WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.259 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christchurch. 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:15.419 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christchurch. 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:22.640 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org. 00:00:24.620 --> 00:00:28.899 I'm Shantanez and welcome this morning. I'll be reading the scripture. 00:00:29.439 --> 00:00:39.359 I'm part of the Oakland Women's Chatting Over Tea group and you can join us every third Wednesday of the month. 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:41.780 Let's focus on the word. 00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:48.980 I'll be reading from the scripture, Genesis 29, 1 and 2, and then 10 through 35. 00:00:49.760 --> 00:00:50.799 Please follow me. 00:00:52.120 --> 00:00:57.900 Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:08.219 There he saw a well in the open country with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from the well. 00:01:08.219 --> 00:01:11.920 The stone over the mouth of the well was large. 00:01:12.700 --> 00:01:22.480 When Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban and Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep. 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:26.640 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:32.319 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebecca. 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:37.000 So she ran and told her father. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:42.619 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. 00:01:42.919 --> 00:01:46.339 He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home. 00:01:46.759 --> 00:01:49.399 And there Jacob told him all these things. 00:01:49.839 --> 00:01:53.239 Then Laban said to him, you are my own flesh and blood. 00:01:53.239 --> 00:02:02.719 After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? 00:02:03.219 --> 00:02:04.759 Tell me what your wages should be. 00:02:05.140 --> 00:02:06.459 Now Laban had two daughters. 00:02:07.219 --> 00:02:09.259 The name of the older was Leah. 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:11.740 The name of the younger was Rachel. 00:02:12.459 --> 00:02:17.519 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:25.480 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, I will work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter, Rachel. 00:02:26.140 --> 00:02:31.219 Laban said, it's better that I give her to you than to some other man. 00:02:31.620 --> 00:02:32.620 Stay here with me. 00:02:33.219 --> 00:02:36.800 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel. 00:02:37.860 --> 00:02:42.140 But they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. 00:02:42.140 --> 00:02:45.640 Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife. 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:49.579 My time is completed and I want to make love to her. 00:02:50.139 --> 00:02:54.159 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 00:02:54.559 --> 00:02:59.579 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her here to Jacob. 00:02:59.979 --> 00:03:01.379 And Jacob made love to her. 00:03:01.959 --> 00:03:06.879 And Laban gave his servant Zalpha to his daughter as her attendant. 00:03:07.259 --> 00:03:09.419 When morning came, there was Leah. 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:14.539 So Jacob said to Laban, what is this you have done to me? 00:03:14.539 --> 00:03:17.099 I served you for Rachel, didn't I? 00:03:17.459 --> 00:03:19.120 Why have you deceived me? 00:03:19.859 --> 00:03:27.879 Laban replied, it is not our custom here to give the younger daughter to marriage before the older one finished this daughter's bridal week. 00:03:28.759 --> 00:03:34.780 Then we will give you the younger one also in return for another seven years work. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:36.419 And Jacob did so. 00:03:36.799 --> 00:03:38.840 He finished the week with Leah. 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:43.020 And then Laban gave him his daughter, Rachel, to be his wife. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:48.580 Laban gave his servant, Belhah, to his daughter, Rachel, as her attendant. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.099 Jacob made love to Rachel also. 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:55.060 And his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. 00:03:55.539 --> 00:03:59.000 He worked for Laban another seven years. 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:05.099 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:07.659 But Rachel remained childless. 00:04:07.659 --> 00:04:11.099 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.819 She named him Reuben. 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:17.199 For she said, it is because the Lord has seen my misery. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:19.899 Surely my husband will love me now. 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:21.360 She conceived again. 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:29.560 And when she gave birth to a son, she said, because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too. 00:04:30.300 --> 00:04:32.560 So she named him Simeon. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:34.360 Again, she conceived. 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:43.019 And when she gave birth to a son, she said, now at last my husband will become attached to me. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:45.720 Because I have born him three sons. 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:48.100 So he was named Levi. 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:50.360 She conceived again. 00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:56.399 And when she gave birth to a son, she said, this time I will praise the Lord. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.799 So she named him Judah. 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:01.560 Then she stopped having children. 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:06.079 The grass withers and the flowers fade. 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:09.039 The word of our Lord stands for the Lord. 00:05:10.939 --> 00:05:12.019 Thanks, Shantanez. 00:05:13.019 --> 00:05:13.740 Good morning. 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:20.340 So full disclosure, I have preached on this passage before here at Christ Church. 00:05:20.379 --> 00:05:22.360 It was over five years ago. 00:05:22.660 --> 00:05:27.300 But it shouldn't be that big a deal because who of you remembers even what I said, you know, two weeks ago, right? 00:05:27.960 --> 00:05:36.280 But for that like super tiny percentage of you who do listen to what I say and even remember, some of this might sound familiar. 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:42.659 But I promise you that I did ask the Lord for something fresh this week to share with you. 00:05:43.359 --> 00:05:47.439 And a word from God that's been on my heart this week is something from the book of Lamentations. 00:05:47.539 --> 00:05:56.279 Lamentations is where the people of God are crying out to him, grieving, lamenting over the destruction of their homeland because of their sins, because of their unfaithfulness. 00:05:57.059 --> 00:06:04.299 But then as you go through the book of Lamentations, in chapter three, there's this really beautiful line that comes in after all the grief, after all the lament. 00:06:04.299 --> 00:06:05.279 And it says this. 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:09.859 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:13.679 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:16.799 His mercy never comes to an end. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:18.159 They are new every morning. 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:19.899 Great is your faithfulness. 00:06:20.159 --> 00:06:22.159 The Lord is my portion, says my soul. 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:24.979 Therefore, I will hope in him. 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:32.279 And I wanted to share that with you this morning because in many ways, again, I don't have something super new to share with you. 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:33.539 I've preached this passage before. 00:06:33.540 --> 00:06:38.920 That this could be just another Sunday that you're going to hear from your pastor that God loves you. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:41.740 And the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. 00:06:42.640 --> 00:06:45.700 And I know that most of you already believe that. 00:06:46.260 --> 00:06:49.280 Most of you already believe that his mercies are new every morning. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:56.539 But if we are honest, I think a lot of us don't feel the freshness of his mercies new every morning. 00:06:56.619 --> 00:06:58.379 They feel more like stale bread. 00:06:58.679 --> 00:07:02.519 The thing we habitually swallow week in and week out but never actually taste. 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:09.279 And then we wonder while we go the rest of the week feeling so flat, so weary, so empty, so uninspired. 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:16.620 So I want to pray for us right now that God would open our ears and our hearts to receive not just his word but his love. 00:07:17.139 --> 00:07:19.979 His steadfast, unceasing love for us. 00:07:20.039 --> 00:07:28.519 I want to pray that we would encounter a God who doesn't force feed us stale old mercies but offers us fresh new mercies every morning. 00:07:30.339 --> 00:07:31.120 Don't you want that? 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:34.319 Let's ask our Father who wants to give that to us right now. 