Good morning. How are y 'all doing today? Awesome.
Well, if it is your first time visiting us here
at Hosanna, here in our sanctuary, or if you're
watching online for the first time, we want to
say welcome. We're so glad you're all here to
worship with us today. I am Pastor Nathan, and
this morning we're going to be talking about
how to process difficult times or difficult people.
in light of the promise that God is with us and
for us. I'm sure every single one of us have
found ourselves in a situation at one point where
we go, I have no idea how God could possibly
be in this situation or using this situation
for my good. This is horrible, right? I think
we've all been there at one point or another,
but there's an important fact of Christianity
that becoming a disciple of Christ does not mean
that we are immune to life's trials and tribulations.
Now, I think many of us know that, but it is
still one of the most important parts of the
Christian life. You give your life to the Lord,
there's this big promise and hope of salvation,
and the power of sin is going to be defeated,
and those things are all true. But that doesn't
mean that life becomes just this easygoing, just
joyful moment from beginning to end. We still
have difficulties. It's a thing that new believers
especially struggle with because in many cases
when someone gives their life to the Lord, their
life gets worse for a little while because the
devil is upset and mad that he has lost them.
And so, you know, these questions come up in
people's lives like, why does a good and loving
God allow us to go through things? Some difficult,
horrible things like the death of a child. Why
does a good and loving God allow disease and
sickness to devastate ourselves or our loved
ones? Why does... Why does a good and loving
God allow His children to go through financial
hardships and sometimes bankruptcy and losing
everything? What about the worries and the fears?
You know, some people say, if God truly loved
us, wouldn't He and shouldn't He just take all
of that away? Because that's what we want to
do for our children. And if God is our Father,
isn't that what He wants to do for us? Doesn't
being saved mean God wants our lives to be easy
and comfortable? Well, unfortunately, the answer
to those questions is not in the way we would
think. Romans 8, verse 28, Paul said this, we
know that all things work together for the good
of those who love God, who are called according
to His purpose. And that is a very encouraging
verse when good things are happening to us. But
it's a harder verse to hold on to in the middle
of trials and difficulties and challenges. But
he said, all. things. Work together for good.
You see, God desires each of His kids to grow.
Each one of us that call ourselves saved, that
we are God's children, God wants us to grow more
and more like Him in everything that He is. And
He allows us to go through things that allow
us to or cause us to grow. Trials, difficulties,
and challenges are a huge part of that process
of God molding us into His image. Our faith is
refined through every circumstance of our life
or sanctified, to use the word we looked at last
week, through everything we experience, including
the hard stuff. Now, when the hard stuff is a
result of our own sin, our own decisions, our
own disobedience, even though we are forgiven
by Christ's work on the cross, the consequences
are still things that we often have to suffer
through. And even though we go through those
consequences, God is still faithful to work in
those things, continuing to refine who we are.
And so the story that we're going to be looking
at today is a story of just that. There's this
young man named Jacob, the lying deceiver, who
is saved by faith. He is a man who has faith
in God and his word and his promises, but he
still has a young faith, a immature faith, if
you will. And he needs a lot of work, but he's
a picture of the dichotomy that every Christian
is in the world today, that we are here on earth,
living this earth and this life, both as wicked
sinners, selfish to the core, and saved children
of God at the same time. This man, Jacob, we're
going to be studying for a number of weeks here.
Today, he finds himself suffering the consequences
of his own sin. He finds himself suffering the
result of his own bad decisions, his own ungodly
behavior, and he's going to find himself now
immersed into a very long and difficult season
of hardship, serving under a very difficult and
trying person who he would probably just want
to punch in the face at the end of the day. And
yet behind the scenes, the lesson for us is that
God is using all of that to mold and to shape
Jacob. into the man that God knows him to be,
into the godly person that God knows he can be,
and it's the same thing with us in our lives.
When we're going through difficult seasons of
suffering and difficulty, especially when that
difficulty and that suffering is a result of
our own sinful decisions, or to put it another
way, when we are suffering the consequences of
our own wrong choices, we have to understand
that God is backstage. using all of it, working
through all of it to mold us and to shape us.
You see, we can't always avoid the consequences
of our sins. But we can process what is happening
through the lens of God's promise every time
we're going through difficult times. And through
understanding what is happening, we can find
the strength to persevere, trusting that God
is doing what he needs to do in our lives. That's
what we're going to be looking at today, but
first we're going to spend time worshiping God.
Because, you know, the bookend to this story
we're looking at today was the previous chapter.
Where Jacob got an opportunity to see God, see
God working on his behalf, and just to be so
excited and worship him for it. And that's what
we want to do today to start out. Before we get
into what could be a difficult study for some.
So let's pray. Father, we love you so much, God.
And we do praise you. We do worship you. We do
trust you in everything, God. And Lord, we know
that our salvation is secure. Lord, that is our
promise you made. That you said if we trust in
you, we are saved. But that doesn't mean that
we're perfect people. It doesn't mean we live
in a perfect world with a perfect life. And God,
so much of what happens in our life today is
still a result of our own stupid disobedience.
Yet, God, when we find ourselves suffering the
consequences of our own actions, sometimes, Lord,
we are tempted to blame you, to get mad at you,
to start saying things like, I thought salvation
was supposed to be good, and Lord, salvation
is... Good. It is the best thing we could ever
have, Lord, but help us to be able to be people
who process the reality of our situations, our
circumstances, our consequences, Lord, through
the lens of the truth that you are with us even
there, that you are working on our behalf even
there, and that there is a plan and a purpose,
Lord, through everything that we go through.
Not that we have to go through bad situations,
Lord, but God, that when we do, because we are
sinners, you are still working. Help us to see
how to process these things, Lord, and trust
you in all of it, God. We praise you. We honor
you. We give you all the glory, God, because
you are deserving. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. We are going to be spending time in Genesis
chapter 29 this morning talking about Jacob.
