Genesis 29:31–35 (ESV)
When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” 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. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.
This passage shows us a deeply broken home. Jacob had two wives, one whom he loved, and one who had been tricked into marrying. People sometimes point to the fact that in the Bible polygamy happens and therefore we shouldn’t be so conservative in insisting that marrying only one person is biblical. But the truth is every time someone in the Bible has more than one wife, things go badly for them and for their family. This is one such story. Rachel had Jacob’s love but she was barren, but Leah had his sons but not his love. She was unloved, unwanted, and her heart ached for the tenderness she could not get from her husband. Yet the Lord saw her. The God who reigns over all creation is not distant. He sees the lonely, the rejected, the hurting.
Now notice how the story develops. Leah’s first son, Reuben, was named because she believed the Lord had seen her affliction. Reuben literally means “see a son”. Her hope was that Jacob’s heart might turn toward her. But when that longing was unmet, she tried again with Simeon. She thought, maybe now he will notice me. Still, she was unloved. With Levi, her hope persisted, thinking her husband would finally become attached to her. Each child’s name reflected her ache for her husband’s approval. It is the human condition to look for worth in the wrong places. We often believe that if only a certain person valued us, if only we had that promotion, that relationship, that recognition, we would be whole. Yet, as Leah’s life shows, these hopes are fragile. They can fail us again and again.
Then something changes. With Judah, Leah says, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Her focus moves from seeking her husband’s affection to focusing on God. This is not the end of her struggle. She is still in a painful marriage. But her heart begins to turn toward the God who had never failed her. Notice that this change has taken at least 4 years of her life. Sometimes our spiritual growth requires way more time than we would like to admit. And yet it is precisely this struggle with her desire for her husband’s love, that changes Leah for the better. Sometimes our spiritual struggles themselves are exactly the things that turn us to look to the Lord.
There is a deeper beauty in this story. From Judah’s line would come David, and generations later, Jesus Christ. Leah, the unwanted wife, would become the mother of the Messiah. God took her pain and wove it into the story of redemption. What looked like rejection was actually the soil for His greatest blessing. This is the heart of the gospel: God takes the broken, the unwanted, the overlooked, and brings them into His saving plan.
We may never have the approval we crave from certain people. We may live with ongoing heartache in relationships. Yet Christ meets us there. In Him, we have a love deeper than the one we lost, a belonging that no one can take away. He is the Bridegroom who never turns away His bride. Through faith in Him, we can say with confidence, “This time I will praise the Lord,” even in the middle of our deepest disappointments.
For us today, the application is clear. We must ask, where are we looking for our worth? Is it in the affection of a person, the success of our work, the image we project? These can become idols, leaving us emptier the more we chase them. Leah’s journey calls us to stop and turn to the One who already sees us and calls us His own. When we rest in Christ’s love, we can praise Him not because our circumstances have changed, but because He has changed us! He has taken our hearts of stone and given us hearts that beat for Him.
The story of Leah reminds us that God’s plans are not limited by human rejection. The very things that make us feel overlooked may be the very things God will use for His glory and our good. The cross itself is the ultimate example. Christ was despised and rejected, yet through His suffering came our salvation. If He could bring life out of that, He can surely bring purpose out of our pain.
Let’s Pray
Lord thank you for this story, where you have taken the unseen and unloved Leah, and produced heirs for her, and even through her pain has changed her into the person you want her to be. Please do the same for us. Take our disappointments and take them into moments of praise for you. Help us to look at the things you are doing in our lives and to be able to say, this time I too will praise the Lord.
Amen.