Genesis  29:25  When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” (NIV)

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When morning came, there was Leah!

No doubt, two hearts were broken in that moment. Contrary to the song from the musical Grease, Leah was not the one that Jacob wanted. 

Jacob was unpleasantly surprised. Then he got angry. Poor Jake. 

Poor, poor Leah. She was unloved. She was misused by her father and rejected by her husband. 

Leah was not treated like a person made in the image of God with a special purpose in God’s plans. She was treated as a bargaining chip between two men eager to get the advantage over the other. 

We’ve all felt like Leah at one time or another, haven’t we?

Maybe you still do. You’re somebody’s second choice. You at your best are not good enough for someone who should otherwise see you for who you are and love you the way you deserve to be loved. 

Jacob and Laban treated the women in their lives like sheep and goats. This should never be.

I wonder when it was that Jacob saw these women, these sisters, his wives, for who they were in God’s eyes? It was most likely after his wrestling match with God when he remembered he was the second born, when he remembered he had a big brother with bad intentions, when he had a limp that prevented him from running, and when he had to trust God’s promises or else he was a dead man. 

Life at its most vulnerable teaches lessons life at its best cannot. 

Jacob was gobsmacked with clarity when he realized God was writing this story and that there were boundaries he could not push through or beyond.

Jacob learned to walk straighter with a limp than he ever did without it.

Leah and Jacob started together. They also finished together. They lived a life full of lessons for us to learn from. Weak eyes sometimes see farther. Weak hips sometimes travel farther. Together, they make the kinds of marriages that shape everyone who comes behind them. 

Let us linger here for a while and consider our own lives in the light of Jacob and Leah’s. Let us remember how God can take the worst of situations and use them to build a better world.

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I will view life with the perspective gained from an unwanted wife and an all-too shrewd husband.

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Our Father, thank you for taking our imperfections and working out your story of amazing grace. You can do more with our brokenness and lovelessness than we can with our fondest hopes and dreams. Your real world works out better than our fantasy world. Thank you for reigning supreme over our lives. Amen.