A Faithful God

“A Faithful God” or “My pea brain is way too small to understand the things the Lord does despite the shortcomings of humanity.”

     Today I’ve been thinking a lot about how much God takes situations that seem hopeless & redeems them.  He takes things that seem so horrible & brings some good out of them.  My mind has been running all day long about how He took one of the darkest times in my life & turned it into a testimony.  When I was the victim & I thought all was at a loss, my God not only turned things around for me, but also received all the Glory in the end!

     This morning at bible study we were in Genesis 22-29.  We briefly discussed the story of Jacob, Leah, & Rachel.  If you don’t already know it, the general idea is that Jacob went to Laban, father of Rachel, asking for her hand in marriage.  They made a deal that Jacob would work for him for 7 years & then he could have Rachel as his wife.  When those 7 years were up, Laban tricked Jacob into marrying Leah, as she was his eldest daughter & it wasn’t customary for a younger daughter to marry before an older one.  Of course Jacob was very upset & asked for Rachel.  Laban said he could have her, only if he promised to work an additional 7 years to repay him for Rachel’s hand.  So the situation here is that Jacob loved Rachel & not Leah.  But Rachel was barren (for a time) & Leah conceived & bore Jacob multiple sons.  Every time she had another son she hoped & wished she would finally earn his love.  And every time that didn’t happen.

     What I’m getting at in mentioning this is the fact that EVEN THOUGH Leah was unloved by her husband, God USED her & blessed her by having 5 of the 12 tribes of Israel come from the line of HER SONS!  She bore Jacob six sons.  One of them being Judah which is the LINE OF THE MESSIAH…Jesus my friends.  Also of her six sons was Levi, or the Levites, who were set apart as priests.  How incredible that even though Leah was always trying to earn the love of her husband, God blessed her abundantly!  I can’t even fathom being married to a man who doesn’t love me, but Leah was & the Lord had favor on her.  And He still fulfilled His promise to have many nations come from the line of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. 

     If God did that in the pain & sadness of Leah’s experience, what do you think he’s going to do with the messiness of our lives?!  It seems SO CLEAR.  As long as I continue to surrender my life to the Lord & trust in Him, His purposes will be fulfilled one way or another.  And even in the muddiest of days, My Lord is SOVEREIGN.  

     I’m learning so much!  Every story we read through is something I've been taught my entire life growing up in the church, but to actually STUDY it on a deeper level has been incredibly rewarding.  It's not just about theology & history, but about the CHARACTER of our God!  Just ponder that… :)

Peace & Blessings,

Mere