“Just keep trying, you can do it.”
“ Success is just around the corner if you just keep going.”
“No one can stop you but you.”
Have you ever heard something like this before?
Have you ever said anything like this to someone? Maybe a friend, a spouse, an employee, or a child? The words, in and of themselves, are not wrong. Many times we fall short of the win because we don’t keep going when the going gets tough. We are all tempted to take the path of least resistance or give up as soon as something gets hard.
Unfortunately, like many things, these sentiments have been taken too far. They have become the anthem of motivational speakers and “positive messaging” that ultimately says “you are the answer for your own struggle.” This message has started showing up in pop culture and even kids programing. Elsa from the Disney hit movie Frozen 2 communicates this at the end of the movie when she sings a duet with her dead mother who tells her, “you are the one you have been waiting for all of your life.” (Kind of creepy when you think about it!)
This messaging is not new.
Like many worldly concepts, it started out slowly and has become more and more a part of the every day vernacular. There has been a slight shift in the past few years to include “finding your tribe” and receiving support from others in your close circle as well as just digging deeper and turning inward for answers. But where does this leave God?
In Genesis 29, we find the familiar story of Jacob. He fled from his brother after stealing his brother’s blessing and went to his Uncle Laban’s house to find a wife. Jacob immediately met the love of his life, Rachel, and worked for seven years to marry her. But much to his surprise, he woke up the morning after the wedding ceremony and discovered he has been tricked into marrying Rachel’s older sister Leah. Jacob confronted Laban about this. Laban agrees to give Jacob Rachel as well, if he sticks around for another seven years of work.
Much of the time the focus of this story is on the relationship between Laban and Jacob. But what about Leah?
Verse seventeen introduces us to Leah and says that “Leah’s eyes were weak” (ESV). This was the ancient Hebrew way of saying that she was unattractive. Rachel on the other hand was “beautiful in form and appearance,”. She was also a shepherd who was tending her father’s flock when Jacob first met her. Jacob saw a strong, independent, beautiful woman and knew she was the one for him. It was no secret that he wanted her. What could Leah have been thinking when she found out her father’s plan to give her to Jacob instead of the sister he really wanted? I imagine it made her feel anything but loved, accepted, and wanted.
Verse thirty-one tells us that Leah was hated. What a strong word! My heart goes out to her. As far as we know, she did not choose this and none of this was her doing. Leah decided that the best way to gain favor in her new husband’s eyes was to give him sons.
“And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, ‘Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.’ She conceived again and bore a son, and said, ‘Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.’…Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me because I have bore him three sons” (Genesis 29:32-43).
Leah tried and tried to get her husband to love her, or even care about her, but it didn’t work.
Three sons were not enough to fill the hole in her heart. Finally, she conceived again, but her response changed. “This time I will praise the Lord” (Vs 35). Leah learned that God alone could meet her needs and make her feel accepted and loved. This son she named Judah, which sounds like the Hebrew word for praise.
I can totally relate to Leah here.
After I graduated from high school I found myself in that same place of longing for love and acceptance. I can’t say that I was consciously aware of that. Looking back now I can see it. I moved from New York to Ohio for college. Right away, I started a job at a Steak n’ Shake close to where I lived. I didn’t know anyone in the area, so I latched on to the people at work for my community. I looked to relationships that were unhealthy and at times dangerous for me, just to feel accepted.
Again, looking back, I can see where I was being used, the butt of the joke, and how I put myself in compromising positions just to feel like I was a part of something and not rejected and alone. Thankfully God never gave up pursuing me. He grabbed ahold of my heart and asked me to make a choice. I had been going through the motions of a Christian life without really letting God in. God showed me that I could choose to keep going on my own, trying to fulfill my own needs, or I could turn to him. I chose to turn to him and walked away from my attempts to fulfill myself. I believe, without a doubt, I never would have made it on my own. It is only through Jesus that I am made whole.
Judah was not a perfect man but his decedents, the tribe of Judah, became an important part in Jewish history.
David, the greatest king of Israel, came from the tribe of Judah. Jesus was from the line of David, so also from the tribe of Judah. Judah (along with Benjamin) broke away from Israel after Solomon died. No king of Israel served the Lord after this and as a result they were conquered by the Assyrians and taken away, never to return. Judah also had several bad kings but there were a few good ones as well. Because of this, they lasted a while longer in the Promised Land. Eventually, their sins caught up with them as well, and they were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. However, this group was eventually allowed to return to Jerusalem and it is these people, the tribe of Judah, that we know as the Jewish nation of today.
I am confident that Leah didn’t know what the future would hold for her son, how his legacy and her family line would stand to this day. Without any promise as to what the results would be Leah, trusted in God and turned to him with the needs of her heart. Her heartache was redeemed when she stopped striving and found fulfillment in him rather than in her husband.
When we turn to God to meet our needs for love, acceptance, and success in all areas of life, we will find what we are longing for.
When we try to do it all on our own, we will always be left wanting. We were never made to go it alone. We are not enough in and of ourselves to meet our own needs. However, Scripture makes it clear that when we stop striving and surrender to God, he can fulfill us and use us for his greater plan.
