Still a Reason to Praise:

There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from the people of the Bible, especially the women in the Bible.  The Bible is filled with complex characters.  If you really want to learn how to write a character in a novel, turn to the Bible.  There is no shying away from the character’s flaws and good pieces of their character.  I was recently reading the book, “The Women of the Bible Speak,” by Shannon Bream.  I am reading this book with another woman, so we have the opportunity to discuss the lessons we have learned.  This week we read about Rachel and Leah, and Shannon has definitely given me great perspectives when it comes to this relationship with Leah and Rachel.  

Rachel and Leah did not have the best sister relationship.  There was a lot of hurt and jealousy between the two, at least when we encountered them in the Bible.  Rachel was considered the beautiful and popular one who could get any guy she wanted.  Leah was not described that way. She is described with weak eyes.  When Jacob arrives, he falls in love with Rachel, and he wants to marry her, no matter the price.  He even offers to work for her soon to be father in law for seven years in order to win her hand.  Then he ends up being tricked and marries Leah.  He still wants Rachel, so he makes a deal where he can have both of them as wives for another seven years of hard labor.  

When we read the beginning part, we can easily want to say that Rachel is the winner in this battle.  She is the apple of Jacob’s eye, and the one that he wanted to marry the most.  However, then Leah was able to become a mother, while Rachel struggled to conceive a child. Rachel was so hurt by this.  It is a classic story of “the grass is greener on the other side.”  Rachel was the one loved by her husband, but she was not able to conceive, while Leah was able to conceive but was the unwanted wife of her husband.  Rachel was so desperate to have a baby.  She whines to her husband and even starts to bargain her way to conceiving with God and with her husband.  The very first marital strife that we read about in the Bible had to do with an argument between Rachel and Jacob because she was not able to conceive.  

We can learn a lot from how the women name their babies in the Bible.  Leah put great thoughts into the names of her children.  Her first son was named Reuben which in Hebrew means, “Behold, a son,”  it was such a blessing that she had a son and that she was able to give this to her husband.  Her second son was named Simeon which meant that the Lord saw she was unloved, and the third son was Levi, and it was named for a hope that her husband would finally become attached to her.   All of these had a relation to her certain situation which was that she felt incredibly unloved and unwanted by her husband.  She knew her sister was the favorite, and she was the other wife that he became committed to.  Her fourth son, Judah was named in relation to praise to God.  She believed that now that she had provided her husband with three sons that she would have an attachment from him.  That doesn’t exactly happen, but she still found a way to give praise to God, regardless of the feelings of her husband.  

This can remind me that we are not always going to get the things that we ask for.  We are taught that God can answer our questions in one of three ways.  The three ways can be yes, no, or wait.  There is an option for no.  There are times that God will choose to say no.  He definitely knows best.  He knows that there are reasons we should not achieve or have a certain item.  He knows that it can either be harmful or filled with problems if we receive the certain things that we want, so there are moments, for our benefit and growth, he chooses to say no.  We may not always understand the reasons, but we can know they are there.  Leah may not have known all the reasons she was not chosen to be the favorite of the wives, but God did.  

It can be easy to want to bargain like Rachel.  It can be easy to want to blame everyone else for our problems or not receiving our desires.  However, sometimes there should just be an acceptance that life can be tricky and we don’t always get what we want.  Sometimes, we just need to lay aside our personal desires and speak praises to the Lord for the beautiful blessings he has given us.  The story gets better in regard to Leah.  Her son, the one that was named Judah that means praise is the son in direct lineage to Christ.  Even though Leah struggled amidst her marriage and her insecurity by her husband, she was blessed with having the Messiah, the Savior of the world be in her lineage and in her family legacy.  That is incredibly special.  This goes to show that not only does God pick those who are not necessarily the most popular or the biggest named to truly be used for His story, but it also shows that God has a plan that will work out for those who love Him and seek to give Him praise. 

The Bible often speaks of giving praise to the Lord.  It is a major theme throughout the book.  This is through the highs and the lows of the stories in the Bible. I want to end this blog with one more highlight verse from the book of Isaiah about praising God.  Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.” The Lord is the one who should be praised, not the other items in this world such as awards, titles, or human relationships.  Those can all be lovely, and they can be gifts from the Lord above, but they should not receive praise over the Lord, the giver of all things.   My challenge for you this week is to give God one prayer of praise amidst struggles.  Even when you are in the midst of anger, frustration, or even pain, lift up a prayer up to the Lord.