We'll be talking about Jacob for a number of
weeks because there's a lot of content in Genesis
that is... dedicated to him, and he is really
such a great example of us and who we are and
the lessons and lives that we lead and the lessons
we learn because he is just a messed up dude
who happens to believe in God and is saved because
of that. Many of us might identify with that
to be able to look at ourselves and say, you
know, we're kind of messed up people. And yet
we believe God. We believe God is true. We believe
God is real. We trust in him for our salvation,
but that doesn't necessarily make us perfect
people. Quite the opposite, in fact. We are messed
up people, far from perfect, and saved by grace.
And so what does that mean for us living our
lives here on this earth? What does that mean
for us coming to church? doing devotions and
praying and worshiping, and yet still wrestling
with our old nature that wants us to just do
the selfish things, the bad things, the wrong
things. How do we process the biblical truth,
especially the one that God is with us as he
was trying to teach Jacob in the previous chapter?
We looked at that experience last week where
as Jacob was fleeing for his life to the Eastlands
or the Northeastlands after he connived Esau,
his brother, so much, that he wanted to kill
him, he had this experience in the desert where
he fell asleep and had a dream of this staircase
going from earth to heaven where God appeared
to him and basically taught Jacob, look, I am
with you wherever you go. Whether you're at home,
whether you're in the wilderness, whether you're
fleeing, I'm going to be with you. Don't worry
about the promises that I have made because...
Those are going to happen. They're based on me
and my character, and I cannot lie. So I'm with
you, but these were lessons that Jacob really
needed because what was about to come into his
life was going to give him plenty of opportunity
to wonder, how is God in this? Where is he, and
what is he doing through all this? However...
After hearing God reiterate the covenant promises
there in chapter 28, he was pretty fired up,
pretty energized, pretty encouraged to continue
his trip to his mom's homeland, now knowing that
God was indeed with him. And so his faith, though,
still incomplete, still very, very immature.
And so Jacob, although saved by his faith, is
still a very selfish man, a very immature man,
and still has the attitude that God, if you do
this, then you will be my God now that didn't
necessarily belay a sense of whether I believe
you are real or not that phrase that Jacob made
at the end of Genesis 8 was God if you do these
things for me I will fully commit my life to
you in every way And as we're gonna see, there's
gonna be some things that really challenge that
in his mind. But either way, he now had enough
hope to carry on in his progress here and take
the next step, still being a piece of work, still
needing a whole lot of work on God's behalf.
And so he continues on with his education in
the life of hard knocks here. Genesis 29, verse
one, read with me. It says, Jacob resumed his
journey and went to the eastern country. He looked
and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep
were lying there beside it because the sheep
were watered from this well. But a large stone
covered the opening of the well. The shepherds
would roll the stone from the opening of the
well and water the sheep when all the flocks
were gathered there. Then they would return the
stone to its place over the well's opening. Jacob
asked the men at the well, my brothers, where
are you from? We're from Haran, they answered.
Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson, Jacob asked
them? They answered, We know him. Is he well?
Jacob asked. Yes, they said. And here is his
daughter Rachel coming with his sheep. Then Jacob
said, Look, it is still broad daylight. It is
not time for the animals to be gathered. Water
the flock and then go out and let them graze.
But they replied, We can't until all the flocks
have been gathered and the stone is rolled from
the well's opening. Then we will water the sheep.
So this is all background. Jacob is now arriving
to his mother's homeland after a long journey.
And in the very beginning there, it says Jacob
resumed his journey. In the Hebrew, that literally
means lifted up his feet. It reads Jacob lifted
up his feet. Because the idea there is after
this experience in the desert, After this dream
he had of God being with him and the Lord reiterating
the promises, he was walking with a lighter step,
so to speak. He was pretty excited. He was pretty
confident now. And so it wasn't such a grudging
journey, if you will. It was with a little more
excitement. And so he goes on to travel to the
eastern country. That's just a way to refer to
everything that's up there in the northeast of
Israel. Now, as he's traveling, we got to remember
his background. He was born and raised down in
Beersheba with his mother and his father. And
I'm sure he knew the whole story of how they
met, right? We've studied that past earlier in
Genesis where Eliezer was sent out by Abraham.
And when Eliezer got to this place up here, he
arrived at a well. And when he got to that well,
he prayed, you know, God, hey, let my journey
go good. And so if the girl comes out and waters
my camels, that's going to be her. And so Jacob,
I'm sure, likely knew that story. He knew all
about the camels and the prayers and the watering
and the meeting the family and all of it. But
what he knew from that story was that God's providence
took place at a well. Now, what I mean by providence
is God working just in the everyday happenings
of life. Jacob, I'm sure, had heard this story.
And so when he arrived at this land and he comes
to a well, I imagine that was pretty exciting
for him. Because wells were things happened.
Wells were where God did some amazing things
according to the stories. I'm sure he had heard
the stories of his grandfather, Abraham, and
the stories of Isaac, right? Isaac traveling
down there through the Negev region, having to
go live in the land of the Philistines, and he
had to re -dig his father's wells, we looked
at. And then the people there fought against
him, and so he retreated and dug another well,
and God kept providing over and over and over
in the life of Isaac. Jacob knew all these stories,
and so now he's coming to a well, and he's like,
man, this is it. This is where God works. And
so... I'm sure he was thinking, you know, is
this the place where God's going to bring me
my wife and make all this happen? All those promises
he made at Bethel, right? That place he named
for the dream, that place where God said, I am
working on your behalf. Trust me. And so it tells
us that there were already three flocks of sheep
here with their shepherds, and they were just
kind of chilling and lounging around, waiting
for the other flocks to arrive. And Jacob initially
approaches them very friendly, right? Now, we
know from Jacob's life so far that he's really
good at role -playing different people. And so
he's coming up and, my brothers, how are you?
Oh, I'm so friendly. I'm not a bad guy. I'm not
a bandit. Now, these were the days where there
was no street signs and no Google Maps, and so
you didn't really know where you were until you
talked to locals to find out where you were at.
So, my brothers, where are you from? And, oh,
we're from Haran. Great. That's exactly where
he was trying to get to. And so then he goes
on to start trying to narrow down where his family's
at. Do you know Laban? Yes, we do. Is he well?
