Because Your lovingkindness is better than life…Psalm 63:3
Have you ever thought that if you had that relationship, or that job, or that house, then you’d be happy? Our desires to find love and to feel secure can lead us down some empty roads. Perhaps nobody knows this to be true better than Jacob, Leah, and Rachel.
Consider their story. Jacob goes to live with his Uncle Laban who has two daughters. Jacob immediately falls in love with the younger daughter, Rachel. He works seven years to marry her, but Laban tricks Jacob on the night of his wedding, and he ends up marrying the older daughter, Leah. Jacob then works seven more years to marry Rachel.
Leah so desperately wants to be loved by Jacob, but she isn’t. When she gives birth to Jacob’s first son, she foolishly thinks that now she will be able to capture his love, but even after giving birth to six sons, Leah is still unloved and unhappy.
On the other hand, Rachel possesses all of Jacob’s love, but she isn’t happy either. Rachel can’t have children and is jealous of her sister. Eventually, Rachel also gives birth to a son, but instead of celebrating and giving thanks, she tells God she wants another son.
Both of these women were expecting something other than God to fill their lives. They both wanted what the other one had. This is the travesty we experience when we try and fill the empty places in our hearts (intended for God) with anything else. It will never satisfy. It will never be enough.
It’s only when we engage in our personal relationship with God, and when we choose to believe the truths in His Word, that our deepest needs are met and we can lead fulfilled lives. Kelly Minter beautifully states in her No Other Gods Bible study, “There’s Someone more sustaining and more fit to fill our longings than even the best of our Jacobs.”
Lord, only your love and presence can satisfy the unfilled places in our hearts.
By: Jessica Chenoweth is a writer and speaker passionate about helping men and women to live out an authentic faith rooted in a genuine relationship with Christ. You can connect with her on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Awakened-Anew/285192118172614) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/AwakenedAnew6).
Jessica Chenoweth is a writer and speaker passionate about helping men and women to live out an authentic faith rooted in a genuine relationship with Christ. You can connect with her on Facebook or Twitter.