The Dowry Revival Part III

The Dowry Revival Part III - This Time I Will Praise The Lord

“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. Then she stopped having children.” Genesis 29:35 NIV

Ok. So the last two posts I dealt with Leah and her knowing that God had blessed her with something valuable to give to her husband, then also seeing that what God gave her was not enough to force him to love her. This time, I will look at how Leah changed her mind through that whole process.

Leah had seven children by Jacob in total, six sons and one daughter. She was extremely fruitful. In that day, being fertile was a sign of blessing from God. Except Jacob still loved and favored Rachel over his first wife Leah. After giving birth to her youngest son, Judah, Leah stopped having children and came to a powerful revelation. She decided to change her tune. Instead of seeking to gain approval from a man who was not loving her back, she decided to simply praise the Lord. This implies that all of the other births she was seeking to do something else, namely, praise herself for being fertile or gain the attention of Jacob, or something other than shifting her focus to God. But it was after she gave birth to Judah that she decided to do something different. And then she finally stopped having children. It was as if there was a revelation that God was trying to give her, that took seven births for her to get. And when she got it, the lesson was over.

Imagine all of the pain that she had to endure to get to a point where she finally looked to praise the Lord. All of the times where her body was being used to incubate another human being, who she hoped would be the answer to her prayer to have Jacob love her. All of the hours of labor she had to endure for each child. All of the pain she had to go through to watch the man she wanted to love her spend his time in the arms of her sister. All of the nights she probably spent crying her eyes out, wishing for someone to love her. And time and time again being disappointed. But once she turned her attention away from Jacob and turned it towards God, it all stopped.

And we know Judah for being the lineage through whom Jesus was born. Judah means “praise”. It was in Judah that the world would later be blessed with King David. It was in Judah that our Savior was born. Judah is known for turning things around. Or in other words, praise is known to turn things around. Not so much that your situation, itself, will be different. But in the sense that you will no longer seek the approval of men, and will be satisfied knowing that God is enough. Praise helps you to see things differently. Praise gives you new eyes. Praise helps you to bring a halt to the pain of seeking after things that are not God. Praise can change the world. Praise did change the world.

I don’t know what Leah’s praise looked like. She just said that this time she would do it. What does your praise look like? For some, it’s a shout of thanks to God. For some it’s a dance. Some it’s a quiet spoken word of gratitude. For others its a poem or a song. For some it will be laughter. Whatever it means for you to praise God, then when you get to a place where you are able to do it with a pure heart, I will submit to you that the pain of trying to give birth to something that will manipulate the heart of another will cease. Everything you were trying to do to win someone else’s affection will seem pointless. You can’t change people. You can’t make them love you no matter how fruitful you are. Only God can change the heart of a person. It’s not your money, your children, your status, your body, or anything else that will force someone to give you the love that you greatly desire. Once we finally understand that, we will be free. And the fruit of that revelation will change the world, forever.