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Watching Over Me

Words of Faith Final

Watching Over Me
Words of Faith 5-27-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL    
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 29
    [31] When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. [32] Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now."
    [33] She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon.
    [34] Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi.
    [35] She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the Lord." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

        Most commentators refer to this part of the story as the "childbearing contest" between Leah and Rachel. It is an interesting image that sounds something like a Reality TV show-- "The Biggest Birther." The truth is that both Leah and Rachel found themselves striving and competing, and out of pain, a huge family was born.
        The text says that the Lord saw that Leah was not loved. Leah was not loved by her human family. She was undoubtedly loved by God, but her father was a miserable failure. Laban had pawned Leah off in an elaborate trick. Her husband, Jacob, married her out of obligation. Her sister, Rachel, surely did not relish the idea of sharing her husband. What a painful family situation!
         The tragedy of Leah is not that the men in her life found her physically unattractive, but that she accepted their evaluation of her soul as the definition of who she was: unwanted, undesirable, ugly.
        What must it have been like for your very own father to tell you-- "Now, daughter, you know the proposals haven't exactly been beating down the door. The only way we will get a man to marry you is to hide your face so that no one knows it is really you. Then after the wedding, you can work hard to bear him sons, and he will come to see that you are good for something and will love you"?  
        So, Leah strove to be loved through childbearing. And she was good at it! But we also see a development reflected in the naming of these first four sons.
        - Reuben - Because of my misery. Surely my husband will love me.
        - Simeon - Because the Lord heard, I am not loved.
        - Levi - Now, at last, my husband will become attached to me.
        - Judah - This time, I will praise the Lord.
       Leah finally discovered that what she needed all along was in the Lord by the fourth child. "This time, I will praise the Lord."  The truth is that Leah was loved all along. She was deeply loved by her heavenly Father. That is a foundational truth. If only it could be confirmed in us more easily.
          There is an important lesson about parenting here. Had her father cherished her, what might it have been like for Leah? "Honey...if they cannot see the beauty within you, they are not good enough for my daughter. If God does not bring a worthy suitor... I would rather have you remain here, in my tent, where I can shower you with love!"  Just maybe, as the apple of her daddy's eye, Leah would have blossomed.
          We can learn from Laban a great deal about how not to be a father. From this story, we can also learn the remarkable truth that even when the family does not love us and the world wrongly defines us, the Lord God is there for us. He is watching.
         Have you been striving for the love of someone? Father? Mother? Family? Spouse? Have you been laboring under a wrong definition that the world has put on you? The Word of God declares that He has created your inmost being. The Lord God knit you together in your mother's womb. You are fearfully (carefully, beautifully) and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)!  
         God has watched your longing and striving. He desires to give you a spring of living water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14)! He has loved you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). Claim that today.

       Father God, I know that You are watching over me. You have seen my struggles. You have observed my longings. You have put up with my strivings. I now know that everything that I need is in You. I know that You have loved me as no human can. I choose to accept Your evaluation of me. I reject the world's evaluation of me. I am beautifully and wonderfully made. I am loved with an everlasting love. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.