No Retreat, No Surrender - Desperate Housewives 2
It's easier to give up than it is to fight for anything. Ever started something thinking that it will be relatively straightforward just to find that it isn't? Thought by this time in my life I should have _____ (fill in the blank) but things aren't what you planned or hoped for?
Well, we unfortunately can't dictate to life how it will go. What's within our control is limited and might not always come together when we'd like it to. There are many reactions to these sort of circumstances. Desperation can lead to some strange responses. Do you fight or do you flee?
Leah had a shocking rivalry with her sister. She competed for attention, affection and her idea of supremacy. Many of us do the same today. We look to an occupation, a spouse, belongings or many outward things to validate or fulfill us. Of course we are relational beings. We need love, friendship and affirmation. Many things go wrong in our lives when these things are not in place. What I'm referring to here is more than that. It's competition, envy even. Are you pegging yourself against achievements, or "acquiring" people in your life to fill an emptiness?
Leah definitely had reasons to be desperate; her husband always loved her sister, the same sister was also her sister-in-law and worst of all, her father began this battle by tricking said husband into marrying her! All this dis-function led to more dis-function when Leah thought her having children would "fix" things with Jacob, the husband. She tried what she could, she even bargained to sleep with her own husband in a tiff with her sister! She managed to get her sister jealous but that didn't solve her inner hunger or "make" her husband love her more then he loved Rachel, her sister.
It would be great to report that Leahs life all worked itself out. I don't know. The last account I find of her is when she is meeting her brother-in-law Esau. The bulk of her life's story is recorded in Genesis from chapters 29 to 31. Her legacy though does include her children forming the nation of Israel, the nation God chose to demonstrate His love for humanity. The nation that Jesus was associated with when He was among us. Her husband was Israel (formerly called Jacob).
We see though that she made a lot of DIY efforts to "make things right" so to say. Leah was a fighter. She was desperate and we can learn a lot about how God "works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28. We don't need to be desperate and perpetuate dis-function. Leah was part of a huge story - a great purpose but we don't need to repeat her mistakes.
Pauls letter to the Romans is great. I encourage regular meditation on chapter 8.
I now include some great insight into how God would prefer that we view our suffering and difficulties:
Verse 18 - I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Verse 22 - We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Verses 25 - 28: But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Verse 31 -What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us,who can be against us?
Verses 37 -39: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.