Genesis 29 Discussion

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And welcome back to a chapter day.
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Keeps the devil away.
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Today, Pastor Holland and Pastor Pleck, that's me, are looking at Genesis chapter 29.
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And what a story of love and romance it is.
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First off, the kiss.
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Okay, so important to note that when Jacob sees uh Rachel and he goes and kisses her.
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He's making out with her.
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Okay, so you know that's one take.
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I believe it's a bit of a stretch.
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He kissed Rachel and he wept aloud.
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So maybe he's just crying and he's an emotional guy.
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He makes out, he instantly feels guilty and starts crying.
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Is that it?
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So I think the context is more of a tears of joy and a more of a friendly greeting kiss rather than a make out session because verse 13, as soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him.
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Yeah.
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And brought him to his house.
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Yeah, that makes more sense.
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I don't think this is like a Sodom, you know, uh part two here.
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We don't see any kind of, I think this is more of just our culture is unfamiliar with this, but this is a greeting type kiss.
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Okay, can I now the next one is I love how when Jacob shows up to uh Pat and Haran, he finds a like three flocks of sheep lying beside the well and nobody is watering them.
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Now he's like, he starts getting critical.
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Why is nobody watering the flocks?
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And they say because uh this belongs to Laban, and I think it's because they were waiting for Rachel to water her flocks, and they get first dibs on the water, and then they would wait.
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But Jacob takes it upon himself to kind of ignore all you know, either moral or poor work ethic.
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You know, they could have been just lazy shepherds.
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Um, but he just goes, I will get this off, and he gets it off, and then boom, here comes Rachel, and he greets her.
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So he sees Rachel.
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Right.
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As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, he gets up and rolls the stone away, which typically took like multiple shepherds pushing the thing away.
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And so remember a couple chapters back, we're talking about Esau being a man's man and the hunter and Harry.
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Maybe he's a strong dude.
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All right, maybe he worked out in his home gym.
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There you go.
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So he's a strong, incredible feat of strength that he did the moment he saw this beautiful woman.
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He's like, So he's flexing.
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That should show you that flexing for women is an appropriate response.
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There you go.
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He was demonstrating, you know, look, I am strong.
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And, you know, cut and then so he he's showing his strength.
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He's showing physical strength, and he has an emotional side because he starts crying.
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Right.
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I mean, the the guy, uh what a well-rounded fellow, you know.
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Well, he probably read poetry and then worked, did a workout right there.
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He's a he's a romantic guy here, you know, and then you know, he he's willing to serve seven years.
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Seven years for and it seemed like but a moment because of his great love for her.
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Like just epitome of romantic manner.
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And you would think that God would reward him for that, but no, he gets stuck with weak eye Leah.
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As she was called back then, old weak eyes.
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What do you think that means?
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I just think that, you know, her eyes were not symmetrical.
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Or do you think it could be, you know, you could read it as um she appeared weak in their eyes.
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Like she needed to work out more?
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No, like uh just less she appeared weak in her beauty.
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Hmm.
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What how do you interpret that the I just think she was a little cross-eyed, and that just did not do it for Jacob.
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He was like, ah, weak in the well, I don't know, maybe, maybe it was.
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She needed to wear glasses, and so she's always like looking past him, and so it kind of gave her like that clueless look.
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Hey, maybe.
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Um, I don't know.
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I just don't think this the symmetry of the eyes was was a little weaker, and so he was like not into that.
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What he was into was facial symmetry, and he was like, I am into you, Rachel, not into Leah.
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But what's wild is that you know what you can usually see through a veil a little bit?
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Do you think that she had a veil that you know, whenever they were married, he could have gone, whoa, whoa, whoa, I can see old weak eyes there.
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You don't think so?
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I I don't know.
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He appears to be pretty shocked.
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Yeah.
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Do you think he was a little bit uh intoxicated when he married her and wasn't able to discern the miss symmetry?
