Scripture
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

Observation
It’s not clear what was wrong with Leah’s eyes. Most translations describe them as “weak”. I’ve read the opinions of many experts, both rabbis and pastors. The jury is out whether she was cross-eyed, near-sighted or just a cry baby. The original word for “weak” implies tenderness and softness. Perhaps Rachel had fiery, sexy eyes that got Jacob’s hormones flowing. Maybe Leah was too much the sentimental, sniffling chick-flick watcher to turn him on. Whatever it was about Leah, she knew that she did not measure up to Jacob’s expectations. She just wasn’t good enough to be loved.

For a season, long enough to have three children, Leah tried to win her husband’s approval by doing the one thing she could do well: make babies. She pumped out Reuben, Simeon and Levi, but nothing changed in her marriage. Jacob was still frosty towards her and hot toward Rachel.

It is not easy to live with the dislike of others, especially someone as close as a husband or a wife. We want to be loved. We want to be wanted. We want the perfect life. We are in love with ideals. We’ll do anything to receive the love of another. “How do you want me to behave?” we ask. Then we contour our life to please others. Leah went to ridiculous lengths to give birth to a football team full of boys just to make her husband love her and still came up as just a background person to Jacob.

There are some people who are afraid to be alone. Some men have to have a woman. Some women have to have a man. I heard Dr. Laura confront a woman who went from abusive relationship to abusive relationship. “Just leave him!” she shrieked over the radio. A frightened voice came over the airwaves, “But what would I do then? I would be alone!”

With her fourth baby, Leah shows us a better way than addiction to the approval of others. She accepted that nothing would change about Jacob, but everything could change about her. Her husband might never love her, but in God’s eyes she was highly esteemed. She called her son Praise (Judah), and filled her emptiness for a man’s love with the praise for the God who loved her.

Application
Sometimes when our desperate prayers are not answered we need to ask God to change us rather than to change our situation. Leah would never have the affection of Jacob, but she could have an intimate relationship with the God of Jacob. So what if I have weak eyes! The approval of others may never come, I may not live up to expectations, but I can rest in the unconditional acceptance of the Lord.

Prayer
Father, I lose myself in praise for you. Worship is the invitation to be joyful without earthly reason and to be enveloped with the cloud of delight that surrounds you. In praising you I join the festivities that are already happening for you in heaven. You are the most self-assured, joyful being in the universe. I take delight in you and with you. Today Father, I ask you to be my praise. Amen.

Press the arrow to listen to Nichole Nordeman’s sing “Brave” along with the adventures of a first time sky diver in New Zealand.

Scripture
Ignore them.–Jesus Christ Matthew 15:14

Observation
Remember the climax of the Wizard of Oz, with the trembling foursome knock knees in the Emerald City in the presence of the Great Oz? But little Toto was not afraid and revealed that behind the curtain was just a little old man. Life is like that. There are people who can intimidate us, not because they are daunting, but because our fear has distorted them beyond reality. In God’s eyes they are puny, but in our eyes they are intimidating.

The disciples were daunted by the Pharisees. Everyone else was too. In the pecking order, they were at the top in their flowing robes and framed credentials. They were the religious traffic cops and the disciples had feared them all of their lives, until Jesus came.

Jesus spoke two releasing words: ignore them. That may sound rebelliously tempting, but remember Jesus ignored the Pharisees and paid with his life…and got more in return!

The disciples sheepishly whispered to Jesus, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” There are moments we do the same, when our world view is not God’s view of life. While we need to submit to authority, learn from others, have a humble heart, and more, nonetheless the opinion of some people isn’t worth the price of yesterday’s paper. And yet we bow and scrape to their wagging fingers because we won’t listen to Jesus and follow him.

Jesus said then and says now, “Ignore them.” They are blindfolded tour guides. This is not an excuse for unkindness, but it is permission to have courage to follow Jesus through a maze of pointing fingers, waging tongues and shaking heads.

Application
If we are to be where Jesus is (and who does not desire that!) we must discern what to hear and what to ignore and have the courage to keep walking on with Jesus. Some Pharisees like Nicodemus may follow, but many will not. It is ours, however, to be where Jesus is.

Prayer
Father, I ask for continued courage to keep on walking. I’m glad that ignoring others does not come easily for me. I believe you love my heart tender. So protect my soft underside with the hide of a rhinoceros. Amen.