Yes, he is. Matter of fact, here comes his daughter
with the sheep. Now, it's interesting because
these shepherds kind of strike me as like, this
is a stereotype, okay, so I don't mean to offend
anybody. Government workers on break. Okay, if
that's you, if you're a government worker, please,
I mean no offense. I didn't want to say union
because union members take more offense to those
types of things. But the stereotype, right? They're
just kind of chilling, you know, lounging around,
waiting for the other shepherds to get there
so that they could all water their flocks. But
they're not very helpful. Jacob comes up. My
brothers, super friendly. Where are you from?
Haran. Okay. Do you know my uncle Laban? Yeah.
Is he well? Yeah. Matter of fact, there's his
daughter. Why don't you bug her, okay? Stop talking
to us. And so verse 9, it says, while he was
still speaking to them, Rachel came with her
father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. As
soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban's daughter
Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled
the stone from the opening and watered his uncle
Laban's sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept
loudly. He told Rachel that he was her father's
relative, Rebecca's son, and she ran and told
her father. When Laban heard the news about his
sister's son, Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged
him, and kissed him. And then he took him to
his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.
Laban said to him, yes, you are my own flesh
and blood. So the beginning of this story is
kind of sweet because Rachel, her name means
you lamb. Not Y -O -U, E -W -E. You lamb. It
means baby sheep, right? So the idea here is
as Jacob is at the well, and he's like, all right,
wells. This is where God does the thing. And,
you know, okay, I'm in the right place. This
is Haran. And then he looks over and they point
out this, oh, baby sheep showing up with the
sheep. And how cute and wondrous. And so this
is the beginning of the love story, right? Now
Jacob's response. demonstrates very clearly that
he believes God's hand has guided him to this
place. He's overwhelmed with joy, right? It says,
as soon as she showed up, it just says very plainly
that he removed the stone from the well. Now,
important detail, these stones were often like
large things. The fact that the three shepherds
are sitting there and going, hey, we can't water
the sheep until everybody gets here, kind of
indicates that the stone that needed to be removed
from the well was a communal task. It was a large,
heavy stone that maybe multiple shepherds had
to work together to move so they could water
their sheep. But Jacob sees a pretty girl. And
of course, he's going to go and remove that stone
by himself. big feet of strength and excitement.
He's just so excited about this might be the
one, this might be heard. And of course, he's
happy to show kindness and he's happy to show
all of that, but it's just this interesting picture.
I don't know if you've ever heard the story of
high school boys in youth ministry. One of the
ways that high school boys typically like to
show off to the girls is when the youth pastor
says, put the chairs away. It's like, look how
many chairs I'm carrying. Ha ha, right? And so,
This is kind of the picture that I get here with
Jacob. And so he goes and then he waters her
sheep first. You know, hey, you know, lazy shepherd,
stay out of the way. And so now Rachel had to
have been quite surprised, I would imagine, by
this stranger. Upon seeing her, he immediately
goes and removes this stone by himself, immediately
starts to water her sheep. That had to have been
weird, but I imagine she was really surprised
when he kisses her and then starts crying. right?
In today's day and age, he might have been maced
or hit with a knee, right? But this was a different
culture then. In these times, The kiss and all
that was like a handshake or a big hug, right?
It wasn't meant to be like a sexual kiss or he
was trying to be some weird pervert with her.
In the culture, kissing, especially family members
on the cheeks, was just a greeting. It was the
way of saying hello. And so as soon as he finds
out that she's of the family and he explains
to her that I'm of the family, it was just like,
oh my gosh, I'm so excited to see you. And he
embraces her and kisses her. She gets excited,
runs off, tells her uncle, who then gets excited,
runs back, grabs Jacob, hugs and kisses him,
and then says, come home, tell me the story.
Now, why is Laban so excited? Why is he so fired
up so much that he would run from his home to
meet this kid, Jacob? Well, there's a previous
story when somebody met one of his family members
at a well. And in that previous story, that guy
showed up with 10 camels and a bunch of gold
and a bunch of gifts and ended up taking his
sister away to go be married into Abraham's family,
which was well known to be extremely powerful,
extremely wealthy. Now Laban is a man that we're
going to find out here is a very unscrupulous
man who is very materialistic. And so I imagine
here that as soon as he heard someone from Abraham's
family, in fact, the son of Isaac and Rebecca
is here looking for a wife, he was like, cha
-ching, payday. So he runs out to meet this kid
and You know, he grabs him. He takes him back
home. And Jacob proceeds to tell him the whole
story. Hey, yeah, no, this is what happened.
You know, blah, blah, blah. I took advantage
of Esau. And then, you know, we tricked dad,
me and mom, and took advantage of Esau again.
And he was so mad he wanted to kill me. I had
to flee for my life. I imagine Laban was getting
a little less excited here. Because as this story
went on, and he said, yeah, I had to flee so
fast, I didn't even have enough supplies to have
a pillow for my head, so I had to sleep on a
rock. But then God did this amazing thing, and
Laban is probably going, so what you're saying
is there's no gold, no gifts, no camels. So you
came here to marry one of my daughters, and you
have nothing, no dowry of any kind. And so Laban
hears the story, and then he finally says, yes,
you are my own flesh and blood. Now, I believe
this has kind of like two points here, because
I hear disappointment in Laban's voice. One,
you are indeed my nephew, right? You are flesh
and blood. But as we're going to find out about
Laban here, he is a master manipulator. His sister,
we learned in the last chapter, was pretty good
at manipulation. Well, and that might be where
Jacob learned the skills of deception and all
of that. And so when I read this, and after Jacob's
telling the story, Laban's like, yep, you're
one of us. You tricked your brother? Mm -hmm.
Yep, that's what we do. You got in such trouble,
you had to flee for your life? Well, that happens
to some of us. And so, welcome home, Jacob. It
does seem pretty generous, though, that Laban's
going to let him stay, and he shows the cultural
hospitality. And I'm sure Laban was thinking,
you know, if I treat Jacob good, and he does
end up marrying one of my daughters, wow, we're
going to inherit a fortune. Like, we're going
to be contracted into this family even deeper.
