0:00 Lonely. He's not deficient. He is all powerful, all knowing, all sovereign. But when we see this phrase ascribed to the Lord, it's truly an invitation for God's people call and a command to us to give God the praise that he alone deserves. And what's even more amazing about that when we obey that command, when we recognize and stand in awe and give him the overflow of our heart in wonderful worship to him, he gets the glory that he alone deserves.
0:47 And we as his people get unmitigated, invincible, incomparable joy that can only come through doing what we have been created and designed to do. So will you please stand with me as we read Psalm 96? Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord.
1:20 Bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations. His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
1:35 He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, oh families of the peoples.
1:56 Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Tremble before him all the earth.
2:12 Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice.
2:26 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it. Let the fields exalt and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes. For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.
2:47 Let's pray. Father, Lord, we thank you for yet another opportunity to gather as your bride, to gather as the body of Christ, to gather as the church of Jesus Christ. And Lord, we do echo this psalmist, and we ascribe to you the glory due your name this evening. We ascribe to you everything that you deserve, and everything that we have as fallible, finite, created beings. Lord, we give it all to you in joyful reverence tonight.
3:22 We give it all to you. May you find our praise is acceptable in your sight. May you find our worship plea a pleasing aroma to you. And Lord, we pray that as our worship goes forth, we truly do it by the power of your Holy Spirit under the truth of your word. Spirit and truth.
3:42 Yet let that fuel tonight's worship. And Father help our affections tonight. May you focus our affections and our desires and what satisfies us only in you. The hearts of every person here tonight. May we be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
4:04 To you be the glory, both now and forever. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Church, will you please sing to the Lord?
4:12 Sing to the Lord with all your might tonight. He lives.
8:52 My John fifteen, one through five, says, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does not bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already, you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me.
12:33 I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I am in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do
12:49 nothing. Lord, we've come tonight to pour our hearts out before you. We pray that you would give us the energy to do it, to do with all our might, to do with all our affection, to do with all our minds, Lord. And we've also come to worship you in the word. So meet us in this place.
23:27 Lord, it's my prayer with my brothers and sisters that this message in particular would bring healing, real healing, lasting healing, a healing that only Christ can perform, a permanent healing. So we trust you, Lord. We trust you with our circumstances. We we trust you with our challenges. We trust you with our troubles, Lord.
23:50 And we've come, yes, to retreat in this place, but we also come to leave here with you in our hearts with a greater zeal and a greater faith. Bring us there tonight in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, before you're seated, welcome somebody to this evening's service.
24:09 Would you? Welcome to this Friday night session. Yes. We can celebrate that God has brought us. As I prayed, my sincere desire, my hope, my prayer to God for this evening is that this message would bring healing, true healing.
25:11 Healing that no counselor can give, no psychologist. Something that only God himself can provide. And we will seek to do that by examining someone in particular namely Jacob's wife. Now when you think of Jacob's wife, who comes to mind? Rachel.
25:37 But people tend to forget that before Rachel, there was Leah. And I want to look at Leah's life with you tonight because she fits perfectly in our conference theme as she is a figure in the scriptures that is often overlooked. Not given much attention. In fact, in my own experience, I've heard of very little of Leah in a message or in a study, even in writings. And that lack of attention, even by faithful teachers of God's word, in some way reflects Leah's own life experience.
26:20 If there was a way to capture Leah's story in one word, I already mentioned it, overlooked. Severely overlooked. Dramatically overlooked. Painfully overlooked. And Leah here is going to show us more than just a miserable lot for a life.
26:45 Because it's also going to provide us some inspiration that there can be redemption in the midst of circumstances that don't seem to ever change. More specifically, in the midst of a situation where people never change. Circumstances are one thing but people. People can be a blessing and people can be a great burden. Can be the means for great turmoil.
27:20 Leah is introduced to us, I admit, in a very awkward way in our Bibles. But before we go there we have to get a little bit of a background to her story. So we have Abraham, we have Isaac, then we have Jacob. Jacob had a twin brother Esau. And Jacob appears in the story of the book of Genesis in an interesting manner as well.
27:42 He is depicted as a deceiver, as a trickster, and so one of the first things that Jacob does in his adult life is convince his brother to sell his birthright to him over a bowl of soup. Later, Jacob's appetite is not satiated, he wants the father's blessing. And so working with his mother, they come up with this whole orchestration to try to deceive Isaac and it worked. Isaac blesses Jacob when that blessing was reserved for Esau. Jacob is very bold because he does all of this knowing that it's going to cost him I'm sure.
28:26 And sure enough that came about. Word gets to his mother that Esau is so enraged that he is ready to kill his own brother. So Rebekah speaks to Isaac and says, Listen, we need to find Jacob a wife. That's how he presents this, that's how she presents this plan. So let's send him to my brother in Haran and and let him go there and find somebody from our own people.
