THIS TIME
- Sherry Coyle
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 10 hours ago
"[Leah] conceived again and when she gave birth to a son she said, 'This time I will praise the Lord.' So she named him Judah." (Genesis 29:35; italics mine)
As a woman, my heart goes out to Leah. Her marriage to Jacob was contrived by her self-motivated father, Laban, through trickery and deceit, resulting in a union with a man who didn't love her as he did another. This upsetting reality couldn't be denied. If it's been a while since you've read this story, it's in Genesis 29-30. It will stir your emotions. Yet, though Leah's tale is marked with unfulfilled desire and sorrow, there was One who was writing the grandest love story amid her pain,
One whose faithfulness to His covenant and tender compassion towards her would bring forth a nation from whom all of humanity would experience God's boundless love through the person of Jesus. In the setting of a loveless marriage, Leah would be blessed by God to give birth to six of Jacob's twelve sons, from whom would emerge the twelve tribes of Israel, the beloved people of God.
Yes, even in realities marked by significant lack and heartache, God's higher plans are at work.
Leah's story, like so many stories throughout Scripture, reminds us that pain is very often the platform from which a faithful, all-powerful God produces His heavenly purposes.
In Genesis 29:31, we read, "When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive...", and with the births and naming of her first four sons, recorded in four successive verses, there is a most valuable spiritual takeaway that speaks of God's compassionate involvement in this woman's life, as well as her spiritual transformation in her waiting and suffering.
Here is what's recorded in verses 32-35:
"Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben [meaning: behold a son], for she said, 'It is because the LORD has seen my misery.
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 [meaning: heard].
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 [meaning: joined to].
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 [meaning: praised]..."
Did you catch Leah's perspective shift with the birth of Judah?
With the births of Reuben and Simeon, though Leah was aware of God's caring provision in her plight, her outlook remained consumed by what she lacked, consumed by the thing (not a bad thing, but a God-designed, good thing) that she so desperately desired as a woman.
Then, with the passing of time and the birth of her third son, there isn't even a mention of God's interaction, as she had done with the first and second sons. So emotionally fragile had she likely become, by her heartache and disappointments through the years, that her focus had shifted solely to the reality of the natural, leaving little to no room in her thoughts for due consideration of God's good provision and praiseworthy character. I believe her lack, and even her longing, had, over time, become idols in her mind.
However, when Leah gave birth to Judah, something changed within her, for there is no mention of herself or her misery or even the one causing her pain, as she had identified prior—"my misery"; "I am not loved"; "at last my husband will come attached to me." There is only a clear-headed concentration on praising God, the One who is always worthy of our adoration and gratitude, no matter the enduring seasons of hard, hurt, or lack.
Leah chose to have a different outlook, a polar-opposite perspective, moving forward, exchanging her "spirit of heaviness" for the "garment of praise" (Isaiah 61:3).
This time, I will have joy.
This time, I will be grateful for what the Lord has already given me.
This time, I will choose to praise Him for His gracious, generous provisions.
This time, I will make a conscientious shift in my thinking and responding, for I know He continually sees and hears my sorrow.
This time, I will elevate His name for the blessings born in my adversity.
This time, my gratitude will not be squelched, and my rejoicing will not be silenced.
This time, there will be an opposite mindset.
This time, I will choose to think differently.
This time, I will not allow the mental consumption of my need to overshadow what I have in Him.
This time. . . This time. . . This time!
In our extended longing for what we lack, yes, even in our lingering heartfelt hurt, there comes a point when we must exchange our "woe is me" for a "this time" mindset.
Oh, that we would choose to praise even when the pain is greatly felt! For our always-worthy God knows what He's doing in that which He wisely permits in our lives.
In the words of a beautiful song from years gone by:
"He sees the master plan
And He holds the future in His hand
So don't live as those who have no hope
All our hope is found in Him
We see the present clearly
But He sees the first and the last
And like a tapestry, He's weaving you and me
To someday be just like Him
God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His heart."
("Trust His Heart," writers: Eddie Carswell and Babbie Mason)
And, over time, what would arise from Leah's mental shift, her transition from problems to praise? The tribe of Judah. The tribe from which the faith-filled spy Caleb would come and be granted entrance into the land of promise. From which Boaz, the kind kinsman-redeemer, would appear and turn things around for two vulnerable women. From which King David, the Old Testament's quintessential worshipper, "a man after God's own heart," would be chosen and anointed to lead God's beloved people. From which King Solomon would be born and then grow up to build the Temple in Jerusalem, where the Lord's holy presence would dwell.
And... from which Jesus Christ, the beautiful, sinless Savior— the conquering Lion of Judah—would enter this groaning planet, live among lacking humanity, and then lay down His life in the greatest testament of love ever known.
Hallelujah for the high purposes of Heaven, of which even our less-than-ideal lives, fraught with sin and hardships, self-absorption and suffering, play a part. Only an all-powerful, all-provisional, all-worthy God could use humanity's problems to supersede sin's influences and Satan's schemes and achieve a master plan that speaks of His love, grace, redemption, and glory.
Yes, His thoughts are not ours, and neither are His ways. (Isaiah 55:8)
A final thought:
With the birth of Leah's third son, within her probable season of mental self-absorption— yes, even then—the Lord brought about His holy purposes: the tribe of Levi, from which the priestly line would be appointed. In her lack and in her consuming focus on what was needed yet still wasn’t so, Israel's priestly line emerged.
Though the naming of the child Levi, meaning "joined to," held a limited, earthly perspective for Leah because it represented the thing she lacked, the reality she longed for, and the source from which it should come, in God's master plan, it would birth the precursor office that Jesus Christ would one day hold: that of our Great High Priest. The One who is "[able] to empathize with our weaknesses... [was] tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin" (Hebrews 4:15). The One whose atoning sacrifice on Calvary's Cross makes us right with a holy God so that we may "approach [his] throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (16).
Even "while we were still sinners," (Romans 5:8), God joined Himself to humanity through the selfless sacrifice of Jesus, who “took on him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7) and joined Himself to the whole of all our earthly shortcomings and sorrows.
Oh, the marvelous grace of our "great God and Savior" (Titus 2:13), who weaves a grand love story—His story—through our hardships and pain, despite our problem-centered, praise-lacking perspectives! And because of this, and so much more, He is worthy of our "this time" shifts.
If the Holy Spirit is nudging you to make the transition as Leah did, don't wait another day. Just do it. Very recently, I had to make this choice. When I did, the weight lifted, and joyful faith revived.
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