But Jacob, however, he's still young, and he
had a lot to learn about scheming, and he was
about to learn this lesson very hard from the
king of schemers. But from Jacob's point of view,
we can't forget that staircase. That staircase
had shown me, and God showed up, and the promises
of protection and provision, you know, and I
showed up at a well, and then one of the family
members said, this is just like mom's story.
This is going to work out fantastic. God is doing
what God has done before, and so he's so excited
and so just fired up about what's going on. I'm
sure he was going, this is indeed the house of
God. This is indeed the gateway of heaven. God,
you are so awesome and you are providing, but
not in the way that he was expecting. You see,
because Jacob still needed a lot of work. He
needed compassion. He needed patience. He even
needed to experience a little bit of pain so
that he could be molded into who God wanted him
to be. And through all of this, he was going
to learn humility. You see, when Jacob is there
in Laban's house, who is a schemer and a liar,
Jacob himself being a schemer and a liar, having
fled for his life because he schemed and lied,
he learned an important lesson in the desert.
Everywhere is the house of God because God is
there. Did you know that this is the house of
God? Not just because the buildings are here,
because we are here. And guess what this room
is full of? Sinners. Wicked sinners who are struggling
with their flesh and their old nature to lie
and to scheme and to deceive and to do wrong.
And sometimes we're going, we're doing right
and we're being obedient, but we go back and
forth constantly. And God is proud to say, that's
my house. Those are my kids. And that just blows
me away. That God, even in this place, right?
As he had taught Jacob, I'm with you wherever
you go. Wherever you go, I'm at. And so it is
the house of God. I am there. I am accessible.
I'm in that moment. But this is all leading up
to the lesson that this chapter teaches us. And
we all have to really understand, because God
is with us everywhere, even in the bad circumstances,
even especially in the bad circumstances that
are consequences for our own stupid disobedience,
what is happening in that moment, God is not
only aware of, He's allowing and he's directing.
Why? Because it's even in those moments that
God is doing that work of the staircase. He is
doing business on our behalf. He is working on
molding and shaping us. And this is what Jacob's
about to learn very clearly. At this point in
Jacob's life, he was a very one -dimensional
man. His faith needed to grow. His character
needed to grow. And so those promises that God
made in the desert, I am with you. I will be
with you. I'm going to keep you. The covenant
promises are going to happen. Why? All of that's
based on me. And so there's nothing you could
do to derail those promises. And God is about
to fulfill those things in Jacob's life. Look
at verse 14 again. So Jacob had stayed with Laban
for a month. Laban said to him, and this is where
we start to see the man that Laban is, just because
you're my relative, should you work for me for
nothing? Tell me what your wages should be. Now
Laban had two daughters. The older was named
Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. Leah
had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, I'll
work for you for seven years for your younger
daughter Rachel. Laban replied, well, better
that I give her to you than some other man, so
stay with me. So Jacob worked seven years for
Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days
to him because of his love for her. Let's all
say it together. Aww. Right, the love story continues.
Now, Laban was a snake oil salesman. Okay, if
you sell snake oil, again, don't be offended.
It's a stereotype. To use a more modern one,
he's a used car salesman. If you sell used cars,
please don't be offended, okay? The stereotype
of the smooth -talking man who would take advantage
of others, this is who Laban is. This is who
his sister was because we saw that when she was
like, okay, this is how we're going to take advantage
of your father, Jacob, and this is who Jacob
has been in his life. So Jacob has been there
for a month, and Laban comes out and says, you
know, You shouldn't work here for free just because
we're related. I mean, come on, tell me how much
you want to get paid. What he's really saying
is if you're going to stay here, Jacob, you're
going to stay here as an employee, and you're
going to work, and you're going to pay your own
rent, and you're going to pay for food. Now,
Laban is raising this issue to sound like he
was generous. But he really had an agenda behind
it, and this is where the smooth -talking schemer
comes in. You see, young Jacob is about to be
duped here. Laban, as a father, especially in
the culture, wanted to marry his daughters off.
That was really kind of the goal with daughters,
because daughters would go on to start other
families, produce more sons, and expand the family
influence in the region. And so we're told that
Laban had two daughters and he wanted to have
them go and benefit the family through the means
that happened in that culture. Now Jacob apparently
had already at this early one month of being
there developed feelings for Rachel. Possibly
it was just the looks and the smiles and the
flirtations. And, you know, dads in this room,
I know you all get it, right? You walk through
any area with your daughter and you see some
strange boy look at your daughter a certain way.
You're like, I know what you're wanting. You
know, you get all defensive. I believe Laban
was picking up on the vibe here. Jacob likes
my daughter. I can use this. I can scam this
kid with this. And so he went to start asking
him, you know, hey, you know, if you're going
to stay long term, you know, you've got to kind
of have to pay your way. And so what do you want?
I believe he knew what Jacob wanted was his daughter
Rachel. And so he goes into this plan. Jacob
responds, I believe, the way he expected him
to, that I want to have your daughter's hand
in marriage. Let me do that. But I have nothing.
I came with nothing. And so here's what I'll
do. I'll work for seven years to not only pay
my way, but to pay the dowry for your daughter.
Now that was a lot of money at that time because
a typical dowry was about three to four years
of wages. That was the amount it would be. So
Jacob, He's like, hey, I'm going to overbid for
this, right? I'm going to give you seven years.
That's way too much money because he didn't want
to risk her father saying no. Now Laban at this
point, if he wasn't sure he had Jacob on the
hook at this point, now he was absolutely sure.
You know, poor kid. You poor sad little baby
schemer. You don't even know how to negotiate.
Okay, cool, seven years. I'll take it. Again,
Laban's whole goal here was to be connected even
stronger to the family and their wealth through
marriage. So we're formally introduced to these
two daughters, Leah, who is the older daughter,
Rachel, who is the younger. And again, the hand
of Rachel was Jacob's wage. He loved her. He
wanted to be with her. This is what his mom had
sent him for. He met her at a well. How could
this not be the Lord, right? All the signs were
there. And so Laban's like, okay, I guess better
she goes to you than any other man, still manipulating
the situation. So we have these descriptions
of these two young women here, and I just kind
of want to touch on that a little bit because
the first, Leah says that she had tender eyes.