28:55 And and though that might have been a desire of Rebekah's, really she was fearful for Jacob's life. And so she tells Jacob, Your brother is ready to kill you. Go to Haran and I will send word to you when his anger subsides. Now what's so interesting about that is you never read of Rebekah sending a message to Jacob while he was away. Meaning, the anger in Esau never went away, evidently.
29:21 So here's this man, Jacob, fleeing for his life. He doesn't know how long it will be, an indefinite period. And at the same time, he's open to finding a wife. And he finds his uncle's daughter, Rachel, instantly falls in love. Love at first sight.
29:39 And he introduces himself to Laban, his uncle, and after a few short days, after some weeks, he makes an offer, he makes a proposal. I want your daughter, Rachel. And they come up with a plan that we can't get into now, but it's in that framework that we are introduced to Leah. So turn with me to Genesis 29 and I want you to look here with me at verse 16 and verse 17. Genesis 29 verse 16.
30:25 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. So the first thing that we learn about Leah is about the quality of her eyes. And what we find here is that the ESV translators tell us that her eyes were weak.
30:50 But other word for word translations may use the word tender or delicate. Now why the variation? Because the Hebrew word there is quite ambiguous. When you see it used in different parts of the Bible, it can be used negatively, it can be used positively. So you have some who believe that Leah's eyes as being weak was not necessarily a bad thing, it was just speaking about the softness of her eyes.
31:18 While others actually say, No, it seems to be more about a visual impairment. That she suffered some kind of disability or some weakness there with her vision. And then again, there's others who say, No, this is purely an aesthetic detail. So there are mixed opinions about it. I'll tell you where I stand.
31:38 I believe that this is primarily speaking about Leah's appearance. Why? Because it's being contrasted with her sister's striking beauty. Is it not? And what the Spirit of God is saying here is that Leah did not measure up to Rachel's countenance and her arresting attractiveness.
32:06 Now when I looked at this, I thought to myself, what's the point? Why are we being given this information? And then it dawned on me to give us a little sample of the turmoil that Leah experienced. Living in the shadow of her sisters captivating beauty and aura. You know, I'd like to imagine that it was Rachel who always received the most compliments whenever they walked into a room together.
32:38 It was probably Rachel that had most of the boys flirting with her when they were growing up. Drawn to her, surrounding her, while Leah is there off to the side. It could be that Rachel was treated a little better by most because she disarmed them with her charm and her smile and the sparkle in her eyes. A sparkle that Leah lacked. And before we conclude here that Leah simply struggled with common sibling rivalry, we discover that everyone she interacts with in this story treats her poorly.
33:18 Besides Leah, there are three main characters in this account. You have Laban, her father. You have Jacob her cousin and soon to be husband, and you have Rachel her sister. And if you look at each of them carefully and how they perceive and how they view and how they treat Leah, your heart's gonna break. Mine did.
33:46 And so that's what I want us to do here. I want us to get a sense of some of the isolation and disappointment this woman experienced and I wanna begin with her father. So let's read a few verses here in Genesis 29, beginning in verse 18. Jacob loved Rachel and he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel. Laban said, It is better that I give her to you than I should give her to any other man.
34:15 Stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Love is so powerful, is it not? Hope is a powerful thing. When you believe and you trust something is is waiting for me, it makes things like working for seven years seem like a few days.
34:36 Verse 21, Then Jacob said to Laban, 'Give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is completed.' I love that. When the time came up, it wasn't Laban that came to Jacob and says, Alright. Here she is. You lived and worked for seven years. It was Jacob that went up to Laban.
34:51 Hey, I'm ready. Where is she? Very eager man. Verse 22, So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob and he went into her.
35:06 Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban, What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?
35:22 Doesn't feel too good, does it Jacob? Verse 26, Laban said, it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years. Jacob did so and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
35:50 This may be hard for the men in this room to do, but try. I want you to try to imagine being in Laia's shoes. In that, your father believed that the only way that you can get married is by tricking a man into consummating a marriage with you. I have a daughter. She's probably the youngest one at this conference.
36:16 Two months old this week. And already, I wanna tell you something. I cannot fathom doing to my daughter what this man did to his. You gotta think here, a dad, one who should affirm your worth, one who should protect your heart, thinks to himself that the only way I can get my daughter married is to resort to deception. Do you know what Laban's plan communicates to Leah and to us?
36:52 No one is willing to marry my daughter voluntarily. I have to lie. I have to deceive. I have to come up with a plan in order to get her a husband. Now there's debate.
37:10 How much of Leah was an accomplice in all of this? To what degree did she know or agree to this? We don't know, but I believe without a doubt that Laban is the mastermind. He's the one pulling all the strings. And the more you study this man, the more you are convinced that he is indeed a monster.
37:33 In fact, his daughters felt that way about him. Can I prove that to you? Look at what happens later in the story when Jacob receives instruction from God, go back to the land of your fathers. And now he's explaining this to his two wives. And notice the response.
