Genesis 29:31-30:24

God will use our circumstance and our desire to draw us to himself.

Easter Sunday 433, a local Irish king issued a decree in observation of a pagan Druid festival prohibiting anyone from lighting a flame or candle, as was tradition. Saint Patrick, refusing to honor anyone but Christ, stood against the king.

That morning, Patrick risked his life by climbing to the tallest hill in the area and lighting a huge fire. As the ancient Irish people woke up, they could all see Patrick’s defiance of the king. He could not hide his light. Patrick wanted to show the world that God’s light shines in darkness and that only He deserves praise.

Years later, an unknown composer wrote a melody in honor of Patrick’s heroism. Called “Slane,” the now-forgotten composer named it after the hill where Patrick set the blaze: Slane Hill. People still recognize the tune today.

Later in the sixth century an Irish poet named St. Dallan Forgaill wrote a Gaelic poem, “Rop tu mo Baile,” in honor of St. Patrick. Borrowing from another medieval poem, St. Patrick’s Breastplate, Forgaill’s lyric’s referred to God as his “battle shield” and “high tower.”

But Forgaill’s earliest copies of the poem would be lost to history and by the 14th century it was impossible to verify if the words of the poem were still his. And the poem, “Rop tu mo Baile” along with the older melody “Slane” fell into obscurity. Fading into the fogs of time.

But in 1905, nearly 1500 years after Patrick lit a flame on Slane Hill, the forgotten “hymn” re-emerged from the mists of time. Mary Bryne, a 25-year-old university student discovered a 14th century copy of the poem and translated it into English for the first time.

In that moment, the now-hallowed lyrics, “Be thou my vision… Oh Lord of my heart” sprang from forgotten pages of time into the modern world. Later in 1912, an Irish woman, Eleanor Hull, set the words to music. The melody she chose was none other than “Slane.”

Now in hymnals for over 100 years… a song about wanting nothing else, except the Lord. His presence as our light. No desire for riches or fame. Jesus as inheritance, the King of glory our treasure.

Fascinating story about a hymn singing of a heart settled on the Lord. God used centuries of stories to bring it to life, to encourage the church to call us to something better than what the pagan kings of all ages would suggest.

He orchestrates all of it for his glory and our good!

And today in the story of two sister wives, longing, love, envy, praise, and petition we see that:

God will use our circumstance and desire to draw us to himself.

Jacob, who set out to find a wife has not one, but two.

After the dream at Bethel, he encountered his uncle’s people at a well and stayed with Laban who had two daughters. Leah and Rachel. It was Rachel Jacob loved.

Having nothing for the bride price, he offers to work for seven years in exchange for Rachel’s hand in marriage.

Laban agrees, and the years fly by, “like a few days.”

The time came and Jacob, who tricked both his brother and father out of birthright and blessing, is tricked by Laban as he sends Leah into the dark marriage tent.

“And in the morning, behold it was Leah.”

Laban blames tradition. But Jacob can still have Rachel, he just has to complete the marriage week with Leah and commit to another seven years of work.

Genesis 29:30 “So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.” (ESV)

Now, monogamy is the biblical ideal from the very beginning. From Genesis 2, when God creates man and woman. The idea of husband and wife is formed. One man, one woman. Any deviation from that is always met with trouble. As we will see in this family. As was true of the kings of Israel that took multiple wives to their downfall.

Evenso, God will use it, furthering his promise, a massive expansion of family, moving toward the “offspring shall be like the dist of the earth” part of the covenant!

In these sister wives we see the process of longing and resolution, being drawn to Yahweh, that can help us in the face of our own desires and God’s drawing us to himself.

Two sisters, two movements; Pining to Praise; Aching to Asking.

Pinging to Praise

This is Leah’s story.

The older sister. In this marriage by switcheroo.

Genesis 29:16–17 “Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. [17] Leah’s eyes were weak (soft), but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. (ESV)

“Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful.” So she wasn’t ugly!

But she wasn’t preferred. Wasn’t loved.

What she longs for, pines for, to be loved. “To feel cherished, valued, and cared for deeply by another person. It’s about feeling accepted, understood, and supported. Being loved also encompassess a sense of belonging, connection, and security.”

This is what Leah wants. Love.

We can imagine her emotional/mental state. As Jacob claims Rachel, seven years of Jacob in proximity, pining for Rachel. Then Dad says, go in, lie with him…

The rejection she felt, even that first morning.

Then living as “second.” Every step in the story is about gaining love…

Some of us have been there.

The desire for romantic love can overwhelm us. Shoot, even non-romantic love, acceptance, belonging, connection. It often can feel like the desire for this acts as the rudder directing the boat of our lives.

And how many boats have I seen go over cliffs…

Maybe it’s not love though. Maybe its desire for something else.

Respect. Achievement. Relief.

Some things are good and right. Some detrimental and leading away from what is best.

You know what it is for you.

God is using all of it… that we might desire him… pursue him… because underneath all of our desire is his design.

“God designed us with a deep longing that manifests itself in restlessness. And the restlessness will persist until we find that inner connection with God the God who has been pursuing us through our longing.” James Bryan Smith

Created in his image, why he names himself so early in Genesis… It’s almost like God wants to be wanted. Or as A. W. Tozer wrote, “God is waiting to be wanted.”

Leah with learn, kind of, that what she is pining for won’t fulfill… and where she ends, at least after her first four sons, is exactly where we want to be.

God is active in the story. He saw Leah was hated… she conceived.

God sees our worth even when the world overlooks us, and He works through our challenges to fulfill His purpose in our lives.

29:32b “Because the Lord has looked on my affliction; for now my husband will love me.”

Longing and expectation presented for us, and it will be a progression. “If I won’t be loved on the basis of who I am, maybe I will be loved on the basis of what I produce… performance.”

Burden placed on us by any idol, and person, object, accolade, we look for to be ultimate. Appeasing, pleasing, is it ever enough?!

Tim Keller Counterfeit Gods:

“An idol is something we cannot live without. We must have it. Therefore it drives us to break rules we once honored to harm others, even ourselves, in order to get it.”

“An idol is anything more important to you than God. Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. Anything you seek to give you what only God can give. Anything that is so central and essential to your life, that should lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.”

“Whatever controls us is our Lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves, we are controlled by the lord of our lives.”

Pining for love is controlling Leah. And it goes on. Simeon comes, “because the Lord heard.” Then another son.

29:34b “Now this time my husband will be attached to me because I have borne him three sons.” Levi.

You want to hug Leah. I think we are supposed to feel for her. It’s an impossible situation. No out. She hope for attachment.

She is thoroughly human. A reminder that we are too. We bring all of our humanity, emotions, longing, desires, hopes, fears, into this relationship with our Creator and he is using it for his purposes and to draw us to himself.

From the rest of the story there is no indication that Jacob loved, attached, or honored Leah. Pining unmet.

So her posture changed, insightful for us.

“Leah must learn that it is only through the Lord that her identity can be truly established. As she bears Jacob one son after another, she seeks to use her childbearing as a way to get Jacob to love her. She is building her identity on her husband’s love for her instead of on the Lord’s love for her. With the fourth son, however, divine grace breaks through: “This time I will praise the LORD” (29:35). Her fundamental affection has been redirected. And the name of the fourth son? Judah—the one through whom the covenant promises will finally be fulfilled (Heb. 7:14; Rev. 5:5).” GTB

Genesis 29:35 “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.” (ESV)

No - “Now he will love me.” But instead, “I will praise Yahweh!” I will thank God for all He has given me, four sons, these gifts!’ Judah=praise

From longing to gratitude.

Pinging, when it is unhealthy, dominating, devastating, loses its power when we turn in gratitude to God for what we have been given.

Much of life, since the garden, is a struggle with wanting “more.” We have an advantage over Leah, we know the descendant of Judah that will free us from slavery to “more.”

The gift that drives our praise; salvation in Christ. Forgiveness of sin. Eternal life in him.

Solution: Awakening to the reality that there’s no such thing as “missing out” when we are in Christ.

In the NT Paul will write that all is your in Christ…1 Cor. 3:21 “There is no missing out in Jesus. No, we won’t be fulfilled when we get married because we are already fulfilled in Christ. No, we don’t have to find our own identities because we already have names and love in the one who named us and made us. No, we won’t experience true happiness when we get the job or the paycheck we want because we are already, now, full of the presence and grace of God.”

