Memorise: A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men. Proverbs 18:16
Read: Genesis 30:14-18 (KJV)
14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.
15 And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.
16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.
Bible in one year:
2nd Corinthians 4-7,
Jeremiah 2:4-25,
Hymn:
Sing hymn 16
Message:
The Almighty in His wisdom designed the world in such a way that every person has an area of comparative advantage in life.
However, it takes wisdom for an individual to make the best legitimate use of his or her comparative advantage to prosper in this world. This is why the Bible says wisdom is the principal thing (Proverbs 4:7). The Bible further says in Proverbs 14:1:
“Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”
Leah, the first of Jacob, was someone who used what she had wisely in order to succeed in the hostile marriage she found herself in. We can therefore learn a lot from her. Whether by accident or the design of her father, Leah married an unwilling Jacob. However, the Lord in His sovereignty made her very fruitful in the area of child-bearing, and this made up for what she lacked in her husband’s eyes. Being a wise woman, she used this blessing of fruitfulness to her advantage in opposition to Rachel, her sister-turned-rival, who unlike her was attractive and her husband’s favourite. Without this, Rachel would have totally dominated Leah in Jacob’s home.
Leah managed to keep her matrimonial home through wisdom. Unfortunately, many Christian sisters foolishly throw away their marriages to home-breakers and other third parties because they fail to apply wisdom and self-control. Their coldness makes them so detached from their husbands that they end up becoming strangers to one other. Leah was wise and possessed the fruit of longsuffering, which she used to her advantage at every given opportunity to draw her husband closer to herself.
Moreover, take note of what Leah said in Genesis 30:15a:
“And she said unto her, is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband?”
In spite of Jacob’s animosity towards her, she believed she was Jacob’s lawful wife, and it paid off for her down the line. Even though her husband did not reciprocate her love, she focused on her home, and she successfully produced more than half of the twelve tribes of Israel, including the priesthood tribe of Levi and the royal tribe of Judah. Today, some Church leaders dissolve marriages with impunity, using social and psychological models to justify their claims against biblical injunctions. This should not be so. What is that challenge facing your marriage? Take it to the Lord in prayer, asking Him for wisdom to handle it, and you will laugh last. You have the strength not only to cope but also to overcome! Go ahead and use it, and God will give you respite in your home.
Prayer Point
Father, Father, send Your peace to all homes that are in disarray in Jesus’ Name.
Open Heavens Daily Devotional Lessons was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical Churches in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.
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