Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
Download MP3If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Genesis chapter 29. In Genesis 29, Over the years, I've heard some crazy, wedding night stories. I know for one couple here, actually, their wedding nights, when they got back to the hotel room, they popped open a bottle of champagne only to have the cork fly across the room and hit the fire alarm and set it off. Literally a 1 in a 1000000 shot. But but I still think my wife and I actually have one of the craziest stories from our wedding night.
Jeffrey Heine:We, you know, we dated six and a half years, and, then when we got married, that evening, we went to a really nice hotel in Atlanta. And when we pulled up in the parking lot, we noticed that there was just a lot of commotion and activity going on there. Some seedy looking characters were all around, lots of loud music. Yeah, this was a really nice hotel. Anyway, we we go inside and I asked for a room, and the lady looks at me and says, I'm sorry, but, you no longer have a reservation.
Jeffrey Heine:I was like, what do you mean? We had one of those Seinfeld moments, like, you you know, I made a reservation. You you hold on to the reservation. And, I said, I even confirmed the reservation just a few days ago and, actually it was a guy and the guy said, I I'm sorry. I realized that, but we gave away your room.
Jeffrey Heine:I said, well, why? And they said, well, a group came in and rented the entire hotel. It's like, who? So well, cocaine anonymous. I was like, oh, okay.
Jeffrey Heine:That explains some things, But still, you hold on through the reservation. And I said, it's our wedding night. And the person looks at me and just like, oh gosh. And I said, we've been dating 6a half years. We've waited 6a half years.
Jeffrey Heine:And now, perspiration is just pouring down this this this man, and he's typing furiously on his computer. I don't know what he's trying to find, but he says, can you can you give me 30 minutes and, I'm gonna basically, he gave us his room that was there. Will will that suffice? And I was like, a closet will suffice. I mean, we're not going anywhere.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, what are you gonna do? And, so but as crazy as as our wedding night was, it is nothing compared to the story that we are about to read. At least when I woke up in the morning, I was laying next to my wife. The same cannot be said of Jacob. Since it is such a good story, we're actually gonna read the whole thing.
Jeffrey Heine:Genesis 29 and beginning in verse 1. Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold 3 flocks of sheep lying beside it. For out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the wells mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.
Jeffrey Heine:Jacob said to them, my brothers, where do you come from? They said, we are from Haran. He said to them, do you know Laban the son of Nahor? They said, we know him. He said to them, is it well with him?
Jeffrey Heine:They said, it is well. And see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep. He said, behold, it is still high day. It's not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go pasture them.
Jeffrey Heine:But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep. While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess. Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, And Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.
Jeffrey Heine:And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father. As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, 'Surely, you are bone my bone and my flesh.' And he stayed with him a month.
Jeffrey Heine:Then Laban said to Jacob, 'Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be? Now Laban had 2 daughters. The name of the older was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak.
Jeffrey Heine:But Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, I will serve you 7 years for your daughter Rachel. Laban said, It is better that I give her to you than I should give her to any other man. Stay with me.' So Jacob served 7 years for Rachel, And they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
Jeffrey Heine:Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is completed. So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob and he went into her. Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah.
Jeffrey Heine:And Jacob said to Laban, what is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me? Laban said, 'It is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one and we will give you the other also, in return for serving me another 7 years.' Jacob did so and completed her week.
Jeffrey Heine:Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant. So Jacob went in to Rachel also. And he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another 7 years. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
Jeffrey Heine:And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben. For he said, 'Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me.' She conceived again and bore a son and said, 'Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.' And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son and said, 'Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him 3 sons. Therefore his name was called Levi.' And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, this time I will praise the Lord.' Therefore she called his name Judah. Then then she ceased bearing.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the word of the lord. Thanks be to God. If you would pray with me. Our father, I ask that you would use the words before us to stir our affections towards you. That we might love you more dearly.
Jeffrey Heine:That we might depend upon you wholly. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:So in this story, you've got lying, obsession, love, deceit. You've got some shocking reveals. You've got some kissing cousins. I mean, this is better than any soap opera. It's better than any, PBS Masterpiece theater.
