Make Your Bible Your Own + “In Acceptance Lieth Peace”
Acceptance.
This word has been in my ♥️heart, mind, & thoughts since Thursday afternoon. I felt God impress it on my ♥️ heart ever so gently, as He does. And as often happens in my mind, other quotes and verses, and thoughts, started joining that word over the last few days, forming a sort of “acceptance soup” in my brain. (LOL)
One quote came immediately to mind: “In ACCEPTANCE lieth peace.” —Amy Carmichael
And, on a silly note, another line often quoted by our family: “An orange peanut for me? I ACCEPT you!” (Had to memorialize that for O&E♥️)
All weekend, different related thoughts have surfaced & circled through my mind. Thoughts about disappointment…reality…and the often-quoted prayer, “God grant me the serenity to ACCEPT the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” (Reinhold Niebuhr). I thought of Mary saying, “Be it unto me according to thy Word,” and all the things Elizabeth Elliott has shared about joyful acceptance of our portion. (Again, “acceptance soup”!). Then, last night, driving, pulling into the church parking lot, God brought the story of Leah to mind, and I knew I had to write about it. I went to bed, so excited to wake up, read it, and write about it. And, WOW, God has so ministered to me through Genesis 29!!! The kind of “knock-your-socks-off”, “soak-your-soul-in-comfort” ministry. ♥️
OK. That’s the backstory. Now, for the real story….
ACCEPTANCE.
Leah. Her story is so often overshadowed by the limelight her sister, Rachel, receives.
Rachel is the love of Jacob’s life. Their moment of meeting is full of chemistry and romance. Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, has gone on a journey to find a wife, and in a fortunate turn of events, he “happens” upon a well, asks the men who are there if they, “happen” to know his uncle Laban, “and they said, “We know him.” (Gen 29:5). Jacob asks if his uncle is well, and they respond, “He is well,” and it just so happens that Rachel, his daughter, is coming here with her father’s sheep. The conversation carries on about the fine details of watering sheep, and while they’re still talking, Rachel arrives on the SCENE! Cue the romantic music…Jacob “went near,” rolled the stone off of the well and watered Rachel’s sheep. But he didn’t stop there. “And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept.” (Gen 29:11). Talk about “love at first sight. ♥️. Jacob had gone on the search for a wife, and he had found ONE! Sparklers! Butterflies! Fireworks! Heart eyeballs! All in that moment. Instant attraction! Instant emotion. Instant desire. Few couples can tell that sort of “chance” encounter; introduction meetings. This is far beyond Jacob’s wildest dreams. Jacob reveals who he is to Rachel, and Rachel takes him home to meet the family. His uncle, Laban, has a similar response to Jacob. “…he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Laban declares him to be “his bone and his flesh.” And Jacob lived with Laban for about a month. (Gen 29:14)
Then Laban asks a question: “Why are you serving me for nothing? How can I pay you?”
AND THIS IS OUR FIRST INTRODUCTION TO LEAH.
“And Laban had 2 daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah was “tender-eyed,” BUT Rachel was “beautiful and well favored.” (Gen 29:16-17). CSB says: “Leah had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.” I’ve never found a commentary yet where anyone exactly knows what the description of Leah means, but it is clearly not flattering due to the comparison to Rachel’s beauty.
Not only is Rachel beautiful, but just before Jacob responds to Laban’s question, the text of Scripture emphatically declares “And Jacob loved Rachel…”. Rachel is desired, longed for, and wanted, to the point that Jacob responds to Laban by saying, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.” Rachel is desired and Leah is entirely overlooked. Laban agrees to the arrangement, “and Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the ♥️love he had to her”. (Gen 29:20)
Finally, the time comes for Jacob & Rachel’s wedding. Jacob asks for Rachel: “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.” (Gen 29:21). Jacob longs for Rachel, and he is full of passionate desire toward her. Laban “gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast.” (Gen 29:22). Laban throws a wedding party…. a beautiful reception…but then…
“…it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he (Jacob) went in unto her.” (Gen 29:23-24) I doubt this was Leah’s idea or preference. Who watches their sister’s love story, fairy-tale-romance unfold before their eyes, and wants to be “the wrong girl” on the first night of the honeymoon? What female would choose to be “thrown in” as part of a package deal on their sisters’ marriage? What woman would choose to be one of the greatest disappointments of Jacob’s life on the morning after? We aren’t shown that Leah is given an option. This is picked for her by her father. “He took Leah his daughter…”
My heart goes out to Leah: “And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah:” SHOCK. SURPRISE. ANGER. INCREDULOUSNESS. DISBELIEF. Jacob is devastated and furious, and I would NOT want to be in Leah’s shoes. She is unwanted…. unloved…undesired… and she is the brunt of her father’s schemes.