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Yeah, I mean, it was a wedding uh celebration, the festivities, and so, you know, I don't know if he was drunk or not, but uh had he had he had a couple of drinks, he had his stopped that and been like, whoa, at the ceremony, don't you pull back some sort of ale so you can kind of look at him?
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I don't know.
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This is the part where Laban might have gotten a little uh you know makeup artist to do some work and helped her out, and when they got married, he had no idea.
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Perhaps.
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And so now Jacob, the the trickster, the trickster, who you know deceived his father to get the blessing, has now been tricked himself.
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Right.
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Do you think if he had not tricked his father, would he have received the blessing in the first place?
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So if you go back to the the prophecy, right, where um the older shall serve the younger, yeah, it doesn't specify.
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The Lord didn't specify exactly what that meant.
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Right.
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Uh, but you see, you know, um Jacob's mother trying to take things into her own hands to secure that blessing.
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Right, right.
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And so similar to um over and over, you see that over with uh Abraham, with Isaac trying to take things into their own hands to secure a blessing, first with uh Abraham and Hagar and Ishmael trying to make God's promise happen in their own way, in a sense.
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And so had they not done that, um I think what we're what we're meant to believe is that being faithful to God will lead to the um his blessings coming to pass, right?
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So I don't think they needed to go that route of deception.
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And maybe had they not gone the route of deception, Jacob would have been spared this trick um, you know, in in his own life.
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I think that's really true.
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And I think just in my own life personally, watching the past of like where I've tried to take control of something because I felt like this is what God wants and I need to make it happen.
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You don't need to make it happen.
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All you're doing, you have an illusion of control because if God is really sovereign, if God is really in control, he will overcome any obstacle.
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Um, which is sort of a wild And we see that with Abraham and Isaac, right?
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That's one instance where Abraham was faithful, uh, you know, up all the way up to the last moment.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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Where, you know, he didn't try to go, okay, I'm gonna take this into my own hands, I'm gonna fake like I'm gonna do this, or I'm gonna, you know, sacrifice, uh, I'm gonna switch um Isaac and Ishmael or something.
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You know what I'm saying?
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Like he actually was faithful.
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Right.
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And then we we saw God came through in the end in a way that no one was expecting.
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Um, and so, you know, I think that could have happened as well with um in terms of Jacob and Esau and the prophecy and God's promise to Jacob.
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Anyway, wait, what are your thoughts on that?
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Yeah, I I think so.
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I personally just when I look at the promises of God, when I look at it, again, this goes back to if I don't, then I can't or I won't.
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And it's like if I don't take control of the situation, I won't receive the blessing, or I won't whatever the positive, whatever your outcome desire, or what you feel like God ultimately wants, this goes to the the ends justify the means.
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And so I think that's the part where that's that's been Rachel's or sorry, Rebecca's MO.
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Then it becomes Jacob's MO.
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That then we see Laban's MO.
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It's like a was this something that Nahor, like the father of or sorry, Bethuel, and then ultimately Nahor the grandfather their their family tradition of like being a little bit, you know, tricky in business.
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Yeah, wow.
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I mean, I think it's embedded in all of us just as part of our sinful nature, but we see it exposed here, and then so you know, it's like it's not karma things just coming, you know, it's not some force that's just coming around for um for Jacob, but God, maybe God in his grace and providence, allowing Jacob to be tricked to maybe expose and teach him doesn't feel good to be tricked, right?
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And so maybe to help him mature.
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I think the you know, karma isn't true, but you do reap what you sow.
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That's true.
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Yeah, that that is I think But by the hand of God and the will of God.
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100%.
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So God allowing or even ordaining something to come back around to you so that you might see, man, it doesn't feel good to be tricked.
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Maybe I need to change my ways and leave the trickster kind of me in the past.
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And I think the trickster part comes out because I don't trust God.
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What when you feel like you need to deceive in order to get what God wants, you have confused yourself.
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Your faith is like a works-based faith.
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And I and honestly, and honestly, when you look at um Leah and she has four children right off the bat, their names reveal the works-basedness of her heart of I need to control the situation so I can have what I really want.
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Right.
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Reuben, uh, see a son, right?
