Focus: Leah's Ordeal

Text: Gen.29:31

"And when the LORD SAW that Leah was HATED, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren."

Leah had it so bad in marriage. She experienced misery in her loveless marriage with Jacob. It was so clear that she was hated for no fault of hers. She did not choose to be older than Rachel. God decided that. She was not the maker of the tradition that preferred the senior getting married before the junior. She was not the brain behind her father's deception of Jacob. But she suffered heavily in the hands of Jacob and Rachel for the sin of another.

Leah was hated and afflicted by Jacob; envied and victimized by Rachel. Even God could feel the sting of the palpable hate she suffered in the hands of Jacob. She found herself doing everything in her power to earn her husband's love. At the birth of her first son, she said, "Surely the LORD hath LOOKED upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me." She was hoping that one day she would earn his love. When the second son arrived, she said, "Because the LORD hath HEARD that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also…" The Lord saw and heard that she was hated. The third boy came, and she said, "Now this time will my husband be JOINED unto me, because I have born him three sons…" She was desperately seeking for love and acceptance from her own husband. She wanted to experience real love and oneness with him. She said after the birth of her sixth son, "Now will my husband DWELL with me…" So you could see Leah's desperation, ever wanting to be loved and accepted by her man, and it did not seem that she succeeded in her quest. She felt like a stranger in her own home - never felt relaxed and at home.

A woman helped by tradition and favored by Laban now found herself managed and endured by Jacob and disregarded by Rachel. She struggled to be loved and worked herself to death to be accepted. She felt bitter, lonely, downcast, distressed and depressed. In her marital home she was treated like an enemy. She was treated like she never existed. She was not married for who she was. The process was manipulated by her father to get her married. She was never married because she was loved, accepted and respected. Her father schemed to have her married out to someone who was not interested in her. She was one of the sad figures of sacred history. But God enabled her to find fulfillment through motherhood and procreation. She produced the royal line of the Messiah. Her place in history and in the purpose of God is undoubtedly pivotal. 

She was hated by man, but loved by God. She gave to Israel both priestly and kingly tribes. From Judah her son came the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

What is your story like? What is your own ordeal like? Have you been looking for love and acceptance? 

Leah looked and worked for love, and even till she died she could not find it. Even her burial was incidentally referred to (Gen.49:31). But in the case of Rachel, we read, "And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem" (Gen.35:19). Rachel's burial was deliberately mentioned while Leah's was incidentally referred to. Leah was demeaned by man but esteemed by God. 

The whole world may write you off; but do not write yourself off! God has a plan for you. It is written that when God saw that Leah was hated by her husband, He opened her womb. God's destiny for Leah was to be realized through her womb. The kingship and priesthood of Israel were in her womb, and man's hate for her could not stop her from fulfilling it. 

Man's hate cannot hinder God's agenda for your life. Our God is a miracle worker. He knows how to turn your marital water into wine. He knows how to cut off the thorns underneath your roses. God is in the business of changing our sorry stories to super stories. In your life, God is reserving the best for the last. Only put your whole life in His hands, and He will work something beautiful out of it. Your life will end in a comedy, not in tragedy. If your ordeal is anything like that of Leah, watch out for a glorious change by the sovereign hand of God. The praise of God (Judah) will come out of your life. Your life will shine for men to see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Your ordeal will end in glory. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter