God's Hands Are Never Tied

Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved,

and He opened her womb.

Genesis 29:31

Jacob awakes the morning after his wedding to discover that it is Leah beside him and not his beloved Rachel. He goes to Laban and confronts him about this deception.

Laban offers Rachel for another seven years of labor. Jacob chooses to work seven more years in order to take Rachel as his second bride. Laban allows Jacob to marry Rachel after the completed wedding week of Leah.

Leah is immediately shoved to the wayside because Jacob’s heart always belonged to Rachel. The Lord, however, saw the hurt of Leah—after all, He is El-Roi.

The Lord opens Leah’s womb, and she conceives a son. Leah hopes against hope that this will win the affections of her husband, but it does not. She conceives and bears Jacob three more sons, and still her husband does not love her as he does Rachel. By the time she reaches the birth of baby number four, Leah says, “This time I will praise the Lord” (Genesis 29:35).

Leah had finally learned that the love of God was what mattered. “For your husband is your Maker, whose name is the Lord of hosts; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the earth” (Isaiah 54:5).

Precious one, we cannot expect others to define our worth. Leah was unloved by Jacob, but oh, she was so loved by God. Leah had been the victim of her father’s deception of Jacob. God knew this.

The fact of the matter is that God designed the family as one man for one woman until death separates. A man’s heart cannot be divided. Jacob grew to care for Leah, but his heart belonged to Rachel until his death.

Yes, God allowed polygamy because He allows us freewill, but in this freewill comes consequences of choices. There never was peace in Jacob’s home. His home was always filled with bitterness, jealousies, and strife. He suffered the consequences of this “blended family” until his eyes closed in final sleep.

The glorious thing is that God’s hands are not tied or controlled by our choices. He is still God, and His will always is accomplished. When our hurts and even our mistakes are placed into the hands of God, good is always the end result.

Oh Father,

Once again, through the study of Your Word, I see that You are a God who sees. You see my hurts and my heart when it has been broken. You are my comfort and my peace. In You is my strength, and You are my refuge. As long as I know that You love me and that You care about the hurts of my heart, then I too can say as Leah said, “I will praise the Lord.” Life is not always fair, and sometimes we suffer because of the choices of others, but “if God is for us, then who can be against us” (Romans 8:31). You are the One from whom all blessings flow, and Your blessings are not measured by human measurements. You are sovereign over the womb and over the world. In You I can place my whole heart and never fear that You will break it.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.