Jacob is incredulous and returns to Laban the next day to figure out what in the world happened. Laban informs Jacob that it is a custom of their country that the firstborn must be married first. (Gen. 29:26) Ok…that would’ve been nice to know 24 hours ago but Jacob has now unwittingly consummated an unwanted marriage and Leah is now an unwanted wife. Jacob, out of duty, goes on to “fulfill Leah’s week,” and then enter an agreement to work another 7 years for Rachel. “And he went in ALSO unto Rachel, AND HE LOVED ALSO RACHEL MORE THAN LEAH, and served with him yet seven other years.” (Gen 29:30)
The Bible makes no attempt to hide the difficult position Leah is in. She can do nothing to change her looks (there was no plastic surgery in days of the patriarchs 😉) and she cannot change the fact that her sister is loved far beyond her. But GOD SAW HER PAIN! Verse 31 says, “And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.” Though she doesn’t have the love of her husband, she still gets his attention, “And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.” Leah holds this baby boy hoping one thing: he will be the bond between her and Jacob. He will be the reason Jacob will finally love her. She is so motivated by the desire for a love she doesn’t have that she names her son Reuben and says “(because of this baby son) my husband will love me.” But this is not the case, for in the next verse, we read, “And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, BECAUSE THE LORD HATH HEARD THAT I WAS HATED, and she called his name Simeon.” (v. 33) (In spite of an open womb, she is still unloved. She is used though not desired.). (“…he hath therefore given me this son also:”) (v.33). “And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons…”. Leah is still hopeful. She is still seeing her babies as a means of securing Jacobs’ affection. She thinks, “if he won’t love me for me, he’ll love me for what I can produce.” And even after several disappointments, she still says, “this time”. “THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT.” She still holds out hope that this 3rd baby will be the key to Jacobs’ ♥️heart. If he won’t love her for her, maybe he’ll love her for what she gives. THIS TIME he’ll be “joined” to her. “And she called his name Levi.” (Gen. 29:34)
The very next words?
“she conceived again…”
(Being unwanted did not keep Leah from being fruitful. She had not picked the circumstances she was in, but she was still productive THERE.)
And it is with this fourth conception that we see a dramatic shift in Leah’s’ mindset and motivation. Every child prior was a grasp for what she was missing…each baby was birthed with hope of securing her husbands’ love, which had left her with a great void. But this baby was different. When they placed this 4th little bundle of boy in her arms, she no longer chose a name based on she didn’t have or what she hoped “might” happen. She simply said, “NOW I WILL PRAISE the LORD: therefore, she called his name Judah;” (Gen. 29:35)
Leah came to a place of ACCEPTANCE, and not just begrudging resignation, but a joyful realization that while she could not change her circumstances, she could STILL PRAISE. She could worship in the middle of her unchangables. Judah means “PRAISED, CELEBRATED, OBJECT OF PRAISE.” (#3063-BROWN-DRIVERS-BRIGGS). No longer was what Leah produced an opportunity to secure affection, but rather an opportunity to PRAISE the One Who gave it to her…to CELEBRATE the One Who had opened her womb and given her the ability to bring life into the world. ♥️ She laid aside her agenda and chose to praise. She stopped trying to get and moved into a posture of GIVE. In this response and declaration at the birth of her fourth son: “NOW I WILL PRAISE THE LORD,” we see that Leah’s’ unchangables had changed her. So often, that is what God does…HE USES OUR UNCHANGABLES TO CHANGE US. It is in the act of “accepting what we cannot change” that we are changed. The walls we keep bumping up against become a tool God uses to form & fashion us into His likeness. Our unchangables are an opportunity, not to only accept in resignation, but to offer true, real, sincere praise. Praise that is not based on WHAT God has done but based on an intentional decision to praise and celebrate WHO He is. “NOW I WILL PRAISE the LORD.”
