HOPE FOR THE UNLOVED

 

This week in the women’s Bible study I’ve been teaching we will be studying the lives of Leah and Rachel, sister wives of the patriarch Jacob, from the account in Genesis 29 and 30.

The patriarch is working for his uncle Laban and while he works he has time to get to know the two sisters.  Rachel, the youngest, is by far the lovelier of the two daughters, and the one who has captured the attention and love of Jacob.  When Laban offers him whatever wages he chooses in return for working for him, Jacob offers to work 7 years for the privilege of marrying Rachel.

The years fly by and it is finally time for the marriage ceremony.  When evening comes, a feast is prepared and the bride is heavily veiled. When the ceremony ends, she enters the marriage tent.  When the light of day dawns, Jacob is shocked to discover that he has been deceived.  It is Leah, not Rachel, in his marriage bed.

When a furious Jacob confronts Laban, he discovers that it is not the custom of the day for the youngest girl to be married before the eldest.  But all is not lost.  If Jacob will agree to finish out Leah's bridal week, he can have Rachel as well, if he will give Laban another 7 years of labor. And Jacob agrees.

The years following are fraught with conflict, jealousy and competition between these two sisters, over the love of Jacob and the ability to produce children, no doubt making Jacob’s life extremely miserable! 

When I read the passage again this week, my heart went out to Leah.  Although she longed for it, the love of her husband Jacob would always belong to Rachel.  And it would never be any different for all the long years these two sisters would inhabit the same household.

This morning in my quiet time I read Psalm 55.  When I read some of David’s words, I couldn’t help but think of Leah.

“My thoughts trouble me, I am distraught.

My heart is in anguish within me.

Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!  I would fly away. . . .to a place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.

If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it, but it is YOU. . . .my companion, my close friend. . .

What must it have been like for her to be married to a man who didn’t love her, to live with a sister who was always trying to get the upper hand – when she already had the love of Leah’s husband?

Maybe YOU know what that’s like.  Maybe you have known the anguish of betrayal from a husband or close friend.  Maybe you long to fly away to some desert island where you can get away from it all – but you, like Leah – are stuck where you are.

In thinking about the lesson I will teach this week, I thought of the wonderful assurance we who know Jesus have when we face situations like this.

There will never, EVER, be a time when Jesus will do this.  He will NEVER look at us one day and say, “You’re not living up to my expectations.  I don’t love you anymore.” 

On the contrary, everything Jesus ever did was to communicate to us just how much He loves us.  There is no greater love than this, Jesus says in John’s gospel, chapter 15, verse 13, then that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus didn’t demonstrate His love for us simply by being kind, or speaking loving words, although He did both. Jesus demonstrated His love by giving His life – enduring scorn, humiliation, pain and suffering, insults, hatred - and then, at the end of the worst day possible, He endured separation from His Father as He bore our sin – willingly, for YOU and for ME - so we would NEVER have to be separated from Him.  So that we would ALWAYS know just how much He loves us.

The Apostle Paul, at the end of the chapter 8 in the book of Romans, said this: 

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Do you HEAR that? 

Close friends may turn on us, husbands or wives might tell us they no longer love us, circumstances might make us want to run away, those closest to us may insult us – BUT JESUS WILL NEVER STOP LOVING US!  NEVER!  EVER!  NOTHING will EVER be able to separate us from His love!

And that is a promise upon which you can stand forever!  Take heart child of God, Jesus loves you.