Jeffrey Heine:This has got absolutely everything. I I'm surprised I haven't done a movie about this, not like one of those Bible miniseries movies, but like an actual movie about this because it has everything. I grew up hearing this story. I grew up in a a Baptist church in in our Sunday school. We we loved going through Genesis, and I can still remember the flannel graphs going through this.
Jeffrey Heine:Yet I had no idea what the story was about. It really wasn't until 25 years ago that I was given a cassette tape of a Tim Keller message on this, that I began to see the gospel implications of this text and it began opening up to me. And there's just a lot of gospel in this story. The story begins this way, chapter 29 begins by saying, then Jacob went on his journey. Literally in Hebrew, it's Jacob lifted up his heels.
Jeffrey Heine:And this is a way of saying there's a there's a new spring in his step. Jacob feels lighter. And why shouldn't he? God has just appeared to him. A God who he has not heard from ever in 40 years, but God has appeared to him and made promises to him that he was gonna guard him.
Jeffrey Heine:He was gonna keep him. He was gonna be with him. He was going to bless him. And so, he now has this lightness in his steps as he is anticipating this blessing from God. And he thinks, finally, finally after 40 years, things are beginning to go my way in the right direction.
Jeffrey Heine:However, like we saw last week, he still has this enormous hole in his heart. He still has a mess of a life and these things don't get fixed in a moment. They take time. And so what we're gonna see is now that God has made promises to him, God is going to treat him like one of his children, which means he's going to begin to discipline him. He's going to discipline him like a child.
Jeffrey Heine:And the Lord is gonna use Laban to do that. Rebecca sent Jacob to her brother Laban. Laban. And she was probably thinking he'd be there for a month or maybe 2. But Jacob is gonna end up being there for 20 hard long years.
Jeffrey Heine:All part of the Lord disciplining him and changing his character. When Jacob arrives in this place, we can see that loneliness that's there in his heart and it's actually gotten worse through the journey, which is understandable because he has been traveling 500 miles on foot all alone and so it has been a lonely long journey. And he's had to leave the one person who loved him, his mother. He had to leave her behind, but we see early on that his mother still dominates all of his thoughts. Look at verse 10 again.
Jeffrey Heine:You might have noticed this as we're reading. It's it's kind of unusually worded here. It says, now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. Jacob's mother is mentioned 3 times. 3 times in one sentence here.
Jeffrey Heine:You can understand maybe mentioning his mother once, but mentioning his mother three times in one sentence here, This is the author's way of letting us know that every time Jacob sees Rachel, he's thinking about his mom. He's thinking about the loneliness he now is experiencing because he has left the love of his mother. And then we we see how how crazy he falls head over heels to Rachel the moment he meets her. I mean, look at what happens. He has never met this woman and yet he goes crazy over her.
Jeffrey Heine:He he does, you know, right at the start what those 3 loser shepherds, you know, couldn't do. You know, they're all standing around by the well and none of them can move the stone from the well. Jacob sees Rachel and it's like all of a sudden his blood gets flowing and Jacob just goes over there and he like moves this entire enormous stone by himself. He probably took a shirt off to do it. I mean, he is he is trying to impress this woman.
Jeffrey Heine:He he had to be a beast of a man to do this, but once again, his his blood was flowing the moment he saw Rachel. And then after he shows off his muscles to her, to try to impress her, Notice what he does. He goes up and he kisses her and then immediately breaks down crying. And you don't have to be a psychologist to know that there's issues like he has got he's got some issues he's working through here. It's also his first cousin that he happens to be kissing and falling in love with.
Jeffrey Heine:And so there's issues there as well. Not so much for us here in Alabama, but but here, you know, I know. It's, interestingly, you know, the first wedding I ever did, I I married my sister. I did her ceremony. It was right after I moved to Alabama and everybody said, so you moved to Alabama and married your sister?
