Desperate people do desperate things. Unloved people do desperate
things. I’ve done
desperate things before, fallen for deceptions off the lips of a great liar.
Poor Leah. She couldn’t help that she was not as beautiful as her sister. Did she
have part in her father’s deception? She more than paid for it. She lived the
life of a desperate woman, unloved, hated even.
31When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel
was barren. 32And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his
name Reuben, for she said, "Because the LORD has looked upon my
affliction; for now
my husband will love me."
33She conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Because the
LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also." And she
called his name Simeon. 34Again she conceived and bore a son, and
said, "Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have
borne him three sons." Therefore his name was called Levi.35And
she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "This time I will praise the
LORD." Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.
14In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the
field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah,
"Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes." 15But she
said to her, "Is
it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s
mandrakes also?" Rachel said, "Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your
son’s mandrakes."
16When
Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said,
"You must come in to me, for I have
hired you with my son’s mandrakes." So he lay with her that night. 17And God
listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.“
Unloved women become desperate. We sell ourselves for a
handful of mandrakes. We cheapen love, settle. And the story continues with
their sons. “3Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other
of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of
many colors. 4But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all
his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.” (Genesis 37) Being unloved
brings out the worst in us, it makes us desperate. It made Joseph’s brothers
desperate enough to kill him. “18They saw him from afar, and before
he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him.”
I’ve been
desperate before. I was born in a desperate state. But I’ve never been unloved.
And being loved answers: I was chosen. I was chosen
to be loved. Colossians
3 “Put on
then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness,
and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a
complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you,
so you also must forgive. 14And
above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony.”
Romancing my husband starts here.
It starts by living each day to tell him he is chosen by me, chosen over ten years
ago, chosen today. It
starts by knowing that I am chosen, chosen by Him. And this love from Him, this
being chosen, is what then binds me to him and to others “together in perfect
harmony.” I am not, nor ever was, an unloved woman.
“You have tasted that the Lord is
good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5you
yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a
holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ… 9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for his own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. 10 Once you
were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
And being chosen gives me the joy of choosing others, joy
of choosing Him. In this world of busyness and over-commitment, it gives me the
burden of choosing to spend my life, my heart wisely. “41But the
Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about
many things, 42but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10.
Choosing the good portion means sitting at His feet,
choosing to know His heart. Choosing the good portion means choosing love,
choosing romance over the rush of the day—making
time for it: over the tired pull
of the sofa, over the desire to choose self. Romancing is simply the art of choosing to love, choosing to speak it, to show
someone they are chosen. Real romance comes from knowing we are chosen, comes
from a heart filled with Him: choosing the chosen One.
Luke 9:35 And a voice came out of the
cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!"
Lord, help me to never live
desperately, never cheapen what You have paid
so greatly for.
Help me to live as Your chosen daughter, live loved. Help me to choose others,
love them, not to choose myself. Help me not to rely any other love than Yours.
Help me to choose daily, “the good portion,” choose daily to demonstrate love
to the ones You chose for me.
Your
love sonnet to me today: loved-- not hated, hand chosen by You.
"We must mirror God's love in the midst of a world full
of hatred. We are the mirrors of God's love, so we may show Jesus by our
lives" -Corrie ten Boom
Revelations 7: 14They will make war
on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King
of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and
faithful."
Deuteronomy
7:6
"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Care to see where we've been on this 21 Days of Romance? (Seeking out romance in His word) You might like to see:
awaken the heart to see and feel love.
still feel.
stones.
Day 17: Romance Knows Us Intimately.
Day 18: Romance is seeing His heart more clearly, recognizing Love in my midst.
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