No One Said Being a Christian Was Easy

When I surrendered my life to Jesus seven years ago I had enough faith to fill an entire ocean. Life would get simple, I believed, and to me simple meant easy. Then, I entered into a season of suffering. My two most intimate relationships shattered like precious china into a million shards and with them, some of my beliefs about God. I have spent considerable time meticulously sorting through these broken fragments of relationship and faith. And in the process I have come across some faulty beliefs, one of which is this: Being a Christian is easy; if it’s not, you’re doing it wrong. I have found Leah to be a lovely traveling companion during this time, a prime example that challenges the validity of this belief. Leah was the overlooked, unloved, undesired wife of Jacob. She was given a marriage that began in deceit and resulted in struggle (Gen. 29:31-35). She suffered in the unmet desire and longed for Jacob’s love.

After her first child Ruben was born, she said “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now” (Gen. 29:32).

The longing continued with her second child Simeon, “Because the Lord has heard that I am not loved he gave me this one too,” (v.33); and Levi, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” (v.34)

Three baby boys, and still all she could proclaim over her God-given blessings was lack.

And then Judah comes: “This time, I will praise the Lord.” (v.35)

Something happened in Leah’s heart between sons three and four. Her tone changed and instead of pleas, we hear praise. This time, it was different.

Leah’s purpose was not found in the one thing she desired most, Jacob’s love, but in God’s unique calling over her life. It is through Judah, the son who brought praise to her lips, that Jesus Christ descended. Leah’s life on earth was difficult but her inheritance was eternal.

And when her days were over, Leah, the overlooked, unloved, and undesired wife of Jacob was laid to rest with great honor and dignity alongside Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah—and Jacob, who at the end of his own life requested to be buried right there with her (Gen. 49:29). We cannot know of Jacob's affections for Leah, but we do know one thing for sure: she was the beloved of the most high God, and had an important and unique calling over her life, greater than any earthly blessing.

Leah’s life brings me comfort, revealing to us that God’s love does not exempt us from pain. His goodness can never be measured by the ease of our circumstances or our lack of earthly blessings. Through Leah’s life we see that our true identity and purpose is found only in the One who holds all things together. Even when the way is painful, we can trust that His ways are better and His plans are eternally good.

He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Colossians 1:17