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:43.639 Father, we come before you ever thankful that your love is deep and that your love is wide. 00:07:44.740 --> 00:07:46.680 It's as high as the heavens are over the earth. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:50.060 And that you have set that love upon us. 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:54.959 And Lord, we, many of us come here every week to confess that love. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:02.439 But so many of us also do not experience and encounter and believe that love is real for us. 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:07.120 And for many of us, that love has not changed at all how we live. 00:08:07.219 --> 00:08:08.659 We still live anxiously. 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:11.159 We still live in our insecurities. 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:13.719 We still live in bondage. 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:18.600 Lord, pursuing other loves that we think need to supplement your love for us. 00:08:20.700 --> 00:08:24.880 But God, I pray that you would convince us of your love. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:27.320 Your perfect love. 00:08:28.380 --> 00:08:29.620 And that it is enough. 00:08:30.920 --> 00:08:33.460 That the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. 00:08:33.460 --> 00:08:36.300 And that your mercies toward us are new. 00:08:36.420 --> 00:08:37.920 They are fresh every day. 00:08:38.019 --> 00:08:40.720 Lord, fall upon us fresh this morning. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:43.240 In Jesus' name. 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:44.720 Amen. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:44.800 Amen. 00:08:46.800 --> 00:08:55.240 So, you know, in my role here as a pastor of care, in my many, like, countless conversations with a lot of people, 00:08:55.240 --> 00:09:01.340 I could, if I could simply reduce all the hurt that's been shared with me, 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:11.019 I could say that in every conversation, the person I'm sitting across from is a person ultimately hurting for, aching for, and longing for love. 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:13.420 Single people waiting to be desired. 00:09:13.419 --> 00:09:15.899 Married people wondering if they still are. 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:21.559 People in every season, really all of us, anxiously wondering, am I lovable? 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:23.159 Am I lovable? 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:28.599 It shows up in all sorts of ways, but the ache underneath is almost always the same. 00:09:28.719 --> 00:09:35.079 Every person in this room, whether you're a youth or whether you're retired, every person in this room knows what it's like to ache for love. 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:37.079 To long for someone to choose us. 00:09:37.199 --> 00:09:39.240 Give us significance. 00:09:39.819 --> 00:09:42.039 Confirm to us that we matter. 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:45.579 That we have value and that we are desirable. 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:50.400 And this ache, this longing, it powerfully drives us. 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:52.800 It fuels our actions, our behaviors. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:59.840 Even the secular anthropologist, Ernest Becker, he noticed this ache and the power of this ache in his Pulitzer Prize winner, the denial of death. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:08.720 He observed that when people stopped looking to God and the religious solution for meaning and identity and significance, we didn't stop needing those things. 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:12.320 We just turned to what he calls the romantic solution. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:13.580 He says, 00:10:13.580 --> 00:10:24.260 We took all our spiritual longings, our need to be validated, to be told we matter, to feel chosen and worthwhile, and we transferred all of that onto other human beings. 00:10:24.259 --> 00:10:26.259 So, Becker says, 00:10:26.259 --> 00:10:38.500 We may have shifted our hopes from a God we no longer believe into human love partners, but ultimately, we still treat those human love partners like gods whose love will justify us as worthy. 00:10:38.500 --> 00:10:42.620 Because it's just so deep inside of us, this longing for love. 00:10:42.620 --> 00:10:43.980 It's so, so deep. 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:49.220 And as Becker points out, it's also so, so potentially devastating and destructive. 00:10:49.360 --> 00:11:01.419 When we place all our marbles, all our hopes, the whole of our worth, fulfillment, and salvation on other finite, fallible, fickle human beings, it's a recipe for disaster. 00:11:01.419 --> 00:11:18.620 And this is exactly what we find here in our passage in Genesis 29, this same longing, the same ache, the same heartbreak that inevitably comes when we place our God-sized hopes on human-sized shoulders that were never meant to bear such weight. 00:11:19.459 --> 00:11:22.039 So, remember where we are in the book of Genesis. 00:11:22.459 --> 00:11:24.959 We left off last week with Jacob, right? 00:11:24.959 --> 00:11:31.379 He's the grandson of Abraham, the grandson of promise, and he just encountered God in a dream. 00:11:31.419 --> 00:11:31.860 Right? 00:11:32.319 --> 00:11:36.799 But as soon as he wakes up here in Genesis chapter 29, he's still in the middle of nowhere. 00:11:37.339 --> 00:11:40.399 He's still got 400 miles or more to go on foot. 00:11:40.459 --> 00:11:41.879 It's like walking from here to LA. 00:11:42.019 --> 00:11:45.079 He's still unloved by the father he deceived and dishonored. 00:11:45.599 --> 00:11:49.139 He's still hated and wanted dead by the brother that he cheated. 00:11:49.599 --> 00:11:56.599 He's still separated from the only person in the entire world who loves him, his mom, Rebecca, whom he will never see again as far as we know. 00:11:57.319 --> 00:11:58.259 He's penniless. 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:04.480 And even though God promised him in a dream that he would make his offspring like the dust of the earth, this guy is still single. 00:12:05.620 --> 00:12:15.980 All he's got up to this point is a broken family system, an empty wallet, a long, lonely road ahead, and a promise that he got in a dream. 00:12:15.980 --> 00:12:21.120 So by now in Genesis 29, this guy Jacob, he's looking for a break. 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:23.279 He's looking for a break. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:26.740 Some sign, some indication that he wasn't just dreaming. 00:12:27.259 --> 00:12:30.840 And then verse 2, behold, it says in the Hebrew, behold a well. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:34.500 And then again in verse 6, behold a beautiful woman, Rachel. 00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:41.039 Now in case you're unfamiliar with Jacob's family history, this would have been an unmistakable God moment for Jacob. 00:12:41.139 --> 00:12:47.840 Because this woman at the well scene, this woman at the well scene was exactly how Jacob's mom, Rebecca, was discovered. 00:12:48.039 --> 00:12:54.759 See, years earlier, Abraham, Jacob's grandfather, he sent his servant to go find a wife for Jacob's dad, Isaac. 00:12:54.759 --> 00:13:00.360 And so the servant goes, he travels hundreds of miles to a foreign land, and then he stops at a well. 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:04.580 And at that well, he prays to the Lord, Lord, show me the woman you've chosen. 00:13:05.139 --> 00:13:08.939 Let the right woman not only offer me a drink, but go above and beyond. 00:13:09.059 --> 00:13:11.179 Do this crazy thing, water all my camels. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.580 And that's how I know that this woman is from you. 00:13:15.319 --> 00:13:17.279 And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:20.899 When God brought Rebecca to that well, that's exactly what happened. 00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:25.100 And Rebecca became the wife of Isaac, Jacob's mom. 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:30.559 So undoubtedly, Jacob had heard this incredible story of how God brought his parents together. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:34.959 And now he's here at this well, and he sees another beautiful woman. 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:39.819 And the men at the well tell him that this beautiful girl is even from the same family line as him. 00:13:39.899 --> 00:13:41.379 This is the daughter of his uncle Laban. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:44.639 And so Jacob is just putting, he's putting all these things together. 00:13:44.740 --> 00:13:46.120 He's remembering the promise of God. 00:13:46.340 --> 00:13:47.879 He's remembering his mom's story. 00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:51.480 He's staring at this beautiful woman at this well from his family line. 00:13:51.860 --> 00:13:55.759 And you can just imagine him thinking to himself, this must be it. 00:13:56.500 --> 00:13:59.139 Finally, finally things are going my way. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:03.439 The moment I've been waiting for, finally someone to satisfy my longing for love. 00:14:03.659 --> 00:14:05.779 Someone to love me other than my mom. 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:10.240 Someone to make up for the love I never got from my dad or my brother. 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:14.379 Someone to prove that I'm not so impossible to love after all. 00:14:14.379 --> 00:14:19.519 And so Jacob sets all his hope for love upon this woman at the well. 