Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Genesis chapter 29 verse 20.

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love

he had for her.

So there's a lot to this story in Genesis chapter 29 as Jacob comes into Laban's land and ends up wanting his daughter Rachel as his wife, Laban, giving him first Leah and then this

first talks about how Jacob served Laban for seven years so that Rachel could be his wife.

But this first says it seemed to him those seven years were like a few days

because of the love he had for her.

Now there's a lot of things we can talk about in this chapter,

but when I read this verse, I just picture this love and affection that Jacob had for Rachel and I can't help

but to think that kind of

God's design for marriage, that marriage would be marked

by that kind of zeal, that kind of emotional affection and love.

Not that we always feel the exact same way every day

and every month and every year in marriage,

but that there is intended by God a delight in marriage in one's

spouse, a love that makes even really hard circumstances seem a lot lighter because of who we're sharing them with.

And at the same time I read this verse, I know that there is a tendency in many marriages for love to grow cold,

for affection to diminish.

And that's not God's design.

It's not that things are always easy

and the circumstances we walk through in marriage

...