Leah’s Faithful Lessons through God’s Grace.

Sermon write up By Jeannie Hortonin my schools format...

4/8/2019

Title: Leah’s Faithful Lessons through God’s Grace.

Topic: Lessons learned From Leah’s Unloved Marriage

Introduction:

1. According to statistics, around 50 % of all marriages will end in divorce.

Breaking that down by the number of marriages:

• 42-45% percent of first marriages end in divorce.
• 60% of second marriages end in divorce.
• 73% of third marriages end in divorce.

In an article on the Marriage Builders website, there was an article listing the reasons that women leave men.  I listed only the reasons women leave men for this sermon as I’ll be focusing on Leah from the book of Genesis. Some of the reasons included: 

"I hurt all the time because I feel alone and abandoned."

"The only time he pays attention to me is when he wants sex."

"He doesn't show any interest in me or what I do."

God designed marriage. It was meant to join two people together in love to experience a closeness that doesn’t exist in any other relationship that you have. But sometimes, what was meant for good, in the busyness of life, there is neglect. It is imperative in a healthy marriage to have consistent communication and to give each other the time, love and attention that your partner deserves. But, most importantly to keep God #1 in your life and marriage.

2. It is in our human nature to be loved and feel loved. We, sometimes, however, try to get this love from contingent things, instead of our unchanging God. He loves because that is who He is, He is love. And He is continuously seeking those whom He can be good to. He never shows favoritism towards anyone, He loves. When He sees those who are hurting, those who are unloved, in His great mercy, He reaches out in love.

3. Today, we are going to look at the story of Leah and her marriage to Jacob in the book of Genesis. How she handled an unfortunate circumstance, the deception of her father, and how she realized her mistake of not putting God first and turned to God in praise and thanksgiving.

Proposition:  Through God’s mercy and grace, Leah learned faithful lessons through her painful marriage.

Interrogative sentence: What are these lessons and how can we apply them to our life?

Transitional sentence: We’re going to look at the background of Jacob’s marriages to Leah and Rachel, the unfortunate circumstance that Leah was in, and the birth of Leah’s first four children; the lessons she learned from her marriage, and how she leaned on God for love, comfort, and validation.

1. We’ll be looking at briefly the history of how Jacob met his two wives, the betrayal behind their marriages, and the name meaning of 4 of Leah and Jacob’s children.

a. When Jacob met Rachel, his cousin, he was near a well getting ready to give water to his flock of sheep and goats. Rachel had come in with her father Laban’s flock. When he saw her, he was overwhelmed by her, instantly attracted to her beauty.  He kissed her and cried out loud, overjoyed. He wanted her to become his wife. Jacob stayed with Laban for about 30 days and worked for him without pay. After this time, Laban said to Jacob that he should be getting paid.  Jacob told Laban that he would work for him for seven days in exchange for Rachel’s hand in marriage. Laban obliged. Now, Laban had two daughters. The other was Leah. She was his oldest daughter. Leah, whose name means “weary,” was not nearly as pretty as Rachel. After the seven years, Jacob went to Laban to marry Rachel. He said to Jacob in Genesis 29:21, “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.” How’s that for romance? Laban went and prepared for the wedding and invites everyone he knew. After the wedding, when it was dark, Laban tricks Jacob. He is a deceiver like Jacob who has just met his match. Laban gave Leah to Jacob to sleep with instead of Rachel, and there must have been alcohol involved because Jacob didn’t notice the difference between Rachel and Leah. Believing Leah was Rachel, he sleeps with Leah. In the morning, when Jacob finds out what he had done, he went to Laban in anger. Laban only told him that it was not customary for the younger daughter to marry before the firstborn. Laban then promises Jacob that he could marry Rachel after the week was over if Jacob would work for him another seven years, Jacob agreed. Jacob finally marries Rachel. He now has two wives, but he loved Rachel more. The marriages were an unfortunate situation for everyone. Because of Laban’s deception, his daughter Leah is in an unloving and heartbreaking marriage, and we can’t be too upset with Jacob because he had always demonstrated his love for Rachel. Even though Leah is unloved in the eyes of her husband Jacob, she is loved by God who gives her favor.

            b. In those times, if a woman was barren, they often felt outcast and alone. God knew that her husband did not love Leah, so He enabled Leah to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. Leah’s firstborn son’s name was Rueben. Reuben means “behold, a son.” She said in Genesis 29:32, “The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.”  She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, naming him Simeon. Simeon means “heard.” She said in verse 33, “The Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.” She then became pregnant with her 3rd son and named him Levi. Levi means “joined to.” In verse 34, she said, “Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me since I have given him three sons.” When Leah became pregnant with her 4th son, she named him Judah, saying in verse 35, “Now I will praise the Lord.” She then stopped having children for a season. Later in her life, she went on to conceive two more sons and one daughter for Jacob.           

c. In Leah’s desperation, she had just spent many years trying to get Jacob to love her by giving him children, and he didn’t. Jacob truly loved Rachel more and didn’t give Leah the love that she deserved as his wife. After the birth of Leah’s 3rd son, she was upset, angry, felt alone and was tired of trying to win the attention of her husband. She kept trying to win his approval, trying to get validation from him. But after the birth of her 4th son Judah, she changes her focus. Instead of trying to get Jacob to love her, longing for his attention, she’s had enough and says, “Now I will praise the Lord!”