Jeffrey Heine:It's like, yes. Yes. But apparently, being a first cousin was a turn on in this day. It just it made her hotter in Jacob's eyes. And so he he's going head over heel when he just sees her.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, crazy emotions. But probably the the one thing that we see that really lets us know that he is not thinking rationally is when he says how much he will pay in order for her to, to be, her husband. When he sees Rachel, he says, I'm willing to pay for her. And he tells Laban that he will work 7 years in order to have her hand in marriage. 7 years.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, as I'm sure most of you are familiar with Babylonian times. And, if you were to marry a woman in Babylonian times, you did have to pay a bridal price. And it was typically 20 to 30 shekels. That's all it was. 20 to 30 shekels.
Jeffrey Heine:Actually, Deuteronomy 22 puts a limit as to how much you were allowed to give as a bridal price. No one was allowed to give more than 50 shekels. And and no one even came close to giving 50 shekels. That would be something, that would be a royal price, something you would pay for a princess, but usually you paid about 20 shekels. Now a shekel and a half is what you received for 1 month's work.
Jeffrey Heine:So do the math here. When you do the math, Jacob is offering over a 120 shekels for Rachel. That's 6 to 7 times more than the asking price. It's 3 and a half times more than the absolute highest price you would ever pay even for royalty. So what we see here is he's he's not negotiating.
Jeffrey Heine:He is going over the top to make sure Rachel is his. This is an obsession that we see. Jacob still has this enormous hole in his heart and then comes Rachel, who's described as beautiful in form and appearance. In other words, she was a knockout. I mean, she had a beautiful face and she had a beautiful body.
Jeffrey Heine:And Jacob sees it and he fixates on her. Says, that's what I need. I need one of those. And if I get one of those, I'm complete in my life. I will finally be happy.
Jeffrey Heine:I will finally be blessed. And I have seen a lot of Jacobs in my life do this. Men who look to romantic relationships to somehow save them. Men who were drowning in their loneliness and along comes a 5 foot 3 blonde life preserver and they go and they reach out and hold on to her for everything to keep from drowning. And women do the same thing.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not a 5 foot 3 blonde, it might be taller, might be stronger, but they see a man and they're like life preserver. Hold on. Keep me from drowning. Save me. I've seen this over and over.
Jeffrey Heine:Jacob, when he says he is willing to work 7 years for Laban's daughter, Laban knows in that moment, I've got him. I've got him. His wheels begin turning in his head right away as to how can I use this to deceive him? How can I use this for my gain? Remember, Laban is Rebekah's brother.
Jeffrey Heine:And if you remember Rebekah, well she's the one who came up with the deceit and how to deceive Isaac and how to deceive Esau. It was her who came up with this elaborate scheme to do all of this. Now we're beginning to see where she probably learned it all from. Deceit ran in the family, but Laban Laban's the master of deceit. And so when he hears and he sees everything that that Jacob is ready to do, he knows I've got them, and I can use this.
Jeffrey Heine:And notice how carefully Laban words his response to Jacob's request. He doesn't actually ever promise to give Rachel in marriage to Jacob. Look at verse 19 and see how careful he is with his words. He says, well, it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. He doesn't say yes, and he also never says Rachel.
Jeffrey Heine:He's being very intentional with this. If you actually look at the statement, it's a pretty meaningless vague statement in and of itself. And what we see is Laban is already planning a future deceit. He's parsing his words right here carefully. Knowing that Jacob is gonna hear what Jacob wants to hear.
Jeffrey Heine:And Jacob has fixated himself onto Rachel, and he has fallen under her spell. And so he does hear what he wants to hear. So he works for 7 years. And we read this little sweet thing that, you know, the 7 years were seemed like just a few days because of his love for her. It is sweet.
Jeffrey Heine:But it also shows his absolute obsession with her. He is a man obsessed. After he has finished 7 years, he goes to Laban. And, let's read what he says. It's in verse 21.
Jeffrey Heine:Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is completed. Now even the oldest Jewish commentaries, they all remark on how vulgar this statement is. This is an extremely vulgar statement. Jason or Jacob basically says this. I've paid the price.
Jeffrey Heine:Give me my wife so that I can have sex with her. It's it's a very blunt, vulgar phrase that he uses there. Give her to me so I can have sex with her. For the last 7 years he's been placing all of his hopes and all of his dreams on this one night. Poor woman.
