The Significance Only God Can Give

Last week, we met Leah in Genesis 29 who was on a journey to significance. She worked for years to be seen, heard, and connected in an intimate relationship and her efforts left her soul depleted. Many of us can relate because we too are weary, but the good news is God can heal us.

Our search for significance shouldn’t be exhausting. When it is we are likely looking for significance in the wrong places. On the other hand, when our search for significance takes us in the right direction, we find we are rested, restored, and renewed as Acts 3:19 tells us, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” The most meaningful rest we can experience comes from God when we repent of our sins, change our minds, and accept His will – which is for us to find our significance in Him alone and to allow Him to create in us a strong sense of identity.

The right kind of attention from the right people can help us feel significant but it can’t completely fill the significance gap in our hearts – only God can. Leah seems to have learned this in Genesis 29:35, “She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ So she named him Judah.” Leah named her fourth son Judah, meaning “praise.” It seems Leah had learned the Lord was the only one who could make her truly significant and she worshipped Him, realizing what she had missed all along. God saw her and heard her and loved her as He always had and she praised Him for it!

Where are each of us right now? Do we understand we can’t earn God’s love? Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” God’s love and our significance are gifts. Have we reached the point where we understand if all we ever have in life is Jesus, He is enough? This is the place where we live for God and God alone. If the answer is yes, let’s pray, “God, I realize You are my only hope. This time, I will praise the Lord. I am significant to You.”