God who sees,
God who writes love stories,
You brought Jacob to the well
not just for water,
but for destiny.
He met Rachel,
and joy rose like a song.
He wept.
He kissed.
He believed he had found the one
You had promised.
So often, Lord,
I come to the well with expectations.
I imagine the future,
I name it before it’s born,
and I pour my heart into what I think You’re doing.
Jacob worked seven years for Rachel,
and they felt like days.
Love made labor light.
But on the night of joy
there was deception.
A switch.
A veil.
And disappointment.
Lord, I confess
I have woken up to things I didn’t choose.
I’ve opened my eyes
and found my dreams replaced by disappointment.
I’ve labored for one thing
and received another.
Why, Lord?
But even in the confusion,
You were at work.
Jacob loved Rachel,
but You saw Leah.
The unwanted.
The unloved.
The overlooked.
You opened her womb.
You heard her cry.
You responded not to Jacob’s passion,
but to Leah’s pain.
Lord, You are the God
who sees the unloved
and gives them legacy.
Leah longed for affection.
She named her sons with hope for her husband’s heart
“Now he will love me…”
“Now he will be attached to me…”
But he didn’t.
Still, she kept naming.
Still, she kept hoping.
And then
Judah.
“This time I will praise the Lord.”
Lord, when love from others fails me,
teach me to praise You.
When my heart is tired of waiting for human affirmation,
lift my eyes to the only One
who names me,
sees me,
blesses me.
Judah
from her pain came praise.
From that praise came a lineage.
From that lineage came a King.
Jesus, You came through the line of Leah
the unloved woman who chose worship.
So I give You my disappointments.
My unmet expectations.
My tired hopes.
My yearning to be seen.
And I build an altar here
not at the well,
not in the bridal tent,
but in the lonely space
where only You come close enough to heal.
You are the God
who brings redemption out of rejection,
and glory from sorrow.
So I wait,
I worship,
and I trust
this time,
I will praise the Lord.
In the name of Jesus,
the Lion of Judah,
born from the woman no one wanted
but forever blessed
Amen.