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Which is like it's directed at her sister.
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See, I have a son.
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You don't.
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How's that feel?
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Right.
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And then next, uh, next was uh Simeon, right?
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Yeah.
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Simeon, um, the Hebrew word for God listened to me.
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Yeah.
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He listens to me.
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Is he listening to you?
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How's that feel?
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He's not.
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And then the the the third one Levi.
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Levi, he's attached to me now.
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Or or I hope he's gonna be attached to me.
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Three sons, surely he'll look at me now.
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He's gonna be attached to me more than attached to you.
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And there, that's why.
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I mean, when you think through why polygamy is bad, especially, in fact, God says, do not marry sisters.
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That that's like a a thing uh in a polygamy in in into Leviticus, don't marry sisters.
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Um, that's a weird thing to do, right?
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Yeah, and then but we see we see how God is uh working on um Leah as well, we uh blessing her, right?
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It's it's that he saw Leah was hated, and so he opened her womb.
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Yeah.
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So we see God's compassion toward her, and then we see over the years, you know, we get in a couple sentences, boom, boom, boom, boom, four sons.
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Reality, you know, this is at least four years, you know, this is years going on here.
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And uh how her by the fourth child, Judah, this time I'll praise the Lord, right?
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This time I'll praise the Lord.
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Verse 35.
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Therefore she called his name Judah.
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So by the end of you know, this um chapter here, um she she names the fourth son Judah and says, I'm just gonna praise the Lord.
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It's not about um yeah, you know, look at this, uh, Rachel, or you know, let me kind of control my husband.
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It's just I'm gonna praise the Lord.
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And at that point, she ceased bearing children.
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Right.
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Um, and so you see some character development in her through this as well, as well as the Lord's just compassion on her.
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And I think that's um, I think when we want something desperately, yeah, like even if we get it, it won't be enough.
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That's good.
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Like, I I I feel like this happens with people having children, also happens with people wanting to get married.
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It's happens when you want to get the job.
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You get the thing that you so desired, and then you get it, and you're like, what's next?
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And her contentment at the end, now she'll go through some other issues and she'll bring another her servant and give uh her to her husband.
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But in this moment, you know, we all have moments, in this moment, she finally is satisfied and she says, I will praise the Lord, and not the my whole child-bearing situation isn't just to compete with my sister, it is to honor the Lord.
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That's huge.
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And I feel like that's that's where we uh need to walk with God in that.
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Yeah.
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Um, okay.
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So when I think of sin uh to uh confess, I think there's that uh control issue that we want to establish, and I will the ends justify the means.
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Is there somewhere in your life where you're using sin to ultimately get what God wants?
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And that could be in marriage, that could be with children, that could be with a job.
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I know God wants this for me, so I'm gonna go any means necessary to get it.
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Yeah.
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Uh the promise I feel like we need to claim here is that God's with you.
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Yeah.
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You don't need to take matters in your own hands.
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Uh, the example to follow, here's what not to do, right?
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Like I feel like the one thing I see is Leah finally getting content after the fourth one, her contentment comes and she sees this is to honor the Lord.
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Uh and then when I look, command to obey, I think just I don't know if there's just something specific in there, really.
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I don't see any of that, or something to believe or to know.
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I feel like the Lord's saying, just trust him.
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I think that's the absolute aspect of this passage.
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Trust the Lord.
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Yeah, even, you know, and Leah, the one who's hated, weak eyed Leah.
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The one who's hated, the one who wasn't preferred, she's the one through whom God would bring Levi and Judah.
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Through Levi, we get Moses and Aaron, the priesthood.
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Through Judah, we get King David, we get Jesus.
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God chose her to bring the savior of the world.
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Yep.
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The one who was hated.
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And so take heart.
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Like even if you are hated, um, if you feel ugly, if you feel despised, if you feel unloved, know that the Lord sees you, that he loves you, and that he delights to use even the ones that that are hated or despised the most.
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Or not as pretty.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, that's huge.
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It's beautiful.
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Well, thanks so much for tuning in with