Redirect Our Focus

Hey family! Happy Monday to you. It is yet another week. Another round of motivation and inspiration is here. I pray that you enjoy it!

So this past Sunday, the pastor/hubs touched on a story that I must say I’m a bit embarrassed to say I didn’t know. I have heard of the players in the story, but never really took the time to read the story and most certainly never heard it like it was presented it to us. Anyway, the scripture we read came from Genesis 29. I would encourage you to read it. It is quite interesting, to say the least. 

So, in Genesis 29 we have a man named Jacob who arrives in Paddamn Aram, where his brother Laban is. Now Laban has two daughters, Rachel and Leah. Leah is the eldest. From the jump, Jacob is smitten with Rachel and wants her for himself. He even agreed to work for his brother as a servant for seven years to have her, and he ended up doing just that. Now, I don’t want to stretch this story out because I really want to get to the star of this show, Leah. So, after these seven years were done, Jacob was expecting Rachel, but Laban tricked him and gave him Leah. Now the Bible describes Ms. Leah as being tendered-eyed. The message that the Bible was trying to convey is that Leah had something wrong with her eyes. She was either cross-eyed, had a lazy eye, or something of that nature. Now it never called her ugly, but she wasn’t listed as beautiful either, like Rachel. Anyway, Jacob was mad. He really wanted Rachel. He loved Rachel. So he agreed to work another seven years to have her. After those seven years were up, he ended up with the one he wanted. This is where it gets deep. 

The Bible goes on to say that Leah was not loved by her husband. He loved Rachel. Get this though. When the Lord saw it, he allowed Leah to have the ability to have children but left Rachel childless. Any boy did she conceive. You know, it's funny. How in the world does a man not like a woman but can continue to “deal” with her? This woman conceived four times. Each time she named the baby with a special meaning that would hopefully make her husband fall in love with her. Ruben, Simeon, and Levi were all named in the hopes that Jabcb would see her value. But that last baby…let’s just say, she understood the assignment. She stopped focusing on that man and trying to get him to love her and she set her eyes on the Lord. She praised the Lord instead of worrying about her husband and she named her fourth son Judah. That name means; “Praised”. After Judah, she closed the up shop. She didn’t have any more kids. 

So what in the world is the message T? Some of us are attached to people who really don’t see our worth. All they can see is what they can get from us. Like Leah, she was thrown into a situation that she didn’t want any part of, but during that time, she had no choice. We do, however. We must redirect our attention to the Lord and give him praise. When things are and aren't going our way, we must praise our way through. We also must know that we can not allow people to use us. Asking God for some direction and some strength will go a long way!