Breaking Free From the Comparison TrapSample

Have you ever been at a school dance with your friends, and your crush starts walking toward your group? You hope that finally, they might be asking you to dance! Instead, they turn to your friend and ask them to go dance. Not a fun feeling, right?

Leah knows this feeling and then some. When Jacob talked to her dad, it was her sister Rachel he really wanted to marry. Their dad tricked Jacob and made him marry Leah first because he had no expectation she was going to get a marriage proposal anytime soon. No man wanted to marry Leah, her father didn’t want to support her any longer, and now the man she is married to doesn’t love her.

It’s easy for a person in Leah’s situation to compare her life to her sister’s. Leah is focused on her misery, and we see this in the names of her first three sons. “God has seen my misery.” “The LORD heard I am not loved.” “Now my husband will become attached to me.” Still, her circumstances don’t change.

But she changes. Instead of focusing on her situation, Leah turns her eyes to God. She names her fourth son Judah, which means “praise.” “This time,” she says, “I will praise the LORD.”

Are your circumstances difficult right now? Instead of comparing your life to others or to what you wish your life was, can you find a reason to praise today? Let that change your mindset, as you focus on the God who loves you and wants to work all of these circumstances for the good of those who love God.

Pray: Dear God, you are the one I praise! You are loving and kind, merciful to forgive my sin. I know you are faithful, and I can trust in you. Help me to focus on you instead of on my situation so that my mind is filled with praise. Amen.