37:47 Turn with me to Genesis 31 and look at verse 14. Genesis 31 verse 14. Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Who Who's speaking here? Laban's daughters. We're treated like strangers.
38:28 Our dad is willing to exploit us for personal gain. Jacob, it's not hard for you, for us to be convinced to go with you where you believe God is leading you. But I would argue that Leah received greater humiliation than her sister. How did the man get Jacob to sleep with his eldest daughter? We don't know.
38:51 Was there alcohol involved? Was it that dark? Was he so excited that he didn't think with his faculties? We don't know. We're not told.
39:00 But it makes you wonder if what he told Jacob the day after this wedding night is something that he told Leah the night before. Again, this is pure speculation. I admit that. But when you look at Laban, it's not hard to believe that he would resort to such tactics. What did Laban tell Jacob when he discovered that it was Leah not Rachel?
39:21 Look again at verse 26 of Genesis 29. We read it. Laban said, It is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. I really wonder if that's what he told Leah in order to quiet her heart. Look, this is what we do.
39:44 This is our culture. This is okay. You can trust me on this. Whatever he told Leah, we can be certain that some form of trickery was involved. Either way, imagine what this woman felt on that morning when she received Jacob's reaction.
40:11 Shock, disappointment, maybe even disgust. And people tend to comment on Jacob's experience of that moment, which makes sense because he's getting a taste of his own medicine, isn't he? Remember, Jacob pretended to be his older brother in order to get something from his dad. Isn't that what he did? What do you have here?
40:29 You have the older daughter pretending to be like the younger daughter in order to get something for her dad. Whatever you sow, you're going to reap. But that's besides the point. My heart goes out to this woman whose only recorded experience of being with a man was orchestrated through lies and was met with disappointment. When that man was repulsed by the fact that it was her and not someone else.
41:02 And this was all primarily her father's fault. So we get an idea of Laban's treatment of Leah. But let's consider Jacob's. What was Leah's experience with him? Let's read verse 28 now to verse 30 of Genesis 29.
41:22 Jacob did so and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant. So Jacob went into Rachel also and he loved Rachel more than Leah and served Laban for another seven years. I'm aware that we can't blame Jacob for falling in love with Rachel.
41:45 We were told that from the start. He was attracted to her. He was infatuated with her. But I want us to see this from Leah's perspective. Put yourself in her position.
41:57 This woman was trapped in a marriage where she knew every single day that I am less loved. That my husband is in love with another woman, and that woman's my sister. Oh I know these days, you want a divorce? You can, you can get a divorce because you don't like the way your husband sneezes. You can get a divorce for anything.
42:20 In this culture, when you made an oath, it was binding for life. It was binding for life. She could not just quit. Jacob was under the leadership of Laban who was the leader of this tribe. He, he was a known figure.
42:39 He was a respected man. He couldn't just slip away either. This is her fate locked forever until death separates. And I just want you to imagine here that this woman would wake up every single day knowing that she is in a loveless marriage. Let's feel it even more.
43:10 We're about to read in a few moments here that Leah is going to give birth to four sons with Jacob. And people have this idea, Well, yeah, Jacob owed that to her. It was his duty to provide children to Leah. And you can make a case for that I guess. But they tend to negate the reality that these two were engaged in sexual intimacy with the knowledge that Jacob loved another woman.
43:41 Isn't that tragic? I think it is. And it serves as a reminder that just because somebody is willing to have sex with you doesn't mean they love you. This is especially important for women because some convince themselves that just because a man is willing to sleep with them that they are being loved by them. Jacob's example is one that many of many that proves otherwise.
44:10 And Leah's experience of lack of love from her husband did not end there. Turn with me to Genesis 33. Years go by and Jacob receives news that Esau would like to meet with him. Remember, he did not receive any report from his homeland that Esau's wrath had diminished, whether he had a change of heart, the last thing he heard was, My brother wants to kill me, and there was no update. So Jacob, the trickster that he is, wants to make some preparation for this encounter, and this is part of his preparation.
44:49 Look at verse one of Genesis 33. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, Esau was coming and 400 men with him. Why do you need 400 men to meet with your brother? You can just imagine the palpitations. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants.
45:11 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. Do you see how we can easily miss things by just Feel it. Feel it. What's happening here? Well, he's coming with an escape plan.
45:33 In case Esau comes with violence, I'm going to put my servants up front, I'm going to put Leah in the middle, and I'm going to put my beloved Rachel last so that she has time to escape. And again, I understand some might come to Jacob's defense. Well, he never loved her to begin with. It's not like he showed her some interest and then went to Rachel. He wasn't playing games, I understand, but this has nothing to do with attraction.
46:01 Polygamy was never God's will. In fact, every polygamous relationship that you find in the scripture comes with trouble. Everyone. There's not one example where you can see it being a blessing for there to be one man with multiple wives. Never.