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:21.820 And he leaves nothing to chance. 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:22.740 He knows what he wants. 00:14:22.779 --> 00:14:24.019 He goes all in for it. 00:14:24.439 --> 00:14:27.860 So, you know, whereas Abraham's servant, he trusts in the Lord. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:29.019 He says a prayer at the well. 00:14:29.100 --> 00:14:31.419 He asks God to fulfill the promise to Abraham's family. 00:14:32.360 --> 00:14:38.340 What we see Jacob do, though, in the next 30 verses, there's not a single mention of the Lord. 00:14:38.340 --> 00:14:43.060 But only of Jacob doing what he's always done, taking matters into his own hands. 00:14:43.680 --> 00:14:47.040 Striving to secure the love he so craves. 00:14:47.740 --> 00:14:52.399 So while all the shepherds were accustomed to waiting for everyone to arrive around the well 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:57.860 and to move the huge stone together so that everyone had a fair chance at watering their flock, 00:14:58.160 --> 00:14:59.340 Jacob just defies that custom. 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:00.000 Forget that. 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:05.860 For his own self-centered ends, he, in a very impressive display of strength, 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:09.100 he moves that stone, that huge stone, all by himself. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.560 You know, it normally took multiple men, but this guy moves mountains. 00:15:12.659 --> 00:15:16.220 He's going to move mountains to secure the love he so craves. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.779 Then he waters Rachel's entire flock, and he makes a scene. 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:21.379 He kisses her. 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:23.279 He weeps out loud in joy. 00:15:24.100 --> 00:15:29.759 And when he meets her father, Laban, he works for him for free for a whole month. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:36.600 And then when he's given the opportunity to set his own wages, he goes all in for this love that he craves. 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:43.059 The normal bride price in those days would have been three to four years worth of labor. 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:46.220 But Jacob says, I'm going to do seven. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:49.039 I'll work twice as long for Rachel. 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:51.059 In his mind, Rachel is it. 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:52.679 He must have her. 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:54.179 He has to have her. 00:15:54.179 --> 00:15:58.239 And if that sounds very objectifying to you, it's because it is. 00:15:58.779 --> 00:15:59.879 It totally is. 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:05.099 Tim Mackey of the Bible Project, he notes that Rachel, Rachel, means lamb. 00:16:05.199 --> 00:16:07.459 And her sister's name, Leah, means calf. 00:16:07.839 --> 00:16:12.959 And so when Laban tells Jacob to set his wages, you know, a family member was different than a hired worker. 00:16:13.439 --> 00:16:16.739 Family weren't meant to have such cut-and-dry transactional relationships. 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:21.139 So basically when Jacob and Laban are talking wages now, setting a bride price, 00:16:21.139 --> 00:16:25.419 if you read it in the Hebrew, it really sounds like they're transacting over livestock. 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:27.559 How much for this lamb? 00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:30.100 That's exactly what's happening here. 00:16:30.179 --> 00:16:36.639 This isn't meant to be a romantic story or the heartwarming tale of a father giving his beloved daughter's hand in marriage. 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:40.779 No, in Laban's mind, he's thinking to himself, how can I get the best deal here? 00:16:41.699 --> 00:16:43.939 And he sees in Jacob a ton of opportunity. 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:44.860 This guy's strong. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:47.419 He moved the stone by himself, right? 00:16:47.580 --> 00:16:48.740 He knows this guy is driven. 00:16:48.740 --> 00:16:53.259 He knows he's going to work and that there's nothing he wants more than this daughter of his, Rachel. 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:58.820 He knows that Abraham's family has the blessing of God upon it, so he wants proximity to that blessing. 00:16:59.139 --> 00:17:05.019 And he sees an opportunity to marry off his less desirable firstborn daughter, Leah. 00:17:05.819 --> 00:17:15.319 So if you read carefully here in verses 18 and 19, Laban never explicitly says yes to Jacob's offer to work seven years for Rachel's hand in marriage. 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:18.019 But Jacob, he doesn't read the fine print. 00:17:18.019 --> 00:17:20.200 He's blinded by his longing. 00:17:21.019 --> 00:17:23.079 And he just gets to work for seven whole years. 00:17:23.639 --> 00:17:26.539 But because of his desire for Rachel, it is far less duty than delight. 00:17:26.660 --> 00:17:29.240 Verse 20 says, it only seemed a few days to him. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:32.940 But not a second after those seven years are up. 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:37.019 Jacob's been counting the days, marking his calendar, and he's put in the work. 00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:41.139 It's time for him to get his lamb, the piece of meat that he labored for. 00:17:41.140 --> 00:17:51.740 And what he, this great patriarch of the Jewish faith, says next in verse 21 is something that's made tons of Jewish commentators incredibly embarrassed over the centuries. 00:17:52.100 --> 00:17:53.560 Literally in the Hebrew, he says this. 00:17:53.980 --> 00:17:56.700 Give me, and this word give is a very like objectifying word. 00:17:56.780 --> 00:17:57.520 Like give me a lamb. 00:17:57.620 --> 00:17:58.180 Give me an object. 00:17:58.280 --> 00:18:01.880 He says, give me my wife, for I have completed my days. 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:03.380 In other words, I've done my time. 00:18:04.360 --> 00:18:05.580 You've received your payment. 00:18:05.860 --> 00:18:10.180 Give me my wife, for I have completed my days, and I will go in to her. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.620 And if that sounds crass to you, that's exactly how it sounds in the Hebrew. 00:18:16.620 --> 00:18:20.760 Like an animal in heat, Jacob treats his would-be wife like property. 00:18:21.620 --> 00:18:25.300 Just an objectified answer to his ache for love. 00:18:25.299 --> 00:18:28.940 But again, Laban's been playing the same game too. 00:18:29.099 --> 00:18:32.799 So he throws the customary feast, veils one of his daughters. 00:18:33.220 --> 00:18:34.500 There's probably a ton of alcohol. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:37.919 And then he sends the veiled bride into Jacob's tent. 00:18:38.879 --> 00:18:43.299 And in that tent, Jacob believes that the love he always craved is finally about to be fulfilled. 00:18:43.399 --> 00:18:45.659 That all his hard work has finally paid off. 00:18:45.740 --> 00:18:49.359 That this is the beginning of God's blessing and promise to him. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.359 It's coming to real life now. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:53.939 So Jacob's there. 00:18:54.899 --> 00:18:55.179 Naked. 00:18:56.179 --> 00:18:56.699 Vulnerable. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:00.899 Intimate with the one he believes to be the most beautiful person he's ever seen. 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:03.659 Jacob thinks to himself, at last. 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:05.279 I've secured it. 00:19:05.719 --> 00:19:06.319 The blessing. 00:19:06.699 --> 00:19:11.099 Intimacy with gorgeous Miss Universe trophy wife, Rachel. 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:13.959 The love I've always craved. 00:19:15.139 --> 00:19:16.939 But in the morning, verse 25. 00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:18.579 Surprise, surprise. 00:19:18.579 --> 00:19:18.859 Surprise. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:21.799 Behold, it was Leah. 00:19:23.179 --> 00:19:26.759 And man, if you're thinking, yo, this Bible story is so cringy. 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:30.359 That is exactly how you're supposed to feel. 00:19:31.139 --> 00:19:32.960 The Bible doesn't endorse this. 00:19:33.399 --> 00:19:34.500 It doesn't celebrate this. 00:19:34.579 --> 00:19:35.519 It's exposing it. 00:19:35.579 --> 00:19:37.839 It's showing us the wreckage that comes from sin. 00:19:38.059 --> 00:19:44.480 From objectifying human beings and placing our God-sized hopes upon their frail, fragile shoulders. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:51.460 The Bible is showing us that these stories aren't about the greatness of the merits of men, but about the greatness of the grace of God. 00:19:52.539 --> 00:19:55.480 Look, Jacob tried to work his way to secure the promise. 00:19:56.019 --> 00:20:03.460 He tried to work his way to love and to get blessing according to the rules of this world, the rules of meritocracy and transaction and competition. 00:20:03.700 --> 00:20:05.360 But how'd that turn out for him? 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:21.359 See, when we faithlessly forgo the grace of God and insist on playing by everyone else's rules, by the way of works, where the first shall be first and the last shall be last, 00:20:21.779 --> 00:20:27.479 we will always live under the threat of someone else playing the game better than us. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:32.559 And it will only ever be a matter of time before we lose to the Labans of this world. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:39.339 Notice how when Jacob wakes up next to Leah and he approaches Laban and says, 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:41.319 Why have you deceived me? 00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:47.480 As soon as that word comes out of his mouth, he realizes what's happened to him. 00:20:48.639 --> 00:20:50.299 The deceiver's been deceived. 00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:51.399 It's poetic justice. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:54.519 In the same way that Jacob deceived Isaac in Isaac's tent, 00:20:54.980 --> 00:20:58.019 in the same way that Jacob took advantage of Isaac's blindness 00:20:58.019 --> 00:21:02.720 and tricked his father into pouring out his love onto someone he did not intend. 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:08.740 In the same way, Jacob has been fooled by Laban into pouring out his love on someone he did not intend. 00:21:09.819 --> 00:21:14.039 And whether or not Laban knew that this was going to be the perfect retort in verse 26, 00:21:14.220 --> 00:21:15.079 he basically says, 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:17.900 I don't know about where you come from, Jacob, 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:19.400 but here, 00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:21.779 the older goes before the younger. 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:24.720 This is like a mic drop right here. 00:21:24.759 --> 00:21:25.700 He might as well have said, 00:21:25.819 --> 00:21:27.779 Jacob, aren't those the rules you played by 00:21:27.779 --> 00:21:30.660 when you pretended to be your older brother 00:21:30.660 --> 00:21:32.940 and stole the firstborn blessing? 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:36.480 What Laban did was indefensible, 00:21:36.879 --> 00:21:37.639 but Jacob, 00:21:38.220 --> 00:21:40.980 Jacob could not ignore that both he and his uncle, 00:21:41.740 --> 00:21:44.799 they were just playing the same game by the same rules, 00:21:45.019 --> 00:21:47.259 but Uncle Laban was just playing it a little bit better. 00:21:47.259 --> 00:21:50.619 So verse 27 says that eventually, 00:21:50.819 --> 00:21:52.500 Jacob and Laban made another deal, 00:21:52.779 --> 00:21:54.319 seven more years for Rachel. 00:21:54.420 --> 00:21:56.900 So Laban comes out a huge winner, 00:21:57.379 --> 00:21:58.559 a huge winner, right? 00:21:58.859 --> 00:22:00.640 Not only was he able to solve the problem 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:04.220 of marrying off his less desirable firstborn daughter, 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:07.660 but he also managed to get 14 years of labor 00:22:07.660 --> 00:22:09.440 basically for this one desirable daughter. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:10.859 That's a 4X return. 00:22:11.339 --> 00:22:12.920 It's incredible, 4X return. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:15.220 And Jacob will, 00:22:15.220 --> 00:22:17.819 at least now he has his beloved Rachel, right? 00:22:18.600 --> 00:22:20.700 But this isn't the rosy picture of promise. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:21.400 Verse 30, 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:23.880 Jacob made love to Rachel also, 00:22:24.460 --> 00:22:26.740 and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah, 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:27.920 and he worked. 00:22:27.980 --> 00:22:29.779 The Hebrew word here for worked is avad. 00:22:29.860 --> 00:22:31.299 It's the same as to serve, 00:22:31.579 --> 00:22:34.059 or the same is connected to the word for slave. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:35.100 So he worked, 00:22:35.299 --> 00:22:37.259 he slaved for Laban another seven years. 00:22:37.420 --> 00:22:37.839 Functionally, 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:39.900 Jacob is almost like a slave to him, 00:22:40.220 --> 00:22:42.339 all because of his idolatrous pursuit 00:22:42.339 --> 00:22:44.079 of Rachel's love. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:48.039 And even when Jacob got his supposedly one true love, 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:49.659 the one for whom he rolled the stone, 00:22:50.339 --> 00:22:52.740 the one he worked 14 years to be with, 00:22:53.019 --> 00:22:55.399 the beautiful woman that he believed would satisfy 00:22:55.399 --> 00:22:57.720 the craving that he had for love, 00:22:57.960 --> 00:22:59.539 the one who'd prove once and for all 00:22:59.539 --> 00:23:01.339 that he wasn't impossible to love, 00:23:02.019 --> 00:23:02.899 this woman, 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:06.339 whom he also expected to fulfill God's promises 00:23:06.339 --> 00:23:09.000 to make his offspring like the dust of the earth, 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:10.619 she's barren. 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:14.859 And their household is now locked in a bitter rivalry 00:23:14.859 --> 00:23:17.039 between her and her older sister 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.640 as they share one husband in one household. 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:22.380 And Jacob's sin, 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:23.660 his idolatry, 00:23:23.740 --> 00:23:25.019 it just becomes the soil 00:23:25.019 --> 00:23:28.359 in which the rest of his family's sin will grow. 00:23:28.740 --> 00:23:29.740 If you read the rest of Genesis, 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:31.859 you'll see that between Joseph and his brothers. 00:23:31.859 --> 00:23:34.979 And we see it close up here between his wives. 00:23:35.099 --> 00:23:35.299 Because see, 00:23:35.419 --> 00:23:37.779 when Jacob objectifies Rachel, 00:23:38.059 --> 00:23:40.879 treating her as the answer to the ache in his soul, 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:42.839 he doesn't just hurt Rachel, 00:23:43.319 --> 00:23:45.259 but he creates a world in which Leah 00:23:45.259 --> 00:23:48.219 must now fight for what Jacob already decided 00:23:48.219 --> 00:23:49.599 she will never have. 00:23:50.779 --> 00:23:53.859 Jacob's idolatry shapes his entire household. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:56.719 His fixation on Rachel becomes Leah's prison. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:00.120 His favoritism becomes Leah's lifelong wound. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.380 His idolatry becomes Leah's idolatry. 00:24:02.579 --> 00:24:04.839 His striving becomes Leah's striving. 00:24:06.140 --> 00:24:09.220 So when Jacob basically communicates to the world 00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:13.740 that Rachel is worth a whole 14 years to him 00:24:13.740 --> 00:24:15.880 and Leah is worth nothing to him, 00:24:16.839 --> 00:24:19.579 Leah is pulled into the same destructive game 00:24:19.579 --> 00:24:21.940 that Jacob found himself in. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:24.559 She's now trying to win the love 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.120 she so craves from him. 00:24:27.579 --> 00:24:29.140 So because Jacob has said, 00:24:29.500 --> 00:24:30.420 if I can just have Rachel, 00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:31.600 then I'll be loved, 00:24:31.700 --> 00:24:32.460 Leah now says, 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:34.579 well, if I can just have a son for Jacob, 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:35.960 then I'll be loved. 00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:38.420 You know, for many of us, 00:24:38.819 --> 00:24:41.259 we can tend to overlook Leah 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:44.900 as just some minor tertiary character, 00:24:45.500 --> 00:24:47.460 just a pawn for her father's schemes, 00:24:47.600 --> 00:24:49.440 the accidental wife of Jacob, 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:51.120 unloved, therefore unimportant, 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:52.700 really just a foil to Rachel. 00:24:52.700 --> 00:24:55.440 I mean, isn't Rachel the main female lead here, 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:56.680 the beautiful one? 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:57.720 The desirable one? 00:24:57.799 --> 00:24:59.980 The heroic barren woman who waited upon the Lord 00:24:59.980 --> 00:25:01.420 to grant her prayers, 00:25:01.600 --> 00:25:02.319 to have children? 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:05.400 And doesn't the book of Genesis end with Rachel's son, 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:07.460 Joseph, saving the whole family, 00:25:07.600 --> 00:25:08.940 saving the Egyptian empire? 00:25:10.220 --> 00:25:11.579 Well, what I've come to realize 00:25:11.579 --> 00:25:12.640 is that to ignore Leah 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.839 is to miss out on the very heart of God. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:19.059 To discount Leah's story as insignificant 00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:21.700 is actually to commit the very same evil against her 00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:23.700 that her manipulative father 00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:25.160 and her unloving husband 00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:28.200 and the whole harsh world committed against her. 00:25:29.140 --> 00:25:30.940 So I want us to try to get into Leah's shoes here 00:25:30.940 --> 00:25:31.460 for a second. 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:33.019 Okay, let's try to imagine 00:25:33.019 --> 00:25:36.220 her experience of this account. 