Day 218: Leah's Perspective

Genesis 29:16-35

Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face.  Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.” “Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.”  So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days. Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.” So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast. But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her.  (Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.) But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”

“It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied.  “But wait until the bridal week is over; then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.” So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. (Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years. When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.” She soon became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon, for she said, “The Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.” Then she became pregnant a third time and gave birth to another son. He was named Levi, for she said, “Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me, since I have given him three sons!”  Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, “Now I will praise the Lord!” And then she stopped having children.

Many of us know this story and have heard this story before. We usually talk about Jacob’s willingness to work for Rachel and Rachel’s beauty. We pass Leah off as “the ugly sister”. Rarely do we look at this story from Leah’s perspective, so that’s what we are going to do today. Many of us read this story and we like to think that we are Rachel, but the truth is many of us are Leah. We know what’s it’s like to feel unloved, and we know what it’s like to want someone to love us. Many of us know what it’s like to chase love and do things that will make people love us. I think though many of us have characteristics of Rachel we relate to Leah. Leah has always been overlooked in favor of her younger sister, she was unloved.

Let’s break this down for a minute, her father tricked someone into marrying her. It’s almost like he knew that was the only way someone would marry her. It seems as if he was trying to get her off his hands. Jacob unknowingly sleeps with her. The very next morning he is in a rage because the woman he slept with was not Rachel. It was Leah. ouch! Jacob never looked at her as a wife, never loved her as a wife, or acknowledged her as a wife. Then Laban tells Him, wait until the bridal week is over, then you can have Rachel but you still have to work seven more years for her. Can you imagine how Leah must have felt, how heartbroken and unwanted she felt and was. First her father and then her husband. That must have hurt. Can you relate? I can relate, I grew up being brutally bullied, and one of the things that stuck with me for so many years was being told I was ugly, not just by the girls but the boys too. Also being told that I was the ugly twin. So I can relate to Leah, I know what it’s like, to feel unwanted. They said part is, too many of  us know what this feeling is like.

The story goes on to say that God saw that Leah was unloved. When we think we’re invisible, God sees us. When we think no one loves us God loves us. That’s the beauty of this story, God saw Leah. He did not look at her through the eyes of man, or the way that men have looked at her. In God’s eyes, she was just as beautiful as Rachel, He loved her the same as He did Rachel.

Leah began to look for love in all the wrong places. She thinks that by having a child Jacob would love her. She has three sons and we hear nothing from Jacob, When she has her last son, as pointed out by the website “Today’s Christian”, she decides to praise the Lord, not try to get Jacob to love her, I think this was the moment she decided that God’s love was enough. She had been looking for Jacob to love her for years, and probably her father as well, then she realized that the man who truly loved her was God. And He gave her four sons that would love her unconditionally.

All this to say, God sees you, and He loves you. Don’t look for love in all the wrong places. Even when you feel unwanted or unloved, know that God wants you and He loves you so much. More than you will ever know.

Reflection

1. Can you relate to Leah?
2. Where have you searched for love?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about feeling like LEah, and pray for those who feel like this everyday. If you still feel like this, know that you are loved in the same way that Leah was loved. You are not forgotten and you are not unwanted.

I love you. I really do and I want you to have a magnificent day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 219!

Day 88: Dare to Live!

Today we’re going to continue this little series, talking about daring to live.

As young people we are on this constant search to live the best life we can, but many times we are reaching for that life we are not living it. But why not, why not live our best lives now, we have an idea of what a good life looks likes and anything short of that is not what we would consider a good life.  But I think living our best life means living knowing that we will spend eternity with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We don’t have to reach for that life, we can live it right now, it was freely given to us 2500 years ago when Jesus died on the cross.  Truly living is living with the Lord everyday, that’s a good life.

Proverbs 21:21

Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

We have to ask ourselves what it means to actually live and what a good life looks like? When we are living with and for Christ that is when we are truly living.  When we pursue righteousness and kindness we will find life, that’s what the scripture tells us. Too many times I have had conversations with young people who have said they are going to wait until they are older to give their life to Christ. When asked why they had this mindset, their response would always be, “I just want to live.” I was always astounded by that response because Christ is life, we are not truly living until we are living in Him. It confuses me that so many people look at this lifestyle as an end to something, my friends it is the very beginning to an eternity, When we think that giving our lives to Christ will result in us not being able to live we must re-evaluate what it is that we view as truly living.

