Wednesday, November 19, 2014
If you are wondering about the significance of today’s message title, let me elaborate. I was doing some research for another topic, focusing on the day when Jacob, surrounded by his entire family, died peacefully right after he blessed all his sons. I had purposed to write about the death of God’s children wanting to make the point that it is a beautiful thing when Christians die. David uttered this same truth in Psalm 116:15 when he wrote: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” I often tell my church family that when Christians leave this world, they exit through the front door (victory) and not through the back. (defeat) Nevertheless, as I re-read the story in the 49th Chapter of Genesis, these five words that I chose for the title of today’s meditation seemed to jump out from the rest of the words in the page. They are really just the last part of verse 31, “And there I buried Leah.”
I immediately remembered the little I knew about Leah. Most bible readers are familiar with Rachel, but few know about her older sister. I also knew the account in Genesis 29 about the day when Jacob was tricked into marrying her. Jacob really asked Laban, her father, for Rachel’s hand in marriage, but the morning after his wedding night, Jacob, to his utter shock and dismay, saw that the woman lying next to him in the tent was Leah and not Rachel. Yesterday, I researched all the information the Bible gives us on Leah as well as what the scholars and commentators had to say about the mention of her name in verse 31. Strangely, none of them had anything else to say about her besides the five words about her in the verse. Even so, I was convinced the Lord wanted me to write about her, otherwise these five words would not have jumped out at me.
Here is what the Lord impressed upon my heart concerning Leah. For starters, her name means “weary” and it does not require a stretch of the imagination to see how well her name fit when one considers the things she had to endure. It was not her fault that she wound up being Jacob’s wife, but then she had to endure the pain of knowing and constantly being reminded that her sister was prettier and that Jacob only loved Rachel. She had to go through her entire married life feeling unloved, rejected, and inferior. Perhaps, that is why these five words impressed me, because in the end, the man she had so deeply yearned would love her during her lifetime, chose to be buried next to her. It was as if Jacob, before his entire family, wanted to remind them of the respect she deserved and should have been given from the beginning. To me, not only was it Leah’s long-awaited vindication, it also serves as a reminder that the end will be glorious for all of God’s children. Perhaps, someone who is reading this blog today has for a long time endured what Leah endured. If you have, and don’t already know it, you will soon find out that you were loved and were special in the eyes of God from the very beginning. In the end, I came to the point I had originally intended. That is, that even if our lifetime was less than fulfilling, in the end it will be glorious.
Memory verse for the week: (Luke 6:46) Jesus said: "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say."
