How does God work in our lives? How does He bring us to Himself?<\/p>\n
Sometimes He works through a Damascus-road experience: Suddenly, in an instant, an enemy of Jesus becomes His follower (Acts 9).<\/p>\n
Other times the work is slow and painful. There are steps forward. Then steps backward.<\/p>\n
One such case is Jacob\u2019s first wife, Leah.<\/p>\n
Remember the story: Jacob flees from his brother Esau, who wants to kill him for tricking him out of his birthright and his father\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n
Jacob leaves home, using the pretense of going to find a wife from among his relatives in order to get his father\u2019s blessing for the journey. But when he meets his cousin Rachel, he sheds the pretense. This is the girl he must marry!<\/p>\n
He agrees with Rachel\u2019s father Laban that he will work seven years for her. When the time is complete, in the dark of the wedding night, Laban sends Rachel\u2019s older sister Leah into Jacob\u2019s tent. In the morning, Laban tells the irate Jacob that he can marry Rachel also the following week \u2013 if he will agree to work another seven years.<\/p>\n
In this culture, children are vital and sons are especially important. Sons will provide security for their parents in their old age, and will inherit and manage the property. A wife who bears many children \u2013 particularly many sons \u2013 is highly honored. A wife who does not bear children is in danger of being replaced.<\/p>\n
Leah clearly enters this marriage unwanted and unloved. But then, \u201cThe Lord opened Leah\u2019s womb\u201d (Genesis 29:31). She bears four sons in short order. Their names tell us what is going on inside Leah\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
First, she gives birth to Reuben \u2013 meaning, \u201cSee? A son!\u201d \u2013 saying “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me” (Genesis 29:32).<\/p>\n
What does this tell us about Leah? What does she want more than anything else? She wants her husband to love her!<\/p>\n
In the booklet, \u201cMarriage: Whose Dream?\u201d Paul Tripp tells the story of a woman he was counseling:<\/p>\n
I once was talking with a lady who had been married many years.<\/p>\n
She was married to a person who, very honestly, I would have to say was a bad man. He was angry, controlling, and manipulative. He said and did hurtful things. She had dreamed of the ultimate husband, but she certainly hadn’t gotten him. Now she was so embittered by the blessings other women in her church enjoyed that she said she could no longer go to worship. She felt as if God had forsaken her, so much so that she couldn’t read her Bible or pray.<\/p>\n
As I listened, I wanted her to understand her identity in Christ. I wanted her to know the love of the Lord; that God is a refuge and strength, an ever\u2011present help in trouble. So I started reading her passages that spoke of the amazing, abundant love of God, and in the middle of a verse she said, “Stop! Don’t tell me again that God loves me. I want a husband<\/b> who loves me!”<\/p>\n
And she pounded her fist on her chair as she said it.<\/p>\n
That woman is seeking God\u2019s gifts, rather than God Himself.<\/p>\n
She doesn\u2019t want God\u2019s love. She wants God to provide her with a husband to love her.<\/p>\n
Do you see how that is demeaning to God?<\/p>\n
God becomes the genie whose gifts give us delight. His presence is not fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). Rather, His gifts <\/i>are fullness of joy.<\/p>\n
Isn\u2019t this the case with Leah? She acknowledges God\u2019s hand in giving her a son, and that\u2019s good \u2013 as far as it goes. But she does not treasure God. In essence, she doesn\u2019t even treasure the son God has given her. She treasures her husband\u2019s withheld love. And so she\u2019s miserable.<\/p>\n
Leah bears two more sons and it doesn\u2019t get any better:<\/p>\n
She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. (Genesis 29:33-34)<\/p>\n
That attachment doesn\u2019t happen. Sons do not produce the love from Jacob Leah so desires<\/p>\n
But finally, with her fourth son, we see a different Leah:<\/p>\n
And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she called his name Judah. (Genesis 29:35)<\/p>\n
Do you see the difference? She does not see this child as a tool by which she will achieve her desires. Instead, she simply praises God for what He has given.<\/p>\n
So ask yourself:<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Leah does not live day by day in a state of praising God. But at least after the birth of Judah, Leah shows us how to respond to God\u2019s gifts. This is one step to becoming a man or woman of God: Acknowledging God as the source of all that is good in our lives, and praising Him for it.<\/p>\n
Not pining after what we don\u2019t have, but rejoicing in the God who is working together all things together for our good and His glory.<\/p>\n
For God is behind all that happens \u2013 in this story and in our lives. He is behind Leah\u2019s pregnancies. He is behind Rachel\u2019s barrenness.<\/p>\n
He is in control.<\/p>\n
But like us, those in the midst of the story have a hard time seeing His hand at work.<\/p>\n
William Cowper wrote these wise words about such times:<\/p>\n
God moves in a mysterious way
\nHis wonders to perform;
\nHe plants his footsteps in the sea,
\nAnd rides upon the storm.<\/p>\n
Deep in unfathomable mines
\nOf never-failing skill,
\nHe treasures up his bright designs,
\nAnd works his sovereign will. . . .<\/p>\n
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
\nAnd scan his work in vain;
\nGod is his own interpreter,
\nAnd he will make it plain.<\/p>\n
God moves in His mysterious ways Leah\u2019s life. By God\u2019s grace, she is becoming a woman of God.<\/p>\n
The next paragraphs show us Leah still has a long ways to go. Hers is not a Damascus Road experience.<\/p>\n
But God in His wisdom is at work, via a long, slow process. Leah has taken an important step.<\/p>\n
So consider those you love. Those you have witnessed to \u2013 both those who have not come to faith, and those who have professed faith but seem stalled, seem to be floundering.<\/p>\n
God moves in mysterious ways. Pray for the sovereign God to continue the process, to guard these loved ones from hardening of heart or making shipwreck of their faith. Trust in His sovereign hand to work all things together for the good of His people \u2013 including you! \u2013 and the glory of His Name. And then play your role \u2013 your role in the sovereign plan of God \u2013 so that you yourself might be one of the mysterious ways that God makes your loved one a man or woman of God.<\/p>\n
So check, first, your heart: Is God your treasure?<\/p>\n
Second, check your faith: Do you trust God is at work?<\/p>\n
Third, check your actions: Pray, and consider: What would God have me do in the lives of these I love?<\/p>\n
(Parts of this devotion were taken from a sermon, \u201cThe Making of a Man of God\u201d on Genesis 29:31-31:55, preached August 29, 2004. Both text<\/a> and audio<\/a> of that sermon are available.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How does God work in our lives? How does He bring us to Himself? Sometimes He works through a Damascus-road experience: Suddenly, in an instant, an enemy of Jesus becomes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,17,24],"tags":[290,591,623,773,814,861,907,967,981,1136,1278,1484,1605,1702,1710],"class_list":["post-1259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","category-family","category-sermons","tag-christian-hedonism","tag-genesis-29","tag-god-moves-in-a-mysterious-way","tag-idolatry","tag-jacob","tag-judah","tag-leah","tag-man-of-god","tag-marriage-whose-dream","tag-paul-tripp","tag-rachel","tag-sovereignty","tag-treasure","tag-william-cowper","tag-woman-of-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}