How God Works Through Jacob, Leah, and Rachel
Providence in the Mess
Genesis 29 shows a God who works even when He seems silent. For thirty verses His name is never mentioned, yet His providence guides every step—from Jacob “happening” upon the well to Rachel arriving at the exact moment he needs her. The passage exposes Jacob’s inherited patterns of sin, Laban’s manipulative schemes, and Leah’s deep pain in a loveless marriage. Yet God is present in every detail, weaving blessing, discipline, and redemption together. As the text says, “When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb.” In the midst of deception, longing, and generational brokenness, God is quietly shaping His people and preparing a lineage that will lead to Christ Himself.
Genesis 29. So we'll start in verse one going to the end of the chapter. Now, Jacob went on his journey and he came to the land of the people of the east. And as he looked, he saw a well. And in the field behold three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were warded. The stone on the well's mouth was large and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherd 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. Jacob said to them, my brothers, where did you come from? And they said, we are from Haran. And he said to him, do you know Laban the son of Nahor? They said, we know him. And he said to him, is it well with him? They said, it is well. And see, Rachel, his daughter is coming with the sheep. He said, behold, it is still high day. It is not time for the livestock to be gathered together and water the sheep and go pasture them. But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the world, 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, 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. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebecca'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. He embraced him, he kissed him. and he brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month. Then Laban said, because you're my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me what shall your wages be? Now Laban, he had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and then the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter, Rachel.' Laban said, it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man. Stay with me.' So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Leman, give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is complete. 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. And Jacob said to Laban, what is this you have done to me? 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 first born. Complete the week of this one and then we will give you the other one also in return for serving me another seven years. Jacob did so and he completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave the female servant Bilhata to his daughter, Rachel, to be her servant. So Jacob went into Rachel also and he loved Rachel more than Leah and served Laban for another seven years. And then just finishing it off, 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. She conceived again and bore a son. She said, because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he's given me this son also. And she called his name Simeon. And again, she conceived and bore a son and said, now this time my husband will be attached to me because I've born him three sons. Therefore his name was called Levi. And then she conceived again, bore a son and said, this time I will praise the Lord. Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing. Let's first begin in prayer. Lord, you have written down these words that we might be taught. Lord, that we might be instructed, that we might hear your words and be encouraged. comforted, exhorted and convicted by them. And so Lord, we ask now that you would speak to us. Lord, would you grant me clarity as I speak so that people may hear you clearly. And Father, would all of us grow into maturity of the Spirit, one with the other. So we pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. So, where did we leave off last week? So right, Jacob and Esau, Two brothers that do not get along and What has Jacob done? He's come in and sought to steal the blessing from Esau, who was the firstborn son. Now, he covered himself in goat hair and did the coat and all that kind of weird stuff. Did a bit of cross dressing almost. And then he stuck it away from Esau. So he has the blessing that was meant for the firstborn son. Esau, furious. His mother finds out that Esau wants to kill Jacob. So he says, go away to the land of my brother. Go and find yourself a wife from there because I don't want you to marry these women around here. They're a bit loose. I don't really like them. You go find a wife from over there. And so he's ventured out. And so we pick it up now as he's about to enter into the town of his uncle, basically. And now the purpose he was being sent away for was basically because they do want to preserve the family line. They don't want to marry in with the Canaanites and things like that. So he's ventured very far. This is probably about 800 Ks now. And what a coincidence. He happens upon some shepherds at a well. He says, hey, how are you guys going? They say, we're pretty good. You happen to know a guy called Laban? Actually, we do. Well, imagine walking 800 Ks and just happening to run into the guys who know your uncle. And better yet, there's this woman walking towards him. Oh, what luck. It's his cousin. Better yet, the cousin that he's going to marry. Yeah, I know that's a bit, oh. You know, we wouldn't do that nowadays, but, well, maybe what if you're a flutter or a halt, but anyway, no, I'm kidding. Anyway, all right. And so then of course, Rachel leads to his uncle Laban, whom his mother told him to find. Now the purpose of this story that we're gonna see is we are going to see God as our heavenly father. as he's watching over his children. Particularly the point you're gonna see is that for 30 verses, the first 30 verses of this passage, God is not mentioned, but yet he is there. He is working in every little detail, bringing these things together, because he has a plan for his son, Jacob. And he has some things that he wishes to do with