Transition: That is the background behind the marriages of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. Now we’ll look at the lessons Leah learned from her painful marriage

2. In Leah’s unhealthy relationship with her husband, she wasn’t putting God first. She was too consumed trying to get Jacob to love her. We’ll look at the lessons learned from her life and how we can apply it to our own. 

    a. God uses us despite our imperfections. He sees our lives where we can be if we choose to walk with Him, not where we are currently. After the birth of Leah’s maid’s son, her second child with Jacob, Leah named him Asher which means “happy.” For she said in verse 13 of Genesis 30, “I am happy! For women will call me happy.” We can see this true in Ruth 4:11, the amplified version, “All the people at the gate and the elders said, “We are witness. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the household of Israel.” Between Leah, her older sister Rachel, and their maidservants who also had children for Jacob, they had 12 sons and one daughter. The sons made up the twelve tribes of Israel, God’s covenant people. He knew that Leah and Rachel were far from perfect, but God saw their true value and used them to further His Kingdom. Also, a descendant of Leah and Jacob is King David and Jesus, our Lord, and Savior.

b. Don’t let other peoples choices make you bitter. Leah had every right to be bitter. Her father deceived Jacob, making her a pawn in her father’s deception. She was only married to Jacob for one week before he married her sister. She wasn’t favored or loved by her husband who preferred her sister over her. But God loved Leah, and God showed her favor. When other people disappoint us, when their choices make us bitter, we need to forgive. We should always look to God despite our circumstances. God longs to be in constant fellowship with us. We can break fellowship through our bitterness and unforgiveness. For it says in Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted: He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”  God is close to those who are hurting. He wants to heal your pain and brokenness, and He cares for you.

c. Protection of the unity of marriage. God designed marriage to be between a woman and a man; the union is sacred. Unfortunately, polygamy existed in Bible times, but it was not sanctioned by God nor was divorce, but with the hardness of men’s heart, these situations occurred. We see this in Mathew 19:8. “Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended.”  We need to protect our marriage. Satan wants to destroy our marriages, and we need to fight against him, his constant lies and deception. Remember that according to statistics; between 42-45 percent of all marriages now end in divorce. As believers, we need to protect our marriages, and we can do that by putting God first.

d. Anyone can compliment me, but only God can validate me. Leah kept looking to be validated by Jacob, and she was never going to be. He preferred Rachel.  She should have been looking for validation from God, putting Him first. He is the only real source of validation. Leah’s mistake is that she waited so long after the birth of three children to say enough. She realized her error and finally after the birth of her fourth son, she praised and gave thanks to God, and she looked to the Lord for validation, not her husband.

As believers, only God can give us real and lasting validation and approval. God loves us and promises never to leave nor forsake us. We need to continually keep our eyes upward and not inward. We need to know who we are in Christ and we can do this by studying His word, earnestly seeking Him, and striving to have a relationship with Him. God doesn’t want you to read the Bible for his benefit, but yours.

e. Make a conscious effort to choose to praise the Lord. Your praise should not be dependent upon your circumstances. David said in Psalm 34:1, “I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak His praises.”  Leah was not in a good marriage; having to share her sister with her husband whom he favored over her is not an ideal start to a marriage. If we relook at the names of her sons, Leah was depressed. With her first three sons, in her prayers, she says she is in misery, unloved, and she longs for her husband’s affection. She was looking for love, grace, and attention in the wrong place.  She should have been looking to God. She realizes this with her 4^th son and finally praises God.
God wants us to praise and give thanks to Him in all things continually. When we are thankful, then He will open the doors of heaven. He longs to be gracious to us. He wants to show us favor, and He will, but we need to learn to have a thankful heart. No, we don’t need to say, “thank you God for this cancer.” But we can say, “thank you God for your healing. I know this cancer isn’t too big for you to handle.”

Conclusion:

1. We can all learn from Leah’s story. Nobody can validate you but God. He is the only source of our real and lasting validation. He in His great love, grace, and mercy sees you just like He did Leah. Because of the deception of her father, the unity of marriage was broken. She was unloved and unfavored by her husband Jacob. But, because God is love, He used her despite her imperfections, He showered her with favor. He reached out and blessed her greatly, turning her bitterness to joy. In turn, she turned from her mistake of not putting God first, and in repentance, she praised Him and looked only to God to give her validation.

2. As believers, we are the righteousness of Christ. He wants to pour blessings upon you, and He is just looking for someone to bless. Our walk with the Lord will never be perfect just as our relationships with people aren’t perfect. But look to the Lord. Our joy should be found in our relationship with Him. Continuously seek, praising, and thanking Him for His goodness.