God's Gift of Love
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Intro
Intro
Recap - Jacob stole the birthright and the blessing
Continued - Esau is not a happy camper to say the least - Jacob flees
And he’s now on a journey, instructed to find his way to Haran, where Rebekah’s family lives
Jacob’s Ladder
Arrives at a well
Why always a well?
Reverse happens - Rebekah provided water to the servant, but here Jacob provides water to Rachel…and he’s smitten…almost as much as I was when I met Savannah
Again though, we see God’s providence at work. 1 hour earlier or later and this love would never have been discovered
Read
Jacob makes an agreement with Laban: work for 7 years for the hand of Rachel in marriage
Girl’s, find you a guy like that
Verse 20 tells us that these seven years seemed like only a few days to Jacob because he loved her
Like when you just talk for hours and hours on the phone and it seems like just a few seconds.... “You hang up, no you hang up, no I love you too much to hang up, etc...”
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Woah....talk about deception right? Talk about messed up!!!!
Laban takes Leah, gives her in marriage (b/c that was the custom…the older had to be married first), and Jacob thinks its Rachel the whole time
How’d you react?
Imagine the pain and deception Jacob must have felt
Do you think this maybe reminded Jacob of something? ---> His lies and deception to Esau!!!
At this very moment…there is no way Jacob didn’t realize and understand how Esau had to have felt when he deceived his brother
Also, think about the theme that’s also being discovered in Jacob’s life....the favoring of the younger over the older
God was using Laban’s deception to teach Jacob a lesson, to discipline him. - God disciples those he loves.
God works through human errors.
Earlier in the narrative, we see that Jacob found Rachel to be extremely beautiful in form and appearance.
Her hips didn’t lie
But Leah, had “weak eyes” - which translates as she just wasn’t super attractive…not that looks are everything or ever should be everything…but for Jacob, he wasn’t attracted to Leah
The story continues that Jacob will be married to Leah, and agrees to work for Laban for another 7 years to be able to marry Rachel
So they agree, and a week later, he marries Rachel as well
So in the space of 7 days, Jacob’s married twice!!!
Now, how do you explain this to someone that says the Bible approves of a man having multiple wives? ---> Remember how I said God works through human error? Yep, applies here to. Nowhere in Scripture does God Himself condone being married to multiple women. In fact, every time you see multiple marriages, it’s followed by problems. So no, God doesn’t ordain polygamy.
Read
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We just read that Leah was hated. So not only did Jacob find Leah unattractive, but he hated her. Despised her.
You know, when we read this we often think of Jacob being tricked…but imagine being Leah!
Imagine the pain and embarrassment and distress this caused her. She didn’t ask for any of this…but because of the custom she faced a life of sorrow and suffering
She was the source of Jacob’s pain and he did not love her, and she very well knew it.
But what we have to remember is that God shows love to all, the loved and the unloved. His love isn’t swayed by popular opinion, by how you look, by how you act…His love is pure.
God loves the “un-lovable”
We can take so much comfort from this. How many times do you feel un-lovable? Me! God’s love will never fail you. Even when you are the reason you feel unlovable…His love is there, waiting to welcome you back.
So Leah has four sons, and I want you to see the progression here in her mind and her heart
Son #1 - Reuben - which literally means “See! A son!!!”
See Jacob, do you see me Jacob? See, I gave you a son! Jacob please look at me, please love me!
Son #2 - Simeon - which means “heard”. Jacob, do you hear me?
Son #3 - Levi - which means “attached” - Jacob will now surely attach himself to me, I will become a part of his life because I’ve given him 3 sons!
But Jacob still wants nothing to do with Leah
Son #4 - Judah - which means praise - you know what Leah realized at this point? That God hadn’t left her. That her worth wasn’t connected to her husband, but to His love for her. So she named Judah “praise”. She chose to praise God
And to me, if you walk back through the names of the other sons:
Yes Leah, see a son. I love you Leah, I gave you a son
Yes Leah, a second son, I have heard your crying and your pain, and I’ve given you Simeon
Yes Leah, a third son, I am here for you Leah. I am God, and I love you.
See that?
Leah shifted her focus from her earthly issues to her loving God who had blessed her with 4 sons at this point…and she praised God for loving her
See guys…if we just focus on our earthly problems, or our issues at hand, we will forget God and we will forget His Sovereignty and His Providence.
We’ll convince ourselves that we have the worst luck and life ever, and we’ll plummet.
But…God is faithful and God is loving…he had a plan for Leah’s life, just like He still has a plan for Jacob's life, as terrible of a guy as he seems at this point
This is what the love of Christ can do in your life tonight
Maybe you’ve never realized God’s unending love for you…and His desire for you to praise Him
And He has made a way for each of us through the work of Christ on the cross…which was down out of an absolutely amazing type of love…selfless
- “ 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
“ 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us”
I know many of you in here feel like you have no value, no worth…that life has thrown you a terrible hand, and you have no purpose.
I can assure you that’s not the case....God’s purposes never fail…and He died so you could be saved!!! Have you found the love of Christ? Have you found your worth in the work of Christ on the cross?
And to close…so what, right? So Leah had kids....God’s plan was still to bless Jacob…what’s the big deal that Leah had kids
Leahs 4th son was named Judah....and it is through the line of Judah that eventually one day the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords would be born to offer salvation to the world.
That’s right…God didn’t work through Rachel’s kids....God worked through Judah…so that the Lion of Judah might reign supreme
Revelations 5:5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
This is good news, this is God’s plan, this is God’s love....trust in that!