Leah's Biggest Mistake

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben,[b] for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”

33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.[c]

34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.[d]

35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah.[e] Then she stopped having children.

                                       Genesis 29.31-35

Jacob, Son of Isaac, had two wives: Rachel and Leah. However, the only one he loved was Rachel, so  Leah was put two the side. The only reason Jacob was married to Leah was because he was tricked to do so, and it was the only way he could be with Rachel, which you can read about in the same chapter. 

God saw the suffering in Leah because she was not loved, so He enabled her to have children, and He closed the womb of Rachel. Leah gave birth to a child and named him Reuben. After he was born, she was sure that he would love her, but nothing changed. She conceived again and gave birth to Simeon. She gave birth again and named him Levi and she thought to herself "Now, my husband will love me, bond with me, because I am the mother of his three children." Finally, she gave birth to one more son and named him Judah. 

What's interesting is that when she gave birth to Judah she said "This time I will praise the LORD." Why did she say "this time"? The reason is because she was not praising God with her life before. God gave her 4 children, but it wasn't til the fourth child that she acknowledged God. 

Many times we worry so much to have the praise, the approval, the love of other people, that we  put that concern of having the approval of God, to the side. We focus more, we care more for the acceptance of other people, that we turn our backs on God without realizing it. 

When we do this, we are blind to see what God is doing in our lives. We do not value what He has been doing for us, giving to us, because our focus is on someone or something else. 

Leah had to have four children, before she could realize that God was blessing her and that regardless of her husband's feelings, God loves her. God was giving her the love that she needed.

But because her focus was on her husband, she was pushing God away just as her husband was to her. 

She kept giving birth to get even the slightest attention from her husband, that she didn't realize that God kept giving her children to get her attention. Once she realized this, she turned to God.

Where has your attention been?