46:17 But with the circumstances that Jacob finds himself in, this was forced polygamy in a way. He could have done better. Right? Could he have not treated Leah with the same level of care and protection as Rachel? Was she still not the mother of some of his children?
46:34 So how did Leah feel when Jacob rallied them together and says, Leah, I need you to I just need you to be a little bit ahead. I'm gonna keep Rachel here. Just imagine weak eyed Leah. How did she feel there as she grabbed the hands of her children and made her way at that post? Makes you wanna cry, doesn't it?
47:02 This is not a metaphor, this is a real story. This is real history. I'm sure Leah felt it. There's even more. I want you to notice something else that Jacob reveals about how he viewed Leah.
47:18 It's so subtle but when you see it, it just shatters your heart even more. So we're going out to Genesis 49, near the end of the book of Genesis. And Jacob with his sons, they're in Egypt and he's ready to give last orders before his death, final commands. And one of them is I need you to bury me where my fathers were buried. I need you to go back to that cave that Abraham purchased and I need you to put me to rest there.
47:48 But I want you to see how he speaks about it. Look at Genesis 49 and verse 31. Genesis 49 verse 31. I'll wait for you. This is Jacob speaking.
48:06 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife. And there I buried Leah. What do you think should follow? My wife.
48:22 This is intentional omission. When he speaks about Abraham, yeah, Sarah his wife. When he speaks about Isaac, yeah, Rebecca his wife. When he speaks about Leah, no mention of him saying that she was his wife. This is how Jacob felt about Leah even after her death.
48:45 This is how Leah felt up to her dying breath. The void of her husband's love is what this woman experienced until she passed away. We're not done yet. What about Rachel? Her sister, you would think they would be best friends.
49:15 I hope we're beginning to grasp just how painful Leah's relationships were, and the very people that were supposed to support her ended up being the most difficult and unloving people. There's tension woven throughout the relationship and the story of Leah and Rachel and the Holy Spirit highlights one thing that is very clear and it's back in Genesis 30 verse one. After Leah gives birth to her first four sons, notice the reaction of Rachel in Genesis 30 verse one. Some of you know this already, but it's worth revisiting. Genesis 30 verse one.
50:00 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, give me children or I shall die. Now again, a lot of us know this part about Jacob's story and Leah's story and Rachel's story, but what we tend to forget is that nowhere in this entire account do you read directly that Leah envied Rachel for her beauty. You can't find it. But Rachel with all her beauty envied Leah for her fertility.
50:45 And I, at this point, I began to step back and compare these sisters. The beginning, we're told she was weak eyed and Rachel was a head turner. But then when you look at their character, this woman envied her sister. I'm not sure if you've ever been the object of somebody's envy, and I know that's difficult to identify and recognize. But if you've ever known it, especially at this kind of proximity, it's tormenting.
51:21 Because somebody hates you for something that you can't control. Somebody despises you for things that are beautiful, things that are good, things that are wonderful. And you even look at the way Leah acknowledges God and how Rachel acknowledges God, and you get a sense that Leah has a heart for the Lord more than her sister. Or at least a knowledge of God that is more accurate than her sister. On top of that, remember when Jacob finally flees Laban, who's the sister that brings idols with her?
51:58 It wasn't Leah. It was Rachel who brought household gods with her and hid them that provoked Laban to hunt them down and say, where are my gods? And it was the beautiful one that worshiped fall false gods, not the one with we guys. Hey, my dear brother, you're looking for a wife. What are you looking for?
52:19 You're looking for form? You're looking for a model? Are you bypassing true beauty? What's gonna matter in the end? Somebody who may not have all the photoshop details that you're looking for?
52:40 Does that really matter if they're bringing idols into your marriage or your home? I'll tell you what's more beautiful, a woman who fears God. That's the most beautiful thing. A woman who will bring heaven into your living room. A woman who will train your children to serve God and love God and that's more beautiful than anything.
53:05 And Jacob missed it. So in summary, Leah was the object of unwanted comparison and with that came the emptiness of her husband's affection and with that the wounds of a father who treated her like a product to be tossed, to be transacted for his own gain. And you wonder, what kind of life is this? Who do you turn to? And though it feels very cold and it seems very bleak and it feels very, very heartbreaking, suddenly a ray of light shines through the story and gives us some relief.
53:54 Up to this point, we've been looking at Leah's plight. But now I want us to consider Leah's honor. Look at verse 31 of Genesis 29. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. What an amazing verse about an amazing God.
54:21 Here's this woman seen as a stranger by her dad, denied her husband's love and later harassed by Rachel's envious eye and he saw it all. He recognized it and he acknowledged it. And more than just acknowledging it, he does something to alleviate her from this kind of suffering. And the way that he does it here is by extending compassion to the degree that he allows her to be able to bear children. But here's the thing that we have to understand.
