"My Husband Doesn't Love Me"

Imagine you were at a dance and you saw a girl on the other side of the dance floor that just… took your breath away… her eyes sparkled, she smiled at you and you thought she was the prettiest thing you had ever seen and were summoning up the courage to ask her to dance when your dad came up and said, “I want you to dance with that other girl that no one else is paying attention to”. You looked over and saw a plain homely kind of a girl and your heart sank but you did it and danced the whole night with her. Finally at the very end you got to dance with the girl of your dreams and your heart beat so hard you thought it was going to break out of your chest.

That’s kind of like the story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel in the book of Genesis. Jacob had his heart set on Rachel but God had other plans for him and he had to marry Leah first in order to also marry her sister Rachel.

Here’s the thing… Leah knew Jacob didn’t love her. Jacob only had eyes for Rachel. What do you do when you realize your husband doesn’t love you? With many tears Leah prayed to God and God heard her prayers and opened her womb and gave her six sons and one daughter whom Jacob loved with all his heart… and Rachel? God closed her womb so she could feel some of Leah’s hurt.

When I used to work cattle every so often we would push a Brahma (Bramer) through the chute. Often times they would go down in the chute and “sull” stopping the whole process. You could put a kink in their tails or hit them with a Hot Shot but you just couldn’t get them to move until they were ready.

Leah didn’t “sull” she did what she could do, gave it a little time and left the rest up to God. Rachel eventually had two boys but died during the birth of the second. Leah lived a long life with Jacob and felt his love and was buried by his side. God does answer the prayers of his faithful ones (including Rachel).

Don’t despair if you’re not the prettiest one at the dance. God knows who you are and like Leah can make your offspring as numerous as the sand on the beach… one of whom was Jesus Christ. Have a little faith.