00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:39.200 So the very first thing we're told about Leah 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:41.039 is that she has weak eyes. 00:25:41.120 --> 00:25:43.360 And it's hard to know exactly what that means, 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:44.240 but what's clear 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:45.799 is that it's a contrast 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:47.879 to her beautiful sister, Rachel. 00:25:47.939 --> 00:25:49.619 Her sister is a bombshell, all right? 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:52.259 Now, imagine the shame and agony 00:25:52.259 --> 00:25:53.659 that she would have felt 00:25:53.659 --> 00:25:55.399 like her entire life, 00:25:55.479 --> 00:25:57.339 the day her sister was born, right? 00:25:57.479 --> 00:25:59.879 Living in her younger sister's shadow 00:25:59.879 --> 00:26:02.039 as all the boys drooled over Rachel. 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:05.379 Even Jacob, this divinely promised son, 00:26:05.539 --> 00:26:07.019 you know, son from afar, 00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:08.819 this prince charming, right? 00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:10.779 He wants her. 00:26:11.379 --> 00:26:13.500 He wants only the younger daughter, not Leah. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:15.539 Especially in a society 00:26:15.539 --> 00:26:17.000 where a woman's main purpose 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:18.899 was to get married and to start a family. 00:26:20.460 --> 00:26:21.960 This was a terrible, 00:26:22.159 --> 00:26:24.319 a terrible situation for Leah. 00:26:25.420 --> 00:26:26.579 Imagine the village gossip. 00:26:27.059 --> 00:26:28.279 Just imagine what they were saying. 00:26:28.420 --> 00:26:30.559 Have you, hey, look at Rachel. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:32.639 Wow, she's gorgeous, right? 00:26:32.659 --> 00:26:33.179 Have you noticed? 00:26:33.619 --> 00:26:35.240 Oh, man, what a beauty. 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:36.440 Whoever gets to marry her 00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:39.139 is gonna be so, so lucky. 00:26:40.099 --> 00:26:42.319 But what's Laban gonna do 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:44.099 about that ugly old first daughter 00:26:44.099 --> 00:26:44.720 that he's got? 00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:46.779 How's he gonna marry off Rachel 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:48.279 if he can't marry off his first daughter? 00:26:48.779 --> 00:26:49.779 How's that gonna work? 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:52.440 Who's ever gonna wanna marry Leah? 00:26:52.639 --> 00:26:54.139 Who could ever love her? 00:26:55.539 --> 00:26:57.099 Leah goes her entire life 00:26:57.099 --> 00:26:59.519 wishing for her own prince charming. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:02.680 Someone to roll a huge stone away for her. 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:04.639 Someone willing to work 14 years 00:27:04.639 --> 00:27:06.099 for her out of pure delight. 00:27:06.259 --> 00:27:07.879 Maybe at least just one year, right? 00:27:09.379 --> 00:27:11.139 But along with the rest of the world, 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:13.259 she probably now doubts 00:27:13.259 --> 00:27:14.319 the day will ever come. 00:27:15.779 --> 00:27:17.500 So then imagine this wedding day, right? 00:27:17.539 --> 00:27:19.099 The day she'd always dreamed would come 00:27:19.099 --> 00:27:20.920 and yet it's nothing like she dreamed, right? 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:22.420 That her father had to trick 00:27:22.420 --> 00:27:23.740 another man to marry her 00:27:23.740 --> 00:27:24.720 only confirms to her 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:26.539 that even in her daddy's eyes, 00:27:26.539 --> 00:27:28.659 she is impossible to love. 00:27:29.859 --> 00:27:31.859 No one could possibly love the true her. 00:27:33.420 --> 00:27:35.039 Like Jacob pretending to be in, 00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:37.740 like Jacob pretending to be Esau 00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:38.359 in Isaac's tent, 00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:39.399 she must now pretend 00:27:39.399 --> 00:27:40.960 to be someone she's not 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:42.639 in order to get a small taste 00:27:42.639 --> 00:27:44.779 of this love that she so craves. 00:27:45.779 --> 00:27:47.680 Now imagine her on her wedding night, 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:49.920 she's finally held in that tent intimately 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:51.460 like she'd always hoped, 00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:52.259 though never imagined 00:27:52.259 --> 00:27:53.899 she'd actually experience. 00:27:53.900 --> 00:27:56.480 But then she hears her partner 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:58.320 speak her sister's name. 00:27:59.000 --> 00:27:59.820 I love you, Rachel. 00:28:01.080 --> 00:28:03.400 And the love she so craves falls short. 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:05.280 For in the morning, 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:07.680 her husband wakes up shocked, 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:09.920 disgusted, no smiles, 00:28:10.060 --> 00:28:10.980 no good morning kisses, 00:28:11.120 --> 00:28:11.640 no cuddles, 00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:14.420 and no regard at all for her feelings. 00:28:15.120 --> 00:28:16.660 He hurries out of the tent, 00:28:17.019 --> 00:28:19.000 angry that he got stuck with her. 00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:20.840 And the very morning 00:28:20.840 --> 00:28:21.700 after her wedding night, 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:23.960 she watches her husband make a deal 00:28:23.960 --> 00:28:25.259 to get her younger sister 00:28:25.259 --> 00:28:26.519 for his second wife. 00:28:27.960 --> 00:28:29.420 And now she's stuck, too. 00:28:29.620 --> 00:28:30.620 For the rest of her life, 00:28:30.700 --> 00:28:31.660 the husband she thought 00:28:31.660 --> 00:28:32.759 would finally give her the love 00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:34.180 she craved validate her 00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:35.120 as worthy of love. 00:28:35.180 --> 00:28:36.420 His love is reserved for the one 00:28:36.420 --> 00:28:37.720 in whose shadow she'd grown up 00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:39.240 in her entire life. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:42.660 So Leah is just in this 00:28:42.660 --> 00:28:44.299 like impossible situation. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.400 And her heart should go out 00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:48.000 to her as this unloved 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:49.200 number two wife. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:51.279 And her heart should also 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:52.220 go out to her children, 00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:54.420 who she cannot help but see 00:28:54.420 --> 00:28:55.640 in light of her woundedness. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:57.100 With every child that she bears, 00:28:57.460 --> 00:28:58.620 she bears in reference 00:28:58.620 --> 00:29:00.539 to her loveless relationship 00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:01.960 with her husband Jacob. 00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:03.400 Every child is just 00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:04.819 a consolation prize 00:29:04.819 --> 00:29:05.819 for her misery. 00:29:06.660 --> 00:29:07.200 Verse 32, 00:29:07.539 --> 00:29:08.480 Leah became pregnant 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:09.580 and she gave birth to a son. 00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:10.480 She named him Reuben, 00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:11.700 which sounds like 00:29:11.700 --> 00:29:13.059 the Hebrew word sea. 00:29:14.059 --> 00:29:14.759 And she thinks, 00:29:14.860 --> 00:29:15.779 I've given my husband 00:29:15.779 --> 00:29:16.880 this firstborn son. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:17.800 Clearly the Lord 00:29:17.800 --> 00:29:18.820 has seen my misery. 00:29:19.280 --> 00:29:20.060 Maybe my husband 00:29:20.060 --> 00:29:22.000 will finally see me too. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:24.240 Finally love me too. 00:29:25.420 --> 00:29:26.320 But he doesn't. 00:29:27.540 --> 00:29:28.520 Then she has another boy, 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:28.980 Simeon, 00:29:29.020 --> 00:29:29.480 which sounds like 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:30.460 the word hear. 00:29:31.020 --> 00:29:31.800 And she thinks, 00:29:32.180 --> 00:29:33.460 a second son for my husband. 00:29:33.800 --> 00:29:34.420 Clearly the Lord 00:29:34.420 --> 00:29:35.700 has heard that I am hated. 00:29:35.960 --> 00:29:36.620 That's what it says 00:29:36.620 --> 00:29:37.000 here in Hebrew, 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:37.820 that I am hated. 00:29:38.140 --> 00:29:38.900 Again, she hopes 00:29:38.900 --> 00:29:39.720 that maybe my husband 00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:41.060 will finally hear me too. 00:29:41.820 --> 00:29:42.600 Maybe he'll finally 00:29:42.600 --> 00:29:43.820 love me too. 00:29:43.819 --> 00:29:45.599 But he doesn't. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:47.119 Then she has 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:48.059 a third son, Levi, 00:29:48.419 --> 00:29:49.079 which sounds like 00:29:49.079 --> 00:29:49.899 the word attached. