Genesis 29:31–35
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
We come now to a passage that our modern, sanitized sensibilities might tempt us to skim over. It is a story of domestic strife, of a loveless marriage, of jealousy, favoritism, and raw, human desperation. He wanted Rachel, the beautiful one, but was saddled with Leah, the one with the weak eyes. And so he loves one and despises the other. We think that for God to truly work, we need to get everything just right. We need the perfect family, the perfect church, the perfect circumstances. He does not need our tidy arrangements to accomplish His purposes. In fact, He often seems to prefer the tangled, knotted, and broken situations, because it is in those places that His grace, His power, and His unmerited favor shine most brightly. It is the story of a sad and lonely woman, Leah, who is trying to win her husband's love through childbearing.