Jeffrey Heine:Can you imagine how poor wife here? No one can meet up to those expectations. No one was meant to meet those expectations. So the wedding festivities, they begin and, Laban dresses up Leah instead of Rachel in order to get, Leah married. Now Leah would have been veiled here so you wouldn't been able to see here.
Jeffrey Heine:There would have been lots of drinking at these weddings, unlike you know today's weddings. You know lots and lots of drinking here. It would have been dark. And so after celebrating, for an entire day, Jacob lightly likely goes back to his tent in the dark drunk. And he sleeps with who he thinks is Rachel, but instead it's Leah.
Jeffrey Heine:But he doesn't find this out until he wakes up the next morning. Probably with a hangover. And then when he sees that, it's it gets worse. Now, notice the poetic justice here. Jacob, if you remember, he gave a feast for his dad and then he dressed up like another in order to deceive him.
Jeffrey Heine:And now Jacob falls victim to the exact same scam. And and what a shock Jacob gets in the morning. I mean what a shock. Derek Kidner. It's my it's a small commentary.
Jeffrey Heine:He wrote a small commentary. It's best my favorite. And he says that that phrase behold it was Leah. He says it is the very embodiment of anticlimax. And it's and it's one that we've all experienced in our lives at some point where we've all had these behold, it's Leah moments in which we thought we went to bed with a Rachel but we woke up with a Leah.
Jeffrey Heine:We we've all had those moments in which we were certain that this one thing was gonna completely fulfill us, but it turned into something else. It turned into Aaliyah. So let me ask you, what is your Rachel? What is it? What are you fixating on in order to fill that hole that you have in your life?
Jeffrey Heine:Who are you counting on to be blessed? Who is the one you're going to to give you an identity? What are you hoping to find your rest in? This story, what it's really about is idolatry. It's about idolatry, which is nothing more than than looking to a good thing, but turning it into an ultimate thing.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what an idol is. Often it's a good thing, but you're looking to it as an ultimate thing. Marriage is a good thing, but it's not ultimate. It's not meant to bear the weight of all of our hopes, of all of our expectations. You've heard me say from time to time that, even the best marriages have a hint of sadness in them.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm not talking about, you know, bad marriages which might have more than just a hint. But like even really really good marriages still have a hint of sadness to them. Marriages in which there's deep mutual love and respect still can't fulfill everything. My wife and I, we have a a relationship that has deep affection, and respect towards one another. We've actually been dating, for over 30 years.
Jeffrey Heine:We've been together, I mean we started dating when she was 15 and I was 16. And we know each other pretty well. We love each other now more than we did when we were 15 and 16, for sure. She knows me better than anyone on this planet, but she will never really know me. She'll never really know all of my inner emotions, all of my inner thoughts.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm not even sure if I know those things about me. And she can't and I can't expect her to because marriage was not meant to bear that weight. It was never meant to fill up that hole that I have in my heart. My wife is not a life preserver in which I'm too clean to to keep from drowning in a sea of loneliness. My wife cannot save me.
Jeffrey Heine:And if I put that expectation and burden on her, not only is it incredibly unfair and hurtful to her, but it also makes things pretty miserable to me because I will be so frustrated and I will be so disappointed in our marriage. And the truth is this, and we all know this, God created us with a much deeper longing than anything or any person in this world could ever fulfill. We were meant for God. Just like marriage cannot fill that hole in my heart. Parenting can't fill that hole in my heart.
Jeffrey Heine:And I love my kids. My kids bring me so much joy. They bring a lot of life into my life. And I have 3 daughters and I'm a girl daddy through and through. I can't imagine, having boys.
Jeffrey Heine:I I I love my daughters, but I would say even being a dad to my daughters, there's a hint of sadness in there. Just like there's a hint of sadness with anything beautiful or enjoyable you experience, the sadness is this. It can't last forever. It won't last forever. Already, my children are growing up way faster than I want.
Jeffrey Heine:My oldest child will leave to go off to college in just over a year. I'm not ready for that. In my mind, I want them to just stay children and I just wanna forever be holding them in my lap, but that's fading. So there's a hint of sadness even in my parenting. Even with the best that the world has to give, there's gonna be sadness in it because it can't ever last.
