In life, we all face the good times and the challenging times. We love the good times when we see God’s favour and open doors. However, when it comes to challenging times, it’s easy to get discouraged and think, “God, where were you”? The scripture says “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
Everything works together for good in God’s purpose for our lives. Not just the good times, the promotion, the blessings, but even the challenging times… If you go through the challenges with the right attitude; trusting that God is in control, then God will make something beautiful out of the challenges.
You will not go to levels of your destiny that you could have never reached by just living in the good times. These challenging seasons are uncomfortable, we prefer to never have to deal with them, but they are necessary to become all you were created to be. See, you don’t grow in good times as much as in challenging times, where your faith, trust and endurance are stretched! David said, “God, you enlarged me in my distress”. (Psalm 4:1)
Like Jacob, we worked hard, we did the right thing, and we were expecting Rachel, favour, promotion, and breakthrough, but Leah showed up. Well, Laban was dishonest, he didn’t keep his word, but in his defence, in those days the father was responsible for giving the oldest daughter in marriage first.
Rachel was extremely attractive, she was stunning. The scripture says “She was beautiful in every way, with a lovely face and a shapely figure” (Genesis 29:17). Everyone admired her beauty… But her older sister, Leah, not so much. Verse 17 says, “Leah had weak eyes”. The new American Bible says, “Leah has dull eyes”.
Rachel has all this physical beauty, but Leah is unattractive. And it’s not often that the scripture describes someone’s physical appearance, this has a deeper meaning because every person is a masterpiece, made in the image of God… But the symbolism here is Rachel is beautiful, and Leah is not.
Laban said to Jacob, “If you will work for me another seven years, then I will give you Rachel”. Jacob wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed. He worked seven more years in an unfair situation, he was taken advantage of. It might have been protocol, but Laban should have told him and not tricked him.
But here is the key: Jacob didn’t complain, he wasn’t disrespectful to Leah. She wasn’t his choice, he didn’t blame her, “Why are you unattractive? You are not who I wanted”. He did the right thing when it was hard, he kept being his best in a challenging situation.
We all want Rachel, but often Leah shows up first, something that we didn’t want, what’s unattractive. What you do in those challenging situations will determine whether you get stuck there or you come into the beautiful things God has for you.
You may be in one of those challenging times now, things haven’t turned out the way you had planned. You can get bitter, and give up on your dreams or you can do like Jacob, and do the right thing when it’s unfair. Keep being your best when life throws you a curve, Rachel is coming. The best is coming. What God promised you is still en route.
Leah had a son named Judah, and thousands of years later the Messiah would come through the tribe of Judah. Jesus was born through Leah’s family line. Out of this challenging situation came something magnificent, something Jacob couldn’t see at the time.
The fact is that God could have had Rachel give birth to Judah, seems to make more sense the beautiful girl, the attractive one, but God was showing us how He used challenging situations to do something beautiful, something that you would have never seen without the challenging situation
Your situation may be far from beautiful. You were promised Rachel, but you got Leah. You don’t know what God is up to. Trust Him when you don’t understand. Being in a challenging situation doesn’t mean God is not working. Without those challenges, you couldn’t become who you were created to be
I know you can trust God, but my question is: can He trust you? Can God count on you to do the right thing in challenging situations? When you are faced with things that are not fair; I mean asking and doing everything to get Rachel but you got Leah!
TAKE UP YOUR CROSS!
Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, “Take up your cross and follow me”. We pray for blessings, favour, and health, which is good, but none of us pray for a cross. We want Rachel, not Leah. But there are levels of your destiny you cannot reach without taking up your cross.
You won’t see Rachel until you have encountered Leah. Now, taking up your cross is not some sad, defeated, suffering life. We are supposed to live an abundant, joyful, victorious life. But sure there will be crosses, betrayals, unfair situations… Leah will show up.
We don’t like it, we are uncomfortable, but you have to do like Jacob: don’t get bitter, keep doing the right thing when it’s hard, endure when you feel like giving up, stay in peace when you could be worried. That’s what it means to take up your cross. You are in a challenging situation, but you are not moved, you know it’s all working for your good.
Taking up the cross can be very challenging but you have to realize that the cross is not the end of your story, there is a resurrection coming. When you take up your cross, it leads to blessing, favour, health, and levels of your destiny you could have never reached without adversity.
We see this in the scripture with Joseph. As a teenager, God gave him a dream that he would be in leadership, and people would bow down before him. Like Jacob, he had this promise that Rachel was coming, something beautiful. Genesis 37:12-36
Joseph was being his best, honouring God, then Leah showed up, his brothers were jealous, and they threw him into a pit. “We are going to leave him there”, but they ended up selling him as a slave in Egypt. I’m sure Joseph thought, “God, you gave me this dream, you promised me Rachel, but now I’m a slave in a foreign country”. He dreamed of something beautiful, but he was facing something challenging.
Joseph kept being his best, doing the right thing, and he was falsely accused and put in prison. One day the Pharaoh had a dream that he couldn’t interpret. They told him about a slave, a foreigner in prison, a man named Joseph, and how he could interpret dreams. Joseph was brought before the Pharaoh, the leader of the country, he interpreted his dream. He was so impressed that he made Joseph the prime minister of Egypt. (Genesis 41:37-57)
Joseph saw his dream come to pass: in leadership, with people bowing down before him. If Joseph were here today he would tell you: my brother’s being jealous was necessary, the betrayal was necessary, being falsely accused was necessary. Leah had to happen. Without the challenging situation, he would have never seen Rachel!
And God doesn’t send the trouble, He doesn’t send the sickness, but if He allows it, He is going to somehow use it for good. And you may be facing a Leah today, something you don’t understand. You know God promised you Rachel, but things haven’t turned out the way you thought, looks like God didn’t keep his word. Can I encourage you? Rachel is still coming. God is working behind the scenes.
God knows how to bring beautiful things out of challenging situations. I’m asking you to trust Him when you don’t understand. Do the right thing when you are uncomfortable. One day you will look back and say like Jacob; All those things you didn’t like, you had to endure, and suffer through. Now, they have made you into who you are today.
I decree and declare, that God is going to take those challenging situations and make something amazing out of them. You will rise higher, accomplish dreams, and reach the fullness of your destiny, in Jesus’s name.
The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’!