54:52 The first and only person that shows Leah acceptance and love was not a man or a woman, but her creator. God. Not dad, not husband, not sister, God. And this sovereign act of opening her womb was more than just giving Leah some kind of relief, some kind of distraction. No, God chose this woman to multiply the seed that he promised to Abraham.
55:34 This is much deeper than just having babies. There's something grand with this. There's something significant. There's something very meaningful. In other words, this is the Lord selecting an excluded, marginalized, abused, neglected woman to be a matriarch for the nation of Israel.
55:57 You know, there's a fascinating contrast presented in this verse. You have Jacob who chose Rachel over Leah because of her physical beauty, primarily. But then you have God who chooses Leah over Rachel when he wanted to fill a womb despite her lack of beauty. And it's a reminder of something you and I are gonna hear over and over throughout this weekend that God's standard of acceptance and approval is far different than man's. He is attracted to the unattractive.
56:39 He takes great delight in binding the hearts of those that have been fractured. He takes pleasure in it. He's magnetized to those who are wounded. And he found that in Leah, a lowly despised wife and sister and daughter. And he does what he can to come to her rescue.
57:02 And this is just a model of what the Lord does for many of his people. From time to time, one of the ways that God demonstrates his care for those that are tossed to the side is by exalting them in one way or another. What is he doing here with this woman? He is exalting her. And I began to pause here and I began to just reflect on church history.
57:27 And you know, another woman came to mind, Fanny Crosby. Have you heard of her? Fanny Crosby, who was virtually born blind, became one of the most prolific poets and writers and hymn writers in the nineteenth century. It is believed that over her lifetime, this woman who could not even see composed 8,000 to 9,000 hymns. It's actually believed that there was more, but many of the hymns that were not attributed to her was purposely done because publishers feared that if all these hymns were written by Fanny Crosby, then people would lose interest.
58:10 Like, are there not any other authors? Are there not any other hymn writers? So she would take on pseudonyms. And it is believed that she wrote several hymns every single day. Some of the hymns that we still sing today, Blessed Assurance.
58:31 Pass me not, O gentle Savior, and to God be the glory. You know, it would be good for us from time to time to remember that some of the songs that we sing in our services were written by a blind woman that God blessed and empowered with a special grace. A woman that you would see on the side of the street and think, Oh, what a poor soul. She wrote most of the hymns of her dime, of her day, and still live on for the church to sing. Leah is an example of this.
59:07 The Lord takes this woman and more than just comfort her in the moment, he elevates her to a place of great prominence. And we find this in other places of the Bible. I want you to see what happens in the book of Ruth. Go to the last chapter of Ruth. It's only four chapters.
59:23 Look at Ruth chapter four with me. I want you to see something quite wonderful. Look at Ruth chapter four verse 11. This is after Boaz had finally made a deal with the elders at the gate to have Ruth as his wife. And here's what the people and the elders said at the gate.
59:54 Ruth chapter four verse 11. Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel. Okay. But not just like Rachel and Leah.
1:00:08 Like Rachel and Leah who together have built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem. And may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman. Do Do you see that? In Laban's eyes, she was less than Rachel.
1:00:29 In Jacob's eyes, she was less than Rachel. In Rachel's eyes, she was less than Rachel. And what did God do in His great love and care and compassion for Leah? He puts her beside Rachel. He elevates and promotes this woman in such a way that when people invoked a blessing they would use Leah's name.
1:00:53 And it doesn't stop there. Who was the one who providentially was laid to rest at the Cave Machfilah between the sisters? It wasn't Rachel, it was Leah. Rachel was buried on the way back home near Bethlehem. On top of that, after Leah gave birth to the first four boys, two out of the four you know very well.
1:01:17 Levi and Judah, whom the priests of Israel and the king of Israel would come from. In other words, the priests and the kings ultimately descended from Leah. This is God. This is the Lord honoring this woman, blessing this woman beyond her lifetime. And as beautiful as it says, Lay a battle to understand and believe the significance of God's care for her.
1:01:54 She really did. Which leads us to the final thing, Leah's plight, Leah's honor, and then we look at Leah's growth in her faith. I want us to look now what happens in verse 31 of Genesis 29 down to verse 35. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son and she called his name Reuben.
1:02:25 For she said, because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me. She conceived again and bore a son and said, because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also. And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son and said, Now this time my husband will be attached to me because I have borne him three sons. Therefore his name was called Levi.
1:02:49 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, This time I will praise the Lord. Therefore she called his name Judah. And she ceased bearing. This record of the births of the sons of Israel provide more than just an accurate account of the origins of this people group. They reveal the struggle of Leah's faith.
1:03:12 They show the inner wrestlings between what she knows to be true and what she really wanted. Did you notice that with the first three boys, although she acknowledges God as the source of these blessings, she believes that they are means for her to have what she really craves. And that is her husband's affection. Did you see that? Look at it again with me here, verse 32.
