Speaker: Jerry Cisar

Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob to Paddan Aram to get a wife because the Canaanite women would lead him and the family away into idolatry. Jacob obediently goes to find his wife and so we might expect that this wife, or as it turns out, these wives, will be examples of what godly wives look like, giving an example we can follow in having a peaceful home and loving relationships. If so, we will be sorely disappointed.

God’s covenant is about rescuing sinners. Always has been. And there is no lack of sin from which this covenant family needs to be redeemed. Leah and Rachel spend their married life scheming against each other. Leah craves to be loved by Jacob; Rachel has his love and yet wants what Leah has… children. What she wants is good; how badly she wants it leads her to throw her husband into the arms of another woman. (This text is definitely PG-13.) Both woman are bearing an unbearable burden. They walk the way of manipulation, not the way of faith.

Maybe like Leah you need to know that God is concerned with your suffering and wonder if He even sees what you go through. Maybe like the characters in this story, it seems He has forgotten. Some may feel unloved, or unlovely, like Leah. Or some may be thought of as enviable like Rachel, yet you are bearing no fruit. Maybe it seems God has forgotten you. These stories are about your own family history as a part of God’s people and how God can accomplish great fruit in the lives of broken people.

Join us as we explore Genesis 29:31 – 30:21.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/10/20161016.pdf