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:50.799 And she thinks, 00:29:50.899 --> 00:29:51.519 a third son. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:52.819 Now surely my husband 00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:53.700 will at least 00:29:53.700 --> 00:29:54.960 be attached to me. 00:29:55.539 --> 00:29:56.059 Maybe at least 00:29:56.059 --> 00:29:57.179 love me a little. 00:29:58.579 --> 00:29:59.599 Nothing changes. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:01.559 Nothing changes. 00:30:01.679 --> 00:30:02.579 And this is everyone's 00:30:02.579 --> 00:30:03.559 worst nightmare, right? 00:30:03.919 --> 00:30:04.419 The nightmare 00:30:04.419 --> 00:30:04.919 having done 00:30:04.919 --> 00:30:06.079 our absolute best, 00:30:06.359 --> 00:30:08.019 achieving every possible goal, 00:30:08.939 --> 00:30:09.899 and yet finding ourselves 00:30:09.899 --> 00:30:10.819 still impossible 00:30:10.819 --> 00:30:12.519 impossible to love. 00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:14.639 Functionally, 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.539 Leah is the perfect, 00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:18.519 most excellent, 00:30:18.879 --> 00:30:20.399 ancient Near Eastern wife. 00:30:21.099 --> 00:30:22.579 She's super fertile, 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:24.059 blessing her husband, 00:30:24.220 --> 00:30:25.019 enabling him 00:30:25.019 --> 00:30:26.299 to fulfill the promise 00:30:26.299 --> 00:30:26.879 of God. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:28.259 And though she isn't 00:30:28.259 --> 00:30:29.379 as beautiful as Rachel, 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:30.059 which by the way, 00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:31.419 she has no control over, 00:30:32.419 --> 00:30:33.759 in every other way 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:34.960 that her culture values, 00:30:35.500 --> 00:30:36.379 Leah's crushing it. 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:38.299 Leah's crushing it. 00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:39.740 But it's never enough. 00:30:39.740 --> 00:30:41.099 It's never enough 00:30:41.099 --> 00:30:42.079 to attain the love 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:43.339 she so craves. 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:45.339 And I think a lot of us 00:30:45.339 --> 00:30:46.019 understand this, 00:30:46.099 --> 00:30:46.400 don't we? 00:30:47.740 --> 00:30:48.380 Don't you feel 00:30:48.380 --> 00:30:49.059 what she felt? 00:30:50.099 --> 00:30:50.859 None of us may 00:30:50.859 --> 00:30:51.519 really understand 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:52.059 what it means 00:30:52.059 --> 00:30:53.160 that Leah had weak eyes, 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:53.980 but we all have 00:30:53.980 --> 00:30:54.779 our own version 00:30:54.779 --> 00:30:56.160 of weak eyes, 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:56.579 don't we? 00:30:57.460 --> 00:30:58.799 These things about us 00:30:58.799 --> 00:30:59.960 and in our lives 00:30:59.960 --> 00:31:00.400 that we feel 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:01.240 are holding us back, 00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:01.940 that make us feel 00:31:01.940 --> 00:31:02.799 less than 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:04.420 and impossible to love. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:05.279 All of us, 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:06.880 in one way or another, 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:08.279 we're all trying 00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:09.140 to turn ourselves 00:31:09.140 --> 00:31:10.460 into a Rachel, 00:31:11.100 --> 00:31:12.140 hoping to impress, 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:13.100 hoping to win 00:31:13.100 --> 00:31:14.400 and woo the world over 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:15.860 with our worthiness. 00:31:17.300 --> 00:31:18.100 But how's that 00:31:18.100 --> 00:31:19.100 working out for us? 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:21.480 How's that working out 00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:22.400 for any of us? 00:31:23.600 --> 00:31:24.620 One of my best friends 00:31:24.620 --> 00:31:25.200 from seminary, 00:31:25.259 --> 00:31:25.820 she just got married 00:31:25.820 --> 00:31:26.420 the other week, 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:26.960 we were out there 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:27.480 in Philadelphia. 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:28.460 I've handed her book 00:31:28.460 --> 00:31:29.620 to several of you. 00:31:29.700 --> 00:31:31.020 She's a biblical counselor 00:31:31.020 --> 00:31:32.759 and she tells this story 00:31:32.759 --> 00:31:33.380 in her book 00:31:33.380 --> 00:31:34.120 of this woman 00:31:34.120 --> 00:31:35.300 who came in to see her 00:31:35.299 --> 00:31:37.599 for eating disorder. 00:31:38.619 --> 00:31:39.119 And basically, 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:39.960 for this woman, 00:31:40.639 --> 00:31:41.759 her weak eyes 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:43.159 was her weight. 00:31:43.879 --> 00:31:45.059 And in order for her 00:31:45.059 --> 00:31:46.299 to get rid of her weak eyes, 00:31:46.379 --> 00:31:47.139 become the Rachel 00:31:47.139 --> 00:31:47.839 that she'd always 00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:48.940 aspired to be, 00:31:49.659 --> 00:31:50.419 she had to hit 00:31:50.419 --> 00:31:52.700 this specific target weight. 00:31:54.339 --> 00:31:55.139 But then, you know, 00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:55.579 one summer, 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:56.639 she did hit that weight. 00:31:57.099 --> 00:31:57.720 She got there. 00:31:58.200 --> 00:31:59.079 She became the Rachel 00:31:59.079 --> 00:31:59.980 she was trying to be. 00:31:59.980 --> 00:32:01.920 But then, 00:32:02.360 --> 00:32:03.279 she began to feel 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:04.079 a new anxiety 00:32:04.079 --> 00:32:06.140 about maintaining the weight. 00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:08.660 She began to wonder, 00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:10.759 would I be even more lovely 00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:13.099 if I lost five more pounds? 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:15.099 And it was like 00:32:15.099 --> 00:32:15.880 she reached the top 00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:16.640 of the ladder 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:17.579 only to find that 00:32:17.579 --> 00:32:19.360 there was yet more to climb. 00:32:21.019 --> 00:32:21.860 So don't you see? 00:32:22.980 --> 00:32:24.539 The love Leah craved 00:32:24.539 --> 00:32:25.339 fell short. 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:27.380 The love Jacob craved 00:32:27.380 --> 00:32:28.180 fell short. 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:29.720 In the end, 00:32:29.720 --> 00:32:30.640 Jacob and Leah 00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:31.680 both looked for love, 00:32:32.059 --> 00:32:32.420 happiness, 00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:33.259 significance, 00:32:33.700 --> 00:32:33.960 worth, 00:32:34.259 --> 00:32:34.600 blessing, 00:32:34.900 --> 00:32:35.420 and redemption 00:32:35.420 --> 00:32:36.360 in a love partner, 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:37.200 but their partners 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:38.299 could not deliver. 00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:39.140 For what human 00:32:39.140 --> 00:32:39.860 could possibly 00:32:39.860 --> 00:32:41.420 deliver redemption? 00:32:42.420 --> 00:32:43.000 Ernest Becker 00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:44.059 recognizes this 00:32:44.059 --> 00:32:44.700 in his critique 00:32:44.700 --> 00:32:45.980 of the romantic solution. 00:32:46.100 --> 00:32:46.339 He writes, 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:47.480 how can a human being 00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:48.940 be a God-like everything 00:32:48.940 --> 00:32:49.579 to another? 00:32:50.259 --> 00:32:51.279 No human relationship 00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:52.180 can bear the burden 00:32:52.180 --> 00:32:52.839 of Godhood. 00:32:53.180 --> 00:32:54.180 No human can offer 00:32:54.180 --> 00:32:54.700 this assurance. 00:32:54.700 --> 00:32:55.579 We want to be rid 00:32:55.579 --> 00:32:56.140 of our faults, 00:32:56.220 --> 00:32:56.740 of our feeling 00:32:56.740 --> 00:32:57.400 of nothingness. 00:32:57.480 --> 00:32:58.279 We want to be justified 00:32:58.279 --> 00:32:59.539 by human partners 00:32:59.539 --> 00:33:01.000 can't do this. 00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:03.960 So where does that 00:33:03.960 --> 00:33:04.480 leave us? 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:06.319 If every human love 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:06.859 will eventually 00:33:06.859 --> 00:33:07.639 fall short, 00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:09.299 is there something 00:33:09.299 --> 00:33:09.659 better, 00:33:10.220 --> 00:33:10.940 something higher, 00:33:11.139 --> 00:33:12.440 a steadfast love 00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:13.700 that never ceases 00:33:13.700 --> 00:33:14.460 and doesn't depend 00:33:14.460 --> 00:33:15.299 on our appearance 00:33:15.299 --> 00:33:16.379 or our performance? 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:19.399 You know, 00:33:19.460 --> 00:33:20.319 after 30 verses 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:21.119 in this chapter, 00:33:21.319 --> 00:33:22.579 finally in verse 31, 00:33:22.700 --> 00:33:23.500 the Lord appears. 