From that fulfillment we learn what is the will of God, what is good, and acceptable and perfect. We learn to submit our desires under his authority.

“Discussing our longings in the abstract isn’t difficult. But we don’t follow Jesus on paper. We follow with our lives. The blood, sweat, and tears that come from partnering with God’s Spirit in the formation of our desires is a lifelong and arduous journey. The way of Jesus is the way of desire. To follow this way is to put our own desires under his, recognizing that our strongest desires aren’t always the most important.” A.J. Swoboda

Key to getting there is praise.

Psalm 9:1–2 “I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;

I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

[2] I will be glad and exult in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” (ESV)

Psalm 63:3–8

[3] Because your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

[4] So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands.

[5] My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

[6] when I remember you upon my bed,

and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

[7] for you have been my help,

and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

[8] My soul clings to you;

your right hand upholds me. (ESV)

Psalm 71:8

[8] My mouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all the day. (ESV)

Psalm 146:2

[2] I will praise the LORD as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. (ESV)

Hebrews 13:15 “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (ESV)

Always invited back to this. What our desires hint at.

Leah will still pine… she thinks six sons will have her husband finally honoring her.

We can face our pining, curious what’s underneath it, how the Lord is using it to draw us to himself, and pursue him in praise.

Aching to Asking

Rachel’s story. Beautiful but barren. Heard this before.

Leah is birthing children, Rachel envies her sister.

She aches, saying to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”

Genesis 30:2 “Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” (ESV)

Trouble and recognition of God’s sovereign hand at work.

She provides her servant, taking matters into her own hands (like Sarah before her) and the baby race is on.

All of the names of the children carry meaning. Dan = “judged” Rachel calls herself judged by God, but she knows he has heard her request for children, Then comes Naphtali = “wrestling” wrestled with her sister and prevailed.

Rachel has Jacob’s love, she is his prize. Yet she wants to be more. And in the ache to get ahead, to best her fruitful sister, she let’s control, envy, and constant tension reign.

And she won’t win the competition, even when it seems she is keeping Jacob from Leah, she relents to get some mandrates, aphrodisiac apples, and Leah has three more kids.

Where Rachel ends is where we are being drawn to… and it is the better place.

Notice:

Genesis 30:22–24 “Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. [23] She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” [24] And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the LORD add to me another son!” (ESV)

May the LORD add to me another son!

Like Rachel, we go to the Lord in prayer.

Phillips Brooks: “The purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth.”

Tremendous promise in prayer.

John 15:7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (ESV)

Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (ESV)

The same Savior who taught us to pray for God's kingdom to come, his will be done. Who prayed, please take this cup, but not my will, yours be done.

Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (ESV)

Hebrews 4:15–16 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (ESV)

He draws us through desire, through circumstance, to praise and prayer.

“The Christian way isn’t the uncritical pursuit of our desires du jour. No, the Christian call is to follow the One who made us out of his desire and gave us our own.” A.J. Swoboda

God uses all of this to further his purpose. 11 of the tribes.

Joseph, will eventually save his brothers from famine even after they sell him off to slavery.

Judah, son of the unloved wife, will be the tribe of David, of Jesus.

The one who will come to satisfy our ultimate longings for salvation, relationship with God, identity, and purpose. True belonging. What is underneath all the lesser longings.

Over centuries, using circumstance and desire to draw us to himself, that we would find real life in him. That we might do that with praise and prayer.

God uses unlikely people and situations to weave His plans, challenges are opportunities for God’s purpose to unfold in our lives.

Seems so trivial, but I need to process all of my desires through praise and prayer. It will help us gain understanding of what we are meant for, what is true.

Praise - Live to praise the Lord all the days of your life. Remember all that he has done, all he has given you, and in gratitude, lift his name.

Pray - With confidence, bring your whole self before the throne of grace, bring your desires to have them met, transformed, or diminished. That God’s purpose would roll on, that he would be our satisfaction, our delight.

By the One who has blessed all the families of the earth.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;

Thou my best thought, by day or by night;

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true Word;

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

Thou my great Father and I, Thy true son;

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise;

Thou mine inheritance, now and always;

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart;

O King of glory, my treasure Thou art.

O King of glory, my victory won;

Rule and reign in me ’til Thy will be done;

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall;

Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.