Sometimes in our response to rejection, we find ourselves doing things we find difficult to live with afterward. Guilt compounds the problem. How can you feel good about yourself when you know you have used other people to your own selfish ends?
Yet however hurt she was, however guilty she felt, Leah never stopped talking to God. Her hurting heart didn’t stop her, her guilt didn’t stop her, her disappointment in herself didn’t stop her. If the Bible says that God listened, then Leah must have kept on talking to Him, and therein lay her salvation.
Despite this, Leah’s lot in life never really changed. She had to learn to live with something she could never change.
Rejection in the short-term is hard enough to cope with, but rejection over the long haul is a killer. To be able to sustain long-term rejection—to live with it day in and day out—necessitates lessons well-learned in the short-term.
Though Rachel died in childbirth—the birth of her second son, Benjamin—Leah never replaced her sister in Jacob’s affections. We don’t know just when Leah died, but she may still have been living when her sons, wild men, sold Rachel’s son Joseph—Jacob’s favorite—into slavery, having narrowly been diverted from murdering him. If her children were a comfort to her when they were small, they don’t sound like they were very good company once they were grown! Poor Leah!
There are many “poor Leahs” in this life. Perhaps you know such a person, or perhaps you are one yourself.
Though Leah’s circumstances were trying beyond measure, God cared for her. He sustained her, watched out for her, and listened to her prayers. He provided her with companionship when her husband was no companion, love when her husband was no lover, and friendship when he was no friend.
We can learn much from Leah. We can learn that even when we face rejection, we must resist letting it turn us into its slave. We must refuse to obey its commands, and refuse to sink to the depths it tempts us to.
Above all, remember that God alone knows what rejection is all about. He was rejected by the very world He made—His family, His friends, and His closest disciples. In our extremity we can lay our head on His breast and say, “You understand.” He will succor us, fill us with the assurance of His sustaining presence, and enable us to keep on keeping on, though we be married to Jacob, have Rachel as our sister, and raise children like Reuben, Judah, and Levi. No matter how difficult our living situation, tomorrow is another day, and He has promised He will meet us around the corner of tomorrow with balm in His hands!
