The Lord Has Seen Your Humiliation

Introduction

There are wounds that no one sees. Humiliating words swallowed in silence. Cold looks in your own home, at work, sometimes even within your Christian family. And as the year draws to a close, you wonder whether any of it mattered, whether anyone even noticed.

On New Year's Eve 2025, at Meistad Church in Cergy, the exhortation stopped on a forgotten woman from Genesis, Leah, forced into marriage, unloved, caught in rivalry with her own sister. A short, hard, deeply human text, Genesis 29:31-35, to tell you one thing before you step into 2026: the Lord has seen your humiliation, he has heard what was said about you, and he has never been indifferent or silent.

Outline of the exhortation

1. A household marked by rivalry, a God who remains sovereign

Jacob took refuge with his uncle Laban after taking his brother Esau's birthright. He loves Rachel, the younger sister, but village custom requires the older sister to marry first. As a result, he marries Leah, then Rachel. Two sisters married to the same man, in the same household.

Scripture doesn't endorse this situation. Later, in Leviticus 18:18, God clearly forbids marrying your wife's sister. God was never in favor of polygamy. But in that village, no one knew his will, and yet, in spite of the imperfections and the mistakes, the Lord causes all things to work together for the fulfillment of his purpose.

Hold on to this: God doesn't call perfect people, God perfects the people he calls. You are a candidate for his love and his calling. Sanctification is a process. And when you go through a difficult situation, you sometimes have no idea that God's hand is at work behind the scenes to accomplish his plan of peace and good for you.

2. Reuben: "the Lord has seen my affliction"

Rachel and Leah each end up with their own frustration. Rachel doesn't have her husband to herself. Leah finds herself forced into marriage, deprived of affection. Neither one is content with what she has, each envies what the other has.

Leah lacks love, but God makes her fruitful. She gives birth to a son and names him Reuben ("see"), because she says, "The Lord has seen my affliction."

What you endure at home, at work, within your family, the Lord sees it. He isn't indifferent when your wife doesn't love you. He isn't indifferent to the acts of humiliation you swallowed in 2025. He sees what people put you through, and he makes up for it with a blessing.

3. Simeon: "the Lord has heard"

Leah hopes a son will finally win her husband's love. Nothing changes. She gives birth again and names this child Simeon ("hear"), because "the Lord has heard that I am unloved."

Jacob's lack of love also came through in his words. And God heard them. In 2025, the Lord heard the contemptuous words spoken about you. The belittling, insulting, slanderous words. He doesn't only hear when you cry out, he also hears what's said behind your back.

And the preacher adds: the injustice you suffered in 2025, the Lord will turn into a blessing. He is holding a comfort in store for you that will come and wipe away the tears of your humiliation.

4. Levi: trying to buy love

Leah keeps placing her hope in the wrong place. She names her third son Levi ("attached"), hoping Jacob will finally attach himself to her. He stays cold.

These children's names become, as they say in Africa, "names that settle disputes." Leah tries to use her children to buy the special place Rachel holds. She sends Jacob a message: "I'm giving you what Rachel can't give you. Why do you stay attached to her?"

It's a calculation that doesn't work. A man doesn't become attached to a woman because of a child. And that's how we're always left disappointed, when we look for satisfaction outside of God. 2025 may have been, for you, a year of disappointment because you forced things, pushed, tried to twist the circumstances. Force doesn't fix it. Neither does strategy.

5. Judah: "this time I will praise the Lord"

A fourth son. Leah finally shifts her posture. She no longer talks about her husband, she talks about her God. She names this child Judah ("praise"), saying, "This time I will praise the Lord."

She stops seeking her happiness in a heart that doesn't love her and lifts her eyes to the One who has always seen her. And the text adds that afterward "she stopped having children": her search had reached its destination.

It's from the tribe of Judah that the Messiah will come. God took this humiliated woman, set aside by her own husband, to bring the Savior of the world into her line. God never forgot Leah. He has never forgotten you either.

Key takeaways for entering 2026

• The Lord sees and hears: no humiliation you suffered in 2025 escaped his sight.
• God doesn't endorse what people have done wrong, but he causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him.
• Seek your satisfaction in God alone: when you look for it elsewhere (in a spouse, a child, an achievement), you end up disappointed.
• Change your attitude in 2026: what you repeated at work, at home, with your children, toward the Lord, you're not obligated to repeat it.
• Praise before you understand everything: Leah ended up naming a son "praise" before her husband changed. Praise often comes before deliverance.

Personal application

1. What humiliation did you carry in silence in 2025? Are you ready to hand it over to the One who saw it?
2. Where did you try to "force" a situation this year, a marriage, recognition, a position, a relationship?
3. What attitude from 2025 (at work, at home, toward your spouse, your children, your church, God) do you refuse to repeat in 2026?
4. In what area do you put someone or something "in God's place" to feel secure?
5. How can you, like Leah with Judah, choose praise before your situation changes?

Verses cited

• Genesis 29:31-35: Leah, mother of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.
• Genesis 30:1-2: "Am I in the place of God?"
• Leviticus 18:18: the prohibition against marrying your wife's sister.

FAQ

Does God approve of polygamy because it appears in the Bible?

No. The text of Genesis 29 describes what happened without endorsing it. God later explicitly gave, in Leviticus 18:18, the prohibition against marrying your wife's sister. The unhealthy atmosphere in Jacob's household makes this law even easier to understand: God was never in favor of polygamy.

Why did God bless Leah when she was living in a situation that wasn't his original will?

Because God sees the person before the circumstances. Leah wasn't guilty of the way she had been married off. She endured her husband's contempt. God makes up for this lack of love by making her fruitful and placing her, through Judah, in the line of the Messiah. In spite of our imperfections and the mistakes of others, God causes all things to work together for the fulfillment of his purpose.

Practically speaking, how do you "change your attitude" in 2026 after a year of humiliation?

By pinpointing exactly what you don't want to repeat (a reaction at work, a word at home, a posture toward God), and by following Leah's example with Judah: lift your eyes back to the Lord, choose praise before the situation changes, and stop putting a person or a circumstance "in God's place."