Imagine a woman in your church says this: “After I have a child, my husband will love me.” Or they say: “Because I suffered, I now get blessings.” Or they say: “If I have enough children I will earn love.”

What would you think when hearing a woman in your church say that? Would you quietly disengage? Would you feel moved to ask why she feels like that? Would you skip straight to gentle encouragement in the face of such distorted anguish?

Now read Genesis 29 and the surrounding chapters and allow yourself to enter in the anguish of Leah and Rachel.