In other translations, it'll say she had weak
eyes. or soft eyes, or delicate. The Hebrew word
there means all of those things. Weak, soft,
delicate. But there's a lot of scholarly debate
on exactly what it means that she had tender
eyes. But the general consensus is this, that
in her eyes, they had no sparkle. They had no
flame, right? They were weak. And so the idea
in modern terminology is that she was just plain.
She was unremarkable. As a woman, she wasn't
physically noticed by everybody. And then it
goes, Rachel, on the other hand, it uses these
two words, shapely and beautiful. So I looked
up shapely, being very careful because, you know,
we live in this culture now where like, oh, you
can't body shame people and do all this. And
I'm like, what does that mean in the Hebrew?
This is what it means. The outline of her body,
okay? It literally means her hourglass figure.
That is what it's getting at. So it says she
was shapely. She was, you know, whatever that
was in the culture. And she was beautiful. Beautiful
means attractive of face, right? So she had a
beautiful face. She had beautiful features, eyes,
nose, mouth, the whole deal. But when you put
these two Hebrew words together for shapely and
beautiful, it's not just saying she was pretty
or she was well -built in that sense, but she
was strikingly good -looking overall. The idea
here is that Leah was just plain and unremarkable,
and Rachel was shockingly attractive, even according
to the standards of the day. So this is the big
contrast between the two. And I thought, why
use these words? Why is this recorded this way?
Couldn't you just say, you know, Jacob was attracted
to one and not the other, but why these words
here? I believe it's to set up the ominous portent
of the potential conflict that is between these
two sisters, a conflict we will see later on
after they're married to Jacob, and we'll get
to that in a moment. But the idea here is that
you have these two sisters, the older one who
is supposed to be kind of in the first place
in the family, pays attention to her. When she
goes out into the marketplace, nobody is buying
her free drinks. She's just ignored by everybody,
and yet her younger sister, Rachel, wow, right?
Every time she turned around, guys were gawking
at her, and she was just so beautiful, and I'm
sure Laban, speculatively, used that to wheel
and deal himself, and so Leah had a very difficult
life being ignored, and her sister was just praised
by everybody. But again, the reason this contrast
is set up is because we're also starting to see
Jacob's past catching up to him. You see, we're
given just physical description. Meaning that
Jacob, his priority here was which one was prettier.
And he obviously thought Rachel was prettier.
That's the one he wanted. And that's going to
result in him getting scammed. It's the exact
same thing that he did to his brother Esau. You
remember his brother Esau was the firstborn.
He was supposed to have the promise of God's
word, the promise of the covenant, all that,
but he didn't care about all that spiritual fluffy
stuff. What he cared about was what was physical,
his physical needs. And so he came in one day
from hunting, and he saw that his brother was
making a stew, and he thought, I'm hungry. And
Jacob said, sell me your birthright. In that
story, we learned that Esau was like, I don't
care about that stupid birth, right? My physical
needs are priority. Give me food. And he sold
away God's promises to his brother Jacob. The
same exact thing is now about to happen to Jacob
where he's going to sell away seven years and
end up being 14 years of his life because he's
wanting to go after what is physically appealing
to him and it causes him to be tricked the same
way he tricked his brother. But still. We're
given this detail that they only seemed like
a few days, the seven years to him because he
loved her so greatly. And so verse 21, we fast
forward seven years. Then Jacob said to Laban,
since my time is complete, give me my wife so
I can sleep with her. The idea is, is that's
how a marriage was consummated in those days,
that when the man and woman slept together, the
marriage was sealed. That was kind of like the
seal on the contract or the signature, if you
will. And so he's like, Give her to me. I've
worked here for you seven years. I fulfilled
the contract. So Laban invited all the men to
the place and sponsored a feast. That evening,
Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to
Jacob, and he slept with her. Dun, dun, dun.
And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter
Leah as her slave. When morning came, there was
Leah. So he said to Laban, What have you done
to me? Wasn't it for Rachel that I worked for
you? Why have you deceived me? So with the end
of the contract being fulfilled, give me Rachel.
I've worked seven years for her. Dad puts together
a wedding feast. It's a typical thing in the
culture. You would have this big feast. It would
be like six, seven days long, right? And on the
first day, there would be a public reading of
the marriage contract so the bride and groom
couldn't dispute any of the facts. Everybody
had heard the contract being read. And then that
first night, husband and wife would go into the
bedchamber, they would consummate the marriage,
and then there would be six further days of celebration.
Now, just in these few verses, there's a whole
lot of questions that come up. First question
is, did Leah go along with this? Like, we don't
see her going, Dad, that's wrong. Now, it doesn't
tell us a lot of things, but Leah seemingly goes
along with this because she actually goes through
with being with him on the wedding night. That
is a question that comes up, and there's a lot
of ideas people have with that. Possibly one
of them is that she was secretly in love with
Jacob too, which can often happen with siblings
and the people that they're... or married to,
it's sad, but maybe she loved him and she knew
that the only way she could be with him instead
of her sister was to go consummate the marriage.
And so when dad came up with this plan, she was
very eager to go along with it. One of the other
ideas is that she just despised her sister so
much that she's like, I'm just gonna take your
husband. And sure, dad, sign me up. We don't
know. But it just tells us she did the deed.
And then the next question is, how did Jacob
not know? He had been staring at this girl, Rachel,
for seven years at this point. Now, culturally,
they weren't allowed to be together alone. They
couldn't date. It's like, she's not yours until
she's yours. And so they had, you know, family
friendship in that sense. But for seven years,
he's laboring, looking forward to the time where
he's going to be able to marry this woman that
he thinks is so beautiful. And yet, the night
comes. He goes into the bedchamber, sleeps with
the wrong girl, wakes up in the morning, you
know, smile. Whoa! You're not Rachel. It doesn't
tell us anything about that either. We could
speculate that, you know, there was always a
wedding veil and it was meant to obscure the
woman's features because you couldn't gaze on
her beauty in that sense until the wedding was...
sealed in that sense. And so maybe it was because
of the late time of night, you know, the bedchamber
was dark, so he couldn't see her face. Maybe
there was a whole lot of wine part of the celebration
all day, and so that played a part into it. But
on top of that, Laban is a master manipulator
and master schemer. So we can't put aside the
fact that he set things up in a way to make sure
that Jacob would get conned. And then my third
question is, did Rachel know? Did she go along
with this too? Because it doesn't tell us that
she stormed into the wedding and, no, don't do
this, right? She didn't go bang on the tent.