00:33:23.500 --> 00:33:24.879 The Lord is finally 00:33:24.879 --> 00:33:25.759 mentioned in the story 00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:26.460 when the Lord, 00:33:26.460 --> 00:33:27.640 when Yahweh saw 00:33:27.640 --> 00:33:29.259 that Leah was hated. 00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:32.019 Even though Jacob 00:33:32.019 --> 00:33:33.079 saw her as an accident, 00:33:33.880 --> 00:33:34.799 even though her father 00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:36.160 saw her as a liability, 00:33:36.740 --> 00:33:37.500 even though her sister 00:33:37.500 --> 00:33:38.759 saw her as competition 00:33:38.759 --> 00:33:39.620 and her community 00:33:39.620 --> 00:33:40.980 saw her as impossible 00:33:40.980 --> 00:33:41.579 to love, 00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:43.660 the Lord saw Leah. 00:33:44.539 --> 00:33:45.840 Not as a pawn, 00:33:46.120 --> 00:33:47.000 not as a mistake, 00:33:47.299 --> 00:33:48.740 not as a second choice, 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:49.960 but as someone worth 00:33:49.960 --> 00:33:50.480 seeing, 00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:51.380 hearing, 00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:53.059 attaching himself to, 00:33:53.380 --> 00:33:54.680 someone worth loving 00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:55.460 and honoring. 00:33:56.600 --> 00:33:57.460 And for this woman 00:33:57.460 --> 00:33:58.279 deemed impossible 00:33:58.279 --> 00:33:59.500 to love by everyone else, 00:33:59.620 --> 00:34:00.460 God did the impossible 00:34:00.460 --> 00:34:01.240 through her. 00:34:01.299 --> 00:34:01.560 Because see, 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:02.140 while Genesis, 00:34:02.299 --> 00:34:03.000 it does end with 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:03.920 the triumph of Rachel's 00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:04.299 son Joseph. 00:34:04.360 --> 00:34:05.120 He saves the family. 00:34:05.380 --> 00:34:06.640 He saves the Egyptian empire. 00:34:08.220 --> 00:34:09.180 History ends 00:34:09.180 --> 00:34:10.440 with the triumph 00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:11.559 of Leah's son, 00:34:12.300 --> 00:34:13.220 her fourth son, 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:14.139 Judah, 00:34:15.099 --> 00:34:15.880 the tribe 00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:16.800 that would give birth 00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:17.519 to Jesus, 00:34:17.960 --> 00:34:18.579 the Messiah, 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:20.800 the very son of God 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:22.500 who came not as the son 00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:23.059 of beautiful, 00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:24.200 desirable Rachel, 00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:24.899 but as the son 00:34:24.899 --> 00:34:25.359 of ugly, 00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:26.099 unwanted Leah, 00:34:26.339 --> 00:34:27.299 son of God 00:34:27.299 --> 00:34:28.759 and of Leah. 00:34:29.919 --> 00:34:30.599 And did you know 00:34:30.599 --> 00:34:31.039 that according 00:34:31.039 --> 00:34:31.980 to the prophet Isaiah, 00:34:32.119 --> 00:34:32.939 he had no beauty 00:34:32.939 --> 00:34:34.460 that we should behold him? 00:34:35.379 --> 00:34:36.460 And yet it's in this 00:34:36.460 --> 00:34:38.219 beauty-less son of God, 00:34:38.299 --> 00:34:38.919 Jesus Christ, 00:34:39.059 --> 00:34:39.879 that we behold 00:34:39.879 --> 00:34:40.839 the greatest beauty, 00:34:41.179 --> 00:34:42.000 the beautiful reality 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:43.119 of this passage of Scripture 00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:44.039 and all of Scripture, 00:34:44.359 --> 00:34:45.079 that when the love 00:34:45.079 --> 00:34:46.199 we crave falls short 00:34:46.199 --> 00:34:47.739 and we feel impossible 00:34:47.739 --> 00:34:48.359 to love, 00:34:49.179 --> 00:34:50.379 God's perfect love 00:34:50.379 --> 00:34:51.359 prevails. 00:34:52.399 --> 00:34:53.379 And that's the gospel. 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:56.199 This is the only thing, 00:34:56.719 --> 00:34:57.539 it's the only thing 00:34:57.539 --> 00:34:58.460 that can save us. 00:34:59.239 --> 00:35:00.159 It's the love of God, 00:35:00.679 --> 00:35:01.639 the only thing 00:35:01.639 --> 00:35:02.419 that can save us 00:35:02.419 --> 00:35:03.039 from our striving, 00:35:03.179 --> 00:35:03.859 the only thing 00:35:03.859 --> 00:35:04.899 that can liberate us 00:35:04.899 --> 00:35:06.059 from trying and trying 00:35:06.059 --> 00:35:07.259 and trying to become Rachel, 00:35:07.359 --> 00:35:08.460 to win a Jacob. 00:35:09.460 --> 00:35:10.699 And this is what Leah 00:35:10.699 --> 00:35:11.779 finally discovered 00:35:11.779 --> 00:35:13.439 at the birth of Judah. 00:35:14.019 --> 00:35:15.000 After striking out 00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:15.739 three times, 00:35:16.039 --> 00:35:17.199 after her first three sons, 00:35:17.299 --> 00:35:18.059 each one named 00:35:18.059 --> 00:35:19.000 as a kind of trophy, 00:35:19.299 --> 00:35:20.419 a bid to finally win 00:35:20.419 --> 00:35:22.460 her husband's heart, 00:35:22.460 --> 00:35:23.960 then comes verse 35, 00:35:24.179 --> 00:35:25.240 she conceived again 00:35:25.240 --> 00:35:25.880 and bore a son 00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:26.159 and said, 00:35:26.460 --> 00:35:26.980 this time, 00:35:27.900 --> 00:35:29.099 I will praise the Lord. 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:31.159 Therefore she called 00:35:31.159 --> 00:35:31.840 his name Judah, 00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:33.039 which sounds like praise. 00:35:33.300 --> 00:35:34.000 Then she stopped 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:34.880 having children. 00:35:36.300 --> 00:35:37.179 See the shift? 00:35:38.179 --> 00:35:39.099 No mention of Jacob. 00:35:39.639 --> 00:35:40.079 No more, 00:35:40.240 --> 00:35:41.579 surely he will love me now. 00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:42.639 No more objectifying 00:35:42.639 --> 00:35:43.260 her babies, 00:35:43.740 --> 00:35:44.220 seeing them as 00:35:44.220 --> 00:35:45.079 consolation prizes. 00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:45.800 No more even trying 00:35:45.800 --> 00:35:47.099 to conceive at this point. 00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:48.320 Nothing has changed 00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:48.900 outside of her. 00:35:48.900 --> 00:35:50.280 Jacob still prefers Rachel. 00:35:50.860 --> 00:35:51.860 Her eyes are still weak. 00:35:52.059 --> 00:35:53.280 Her home is still broken. 00:35:53.500 --> 00:35:54.519 But something's changed 00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:55.519 inside of her. 00:35:56.519 --> 00:35:57.660 She's come to realize 00:35:57.660 --> 00:35:58.400 that when the love 00:35:58.400 --> 00:35:59.539 she craved fell short 00:35:59.539 --> 00:36:00.639 and when she felt 00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:01.680 impossible to love, 00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:02.800 God's perfect love 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:04.019 prevailed for her. 00:36:04.260 --> 00:36:05.320 She's realized that, 00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:06.139 hey, I was laboring 00:36:06.139 --> 00:36:06.980 for something that maybe 00:36:06.980 --> 00:36:07.980 God never meant 00:36:07.980 --> 00:36:08.780 for me to have. 00:36:09.380 --> 00:36:10.360 With sons number one, 00:36:10.460 --> 00:36:10.840 two, and three, 00:36:10.900 --> 00:36:11.519 she was striving. 00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:12.420 Maybe now, 00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:13.099 maybe now, 00:36:13.180 --> 00:36:14.160 maybe now my husband 00:36:14.160 --> 00:36:14.780 will love me. 00:36:15.579 --> 00:36:16.559 But this time, 00:36:17.300 --> 00:36:18.160 with this son, 00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:19.399 son number four, 00:36:19.619 --> 00:36:20.219 this time, 00:36:20.299 --> 00:36:20.799 she says, 00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:22.259 no more pining, 00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:23.659 no more performing, 00:36:24.059 --> 00:36:25.259 no more proving myself, 00:36:25.699 --> 00:36:27.239 only praising God. 00:36:27.440 --> 00:36:28.440 And isn't that beautiful? 00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:30.920 Isn't that powerful? 00:36:32.179 --> 00:36:33.099 Isn't that the liberty 00:36:33.099 --> 00:36:34.279 that we all 00:36:34.279 --> 00:36:35.799 actually want to have? 00:36:36.940 --> 00:36:37.879 This is the whole reason 00:36:37.879 --> 00:36:39.039 Chelsea and I named 00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:40.359 our younger daughter, 00:36:40.759 --> 00:36:40.960 Leah. 00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:43.659 Because we want her to know, 00:36:44.519 --> 00:36:45.639 she has to know, 00:36:45.639 --> 00:36:48.219 that when no one 00:36:48.219 --> 00:36:49.179 seems to love her, 00:36:50.579 --> 00:36:51.379 when no one seems 00:36:51.379 --> 00:36:52.139 to see her, 00:36:52.319 --> 00:36:53.159 or hear her, 00:36:53.500 --> 00:36:54.079 when no one wants 00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:55.059 to attach themselves 00:36:55.059 --> 00:36:56.059 to her, 00:36:57.259 --> 00:36:58.339 God loves her. 00:36:59.659 --> 00:37:00.779 And that's enough. 00:37:02.299 --> 00:37:03.379 That's enough. 