LEAH’S LONGING: GREAT GAP

“When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.” ~ Genesis 29:31

REFERENCE:

Genesis 29:30-35

Leah was a wife of fraudulence forced on Jacob by Laban, her father. Jacob loved her younger sister Rachel instead, and worked to pay for her dowry. But Laban tricked him into marrying Leah because he said it was improper for the younger sister to marry before the older. Jacob had to work for a second seven years for the dowry and still married Rachel. Hence, Jacob loved Rachel and ‘tolerated’ Leah. How emotionally crushing would this have been for Leah.

A woman is made for love; every woman wants her husband’s love and affection in an exclusive way. How does it feel to be married, and you know your husband’s heart is elsewhere, I wonder? This sad case created a great gap in Leah’s marital reality; she was married to Jacob but could not confidently say that Jacob was married to her. Whatever attention and affection there is in marriage went to Rachel and not Leah, which further widened the gap. I imagine Jacob never wrote Leah a love letter, sang her a love song, bought her roses, or took her out on dates. He never bought her gifts either, but, on the contrary, lavished all these on Rachel.

God saw the gap, and He found a way to compensate Leah. In that culture and time, children were a big deal in any marriage relationship; childlessness was considered God’s displeasure and a curse. Every Jewish woman until Christ hoped to be the mother of the promised ‘Seed of the woman’ that would crush the serpent’s head. As a God of justice who loves the unloved, fights for the weak, and defends the vulnerable, God came to Leah’s rescue and opened her womb. She became a ‘baby factory,’ while Rachel, the beloved wife, could not have children.

There may be great gaps in your life – married with no child yet; a good job without a husband; beautiful but no serious relationship; graduated with good grades, but no job; intelligent but broke; doing so much, but not much to show for it; etc. The God who was mindful of Leah is also mindful of you and will fill those great gaps. He hears the cries of the unloved. He sees the efforts of the struggling man. He knows the pain of the single mother, the loneliness of the broken-hearted, and the shame of the rejected. He will come through for you. He will open your symbolic womb and cause you to bear fruits in business, family, ministry, job, children, etc. Your children will make you proud, and your story will change for the better. What you long for will be granted by God, and His name glorified in you. If there is a great gap in your life, there is a great God who will ‘fill it to the full.’ You will end well, in Jesus’ name.

PHOTO QUOTE

ADDITIONAL TEXTS

Deuteronomy 21:15-17, Isaiah 40:28-29, and Genesis 22:7-8

PRAYERS

• Lord, supply whatever is lacking in my life. Wherever life has created a great gap, fill it up and compensate me.
• Where my workplace, finances, education, family background, etc., are disadvantages in my life, make it up for me. Do what I cannot do for myself and honor me before men.