GOD IS HIDING IN SHEVAT

In Shevat God is hiding. He isn’t hiding to keep us away, He is simply challenging us to seek Him. He knows that winters can be bleak. People want to snuggle beneath the covers. They want to forget about everything. However, while we are sleeping this winter, God is busy under the surface of our souls. Like the growth taking place unseen in the trees, He is strengthening and nourishing our roots. The makings of fruit are going on from the inside out. Nothing shows yet, but something is happening. It will be awhile before these invisible, still forming things, reach outside and bloom, then turn into ripe fruit.

A TIME OF AWAKENING

Sleep is so nice, but it is also time for us to begin waking up. God has plans. We are His hands and feet upon this earth. As this cold, dark season of winter transpires, we need to be seeking Him through the Word, prayer, fasting and loving one another. If we continue to abide through these dark days, He will bring us to the place of bearing ripe fruit for His Kingdom. Another season is coming.

THINKING OF ASHER

For example, let’s think about the tribe of Asher. Asher is the Tribe of Israel that is featured for this month of Shevat. Asher’s name means “I Am Happy.”

Isn’t that a great name? His mother gave him this name when he was born because his arrival changed her life from one of sadness and strife into a time of contentment and happiness. Leah was Asher’s mother. She had been overlooked, the neglected and unwanted bride of Jacob/Israel.

But with the birth of Asher Leah seems to be walking into a new state of maturity. Finally, she turned to God when her husband neglected her. God saw Leah, loved her and strengthened her. He was just waiting for her to seek him. Maybe for most of her life Leah thought God was hiding. She had to learn how to seek Him out and trust Him for her strength.

At last, Leah prayed for God to bring her a change and Asher was born. By the time of his birth she had learned how to walk in a way that trusted God for everything. This is such a different walk. No more wining when other’s get the spotlight. There was no regret when others received attention and Leah was left to evolve in her own little world. She woke up. Leah decided that her own little world was going to thrive under God’s guidance and protection. This changed her life forever.

CONTENTMENT AND ACCEPTANCE OF GOD’S WILL

Once Leah learned this more mature aspect of her new life, she no longer cared when Jacob chose to ignore her. God had allowed her to have this beautiful son, and she named him Asher. God had allowed Leah and/or her maid to give birth to half of the Sons of Israel. Rachel only gave birth to two. Of course, Rachel’s maids added to the numbers also. Yet, at this point, Leah began to grasp how much God had blessed her by placing her in the wrong place at the right time. She no longer regretted her circumstances. Now, Leah thanked God for allowing her to have a house so full of blessings.

With the birth of Asher Leah walked in a different type of abundance. This new walk depended only on the blessings of YHVH. She found contentment in her present situation. Once she began to relax in that contentment, Leah actually rose above her circumstances. She learned the secret of grace and mercy. Some days these moments of grace and mercy even led her into love. Leah accepted that Jacob would always love Rachel more. She held on to the fact that God had placed her where she was, and she became much more content in her days.

ACCEPTING GOD’S WILL FOR OUR LIVES

A lot of times we are like Leah. She was always reaching for a place where she did not belong. Leah longed to be like the others around her. Instead, Leah had to learn to love the person God had made her to be. She was an important member of a very blessed family. Leah was never alone. She had been given the blessings of children. Jacob’s children were going to bless her all the days of her life. Leah finally learned to accept her place within the Kingdom. She learned to be who God had made her to be instead of whom she had once longed to be. When this happened she found happiness. Thus, she named Asher, Happy I Am.

Something happened to Leah that should eventually take place in every Christian’s walk with God. We need to accept our true destiny. It is important to be thankful for who God made us to be and walk within it. This is the key to happiness.

Leah, whose name in Hebrew insinuates “weak eyes” or that she is constantly crying, stopped the tears. She began to be happy. Leah learned to look at the positive over the negative. At the point of the birth of Asher, she accepted that God was at work within everything that was going on. All she had to do was to be herself and show faith, obedience and love.

LIKE THE TREES OF SHEVAT

Once Leah began to walk in this light, she grew like the trees in Shevat. She was probably often silent, but things were always going on under the surface. Leah was growing and learning how to become fruitful. Her son, Asher, became the evidence that God had noticed and that He cared for Leah.

Like the trees of winter, Leah’s life took a turn in the later seasons. She started smiling. Leah’s face began to display her happiness for her station in life. She developed a type of gratitude for each coming day. There was a new curiosity for knowing what God was going to do next.

These things increased the beauty quotient of Leah. All of the world was a better place. What God had been doing in the unseen world eventually became visible to others. Once Leah let go of her will and accepted God’s, the rest of her life became fruitful for God’s Kingdom. God’s will for Leah to become the mother of most of the Tribes of Israel was accomplished.

GOD IS HIDING IN SHEVAT

Here, like the seeds of the trees waiting on spring, God was hiding in Shevat. He might have seemed to be hiding in the life of Leah too. Yet, all the time, God was at work.

At the end of her days Leah was the one who was buried beside Jacob in the graves of the Patriarchs. On the day of Resurrection, Leah will rise beside Jacob/Israel. Did he grow to love Leah as much as Rachel? We don’t know. However, whatever happened, we do know that Leah found her place within her home. She began to live a much happier life after the birth of Asher. Also, Leah is recorded as the wife of the great Patriarch, Jacob/Israel.

Don’t you love the stories that Shavat brings to mind each year?