By the world’s standard, you may be ugly, perhaps, because of your appearance or surrounding circumstances, but Leah’s story has taught that true beauty is not just looks, it is a heart submitted in humility to God.
WEAK EYES
When Rachael died, Leah felt lost. She never had the opportunity to reconcile with her. Out of pain, she had called her son, Ben-Oni, but Jacob had quickly changed the name to Benjamin. She had died in sorrow.
You caused her sorrow. You are responsible for her death.
Somehow, she wondered if it was not the truth. She had once toyed with the thought of what it would mean to have Jacob all to herself. But even now, as he grieved for his dead wife, she could see that a huge part of Jacob had died along with her sister.
Joseph had started to have dreams and his half-brothers were angry. As though a veil had been cast off her face, she saw how she had unconsciously sowed the seeds of hate into her children.
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Jacob’s loud wail brought the world to a stop. Leah gasped in horror seeing the blood-soiled beautiful robe he had given to Joseph. Only, there was no Joseph.
“What did you do with him, Judah? What did you do with your brother?”
“half-brother mother! …And when did you start to care so much about them?”
My God! what have I done?
“You always said things would be great if they were out of the way!”
“You killed your own brother!”
“No, we did not! We only sold him off to some Ishmaelite slaves!”
NOT ABANDONED
They all watched their father die slowly as he grieved his wife and son. Shame caught them; and one after the other, they started to seek solace from the constant guilt that tormented their souls like a monster.
Leah fought, but not the old way. She fought to see the truth she had been blind to all the while. Rachael was not her enemy; neither was Laban, her father. It was the unseen force that had constantly fueled the battles in her mind, that had blinded her from Yahweh’s love.
Truth was painful to receive, but it brought her healing. Everything, she had fought to possess, she had now lost, and now she knew she had no other except One.
YHWH.
She started with herself and then, one after the other, she consecrated her children to God. She knew it was only he who could change their heart and restore them to destiny.
When Judah had returned home with Tamar and his twin sons, she was overwhelmed with joy. She saw how he had changed so much. All of them changed. It was obvious in the way they treated Benjamin as though he were their own flesh and blood.
One night, as she laid down quietly, she could not help but weep in joy as tears flooded her eyes. She was not alone. No, she wasn’t. Neither was she abandoned. He had always been with her weaving through her mistakes to unveil his own plan in the midst of it all. What kind of god was He? She would never completely comprehend.
She shut her eyes with gladness, knowing that the unity that did not exist between her sister and herself; and Jacob and Esau had come to find its place in their children. Her prayers had been answered.
INSIGHT
One of the amazing things about the love and grace of God is how it recklessly pursues us, weaving through our past errors and bringing forth beauty out of the ashes to birth His will and purpose.
Isn’t God’s grace so amazing? As I wrote this book, I marvelled at God’s grace on Leah. Realizing that Leah was the mother of Judah, hence a great-grandmother to our Lord Jesus Christ unveiled a greater picture. Incredible, isn’t it? How God would choose the despised wife to birth the royal dynasty. Even ‘blood-thirsty’ Levi was not rendered unqualified for priesthood.
By the world’s standard, you may be ugly, perhaps, because of your appearance or surrounding circumstances, but Leah’s story has taught that true beauty is not just looks, it is a heart submitted in humility to God.
Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of the “brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these ‘nobodies’ to expose the hollow pretensions of the ‘somebodies’? that makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have – right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:26-30 (The Message)
Jemimah Amonahini
Jemimah Oluwapelumi Amonahini is a Visionary Life Enthusiast, Educator, Entrepreneur and Writer. She is also the initiator of The WinTeen Faculty; A hub where she passionately commits to raising winning teenagers and youths. A graduate of Biological Sciences, Kogi State University, Anyigba, she has a strong flair for writing and publishing and was functional in the departmental/faculty editorial crew whilst at college. Additionally, she is a regular participant in debates, symposia and content creation.