1:03:43 The last part. For now my husband will love me. Look at verse 33. She conceived again and bore a son and said, Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also. She called his name Simeon.
1:04:01 Look at verse 34. Again she conceived and bore a son and said, now this time my husband will be attached to me because I have born him three sons, therefore his name was called Levi. What do we make of this? Again, even though she rightly attributes these gifts to God, She's not satisfied. She's hoping that these miracles, she's hoping that these new additions, the honor of having sons will, will draw Jacob to her.
1:04:35 You gotta remember, we read these in such close succession, but how many children can you have at a time? Years are are going by in these verses. Nine months, nine months, nine months. And throughout all that time, what does she want the most? Oh, if you can just give me half of what you give to Rachel.
1:05:02 Is not three sons enough, Jacob? God is lavishing her with his favor and the dominant thought in Leah's mind is, I hope my husband will love me. And so intense was this yearning that by the time she gets to Levi, she doesn't even mention the Lord at all. Do you see that in verse 34? God's not mentioned there.
1:05:34 This is devouring her soul. This is consuming her. She's not at rest. She's unsettled. She's disturbed.
1:05:42 She's, she's just desperately reaching for anything. I mean, what can I give more than sons to my husband? To no avail. And as much as we've been looking at the misfortune of Leah, and rightfully so, I wanna suggest that there's another tragedy in this story and it's how God did not receive what he deserves. Here's the Lord trying to get Leah's attention.
1:06:20 You wanna talk about who's really being ignored in this story? It's God. Aren't we all capable of what Leah is doing here? We can be recipients of God's blessing and protection and provision, marriage, children, promotion, and we can say, Yeah, that's God. But we're not satisfied in God.
1:06:44 We see him as the source of our blessings, but not the ultimate blessing himself. This is us. You may have a great relationship with your father. You may have a wonderful relationship with your siblings. You may have a splendid marriage.
1:07:01 But Leah, in this moment here, take a picture of it. It's a mirror into your soul and mine. You see, Leah could not deny that she tasted God's blessings. But she didn't treasure God as her everything. And it's very possible that this describes some of you listening to this right now.
1:07:30 Well, I hope that changes. But in case you're not sure if this describes you, one of the ways that you can identify whether you are like Leah is that you constantly focus on and you are always discontent with what you don't have. How can you and I believe that Christ is the river of the blessings that we constantly drink from and be empty in our souls as we find ourselves chasing after things or relationships? I'm not denying that something like Leah's situation is painful. It is painful.
1:08:19 But it shouldn't cause you to feel as though you are in lack of the most important thing in this life. And that is God himself flooding your soul with a revelation of his love for you personally. That frees you, frees you, really frees you. Acknowledging God is not enough. Praise God, God is good.
1:08:50 Okay, good. Say that all you want. Are you satisfied? Has God brought you to himself in such a way where you feel full? Where you come to a place where you're thinking, Genuinely, take the world and give me Jesus.
1:09:15 I mean, are these just songs that we sing? No, they can be experienced. And yes, they are challenged. And yes, they are some days better than others. But I'm asking you if you've ever come to that point in your life, and you've ever walked in that season of life, I'm, I'm at rest.
1:09:33 I, I, God is the realest person to me. Well, something remarkable happens to Leah, and it provides us hope. It provides us actually the solution to being delivered from this constant cycle of our identity being wrapped up in something or someone else. What does she do? She shifts her gaze toward the greatest privilege one can know.
1:10:01 Look again at verse 35. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, This time I will praise the Lord. You almost get the sense that she's fed up, right, in a righteous way. After the fourth she says, Okay, nothing's working, nothing's budging, nothing's moving this man. This time I'm going to do more than just acknowledge that God is the giver of life.
1:10:28 I'm going to worship Him. I'm going to cultivate a relationship with Him. I'm going to shift my energy, shift my efforts, and build the relationship that I need the most with the one who's loved me when everybody else didn't. With the love that will never leave me though everybody else is fickle. This is what I'm going to do from this point on.
1:10:56 It's a choice. Don't wait for some spontaneous feeling to wash over you or to woo you in that direction. She made a choice. This time, I will praise the Lord. What else can Christ do to extend his love to us?
1:11:17 What else must He prove? What other means must He lay out at our disposal? Every single one of us have the same access to the same God. Every single one of us. And you don't have to be in ministry to get closer to God.
1:11:35 I know people who are not in ministry who have more insight into the Bible and the heart of God than those who preach every week. So after years of disappointment, this woman chooses to turn her attention and embrace the love that was always there. That wasn't determined based on her beauty or her performance or what she could give, but was just there. And when that decision was made, the Lord responded back in a very strange way. Did you notice how verse 35 ends?
1:12:15 Look at it again. Then she ceased bearing. Okay. Hold on. So I'll admit, when I first looked at this, I thought, okay.