Worship as you read this devotion by pressing the arrow.
Song: Twila Paris Daughter of Grace

Scripture
Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.  And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. Galatians 2:24-29

Observation
Expectations are a disability. People have expectations of us and we try to achieve them. Even when we are not working we are fretting about ways to live up to expectations or escape from them. Even more disabling, we have expectations of ourselves. Those are the hardest to live up to. They are often hitched to old family mottos, echoing words from parents or teacher from years gone by, or a dream that has held us for ransom all of our lives. Of course, the most demanding expectations of all are those God has for our lives. Those none of us can achieve.

The Bible word for expectations is “the law”. Paul did not mean by “the law” simply the words Moses wrote; the phrase means any attempt to use the law to gain God’s approval. The law was not given to save us but to reveal that we need a savior. The law is a babysitter we endure until daddy comes home with grace.

Most of us spend our whole lives either trying to live up to expectations or by running away from them. Either way, we still feel this tug inside that what we are is not good enough and that we need to work harder to get there. We become tense, driven, compulsive, striving, stressed, impatient, dissatisfied, and discontented. The bottom line problem is that we are working for acceptance rather than from acceptance.  We imagine that some achievement out there somewhere will give us the resting place we are searching for. Until then we are restless searching for it.

Application
When I really follow Christ I am set free from expectations. I don’t need a babysitter any more; I have a Father who rejoices over me. What would happen in my life if I stopped measuring my days in terms of either “getting there” or “slipping away” and rested in the acceptance of God that I am “already there”. My ministry would be marked with security, grace, kindness, patience, endurance with joy and more. Everything changes when we work from acceptance rather than for acceptance. God has no expectations for me when it comes to receiving his love. Sure there is potential he calls me to develop, but the first order question is already solved: I am loved. Now I must work from the security of that. Maybe the reason I’ve been allowed to live up to expectations so long is to bring me to this point of releasing them into the acceptance of the Lord.

Prayer
Father, it is a lightheaded feeling to stand in you presence without expectations. There is constantly a sense that we should be doing something or doing more to please you, yet your smile and emanating love tell me that all of that is a waste of time. You simply want me to be with you, just as the disciples were with Jesus. I accept your acceptance. That is the core of faith. Today, I chose to work from that. Amen.

Scripture
As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god. Acts 28:3-6

Application
This is like a scene from the opening of the ABC TV show Lost. Paul, along with 275 other passengers, had been washed up on shore of an island. The wind is cold, and so Paul led an impromptu effort to build a bonfire. Paul could have sat on the sand, but instead he worked to serve others. While in the act of public good, he was bitten by a snake.  Snake bite was nothing compared to the lashing of wagging tongues.

Public opinion is a viper ready to bite the hand that is serving the public good. Bystanders live by the rule that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people. Satan was there sharpening their words, for the people chose the one word that would have stung Paul most. They called him a “murderer”. That word smarted, for the one time hunter of Christians had been forgiven and transformed by Christ to become a church planter. The enemy of our souls has a way of reminding us of what God has forgotten about us.

What happened next revealed the character of Paul. He could have let the venom of accusation paralyze him. When we are false accused life can slow into numb disbelief and replay of past memories. Paul, however, did nothing of the sort. He shook off the snake and went on with his business.

I read in the news this week that Robert Irwin, the 4-year-old son of the late Steve Irwin, was playing with a boa constrictor (obviously we are dealing with a different kind of family) and was struck by the serpent. His mother Terry was so proud of her son, because he was pleased to have had his first hit. He said, “I hope it wasn’t venomous.” The other assured her son that she would not let him play with poisonous snakes.” If a 4 year old can shake off a snake and move on, than we should as well and if a mother cares for her child then even more so the Lord cares for us.

Application
There are times that Satan will try to use spent ammunition to level us. Like Paul, we must make the choice not to wallow in pointless regrets, but to shake off the snake and to get on with our business for God. That choice to move past the opinion of others is something that God will honor. For Paul he protected him from the snake’s death serum. For us, if it is useful for his glory, God will vindicate us. Our responsibility is to shake off the snake, move on and leave the results with the Lord.

Prayer
Father, help me not to listen to what you have forgotten. Help me to live in the now and not the then. And help me to move further than public criticism can imagine because you are leading my life. Amen.