Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, "Now I will praise the Lord!" Genesis 29:35
If you know me, you know I enjoy a good cup of coffee. When I wake up, I drink my coffee before drinking water, as many of you do. As much as I enjoy my coffee, I have learned that nothing will truly quench my thirst like water. If I drink only coffee all day, I will be extremely thirsty because coffee was never meant to satisfy thirst. We are left thirsty when we seek satisfaction in things that were never meant to satisfy us. This understanding goes beyond the beverages that we drink. As human beings, we look to many different things to fulfill us, from the people in our lives to our jobs and possessions, but none of these things will genuinely fulfill and satisfy us. Only God can truly and fully satisfy us.
We read the story of Jacob and his wives, Leah and Rachel, in Genesis 29. Unfortunately for Leah, Rachel was the clear favorite. Being the least favorite weighed on Leah, and she was miserable. When she had her first child, she named Him Reuben and said, "The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me" (verse 31). Then, she had another son and said, "The Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me another son" (verse 33). Again, she had another son and said, "Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me, since I have given him three sons!" (verse 34). Leah's statements show us where she sought fulfillment: love from her husband. Because she did not have Jacob's complete affection or love, she felt unfulfilled. We do not know much more about Leah, but we can surmise from these statements that she likely carried with her sense of bitterness and disappointment. She was looking for fulfillment and satisfaction in the wrong places. However, Leah had an attitude shift at some point in her story. We know this because she had one more son and named him Judah. This time, after his birth, she said, "Now I will praise the Lord" (verse 35). Finally, Leah turned to God for fulfillment and satisfaction, which led her to praise God.
Today, we must ask ourselves, "Where are we looking for satisfaction?" Is it someone else, a position, a possession, or something else? These things may feel good at the moment, but they will never truly satisfy us. Only God can fulfill our most profound and significant needs, and when we look to Him, we can say with Leah, “ I will praise the Lord.”
Where are you looking for fulfillment? Are you looking to your spouse, friends, job, or something else? Acknowledge it to God. Talk to Him about where you have been looking to find your fulfillment and how it has come short of truly satisfying you. Tell Him that you know that He is the one who can truly fulfill you, and ask Him to help you as you seek to look only to Him to fill you up.
Genesis 29:31-35 (NLT)
"When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. 32 So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me."
33 She soon became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon, for she said, "The Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me another son."
34 Then she became pregnant a third time and gave birth to another son. He was named Levi, for she said, "Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me, since I have given him three sons!"
35 Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, "Now I will praise the Lord!" And then she stopped having children."
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