1:12:25 That's a wonderful truth. That's a wonderful application. Leah had her fourth. She said, this time I'll praise the Lord. Then she stopped having children with Jacob with that goal in mind.
1:12:38 She ceased bearing. She's like, I'm gonna take a break here. Right? I'm just gonna lavish in God's love. I'm just gonna get some healing done in my soul, and I'm not gonna seek to have children with this objective of gaining my husband's heart.
1:12:52 Here's the problem with that. When you read on, her not being able to bear children was not up to her. Let me prove that to you. Look at Genesis 30 verse nine. When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children.
1:13:13 Do you see that? She took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob his wife. So this isn't Leah in verse 35 of the previous chapter making a choice not to have any more children. This was God who caused her to stop being able to bear children. And this would be temporary.
1:13:35 Later on in the same text we read that her womb will open again. But why did God close it to begin with? This is the hardest part of my reflection. This is the most challenging. Out of everything that we've covered, when it came to this point I thought, Why?
1:13:50 Why? Why? And I was pacing. Why? Why?
1:13:52 Praying. Why? Why? Why? And look, when the Scriptures are not clear, you have to be careful.
1:14:00 And so I want to be careful. But the only explanation that seems to make sense to me is that this worship that she offered the Lord is what the Lord had been after in Leah all along. And once she genuinely offered it, he paused her childbearing for a time as a way of expressing his affirmation of her newfound devotion to him. So it's not so much Leah saying, Let me pause here and, and just enjoy this and strengthen this. It could be that God is the one who's saying, Let's pause here.
1:14:40 And let's enjoy this fellowship. And if you have trouble believing that, consider another thought that the Lord seems to be making a statement about this particular son, Judah. As ought to say, Stop here. There's something important about this boy. And it is no coincidence that Judah would become the tribe through which the Messiah would come.
1:15:13 Who could write a better story than this? Here you have a woman who is unloved in this story and she becomes the mother of the tribe who would bring forth the savior who would draw in the unloved. Who would woo the abused. Who would run after those on the sidelines. Who would fish for the ones who seem overlooked and feel despised.
1:15:47 In other words, what the Lord does in Leah's heart at this moment when she has Judah is a preview of what Christ from the tribe of Judah would do and continues to do. And that is fill the human heart. Heal the human heart. Restore the human heart. It would come from this woman.
1:16:14 And what God did for her here, He would do through His Son from this line. For those like Leah in every generation. Leah shows us that having a husband is not gonna complete you. Having a wife is not gonna fulfill you. Leah shows us that even having children will not keep your soul satisfied.
1:16:46 How many women place their self worth or their reason and purpose for existence in their children? This woman had four at this juncture and she was not content. Let's add in Rachel to the mix. Rachel reminds us that possessing unmatched beauty doesn't calm your soul. Can I prove that to you?
1:17:14 Go back to Genesis 30 verse one. When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister, that's problem number one, and she said to Jacob, 'Give me children or I shall die.' Do you think she was joking? Do you think she was exaggerating? Maybe it was just an emotional response to this. But either way, for you to even say that, If you don't give me what I'm asking for, I'd rather die.
1:17:44 You think beautiful people are happy because of their beauty? Now look at Rachel. Where's your heart tonight? What are you craving? What are you reaching out for?
1:18:03 What it's been years, right? And still the same. Your soul is still a vacuum. God gave me my job and God gave me a wonderful church and God, like Leah, God did God, but, God, but, God, I hope, God, God, but, God plus. That's what it is.
1:18:19 That's what it is. And you will never ever, ever know contentment and satisfaction as long as you have God plus something or someone else. Never. You know, I wondered why it took me twenty years if you go from the day of my birth to the point of my true salvation. Why did it take me that long?
1:18:47 I knew the stories. I've responded to altar calls. It's because I was willing to have God but I wanted God with other things. And in reality, it's not like they even are a pair, it's we claim and we think and we believe, Yeah, God is a priority, but there's a stronger devotion towards something else, there's a fiercer affection, and there is a more committed conviction for other matters and other pursuits than Him, if we're honest. You have to make a choice.
1:19:22 Your worship, your devotion to God, your willingness to do what it takes in order to actually inherit what is being presented as a genuine experience is up to you. It's up to you. It's up to me. This time, I will praise the Lord. And may the Lord give each of us grace.
1:19:43 If you're in here and you can relate to this woman's story, the application and the call is very simple. You have to make a choice. Lord, I give up. I can't change my husband. I can't change my wife.
1:19:59 I can't change how I look. I can't change the relationships that are around me. But Lord, if you can invade my soul in such a way where none of these things affect me the way they're affecting me now, give it to me. If worship is the way, then let me worship you sincerely. And not just in a moment, emotionally after a message like this, but as a lifestyle, as a pursuit daily.
1:20:28 If not, I have to say this in love, you're going to find yourself in the same place next year. Just like Leah. After every child, Oh, my husband. Oh, my hu You wanna live like that? And here all the while there is a God in heaven who is ready to ravish you and complete you And unlock for you a joy that you can't even describe.