Jeffrey Heine:Think of it this way, you have this this eternal hole in your heart that can only be filled with an eternal love. No one can bless us like God. My wife, whenever she says goodbye to Caroline, who is our oldest, every morning, Caroline drives down to Briarwood High School. And as she is leaving, the house, the last thing Lauren always says to her is, Caroline, remember whose you are. Remember whose you are.
Jeffrey Heine:And then Caroline goes. And the reason Lauren says this is because if you can remember, if you can remember that you are a child of God and that you are fully blessed by God, you will not go looking for the blessing in the arms of another. And you will not go looking for the blessing in any other thing. And your identity is rock solid on the one who created you. No one can bless you like God.
Jeffrey Heine:Jacob should have remembered who he was. God had made a covenant with him. He was a child of God. But he didn't remember who he was. Once again, who is the Rachel in your life?
Jeffrey Heine:Usually, I found that there's many. There's not just one. There's many Rachels. And you always think that once you get that Rachel, you're going to be happy. Once you, finally achieve your ideal weight, you'll be happy.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, after the Lenten season of fasting, conveniently right before bathing suit season. I know how you guys think. Alright? And so so you you finish up your fast and you get your ideal weight and you're like, finally finally, I've achieved this goal. But you're not satisfied.
Jeffrey Heine:You're not satisfied if you get that perfect job. You're never satisfied. You you always wake up with Leah. Always. For some of you, you thought that when you were in school, if you could just make it to the next semester, then it finally be easy.
Jeffrey Heine:How'd that work out for you? Like I could just make it to the next semester. Every student is always living to just make it to the next semester, but that actually does prepare you for life because that's what you do for the rest of your life. You're trying to make it to the next season. Oh, once once I could just get married then I'll be happy.
Jeffrey Heine:And then once you're married, once I could finally get out of my apartment and into a actual home, then I'll be much better. Once I could finally get that promotion and maybe get a little bit more money, things will be easier. Once I can finally have kids, well then I'll I'll be that family. I'll be, you know, that place where I always dreamed when I was little and I look forward to my life, you know, the the the husband, the wife, the kids, 2 and a half kids, the dogs, the house, I'll have all of that, then I'll finally be happy. But then it's always the next season.
Jeffrey Heine:What am I gonna do about my kids' schooling? I gotta be sure I get in a good school district. It goes on and on and on. You're always looking for rest and you always think that when you you grab hold of this, I got Rachel. It's never Rachel.
Jeffrey Heine:It's Leah. We always wake up with Leah. That statement, behold it was Leah, is a summary of what most of us have experienced for most of our lives. The thing is there is no relationship. There is no person that can ever satisfy our deepest desires.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. Back to this story. Once again, as crazy as my wedding night was, I still woke up next to Lauren. Jacob wakes up and he is not next to who he thought was his wife. He sees Leah and he is furious.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean he rushes out of his tent, he beelines it towards Laban and he yells at Laban, what have you done? Why did you deceive me? Now Laban has known this moment was coming. I mean, of course, he knew this moment was coming. It's not like he thought way up, Jacob would wake up and be like, what a pleasant surprise.
Jeffrey Heine:Like, he he knew he knew there's gonna be some serious anger coming his way. And he has had had he's had 7 years to think of the perfect response for when Jacob does. And when he gives his reply to Jacob, it hits Jacob like a truck. Look at verse 26. And in the morning behold it was Leah.
Jeffrey Heine:And Jacob said to Laban, what is this that you have done? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me? Laban said, it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Translation.
Jeffrey Heine:I don't know where you come from, but here, we put the older before the younger. And Jacob melts. Notice he doesn't offer any resistance. He doesn't say another word. He goes from absolute fury, ready to kill the man, to utter defeat after this.
Jeffrey Heine:Because all he could think of is yes. How he, one time, dressed up as another in order to receive the blessing of his older brother. So now, he gets to reap what he sows. God is beginning to discipline his child here. He's disciplining Jacob.
