Do you ever struggle with insecurity or compare yourself to anyone else? Does it help to know that every person – Every. Person. Struggles with some level of insecurity or compares herself to other women.
When you see the prettier person, or the more successful person, or the “got everything together” person – has her own insecurities – compares herself – it somehow makes us realize that we are not the only ones – we are maybe not as bad as someone told us we are – or who we have told us we are.
Because sometimes, we are the meanest to ourselves.
It’s really a sad thing that we define ourselves – our beauty, our quality, our lifestyle, our success, our meaning – by how the world defines it when as Christians, we should know better.
We have in God’s word – everything we need to know about our worth. The Bible tells us everything we need to be, and the value that God places on each one of us. Enough that He loved each of us enough that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us.
I find it interesting that some of the most beautiful women that I have encountered in my life will look in a mirror and find something that they see as flawed.
Why? Why do we see the bad stuff? When we look at other people- do we look for their flaws? Do we focus on them? Then why are we so very hard on ourselves?
One of the most respected or admired women who ever lived – Mother Theresa. When you think of Mother Theresa – what do you remember? Her passion for the less affluent? Servanthood?
Billy Graham? What do you remember? you probably remember he led thousands of people to the Lord.
See – when we are doing big things for God – it won’t matter so much what you looked like. Your legacy won’t be in your looks or other qualities – it will be in what you did for God.
So if everyone else isn’t focusing on every little flaw we have – why do we?
God made us different. We are different. Why isn’t everyone equally beautiful? God could have made everyone beautiful – different but still beautiful. But He didn’t.
Rachel and Leah are two sisters in the Old Testament book of Genesis. The Bible tells us in chapter 29, that Rachel was beautiful, Leah wasn’t. Whatever Leah looked like, she grew up in the shadow of her beautiful sister.
Could God have created Leah as beautiful as her sister? Absolutely!
So if God really cared about her, why didn’t He? It would have saved her so much sadness and pain.
The prophet Isaiah reminds us, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s way higher than yours, and his thoughts your thoughts. (Isaiah 55)
In God’s divine way, God’s plan allowed Leah to become a mother in a long line of sons, to which would bring about the nation of Israel. I bet Leah would never have dreamed of what her legacy would become.
Think back to the things you didn’t expect – didn’t plan. Things that seem so devastating in life, and the impact that had on you – on who you are today.
Please hear me, God often works in our lives, not by giving us a perfect situation, but by showing his power and his love in a very imperfect situation.
Last week I was treating my yard for stickers so my grandkids can run barefoot. My son and his friend came over and were watching me. I said I think I got it all. I hope I got them all! Their response? You need to leave some – it builds character. This daddy to my grandbabies wanted me to leave some amount of stickers in my yard to build their character!
But they weren’t wrong. Stickers build character. Our hurts build our character.
God works for our ultimate good by allowing us to struggle in less than perfect situations.
The world – more specifically – satan using the people in this world – would have us feeling less than – unloved – unwanted. He would have us with no confidence – ashamed – and shutting us down from everything that God wants us to be.
A little back story on Rachel and Leah.
Jacob was a twin who kind of tricked his brother into giving him the family birthright and inheritance. But where most of us would think that Jacob should be the one that God was angry with, it was the brother, for not respecting what the birthright represented, and for trading it off for food.
Jacob flees his brother, thinking brother Esau will try to kill him. He goes to Haran and falls in love with a lady named Rachel. He strikes a deal with her daddy to work 7 years in order to marry her, and when he gets married, and wakes up the next morning – he realizes he has married the older sister instead. Leah.
Yeah that confuses me too – like how??? But we just have to go with it. Maybe there was alcohol. Or maybe she wore a veil??? Well – we don’t know.
So he of course goes to the dad and is like umm – I worked for Rachel – so the dad says work for me another week and I’ll give you Rachel but then you need to work another 7 years. SO Jacob – who LOVES Rachel – works the week plus 7 more years.
But can you imagine what it must have been like to have been Leah that next morning.
I mean – I don’t imagine Jacob was too happy. Picture it. I expect he STORMED out of his tent and slammed that flap so hard. Leaving Leah alone - unloved, undesired and unwanted.
And then one week later Rachel becomes not only her competing sister but now a competing wife for the same man’s attentions, who Leah knows loves Rachel more. Has always loved Rachel.
Genesis 29:30 - says that Jacob loved Rachel more than he loved Leah. We are not told that he disrespected or mistreated her in any way. He simply loved Rachel and was tricked into marrying Leah.
That’s a really hard place to be – right?
Then – to make things more complicated, Rachel can’t get pregnant. While Leah Can. And does.
So we have Leah who is jealous of Rachel because she knows that her husband loves her. And Rachel is jealous of Leah because Leah has children.
Listen to this verse.
God was not blind to Leah’s hurt. Genesis 29:31 And Jehovah saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
God saw the ache in her heart. The sovereign God saw her need and moved to meet it.
His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
With each birth, we are told a little about Leah’s state of mind.
Genesis 20:32 And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Because Jehovah hath looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me. 33 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and said, Because Jehovah hath heard that I am hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon. 34 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi. 35 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, This time will I praise Jehovah: therefore she called his name Judah; and she left off bearing.
So she names the first son Reuben because God looked upon her affliction. And surely Jacob will love me now.
Then she has Simeon, because God has heard her cries. Surely Jacob will love me now.
Then she has Levi, which means attached. Surely Jacob will be attached to me now.
Then she has Judah, which means praise. And THIS time, she says – I will praise the Lord.
She changed her thinking. She stopped making these babies about Jacob, and realized that God was hearing her cries, seeing her tears, and blessing her. And she will praise Him.
She could not change herself but she could change her focus.
We all have things about ourselves that we would change. It’s what you do IN SPITE of those things that makes you who you are. Don’t let the things you don’t have or the flaws you live with keep you from being everything God wants you to be!
There is a scene in season 3 episode 2 of “the Chosen” where Little James is asking Jesus why Jesus hasn’t healed him (he was lame in the show). It is such a powerful clip. I encourage readers to go watch it.
Leah the unloved helped build the nation of Israel. Levi became the tribe of Levites – from which all of the priests would be appointed.
And from Judah came David, as in King David. From Judah’s family/tribe came Jesus, the Messiah, our Savior -All through Leah – who felt unloved and unwanted!
God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Add comment
Comments