by Cathy Vinson

We learn of Leah in Genesis 29 as the first wife of Jacob. She is unloved by her husband. She was unattractive, and Jacob was already in love with her younger sister, Rachael. Leah's father tricked Jacob into marrying her, and Jacob resented her because of it.

Yet, the Lord saw her pain. Though unloved by her husband, she was loved by the Lord, for he gave her a son. Leah's reaction was "...surely now my husband will love me" (Gen 29:32). Leah's desires were for her husband, and she assumed because that because the Lord had favored her, Jacob would love her. Two more times she gave birth to sons, and each time she thought her husband would now love her (vv. 33,34). Yet Jacob still did not desire her.

We cannot make another person love us. In fact, when we pressure and manipulate them to love us, we actually cause them to reject us, for such striving is repulsive. And so, after 10 to 15 years of trying, Leah's hopes of being loved by her husband died.
Something, though, began changing in her heart. She became pregnant a fourth time, then sought the Lord for HIS acceptance. "This time I will praise the Lord" (vs 35). She named the boy Judah which means praise.

If our fulfillment in life comes from our desire for God, our lives will ever be filled with joy. But if our thoughts orbit around our unfulfilled desires, we become obsessed by those desires, and our striving for fulfillment makes is more and more emotionally unbalanced.

And Leah? Years came and went. Both Rachael and Leah had died, and as Jacob lay on his deathbed, he spoke to his sons. In reading Genesis 49:29-31 we see the passage ends with "and there I BURIED LEAH." Just a few words, but how much they say! Over the years, as the natural beauty of Rachael faded, the deep inner beauty of what God wrought in Leah shone forth. Jacob's heart had been knit to hers.

We are not in this world for our desires, but for God's. We can learn from this touching woman. For no matter what her disappointment, Leah learned in making the Lord her chief desire, fulfillment, peace and inner beauty were to be found.

"...surely now my husband will love me"

(Gen 29:32)