It's the wrong girl. Well, it doesn't tell us
again. But what is likely the answer to this
is that in that culture, fathers had incredible
authority. They had authority up to life and
death over the members of their family. And so
if dad was the one that said, hey, Leah, hey,
Rachel, this is what we're going to do. The daughters
quite literally couldn't even say anything without
being in trouble with the father as well. And
so they just, you know, had to do what dad wanted.
So Jacob wakes up, looks over, shock and surprise,
and now the deceiver had been deceived. Jacob
had reaped what he had sown. He had got what's
coming to him. And it doesn't feel too good,
does it, Jacob? This wasn't just, oh, I slept
with the wrong girl. This was, I'm contracted.
She is married to me. I am married to her. She
is my wife. There is no annulment. There is no
prenup. The deal is done. This was a life -changing
con that he fell to. And so he's upset. Rightfully
so. But at least he knew now what it felt to
be on the receiving end of such a scam. To be
scammed out of something that wasn't just minuscule
but a life -changing thing. Now he knew what
his brother felt like. Now he was maybe starting
to understand why Esau was so mad he wanted to
kill him for stealing the birthright and the
blessing. God is here. God is working. God is...
is molding and shaping Jacob through the consequences
of Jacob's own actions. If Jacob hadn't done
what he had done to his brother, he probably
wouldn't be fleeing at this point. He may have
been meeting a wife in a different way. Maybe
Isaac might have sent a servant to the homeland
to get a bride just like Isaac's dad Abraham
did. But even in the midst of this con, in the
seven years of working, and I got the wrong wife,
and that's not what we agreed on, God is still
working in Jacob's life, even though Jacob is
probably pretty upset. But here's another detail
I want to point out. Because again, when we find
ourselves in consequences and circumstances that
are a result of our own bad decisions, sometimes
we want to get mad and shake our fist at God
and blame him and how dare you let this happen
and I thought you were supposed to love me and
I thought everything was supposed to be great
and I thought you forgave me of my sin a while
ago and why is this happening? When Jacob deceived
his father and cheated his brother, God did not
change his plan to choose Jacob for the birthright
and the blessing. But he did take Jacob to the
school of hard knocks to discipline him. You
see, if God has made a promise to us, and I've
said this many times over the last few months,
that promise is unbreakable. The unconditional
promises. Let me preface it with that. If God
says, you trust in me and I will save you, if
you trust in him, he will save you. That doesn't
mean you're going to be a perfect person. That
also means that later on when you sin, you don't
lose your salvation because God didn't save you
based upon what you were doing. God saved you
based upon what he was doing. Our salvation is
secure. That's why I don't believe you could
lose your salvation. Now I can question whether
you're truly saved. You know, that's because
people go, oh, I believe in Jesus all the time.
No, you don't. But if you're truly saved. You've
put your faith in Christ. There is nothing you
can do to lose that salvation. God's promise
didn't change because Jacob was a disobedient
jerk. But Jacob still had to suffer the consequences
of his decisions, and that's what does happen
to us. God will allow the consequences to come
into place in our lives. God will allow us to
suffer through those circumstances. God will
allow us to find ourselves in positions working
for a Laban. Because we did something disobedient,
and although our salvation is secure, our character
still needs some massive growth. And the only
way we're going to learn it is by experiencing
some pain, some disappointment, some difficulty.
You see, a believer's disobedience will not derail
God's plan for your life, but it sure can greatly
affect how you experience that life. Do you guys
understand that? Follow God. Things go the way
God wants them to be. It doesn't mean perfect
in Peachy King. It just means it's God's will.
Disobey God. We're going to introduce consequences
in our life that maybe God never intended us
to have to go through, but we're going to have
to go through them anyways because we disobeyed,
because we chose to do the wrong thing. You might
lose 14 years of your life working for someone
like Laban while God teaches you a few things.
that he needs to chip off the old block here,
not in a good way. He needs to hone you down
to make you into the image of God that he knows
you can be. Now, none of this justifies Laban's
actions, but what we do see here in Jacob's life
is God is indeed working all things together
for good because Jacob trusts in him. Now, verse
26, Laban answered. Is it not the custom in our
country to give the younger daughter in marriage
before the firstborn? So complete this week of
wedding celebration, and we will also give you
this younger one in return for working yet another
seven years for me. And Jacob did just that.
He finished the week of celebration, and Laban
gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. And
Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel
as her slave. That means servant, maidservant.
Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed he loved
Rachel more than Leah, and he worked for Laban
another seven years. So here's Laban. Jacob comes
out. Bro, that's not Rachel. It's not? No, this
is what Laban says to him. It's not the custom
of our land to marry off the younger before the
older. Didn't you know that? We didn't tell you?
Oh, shucky darn. Well, guess what? I'll give
you the younger one. You're right. It's just
going to cost you another seven years of your
life. And Jacob accepted. Why? Because he had
no other option. The schemer had been schemed
by the master schemer. Jacob knew, there's no
way I'm going to end up with what I want here
unless I give in to these demands. And then Laban,
now making this demand, we see Jacob, you know,
having gone through the school of hard knocks,
is now in a post -grad study in the school of
hardship. And the degree he's going to end up
with is that you get, you reap what you sow.
And that is a lesson for all of us to understand.
We're saved through faith. However, the life
we choose to live of obedience or disobedience,
we're going to reap what we sow. Not in the eternal
thing. God has said, I've wiped you clean. In
the sense of eternity, I see you without sin.