1:20:58 That no matter the heights of romance, and no matter the joys of children coming into your story, And no matter how many people admire you or love you, nothing will compare with the love of God for you. This is real. And it's available to you. I know that after a long day like today, some people might be tired. But I'm speaking to the one who despite their exhaustion feels their heart being moved with these truths.
1:21:34 You have an invitation from the Lord himself through this word to come before him by faith and saying, Lord, this time, all the other things that I can control, I leave it at your feet, but this time I will really worship you. And keep me there. Keep me there. You deal with Laban. You deal with Jacob.
1:21:52 You deal with Rachel. I can't do anything about it. But one thing I can determine is my walk with you. Lord, we ask you tonight That for those who may relate to Leah, You would bring healing to them. And Lord, we can all relate to Leah in that we can receive your blessings over and over again and ignore you.
1:22:47 And not really worship you. We can acknowledge you but not be satisfied in you. Lord, if we've lost our way and we find ourselves irritable, agitated, looking for something to fill the void, may tonight be the night where we recognize that worship is why we were created. And that through genuine, sincere, Christ honoring worship, we become whole. Because we we are where we are supposed to be.
1:23:26 I pray that for every mother. I pray that for every sister. I pray that for every person who is in a household that is horrific. Pray, I pray that for even the Rachels who are frustrated in their own way, who have placed their identity in things that you've never called them to uphold. So Lord, tonight we just sit at your feet and we ask that you would minister to our hearts because we need you.
1:24:01 Help us believe that you see us as you saw Leah and that you were the true healer of our hearts and the true lover of our souls. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Would it be okay if we just sit for a little bit? It would be a unfortunate response to just rush through this. Just invite you to sit down.
1:24:30 We're gonna sing in a moment. To be honest after preaching this I want to sit down and just bask in these truths. Just reflect. Just not rush. Just really think and meditate and talk to the Lord.
1:24:50 Say, Lord you're wonderful God. You're so wonderful. May, maybe you didn't resonate with what was said but you know somebody like Leah. Pray for them. Pray for them.
1:25:00 God heal their hearts. Open their eyes. So if we can play softly just to minimize maybe the distractions and assist us now and we'll sing together, okay? I encourage you, don't distract anybody to your left or your right. Just talk to the Lord.
1:25:18 We're here ultimately for Him and worship Him. Worship Him in your own way and we'll sing together in a second here. I invite you guys to stand as we go into a few more songs of Portia. You know, some people believe that when it says Leah was weak eyed, it means that she looked exhausted. That she had like big bags under her eyes.
1:39:20 Really, that's what some people believe. Whether or not she looked exhausted after studying about her life, I know this. She was exhausted spiritually. She's constantly running after the love that she could find in God. A love greater than that of Jacobs.
1:39:41 A love greater than that of a father. A love greater than that of a best friend. That's who Christ is. You know, that sounds like Christianese. We say that.
1:39:57 We sing that. It's another thing to be able to say, I it's true for me. And for others to be able to look at your life and say, that person seems so content. I tell you, these last, what, fifteen years serving the Lord, I feel bad for some Christians because they're just constantly running, literally running around the world. You know, it's one thing to go for this experience or pursue a relationship from the the position of knowing who you are in God, but to find your identities, other things, it's one of the saddest things I find and I and I observe.
1:40:30 Because their souls are not at rest. They're dissatisfied. They're so thirsty. You have to make a choice. Let me say it again.
1:40:39 This time, I will worship. I've heard enough messages at Maranatha conferences. 2026, I will worship. That's your choice. That's your choice.
1:40:56 And if you've never made that conscious decision, then this will this will be the rest of the year going to the next conference, a year that you never thought was possible in God. You'll you'll be free. You'll be liberated. You'll be amazed to know how God will rush into your life, your perception, your even your emotions. It's an incredible thing.
1:41:24 But he waits for you as he waited for Leah. You recognize how patient God is with Leah? He kept giving her children. And finally with the fourth, I will worship. And the Lord, in a very again strange way, reacted to that.
1:41:39 He's a patient God. Lord, we thank you. Oh, Lord, your word is so fulfilling. I pray that we would carry this message in our hearts, leaving this place. And Lord, as we now fellowship with one another, as we enjoy the rest of this evening, may we recognize you as the source of all of these gifts.
1:42:00 But Lord, you are the greatest gift. May we never forget it. We acknowledge that in your presence now, and we thank you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. Amen.
1:42:17 Amen. If you'd be so kind to take a seat, we have some final instructions for you before we dismiss you.
1:42:37 Just wanna thank our viewers and let them know that our service, tomorrow morning, 10AM Michigan time, 9AM Chicago time. We'll see you tomorrow. And so difficult to make announcements after a sermon like this, so I'll make it quick.