Jeffrey Heine:Laban says, Hey. Finish up the week of wedding festivities. A a wedding in this day would typically last a week. And then, you can marry Rachel if you promise to work for me another 7 years. And he knows he hasn't.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, this has gotta be the worst week of Jacob's life. Also, the worst week really of Leah's life. I mean, could you imagine being Leah in this spot? Who on your honeymoon, all I mean, you know this, your husband is only counting down the days till he gets to be with another woman. That's how Leah spent her honeymoon here.
Jeffrey Heine:At the end of the week, it's exactly what Jacob did. He married Rachel. And we read that comment. He loved Rachel more than Leah. If you if, I mean, as you hear this story, does a part of you just wanna say, it shouldn't have been that way Jacob.
Jeffrey Heine:Can't you see Leah? Like, Leah seems to be his soul mate, in a sense. We would use that terminology. He and Leah seem to belong together, because they are so much alike. Leah longed to be loved, Yet she always lived in the shadow of her sister.
Jeffrey Heine:Jacob longed to be loved, but he always lived in the shadow of his brother Esau. Really, they were a great match for one another. We don't know that much about Leah. We're only given a couple of details here. First, we know her name, Leah.
Jeffrey Heine:Her name in Hebrew means cow. Alright? Cow or weary. You could try to spin this however you want. It's not a term of endearment.
Jeffrey Heine:It it it's just like now if you were to name a child, cow, it was the same back then. It's not really an affectionate term, and so she was, for some reason, named Cal. Verse 17, we also read that her eyes were weak. I I haven't really read any scholar that knows for sure what this means. It could have possibly been describing some kind of physical defect, or it could just be a way of saying she wasn't beautiful, Or, it could be a way of just saying she didn't have that spark in her eyes.
Jeffrey Heine:She was weary. She was kinda lifeless. So she wasn't an attractive person. We know that. Kind of a lifeless, unattractive person.
Jeffrey Heine:The complete opposite of her younger sister who, of course, was beautiful and could marry absolutely anyone she wanted. She could have her pick. But for Leah, the only way that she could get married was if her dad got the groom drunk and covered over her face and deceived him into marrying her. Think about that. That's the only way Leah could get married.
Jeffrey Heine:And Leah is so desperate for love, she goes along with it. She is so desperate to fill that hole in her heart. She goes along with it. I mean, just like Jacob, if if you remember he he goes through all of this the seat just to have for one time. His dad hold him his head, look into his eyes with deep affection and love and bless him.
Jeffrey Heine:Even though he knows he's gonna be found out, he goes through with it anyway. Leah knows this will be discovered, but she just wants that one night. And how else is she gonna get married? And so she goes through with it. So she has a hole in her heart just like Jacob, and she tried to fill it through marriage.
Jeffrey Heine:After she got married, she tried to fill it with kids. Look at verses 31 32. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, 'Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me.
Jeffrey Heine:So she's hated, which is a strong word there. But the Lord does open her womb and so she can have kids. So she has a child named Reuben. She names the child Reuben because it means he sees. And, of course, she's saying that God has seen her in her predicament, but she is also naming her child Reuben because she wants her husband to see her.
Jeffrey Heine:She thinks now that I've had this kid I will no longer be visible to my husband. He's actually going to notice me and not just notice Rachel. She could walk into a room and now she could finally be the object of his love and his affection. Do you see what she is doing in this? You see what she's doing?
Jeffrey Heine:She's fixing now all of her hope and all of her happiness and having this blessed life on her ability to have kids and to make Jacob notice her. She's using kids to, once again, just try to get the affection of her husband. She names her next child Simeon, which means he hears. Because, yes, the Lord has heard her, She's also hoping now her husband will hear her. Her 3rd child, she names Levi.
Jeffrey Heine:Levi means attached or hold on to, because she thinks, finally, I've been the perfect wife, I've been the perfect parent, I've given this man 3 sons. Finally, he will hold on to me. Finally, he will embrace me and give me the affection I deserve. That's what she's hoping for. And all the while, she's doing this, she's praying.