Now. Here. In THIS place. Even if my unchangables never change.
The simple fact of the matter is, we all have 2 types of circumstances in our lives.
1. Things we CAN change…we were all born with a WILL to choose certain things…our friends, our outlook, mind-set, where & how we invest our time & energy, our attitudes, our place of employment, our willingness and effort to steward our health through exercise & diet & our finances through wise use, what we “feed” our souls, our response to circumstances, etc. These are all things we choose. In many regards, we simply need “courage to change the things we can.”
2. Things we CANNOT change…the past... losses we’ve endured…the inevitability of death and our own mortality, the family we’re born into, abuse that was chosen by someone else, the “sentences” & consequences of past decision, the choices of others, the responses of others, unanswered prayers, seasons, and age, and more. These are the places we need “serenity to ACCEPT the things we cannot change…”
(I want to be clear in writing this…this does not mean to remain in presently abusive situations. When or if we face abuse, we SHOULD go what we can to remove ourselves from those situations. Acceptance is NOT a lack of boundaries. Additionally, this does NOT mean “I cannot change this sinful pattern in my life.” NO! The Word of God stands final, even over things that can “feel” unchangeable! And His Word promises that we no longer have to obey the “lusts of our flesh.” Patterns of sin, no matter how predisposed we feel to them, are NOT unchangables!!! There is liberty, and hope, and freedom in Jesus!)
BUT, WITH those caveats listed, there are true unchangables in life, and this is where ACCEPTANCE comes in. Acceptance, as mentioned previously is not dismal resignation. It is a “glad surrender” (E. Elliott) to the will and plan of God. It is Leah saying, “Now,” in these unchanged circumstances, “I will praise the LORD.”
It is Paul “glorying in infirmities,” in an unchangeable “thorn”, (2 Cor 12:8-9) and writing “rejoice in the LORD always” while in unchangeable chains. It is Mary saying, “Be it unto me according to thy Word,” when a long-expected promise was fulfilled in her tiny frame. It is Jesus and Stephen forgiving during crucifixion and persecution. It is David worshipping at the tragic news of his dead baby. He had not received the answer to his prayers, but he could still WORSHIP. It is Job, in dust and ashes, saying, “Blessed be the name of the LORD,” and Paul and Silas singing in stocks, beaten at midnight. These are portraits and snapshots of ACCEPTANCE. Acceptance worships and praises and gives thanks in spite of things it cannot change. It says, “God, You are right.” “God, You are good.” “You give good gifts, and if this is what You’ve given, I accept it from Your hand.” Acceptance rejoices, even in the things that don’t make sense from this angle of “time.” Acceptance echoes the words of Leah, “NOW, I WILL PRAISE THE LORD.”
Leah named her baby Judah, and this name represented a massive switch in her attitude. Little did she know the power of her response to an unchangeable. She had no way of knowing that the Messiah, the promised seed of a woman (Gen 3:15), would come through the bloodline of THIS baby. Her ACCEPTANCE produced the tribe of Judah who led the Israelite army into battle with praise, & ultimately her acceptance became a beginning for the One Who would be known as the “Lion of the tribe of Judah.” (Rev 5:5)
God, grant me wisdom to truly recognize what I cannot change. And when the observation is clear, let me worship and rejoice and give thanks there. For it may just be the ACCEPTANCE of what I cannot change that ushers the miraculous, the supernatural, and the unexpected into my life, and not just for me, but THROUGH ME into the lives of others.
ACCEPTANCE is powerful. As Amy Carmichael said, “IN ACCEPTANCE LIETH PEACE.” There is a stillness and settled-ness that floods into our lives when we say, “This is my reality. This is my season. I accept it. I forgive here. I worship here. I will hold God’s unchanging hand while I’m changed by this unchangeable. “I RELEASE everything, into the hands of God.”
“Now I will praise the LORD….” ♥️
“…but God is the strength of my ♥️heart, and my portion forever.” Ps 73:26
Thank you for joining me for this journey! Go grab your Bible and your journal!