Read: Genesis 49: 8-12

Reflect:
Of all Jacob’s twelve sons, for some reason God chooses Judah – the fourth in line. The blessing says “your brothers shall praise you”.  As the fourth son, there is no earthly reason for his praise except that God has chosen him to be.  The choice of Judah over all the other brothers is a bit of a mystery, and the Bible does not give an explicit reason for it.  Judah is far from righteous (refer to Genesis 38….it’s scandalous!).  Judah’s character did improve and he offered himself as a slave instead of Benjamin.  But I kind of think Joseph would have been a better choice!  But Judah was God’s choice.  Judah’s mother Leah was not who Jacob had initially intended to marry.  She lived her life feeling unwanted, undesired and unloved.  She must have been in a lot of emotional anguish as reflected in the names that she gave her children.  After her firstborn son, Reuben (meaning “See, a Son”) she thought Now my husband will love me. Her second son, Simeon means “God has heard that I was hated.”  Then she conceived a third son and called him Levi “because I have given my husband a third son, he will live with me now.”  She was consumed with her plight, and all her prayers were focused on trying to get God to end her pain. But then something very powerful happened.  She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.”  So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.  It was at this moment that Leah turned her attention away from her pain, even though it had not been resolved, and decided to praise God anyway.  Sacrificial praise in the midst of agony is spiritual dynamite. Think about Paul and Silas in jail (Acts 16). After they have been stripped and beaten with rods they were put in an inner cell and their feet were fastened in stocks. Do they cry? Complain? No! They SING! They sing praises to God, so loud that the whole jail can hear them. And what happens? An earthquake! Prisoners come to faith, doors swing open, and even the jailer repents and brings his whole family to accept Jesus as Lord. That’s dynamite!  God delights in a voluntary sacrifice of praise in the midst of hardship.  It expresses honor, love and trust to God.  God decided that Judah’s tribe would be the ancestor of David, and ultimately the Messiah. Leah’s costly heart-change while still in great pain was so powerful and pleasing to God that he gave the honor of his scepter to the one whose very name means “praise”.

Pray:
Even if you are going through a tough situation, God is worthy of praise and doing so takes our eyes off our situation and puts them on our Lord and Saviour.

OPTIONAL WORSHIP ‘Praise You in the Storm’ by Casting Crowns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YUGwUgBvTU