Heaven’s perspective is always better than earth’s. Our eyes stop at the horizon; God sees all the way to forever.
“Leah was unloved” (Gen 29:31). A lonely woman, living in a household with her younger sister who is more beautiful and the object of her husband’s affection. Used as a bartering chip by her father for seven years of labor and, in spite of bearing four sons, neglected still. That’s the immediate view, and a bleak one at that. But it’s not the only viewpoint! Centuries later, the apostle Paul would write: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom 8:28). He would also state that love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7). But what did Leah have to look forward to, to believe in, to hope for? That’s just the point. The Bible says we’re like sheep, and when sheep are nibbling grass, their eyes are about two inches off the ground. They need a good shepherd to look out for them, to have the long view. For example, did she know that two of her boys, Levi and Judah, would be the progenitors of all the priests, Levites, and rightful kings in Israel? Could she ever imagine that all of her sons would someday have their names engraved on the pearly gates of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:12)? Or could she have known, wonder of wonders, that little more than 40 generations later, there would come from her direct line the King of kings, the Savior of all who believe, the world’s greatest Lover? If only she had known the words, she might have been able to sing Grace Pennell’s moving hymn, “Loved! then the way will not be drear; For One we know is ever near, Proving it to our hearts so clear, That we are loved. Loved when our sky is clouded o’er, And days of sorrow press us sore; Still will we trust Him evermore, For we are loved.”