“And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.”
Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said: it is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now. The name Reuben means see, a son — embedded in the name is the testimony to the LORD's seeing. Leah names her son from her theological experience: God has seen my misery. But the last sentence reveals the wound: surely my husband will love me now. The son is not the end of the longing; the longing is for the husband's love. The application: the gifts God provides in a season of unloving do not necessarily resolve the deeper relational wound. They sustain; they do not substitute.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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