our future can only be perfect if we have Christ in it. Let’s all be like David who says in Psalm 62:5 that “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him”, or like Paul who says in Philippians 1:20 that “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death”.
So like Leah, let us praise God now, and leave Him to decide what our future is, for us. Because He’s the only one who can give us that perfect future and our expectations shall not be cut short; for it is Solely in Christ, that our expectations become a reality.
Amen.
Written by : Phyllis Tettey.
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Wonderful message. God bless you
ReplyDeleteBless you too Papa
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