Genesis 29:35

New International Version (NIV)

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. Then she stopped having children.

For Meditation

She was not the woman he desired and invested seven years of his life laboring for. Culture planted Leah in the life of Jacob in a shocking manner the two had not anticipated. But it was too late for Jacob and good fortune for Leah. The master deceiver had met his match and had been rudely outwitted by his uncle, Laban. Paul was right when he wrote, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Gal. 6:7). Instead of Rachel, the woman Jacob worked for, Laban sneaked Leah, Rachel’s older sister, into the honeymoon bed of the couple after an evening of joyful wedding festival. Jacob realized the following morning that he had consummated his marriage to the wrong woman, but it was too late. His only option was to work seven additional years for the woman of his choice, Rachel. With one stroke of crafty ingenuity, Laban had married his two daughters to a common husband, and the struggle began.

If anybody thinks that God appreciates polygamy, the person may not know Him. How could God, who knows the cruelty and neglect polygamy brings into a marital relationship along with jealousy and unhealthy rivalry, sanction it? As Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matt. 6:24). And that’s exactly what happened; for Jacob’s love for Rachel “was greater than his love for Leah” (Gen. 29:30).

God knows the hurts and pains human systems dish to us in such a situation, and so He moves to compensate us in many ways. He enabled unloved Leah “to conceive, but Rachel remained childless” (31). God compensated for Leah’s suffering and brought her joy with children. Yet, Leah yearned for her husband’s love, and vainly hoped through three sons that Jacob would “become attached to me” (34). Not until her fourth son did Leah realize the futility of seeking fulfilment from human beings. She, therefore, named him Judah, saying: “This time, I will praise the Lord” (32-34). Isn’t God good?

I love stories like this. I can’t have enough of God’s love and kindness when He steps into our messy situations and brings something beautiful out of it. It reveals the wickedness of the human heart and works on it for God’s glory. It is God’s redemption story that has been told right from the Garden of Eden to Calvary, and continues today till Christ comes. It is the story we can all embrace through Christ Jesus at any time.

So, are you in a messy situation that is crying for redemption? Why don’t you look to Jesus to graciously pull you through and establish His joy in your life, so that you can say with Leah, “This time, I will praise the Lord” (34)?

Shalom