The scripture tells us that Christ came to give life and give it more abundantly. I think we are afraid to live for Christ because we don’t want to let go of our attachments to this world. We think that we can’t have fun living with Christ. But that is not true, if anything we have more fun, we are more free to live. We have no worries, we are stress free, guilt free, drama free, we are just free.  

I want to challenge everyone today to dare to live. Dare to give our lives to Christ, dare to give up what we think is living for what is truly living. Dare to pursue righteousness and live. What we don’t understand is that Christ is the key to the beginning of life and the end to eternal damnation. When we make the choice to live with and for Christ, we make the choice to live. Not only are we living for the moment but we are committed to an eternity. Living for Christ is living our best life. It is the best life we could ask for. It was given to us by Christ laying down His life. When someone lays down their life for us, it is only natural to want to live for them. He came to give us life, why do we act like it’s not real. Why do we push it aside until we decide it’s time to get right. We tend to push Christ to the side and only pick Him up when we need Him. We bargain with Him, “IF you do this, then I will live right.” I wonder what would have happened if Jesus had that same attitude toward us, what if he decided that he wasn’t going to lay down His until we all decided to believe in Him. Oh, we would not be saved. But Christ dared to lay down His life for a people full of sin. He dared to give His life for people He knew would never give their life to Him, because His love for us is just that great. So why can’t we live for Him. Why can’t we accept the life He has given us. Why are we obsessed with the idea of living outside of Christ, and when we’re done, then we’ll decide to settle down with the Lord. We must understand that life outside of Christ is not truly life at all, it is damnation. The only life worth living is one that is subject to the will of the Lord, one that is committed to Him and his Kingdom. That’s living.

Reflection

1. What is your definition of living?
2. Are you trying to live your life outside of Christ?
3. How different would your life look if you dared to live for Him?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Ask God to help you understand that the only life worth living is one that is dedicated to Him.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 89!

Day 87: Dare to Love!

John 15:12-13

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Luke 10:30-37

30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant[d]walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,[e] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Love takes risks, we have to take a chance on loving people sometimes. This means putting ourselves on the line for our friends and for other people. Love is selfless. Love is willing to lose in order to help someone else across the finish line.

I came across a video today of the Love run. When a woman was too weak to cross the finish line, two men aided her towards the finish line as hundreds of other people passed her up, in efforts to finish the race themselves. As they got closer another man came and carried her to the finish line, and when he got her there he put down to allow her to cross the finish line herself. He did not make this victory about himself by carrying her across the finish line but he helped her to it.

We have to choose as followers of Christ to be the one person to stop and help someone in need. We have to be the person that’s going to take a lost so that someone else can win and in the end it’s not about winning or losing it’s about selfless love.

Our generation is sometimes obsessed with self, we are so focused on winning and doing things for ourselves that we forget that there is a whole world outside of us. There are people who need love, and if we are so consumed with loving ourselves or making sure we are winning do we really have time for anyone else? Do we really have time to sacrifice, and love people like Christ loved us? Jesus was not concerned about himself when He came to earth, he was concerned with His people, his focus was on us. His love was geared toward even the people that hated Him. Our generation is also consumed with only loving those who love us, only doing for those who do for us. But what about the people who don’t love us, what about the people who could care less about us, can we dare to love them. Can we dare to carry them to the finish line.

The story of the Good Samaritan is so profound because, there was so much strife between the jews and Samaritans at this time, racial tensions between the two groups of people, which is why he is called a “despised Samaritan”, Yet he was the only one to even consider stopping to help this man, knowing the troubles between he and this Jewish man, he was willing to put that aside and see a need that needed to be met. Knowing that there was a possibility that this man would hate him he still took a chance. We have to be the same, even when we are despised, even when it’s not about us, even when we know we will get nothing in return; we must dare to love. It is the only thing that will keep this world from  completely falling apart. We must dare to love selflessly in a world that is so selfish. We must be the ones to make the choice to go back for the person that everyone has stepped over. We must be willing to help our enemies. We must learn to risk it all for love. It will be worth it.

Reflection

1. Would you be willing to take a loss so that someone else can win?
2. Do you consider yourself a selfless person?
3. How far will you go to make sure someone knows they are loved by you?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about what it means to love like Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day/evening. Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 88!