You're welcome into my presence forever. But
here in this linear life we live, here on earth,
you're going to reap what you sow. If you're
a liar and that's the life you live, be prepared
to get lied to. That's kind of how it looks to
me. Cheat and steal, be prepared to get cheated
and stolen from. It's just the whole process
here is, look, we do things God's way. They're
going to work out God's way. We do things our
way. Good things are still going to come, meaning
God's plan is ultimately going to be fulfilled,
but we're going to have to go through such hardship
and difficulty that we might not otherwise have
to go through. And so it's like, what? Well,
now you could have her, but you've got to work
seven years. And Laban now is getting what he
wanted, right? It was the father's goal to marry
off his daughters. And if you could marry off
the daughters to a rich and wealthy and powerful
family, even better, because that made his family
more powerful. And guess what he got now? Both
of his daughters married to the same dude from
the same wealthy family. Win -win for Laban.
But it would eventually turn out very bad for
him, and we'll talk about that later. But of
course, at the end of the story, we're like,
and everybody lived happily ever after, right?
Not at all. Misery was on the menu. Because now
we're going to enter into a story of sister wives.
One, a plain... unnoticed woman, the other one,
supermodel of the time. Both of them wives to
the same man in the same house. On top of that,
the first wife was well aware she wasn't even
a choice, let alone the second choice. And she
had to live in all of this. It says Jacob loved
Rachel. The indication is he treated her with
everything that A wife would want, he lavished
her, he loved her, he spent time with her, and
Leah, yeah, just, you know, go do whatever you're
going to need to do. You can imagine how that
felt. Now, if there was conflict between Leah
and Rachel previously, and I believe there was,
that conflict was just now magnified a thousand
times. Did Rachel flaunt all of that? Did Rachel
walk around and bump into her sister and go,
oh, I'm sorry, second wife, right? Did she walk
around and just make fun of her and poke fun
of her? It doesn't say. We don't know, but we
do know that there's great troubles in the family
later on. And then you have the servants of each
girl, which were kind of like the maidservants.
And so in the time culturally, they would also
be a part of the... building the family, and
so they would be sleeping with the husband as
well. And so you're going to end up with four
mothers in the same house, all competing with
each other. And here we are after seven years,
marriage, two weeks later, he's got two wives,
two servants, and two weeks earlier, he was a
single man. With no drama, because again, he
was so in love with Rachel, the work and the
labor, it didn't matter. And now he's going to
find himself in this conflict, having to work
another seven years confined to the place with
these women all now a part of his family. Where,
Lord, is the staircase? Where, God, are the angels?
Where are you in all of this? This is not what
he wanted, but God was right where he had always
been, right there with Jacob. That's where he
had always been. That was the lesson he was trying
to teach Jacob there in the desert. Where he
was right there in the middle of that moment
and that circumstance that Jacob had now found
himself as a consequence of his own sins, that
was the house of God. Because that's where God
was with Jacob working. That was indeed the gate
of heaven because that's where God was accessible.
And he's trying to teach Jacob that. Don't try
and do things your own way. This is what happens.
Everything falls apart. There was still business
being conducted on his behalf between heaven
and earth. That's where God was. When you're
in the middle of your circumstances, you're in
the middle of the consequences of your own disobedience,
and you're going, where is God? He's right there.
And you're like, but this is hard, and this hurts.
And God's like, yep. But I'm here molding and
shaping you. Because the thing that got you in
this circumstance is something that I don't like
about your life. It's an ungodly thing. It's
an ungodly characteristic. It's an ungodly habit.
And so I have you here so that I could mold that
out of your life. Because over here, I can see
the godly person that I've intended you to be.
This unexpected twist, this undesired difficulty
is definitely not what Jacob wanted. But God
works all things good, right? God works them
all out. They all turn out good. What came of
this situation that Jacob found himself in that
caused a lot of hardship in his life and difficulty
and grievance? What came of this? Twelve sons
and one daughter. All through these four women.
Through the unloved Leah and her maid servant
Zilpah came eight of those 12 sons, which was
eight of the 12 tribes of Israel that would go
on to be this chosen nation of God through which
King David and all the way down to Jesus would
ultimately come. The unloved Leah, we think,
well, gosh, her life had to have been terrible.
Did she just lose out on everything? Look what
God did for her. She gave birth to eight of the
12 tribes. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,
and Zebulun. So the wife who was neglected, the
one that was unloved, the one that was barely
noticed, what did she get? She got to be the
hereditary mother of the kingly tribe of Judah
and the priestly tribe of Levi. That means people
like Moses were from her. King David was from
her. Jesus Christ, God himself in the flesh,
came from that line. The rest would come from
Rachel and Bilhah. And Rachel, although she was
the beautiful supermodel, she was going to turn
out being barren for a long time. God works all
things out. So was God the God of Jacob in all
of this? Jacob said, Lord, if you do these things,
if you do these things, I'm going to commit my
whole life to you. Well, Jacob's not entirely
there yet, but was God the God of Jacob? Yes.
Was the staircase there? Yes. The business was
being handled? Yes. The Lord was keeping Jacob?
Yes. God was working his promises that you were
going to be a blessing to the world, that a blessed
people are going to come from you, and the promise
that you will eventually return to the land was
all being formed by God. But even though God
was working and God's plan was coming to place
and God's good was working through all of it,
Jacob didn't escape the consequences of his sin.
The temporal consequences. The ultimate eternal
consequence, yeah, that's paid for by the blood
of Jesus Christ. But the temporal consequences,
he did not escape those. He was not immune to
discipline. And none of us are as God's children.
In fact, we're subject to God's very special
discipline. And because of these circumstances
that Jacob found himself in, that God allowed
him to go through, Jacob would indeed change.
And it wouldn't be overnight, but it would be
over a long period of time. he would eventually
become Israel, a prince of God. Today, God is
with those who trust in him just like he was
with Jacob. All of us that say, we trust in God.
He's right there with you. He's working on our
behalf. Yes, God is working on our behalf, but
you know what? It's easy to see that when things
are going good. right, when things are going
well, when the plans are working out. Everything's
great. God is with me. But when things are bad
and when our sins catch up to us, when we're
reaping what we have sown and hard times, hard
circumstances, or hard people come into our lives,
it seems a little bit harder to go, God is here.