Jeffrey Heine:She's thanking God for these things. She's praying for children. And so she's doing what a lot of us in this room are guilty of doing, in which we have a relationship with the Lord, we do pray to him, but what we pray for is that God would give us something else that we could have satisfaction in other than him. We pray for idols. How much of our prayer life is essentially, God give me this to fill this hole in my heart.
Jeffrey Heine:Give me this job. Give me this house. Give me this spouse. Give this to me to fill this heart. But God does not give out idols because he knows that we'll never fill the hole in our heart.
Jeffrey Heine:Only he can satisfy. He wants to give something of infinite more value. He wants to give himself. Can you imagine how tortured Leah's soul is as this keeps happening? And each time she has these hopes, this time he's gonna see me.
Jeffrey Heine:This time he's gonna embrace me. This time he's gonna he's gonna love me and notice me and each time it fails and it is selling in on her that no matter what she did, no matter how many sons she gave this man, she would always play second fiddle to Rachel. I I can't imagine a worse form of torture to know that you would never be loved no matter what you did, but your sister always would be. Now, notice what happens here. Because God begins to change her heart.
Jeffrey Heine:He begins disciplining her through this. Look at verse 35. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, this time, I will praise the Lord. Therefore, she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.
Jeffrey Heine:She makes no reference to her husband in the naming of this child. There's no reference to Jacob at all. Instead, she names her son Judah, which means praise. Praise. And she says, this time, I will praise the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:And what we see here is Leah is no longer seeking her satisfaction in Jacob but she's finally seeking her satisfaction in the Lord. She's finally turning to the Lord to fill that hole in her heart. And so she names her final son Praise. And after she has, Judah, she ceases bearing children. Meaning, she no longer sought to find her significance through having kids.
Jeffrey Heine:Because she has found her significance in the worshiping of the Lord. And then there's something even more profound that happens here. If you read through the first chapter of Matthew, you're gonna find the genealogy of Jesus, and you're gonna find the name Judah there. The messianic line does not come through Rachel. It comes through Leah.
Jeffrey Heine:And it doesn't come through Leah's first three sons. The messianic line's gonna come through Judah. Jesus is descended from Judah. Because Jesus is not like the Rachels of this world. Isaiah 53 says that he had no beauty that we should look at him.
Jeffrey Heine:It says that he was rejected by men. That he was a man of sorrows. He was acquainted with grief. Jesus is like Leah, And he works through the Leas of this world. He works through those who are broken, those who are hurting, those whom the world has forgotten or despises.
Jeffrey Heine:And then He makes those Leah's beautiful. Hear me. I don't I don't know when you read the story and you listen to it, who you identify with, but I'm imagining a lot of you identify with Leah. And that you've longed to be like Rachel your whole life. You've longed for the beauty.
Jeffrey Heine:You've longed for everybody to be attracted to you. You've longed to be looked at like you could do no wrong and for everybody just showering affection on you without even having to work for it? If that's you, if you relate to Leah here, you need to hear this. God does not love things or is attracted to things because he finds them beautiful. God does not find anything beautiful.
Jeffrey Heine:No. God's love is what makes things beautiful. And God loves you. He is attracted to you and he loves you, and it is through that love and attraction that you were made beautiful. You were transformed into something of infinite worth and of infinite beauty.
Jeffrey Heine:And that's really what this story is about. This story is an invitation to all the Jacobs and all the Leahs of the world for us to come to Jesus with our brokenness. With our broken souls and ask him to make them whole. Jesus, who will take all of our ugliness and will make us beautiful through his love. There's an invitation here for us, And I plead with you to take Jesus up on this invitation.
Jeffrey Heine:The love that you have been looking for your entire life will not be found in the arms of another person or in the arms of any other thing. It can only be found in the arms of Jesus. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, we do love you, but not nearly enough. We still run after idols.
Jeffrey Heine:And, Father, I pray that in the next few moments through your Spirit, you would expose our idolatry and the things that we have turned to that cannot satisfy. And Lord, I pray that, we would see you for who you are as the one of infinite worth and the only one who could bless us. He would we would turn to you and hold on to you with everything. Thank you for not giving up on us. Thank you for loving us, and through your love, turning us into something beautiful.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.