00:37:04.420 --> 00:37:05.619 Because in Christ, 00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:06.759 our daughter, 00:37:06.900 --> 00:37:07.639 all of us, 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:08.879 we have a God 00:37:08.879 --> 00:37:10.379 who's already rolled 00:37:10.379 --> 00:37:11.359 a stone away 00:37:11.359 --> 00:37:12.239 for us. 00:37:12.239 --> 00:37:13.519 He's done more 00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:15.000 than water our flocks. 00:37:15.139 --> 00:37:16.699 He's given us 00:37:16.699 --> 00:37:17.619 the entire well, 00:37:17.939 --> 00:37:19.279 a spring of living water 00:37:19.279 --> 00:37:20.139 from Him. 00:37:21.299 --> 00:37:21.939 He's labored 00:37:21.939 --> 00:37:22.719 for far more 00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:24.039 than 14 years for us. 00:37:24.439 --> 00:37:25.479 The whole of history 00:37:25.479 --> 00:37:26.179 He's been laboring 00:37:26.179 --> 00:37:26.979 to redeem us, 00:37:27.359 --> 00:37:28.679 purchasing us, 00:37:29.079 --> 00:37:31.000 not with the wage 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:31.519 of a shepherd, 00:37:32.739 --> 00:37:33.359 but with the blood 00:37:33.359 --> 00:37:33.899 of a lamb, 00:37:35.099 --> 00:37:35.899 His own blood. 00:37:36.699 --> 00:37:37.399 For the joy 00:37:37.399 --> 00:37:38.379 set before Him, 00:37:39.619 --> 00:37:40.459 not out of duty, 00:37:40.579 --> 00:37:41.479 but out of delight, 00:37:41.480 --> 00:37:43.240 we want little Leah, 00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:44.920 we want both our girls 00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:45.440 to know 00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:46.740 that they don't need 00:37:46.740 --> 00:37:47.360 to pursue 00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:48.400 the love 00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:49.780 of a groom named Jacob 00:37:49.780 --> 00:37:50.380 to prove 00:37:50.380 --> 00:37:51.139 that they're lovable. 00:37:51.400 --> 00:37:51.619 No, 00:37:51.880 --> 00:37:52.559 they already have 00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:52.960 the love 00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:53.639 of their true, 00:37:54.219 --> 00:37:54.679 better, 00:37:55.159 --> 00:37:56.400 perfect bridegroom, 00:37:57.460 --> 00:37:58.260 Jesus Christ, 00:37:58.960 --> 00:37:59.940 who is always 00:37:59.940 --> 00:38:00.599 and ever 00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:01.679 pursuing them. 00:38:02.579 --> 00:38:02.920 And again, 00:38:02.980 --> 00:38:03.519 this isn't just 00:38:03.519 --> 00:38:04.119 for my daughters, 00:38:04.219 --> 00:38:05.039 it's for all of us, 00:38:05.039 --> 00:38:06.039 for every place 00:38:06.039 --> 00:38:07.219 in your life 00:38:07.219 --> 00:38:08.440 where you feel 00:38:08.440 --> 00:38:09.240 the weakness 00:38:09.240 --> 00:38:09.940 of your eyes, 00:38:10.019 --> 00:38:10.579 every place 00:38:10.579 --> 00:38:11.219 in your life 00:38:11.219 --> 00:38:11.939 where you're exhausted 00:38:11.939 --> 00:38:12.359 from trying 00:38:12.359 --> 00:38:13.119 to turn yourself 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:14.159 into a Rachel, 00:38:14.379 --> 00:38:15.000 for every place 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:15.500 in your life 00:38:15.500 --> 00:38:16.679 where the love 00:38:16.679 --> 00:38:17.179 you crave 00:38:17.179 --> 00:38:18.059 falls short 00:38:18.059 --> 00:38:19.059 again and again 00:38:19.059 --> 00:38:19.539 and again. 00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:21.179 God wants you 00:38:21.179 --> 00:38:21.639 to know. 00:38:22.939 --> 00:38:23.719 He sees you. 00:38:24.859 --> 00:38:25.819 He hears you. 00:38:26.659 --> 00:38:27.219 He wants 00:38:27.219 --> 00:38:28.259 to attach Himself 00:38:28.259 --> 00:38:29.139 to you 00:38:29.139 --> 00:38:30.819 because He loves you. 00:38:32.319 --> 00:38:33.179 So what's it 00:38:33.179 --> 00:38:33.939 going to look like 00:38:33.939 --> 00:38:35.639 to transition 00:38:35.639 --> 00:38:37.419 from performing 00:38:37.419 --> 00:38:38.459 to praising? 00:38:38.460 --> 00:38:40.000 what's it going 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:40.760 to look like 00:38:40.760 --> 00:38:41.619 for us 00:38:41.619 --> 00:38:42.519 to go from 00:38:42.519 --> 00:38:43.139 this time 00:38:43.139 --> 00:38:44.039 I'll try harder, 00:38:44.340 --> 00:38:44.940 this time 00:38:44.940 --> 00:38:46.099 I'll try to level up, 00:38:46.179 --> 00:38:47.240 to know this time 00:38:47.240 --> 00:38:48.619 I will simply 00:38:48.619 --> 00:38:49.420 praise the Lord. 00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:51.000 I will praise 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:51.440 the Lord. 00:38:53.019 --> 00:38:53.980 God's calling us 00:38:53.980 --> 00:38:54.519 to name 00:38:54.519 --> 00:38:55.699 our weak eyes, 00:38:56.179 --> 00:38:57.159 to confess 00:38:57.159 --> 00:38:58.440 our Rachel projects, 00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:00.119 and to join 00:39:00.119 --> 00:39:01.099 Leah's resolve. 00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:02.460 Maybe for you 00:39:02.460 --> 00:39:03.199 it means to memorize, 00:39:03.500 --> 00:39:04.139 meditate upon 00:39:04.139 --> 00:39:04.760 Psalm 103. 00:39:04.900 --> 00:39:05.860 I love Psalm 103. 00:39:05.860 --> 00:39:07.059 Speak these words 00:39:07.059 --> 00:39:07.579 from God 00:39:07.579 --> 00:39:08.260 into your heart 00:39:08.260 --> 00:39:08.840 every day. 00:39:09.180 --> 00:39:09.880 Bless the Lord, 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:10.620 O my soul, 00:39:11.079 --> 00:39:12.000 and all that is 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:12.579 within me. 00:39:13.079 --> 00:39:14.200 Bless His holy name. 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:14.920 Bless the Lord, 00:39:15.019 --> 00:39:15.599 O my soul, 00:39:15.920 --> 00:39:16.920 and forget not 00:39:16.920 --> 00:39:17.880 all His benefits. 00:39:19.220 --> 00:39:20.059 Preach the gospel 00:39:20.059 --> 00:39:20.980 to yourself 00:39:20.980 --> 00:39:22.460 and tune your hearts 00:39:22.460 --> 00:39:24.280 to sing His praise 00:39:24.280 --> 00:39:26.700 because the steadfast 00:39:26.700 --> 00:39:27.480 love of the Lord 00:39:27.480 --> 00:39:28.559 never ceases 00:39:28.559 --> 00:39:30.380 and His mercies 00:39:30.380 --> 00:39:31.340 really are new 00:39:31.340 --> 00:39:32.320 every morning, 00:39:32.680 --> 00:39:33.019 fresh, 00:39:33.300 --> 00:39:33.960 not stale. 00:39:33.960 --> 00:39:35.960 even if nothing 00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:37.320 about our circumstances 00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:37.940 changes, 00:39:38.599 --> 00:39:39.800 we can choose 00:39:39.800 --> 00:39:41.659 the pleasure of praise 00:39:41.659 --> 00:39:42.579 over the pain 00:39:42.579 --> 00:39:43.240 of performance 00:39:43.240 --> 00:39:44.199 all day, 00:39:44.579 --> 00:39:45.179 every day 00:39:45.179 --> 00:39:47.039 in Christ. 00:39:48.179 --> 00:39:48.880 For when the love 00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:49.300 we crave 00:39:49.300 --> 00:39:50.119 falls short 00:39:50.119 --> 00:39:51.079 and we feel 00:39:51.079 --> 00:39:52.099 impossible to love, 00:39:52.940 --> 00:39:53.900 God's perfect love 00:39:53.900 --> 00:39:55.000 will always prevail 00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:55.599 for us 00:39:55.599 --> 00:39:56.639 in Christ. 00:39:57.440 --> 00:39:58.139 Let's pray. 00:39:58.139 --> 00:39:58.240 Amen. 00:39:58.240 --> 00:39:58.240 00:39:58.240 --> 00:39:58.240 00:39:58.240 --> 00:39:58.240 00:39:58.240 --> 00:39:58.240 00:39:58.240 --> 00:39:58.240 00:40:03.960 --> 00:40:07.699 Lord, help our unbelief. 00:40:09.539 --> 00:40:10.960 Help us to believe 00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:13.220 that You offer us 00:40:13.220 --> 00:40:14.679 everything we could 00:40:14.679 --> 00:40:15.900 ever want or need 00:40:15.900 --> 00:40:17.579 in Your love. 00:40:20.199 --> 00:40:21.340 Open our eyes 00:40:21.340 --> 00:40:21.920 to the beauty 00:40:21.920 --> 00:40:22.679 of Your love, 00:40:23.079 --> 00:40:24.659 to the power 00:40:24.659 --> 00:40:25.519 of Your love, 00:40:26.519 --> 00:40:27.820 to the liberty 00:40:27.820 --> 00:40:28.679 of Your love, 00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:29.199 O God. 00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:31.719 and give us 00:40:31.719 --> 00:40:32.299 a vision 00:40:32.299 --> 00:40:34.579 for being 00:40:34.579 --> 00:40:35.179 a people. 00:40:35.579 --> 00:40:35.859 O God, 00:40:35.939 --> 00:40:37.159 what if all of us, 00:40:37.199 --> 00:40:38.179 what if the whole world 00:40:38.179 --> 00:40:39.480 believed 00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:40.779 that You loved them? 00:40:42.179 --> 00:40:42.759 Give us 00:40:42.759 --> 00:40:43.599 that kind of vision, 00:40:43.779 --> 00:40:43.899 Lord. 00:40:45.159 --> 00:40:45.719 What if 00:40:45.719 --> 00:40:46.899 we believed 00:40:46.899 --> 00:40:47.699 in our anxieties 00:40:47.699 --> 00:40:49.019 that You loved us, 00:40:49.460 --> 00:40:51.319 in our insecurities 00:40:51.319 --> 00:40:52.299 that You loved us? 00:40:54.399 --> 00:40:55.199 How might that 00:40:55.199 --> 00:40:56.019 change us? 00:40:56.839 --> 00:40:57.399 How might that 00:40:57.399 --> 00:40:58.259 change the world? 00:40:59.199 --> 00:41:01.419 You've shown it 00:41:01.419 --> 00:41:02.039 to us, Lord. 00:41:02.859 --> 00:41:03.879 You say it right here. 00:41:03.980 --> 00:41:05.059 You've sent us Your Son. 00:41:06.319 --> 00:41:06.579 O Lord, 00:41:06.659 --> 00:41:07.599 help our unbelief. 00:41:08.539 --> 00:41:09.359 Help us to see 00:41:09.359 --> 00:41:10.359 and savor 00:41:10.359 --> 00:41:11.460 Your love for us 00:41:11.460 --> 00:41:12.119 in Christ. 00:41:13.019 --> 00:41:13.679 We ask that 00:41:13.679 --> 00:41:14.299 in His name. 00:41:15.059 --> 00:41:15.319 Amen.