Desire to be Loved
No single verse sums up the activity of God throughout scripture better than this:
Genesis 29:31 (ESV) When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
The human desire to be loved is a strong as anything. People will do almost anything to be loved by someone. Leah wanted desperately to be loved by the man she plotted with her father to marry unbeknownst to him.
Some people may look at Leah's predicament and think she deserved what she got. After all, she should have refused to marry Jacob. But that argument assumes that young women in those days had the rights they have today. We don't know for sure. What we do know is that no matter how she got into this marriage, it was void of love, and it hurt badly.
But God saw Leah not being loved. And God acted on her behalf.
FACT: God choses the unlovely. The New Testament makes that plain as day. While Jacob met the love of his life at a well who was a virgin, pure and beautiful, Jesus would show his godly affection for a woman 5-times divorced and shacking up with a guy who wasn't her husband in John 4. While Jacob loved Rachael for her attractiveness, Jesus loves Mary Magdalene in spite of her demon possession. He loves Zacchaeus who was, short, Matthew who was aligned with Rome, and even Lazarus who was dead for days. God sees the unloved... and loves them.
But unfortunately, Leah does with God's love what we do. She leverages God's gifts to achieve her own shadow desires. She names the first three sons for what they may help her accomplish in her life - getting the love of her Husband. These efforts are futile and it is not until Judah, the fourth son appears, that Leah gives up trying to earn Jacob's love. She simply says, "This time I will praise the Lord."
It won't be the end of Leah's quest for her husband's affection but it was a nice break. She gave the credit where it was due and praised the Lord for His provision. Notice also, after giving birth to the fourth son and worshipping God for this gift, it says, "Then she ceased bearing."
Why did she stop? Because she was satisfied in the Lord. She didn't have to struggle anymore for affection. She had her fill from God.
I wish the story ended there. It doesn't. It's amazing how quickly after Rachel starts bearing children (though through her concubines), Leah is back to bargaining and wrestling for her husband's affection. Something is stirred in her and she starts playing the same game.
Genesis 30:16–18 (ESV) When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
Genesis 29:31 (ESV) When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
The human desire to be loved is a strong as anything. People will do almost anything to be loved by someone. Leah wanted desperately to be loved by the man she plotted with her father to marry unbeknownst to him.
Some people may look at Leah's predicament and think she deserved what she got. After all, she should have refused to marry Jacob. But that argument assumes that young women in those days had the rights they have today. We don't know for sure. What we do know is that no matter how she got into this marriage, it was void of love, and it hurt badly.
But God saw Leah not being loved. And God acted on her behalf.
FACT: God choses the unlovely. The New Testament makes that plain as day. While Jacob met the love of his life at a well who was a virgin, pure and beautiful, Jesus would show his godly affection for a woman 5-times divorced and shacking up with a guy who wasn't her husband in John 4. While Jacob loved Rachael for her attractiveness, Jesus loves Mary Magdalene in spite of her demon possession. He loves Zacchaeus who was, short, Matthew who was aligned with Rome, and even Lazarus who was dead for days. God sees the unloved... and loves them.
But unfortunately, Leah does with God's love what we do. She leverages God's gifts to achieve her own shadow desires. She names the first three sons for what they may help her accomplish in her life - getting the love of her Husband. These efforts are futile and it is not until Judah, the fourth son appears, that Leah gives up trying to earn Jacob's love. She simply says, "This time I will praise the Lord."
It won't be the end of Leah's quest for her husband's affection but it was a nice break. She gave the credit where it was due and praised the Lord for His provision. Notice also, after giving birth to the fourth son and worshipping God for this gift, it says, "Then she ceased bearing."
Why did she stop? Because she was satisfied in the Lord. She didn't have to struggle anymore for affection. She had her fill from God.
I wish the story ended there. It doesn't. It's amazing how quickly after Rachel starts bearing children (though through her concubines), Leah is back to bargaining and wrestling for her husband's affection. Something is stirred in her and she starts playing the same game.
Genesis 30:16–18 (ESV) When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
How silly it is to disregard the good things God has given to you when others seem to move forward in their lives. But this is what Leah does. She floats into works righteousness. Notice her language: "God has given me my wages..." In other words, "I earned this from God. I manipulated the situation."
And it's often what we do. Floating back and forth from the love God has for us which is given freely to the love we think we need in the world and using God to get it.
What's the answer? To rest in His love for us!
The Ephesian church was a lot like Leah.
In Acts 19, this city turns from sorcery and magic to the Living Christ in great numbers and with incredible passion.
In Ephesians 1 & 3, Paul prays that they may know God's love for them in deep measure.
But in Revelation 2, Jesus rebukes them for leaving their first love.
How often we play the Leah game when infinite joy awaits in the presence of Christ. Close in and ask Him to know His deep love for you once again.
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