After giving birth to Jacob's fourth son, Leah is so confident that she has finally done what it will take to win her husband's honor, loyalty and love that she names her son 'Praise' -- 'Judah' in Hebrew, from which our English word, 'Jew,' is derived.
But Leah is sadly mistaken and she has built her foundation for praise on sand. As far as we can tell from the Scriptures, Jacob never came truly to love Leah. Even after her rival, Rachel, died, Leah finds no emotional warmth from the now deeply depressed Jacob. And it isn't long before Jacob's depression over the loss of his beloved Rachel descends to the depths of despair as he assumes that Joseph, Rachel's first born son, has been killed.
While Leah has a faulty basis for praise, there is a biblical basis for praise, and we find that basis in knowing the Lord and resting in his Word and providence.
When the Lord Jesus becomes our husband and the center of our lives, when pleasing him becomes our chief end, then we can truly be happy. Happiness, then, by God's grace, is a choice. We choose to be happy when we choose with Paul to say, 'For to me, to live is Christ' (Philippians 2:21).
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After serving Grace Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Louisiana, Bob was honorably retired on Sunday, September 27, 2015, and given the title "Pastor Emeritus." This was forty years to the day after he became their pastor.
He now works for the Presbytery of the Gulf South as...