It seems a little bit harder to believe God is
doing business on my behalf. In fact, the thing
the devil tries to speak into our mind is God
has abandoned you. That you made God mad. You're
no longer his kid. That God isn't doing anything
for you. God isn't working any good through this,
and those are lies from the pit of hell. Sometimes
the work God is doing is letting you suffer the
discipline. That is the work. Why? Because in
his infinite knowledge and wisdom, that is the
only way you're going to learn the lesson. and
he loves you enough to let you learn the lesson.
Isn't that amazing? He's not a helicopter dad.
Hover, hover, hover, hover. Make sure nothing
bad happens to us. So when you're in the middle
of the circumstance and the difficulty and the
suffering, and it's because of your own stupid
decisions, praise the Lord. I'm going to be okay.
God is with me. God is molding me. God is shaping
me. I'll get through this one way or the other.
And so I don't need to blame God. I don't need
to shake my fist at God. I don't need to question
whether He loves me. I don't need to question
whether He's with me. Quite the opposite. He's
still with me. He loves me so much. He's working
even in this. He loves me so much. And although
I don't like it, well, I'm the one responsible
for it, so don't blame Him for it. Just thank
Him that He's keeping me through it. And He's
providing and He's protecting according to His
will and His way. And maybe that's you this morning.
You have a difficult situation in your life that
you're going through. Maybe there's a difficult
person in your life. You've gotten a new boss,
a new manager, right? And somebody that has authority
or closeness with you and they're a Laban type.
They're harsh, they're judgmental, they're deceitful.
And you just get so mad of what they do and it
just drives you bonkers. I want you to consider
this. That if you're in a situation Where somebody
is doing or saying things that just drive you
nuts and they make you so mad and they're just
like, oh, it's so much trauma in my life. And
you're just simply, I'm tired of liars and I'm
tired of narcissist, arrogant punks. And Lord,
please help me. I'm crying out for relief. Maybe
take a moment to consider that some of those
traits that are driving you nuts. that are making
you feel abandoned and taken advantage of, that
they're just under your skin, maybe those are
the same traits that characterize you. Maybe
the reason that liar is driving you nuts is because
you're a liar, and God's letting you experience
the other side of that. Maybe you're... just
arrogant and think you could do no wrong and
you're always right and now there's someone in
your life who has authority over your life in
some way and they're just the same way and you're
like, you are so arrogant. I can't believe you.
Maybe God's letting you experience what it's
like because that's the trait in you he's trying
to get you to be aware of so that he can work
it out of your life. Maybe you're in this situation
because you've done or said the same exact thing
that you're suffering from right now. Consider
that maybe it's that circumstance and those people
that God is using not only to discipline you,
but to hone you and to shape you and to mold
you. And that perspective can help us process
the reality of God's presence. God being for
us, God being with us in the midst of situations
that look like I can't even fathom that God is
here. To step back and say, God, what am I trying
to, what do you want me to learn from this? Are
you showing anything about me? Because if you're
suffering in this situation, and it is a situation
because you do the same thing, wow, maybe that
might give you some compassion on people that
you've hurt. Maybe that'll give you some patience
with people that you've not treated right. God
is faithful. He's faithful to us, His children,
to teach us how to be, who to be, in all circumstances.
So trust Him in all circumstances. Amen? Let's
pray. Father, we're so grateful to You. Lord,
we're thankful that You don't give up on us.
Lord, we're thankful that when You look down,
onto your people. And you say, those are my kids.
That is my house. And then maybe the neighbors
would look at you and go, your family is messed
up. God, we are so thankful you say, yeah, but
they're mine and I'm working on them. God, we
welcome your work in our lives. Lord, I pray
we would learn lessons quick and easy so that
we don't have to go the hard way, but Lord, so
often we choose the hard way. Help us to trust
you, Lord, when we're suffering from the circumstances
or the consequences of our own decisions, Lord.
Help us to be able to step back and think, well,
maybe there's something here about us that you're
trying to let us experience, Lord, so that we
can just return from those things. Maybe there's
something here that is just simply us having
to learn to trust you through the difficulty
that we created for ourselves. Lord, we want
to be people that reflect you better every day.
And we know you use all the stuff that's happening
around us to affect that process. So Lord, instead
of us getting mad at you when we find ourselves
in situations Jacob found himself in, conned,
duped, taken advantage of, lied to, Lord, may
we have a little bit of grace and patience to
remember those times maybe we lied to somebody
to get our way. That time maybe we did the wrong
thing or took advantage of somebody for our own
benefit. And God, when we remember the grace
and the forgiveness and the mercy you gave us,
may we learn how to extend that to others. To
be humble. To be humble servants of you, almighty
God. That, Lord, that those that don't know you
would come to know you through the good that
you're working in your people. Lord, bless us.
Bless our hands, bless our feet, bless our mouths.
That we would be walking in obedience as often
as we can, God. But when we, because we will.
fail you, walk in disobedience. Lord, help us
to trust you in it even then. We love you. We
thank you for everything. It's in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. I pray that God blesses all of
you. And if you're in a difficult situation right
now, we'd love to pray with you. After we worship
today, there'll be some pastors and elders up
front. Let us pray with you. God is there. God
is working. I hope he spoke that very clearly
to you today. But that doesn't mean you don't
need support from your brothers and sisters.
If you know someone that's in a situation, offer
to go pray for them. Go pray for them. Let them
know. Remind them that God is with them. Because
that's what we do. We support one another. We
pull ourselves together and say, let's lift each
other's arms up. Let's pray for one another.
Let's help one another. And sometimes you're
the one that needs to be helped. And so please
come forward to get prayer after. But for the
rest of us, just know and understand. God is
always working. Let it not be in the circumstances
we create for ourselves that are bad circumstances,
but let us just learn to obey. But even then,
trust that God works all things for good. He
works it all out for good in the lives of those
that trust in Christ Jesus. Let that guide you.
Let that lead you. But let's praise Him as we
close. God bless you guys.