Insignificant Praise?

I was reading the story about Jacob, Leah, and Rachel this morning and noticed in particular, the names that Leah gave her children. Just a quick background to this story: Jacob wanted to marry Rachel so he worked for her for seven years and then the morning after his wedding night, discovered it wasn't Rachel in his bed, but Leah, whom he didn't particularly love.(Must not have been much talking going on that night.)
He found the girl's father and said something like, "What the world?" and the father said, "Well, in this part of the country we get rid of our girls in their birth order, so finish out this week with our firstborn, and then we'll give you Rachel but you'll have to work another seven years to pay for her." Alot of 'cause and effect' deception going on here but that's another story.

So, Leah felt unloved.
But then she got pregnant and hopeful.
When she had her firstborn, she named him "Rueben"
meaning, (drum roll please), "a son."
And she said, "The Lord has seen my affliction.
Now my husband will love me."

But, alas.

Well, she had a second son
and named him, "Simeon" which means 'heard.'
She said, "The Lord has heard that I am still hated
and has given me another son."

Then she had a third son and I can relate with her joy.
She named him "Levi", meaning 'Attached.'
She said, "Now my husband will get attached to me
because I have borne him three sons."

Then she bore a fourth son
and called his name, "Judah",
which means 'Praise.'
She said, "Now I will praise the Lord."

Then she stopped having kids for awhile.

But after awhile she got a bit nervous
when she saw that Rachel,
who was barren, had given her maid to Jacob
(so she could call her maid's children her own)
so Leah gave Jacob her own maid as well.

He must have been a busy man.

Well, she called her maid's first son, "Gad"
which means 'a troop comes.'
I wonder if this is where we get the term
'gad about' such as 'gadding about the countryside
with a gaggle of giggling girls'.
It also smacks of "I've got a whole troop of kids,
na-na-na-na-nah" kind of attitude.

Not sure though.

Then maid's son number two was born
and she called him "Asher" meaning
'happy.'
She said, "I am happy, for the daughters
will call me blessed."

I wonder what they had been calling her.

Then Leah hired Jacob for the night
with her son's mandrakes.
(Read it for yourself.
It's complicated.
Or not.)

Okay I'll tell you.
Rachel gave up Jacob for the night
in exchange for Leah's son's mandrakes
because mandrakes were considered
to be an aphrodisiac and good for fertility.
Or maybe she was just hungry for them.
Who knows?

I tell you what.
I don't know who I feel the most sorry for
in this dysfunctional family.
Poor unloved Leah?
Poor needing-to-share-her-husband Rachel?
Poor exhausted Jacob?
Poor maids with no rights?
Poor kids with names full of meaning?

Well, Leah conceived on that night
without mandrakes
and had a fifth son,
"Issachar."
Poor Issy!
"Issy...time to take your bath!"

Or, "Issy,Issy, what a sissy!"
(You know how cruel kids can be.)

His name meant 'Wages'
because she felt God gave him to her
as a wage because she had given her maid to
her husband.

I am not making this up.

Son number six?
"Zebulun"-meaning 'dwelling.'
Leah said, "God has endowed me
with a good endowment;
now my husband will dwell with me
because I've given him six sons."

Wishful thinking.

Then she had a daughter
and called her "Dinah"
which means 'judgment.'
How would you like to have a name
that reminds you that you should have been a boy
and that when you were born,
your mother thought you were some sort
of judgment from God?
Afterall, seven was the perfect number,
and seven sons would surely have won
Jacob's heart.

Perhaps I am reading more into Dinah's name
then there really was.

(If you want to know about Rachel's children
and her maid's children, etc.
you will have to read it for yourself
because this whole mess has
completely worn me out.)

What I want to say is this:
Leah had seven children.

The middle one, Judah,
was named, "Praise."

All of the other names given her children
represented the condition she was in.
But Judah's name
represented a condition she chose.
"Now I will praise the Lord."

And this is what happened with Judah
and his tribe.

His tribe became great.

Jacob, in Gen 49,
spoke the highest blessing over him.
"His brother's will praise him.
He will triumph over his enemies."

Also, Judah "will have a royal authority
and legal authority and will bring forth
the Messiah."

My Bible notes say,
"Out of Judah,
through David, comes the Christ,
who in every action and detail
is a praise to the Father.

The tribe of Judah
(Praise) led the Children of Israel
through the wilderness.

They led in the conquest of Canaan.

And Judah's tribe was the first tribe
to praise David, making him king."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may feel insignificant and unloved.
The conditions of your life may reinforce
what you believe to be true.

But there is a God
who sees you,
who hears you,
and in the midst of your insignificance,
knows your name.

He loves you.

There is a praise that comes from a place
of sorrow and insignificance
that has nothing to do with happiness.

There is a choosing to praise
even when the conditions are not right
for praising.

There is a surrendering to praise
instead of striving to be loved.

There is a knowing that we are His
and He loves us
no matter how insignificant we feel.

Didn't Jesus say, "Blessed are the poor in spirit-
those who know they are spiritually poor-
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven?"

Didn't He say,"It is the sick I have come to help,
not the healthy?"

The Psalmist, a great-great...
grandson of Judah, said it this way,
"Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
the help of my countenance
and my God."

God uses best what happens in the midst of
our insignificance.

Take courage.
Have hope.
And praise Him.