him. You'll see him bring good things and bad things together, so that he might lead Jacob in the way he wants him to go. and better yet, we will actually see God redeeming the hot mess that is Jacob. And as you'll also find out, there's also all of you guys as well. So four points we're gonna have if they come up there. Beautiful, they did. Like father, like son, God's providence will lead to blessing, God's providence leads to discipline, and then everything will be redeemed. So let's start with our first one, like father, like son. Now, there is this, it's funny, you often don't notice, it's a bit of a small detail in the Bible, I think I've talked about it a few times, but I even was reading about it this morning, coincidentally, in my devotion that had nothing to do with what I was talking about this morning, was from the book of Chronicles. It talked about a son, Isaiah, and it said, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, in accordance with what his father had done. And so you see, it talked about this idea that he had... watched the image of his father, he had watched his behavior of his father, and then he walked in step with that. And the Bible is riddled with it, that children follow in the steps of their parents, right? It is just what they do, they learn from us. Even those of us who really don't like our parents are really annoyed as we grow up and find out we're actually bit more like them than we thought. I continue to discover that more and more each day, but... And so you see, last week we saw how Jacob was just like his mother. His mother said, boy, here, I've got this plan where you can put on this goat skin, you can deceive your father. You could see she was the kind of person who likes to do a bit of manipulation, a bit of deception. And funny enough, you're actually gonna see it in the rest of her family with her uncle as well. Oh, sorry, her uncle, her brother. So you see ways then which Jacob went along with it complicity, but that's because he's actually just like his mom. He's probably been seeing his mom do it for the last 20, 30 years in little ways. Because she didn't suddenly just become a deceitful person. She would have been that way. And so he learns it off her. But now we're actually gonna see as well, Jacob is very much like his dad. He actually has some traits. Two that we're gonna look at today. Now I wanna remind you about one of the downfalls of Isaac, his father. He wanted to give Esau the firstborn the blessing. but he was consistently blind to how Esau was a bad fit. Esau just didn't care about his birthright at all. He was just like, look, he basically gave it to Jacob because he wanted a pot of stew, because he was hungry. He handed over the entirety of his inheritance. But yet Jacob, sorry, Jacob, Isaac, his father, just loved how good his food was. Apparently Esau was a good hunter and a good cook, and he loved that about his son. I have no doubt Isaac was probably a good hunter too, so maybe they bonded over that. And so was something, he loved Esau more than Jacob. But because of this, he was blind to the character of his own son. And now it's funny because you're actually gonna see that same thing with Jacob and Rachel. Because you see, suddenly he sees the cousin whom he's gonna marry, right, coming towards him. And he's like, whew, man, she's a good looker. And then he comes in and traditional back in that day, right, there was a bride price, right, a dowry, you know, wasn't even that long ago before they kind of got rid of that stuff. Because the idea being for a parent to lose a child, they're losing that work now. That's someone who's not gonna be working on the farm for them. So something has to be compensated for that. So he says, I'll work seven years. Now take note of something. Laban doesn't negotiate at all. There would normally be negotiation in that process because it's like, actually, here's what my daughter is worth monetarily and things like that. I know that's not a very good conversation to be having, but the reality is that's how it was. Notice that he doesn't barter at all why? Because he knows he's getting a pretty sweet deal. All right? Now don't get me wrong, it is very romantic that Jacob wants to work for seven years for his bride. I'm not gonna lie, that's probably overdoing it. Can you imagine working for seven years to get your wife or your spouse? Yeah? Sound like a good... Right, would be like, sorry, I think I'll go to the next one. Now there's probably another cousin, another 800Ks, you know? You'll find one eventually. But you see, just like his father Isaac, who would often be blind and irrational when presented with the first option, with the thing he loved, he's like, I don't care, seven years, I'll do it. Rationality goes to the wind. And then you also see as well, what does he love about Rachel? It says there, I should have taken note of the verse, but it says that Leah's eyes were weak, but that Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Kind of a weird saying, all it really means, it's pretty obvious, Rachel was a better looker, all right? She was just more pretty, more beautiful fact of life, unfortunately, right? And so he loved her for what reason? Just because she looked good. That's all it was at the end of the day. And now, obviously, hopefully we can learn from this, and we will actually see as the story goes on, looks ain't everything, right? Have you guys figured that out yet already? oh yeah, right? You've ran into enough people, you kind of realize, superficially, might look nice, but under the hood, not really worth the time, right? But you see, this is a reality where it may not be looks, it can be all kinds of things, what people have, even just how they make you feel. Right? Because they really pay attention to you. Oh man, but ignore the red flags and all those kinds of things. Right? And we will actually see as it goes on, Leah, ultimately the one with weak eyes, the one who doesn't quite look as good. She's not perfect by any stretch, but she is definitely the one that demonstrates better behavior and better character at the end of the day. And so scripture here is warning us against the dangers of pursuing someone simply for superficial reasons. If you're going to spend 70 years with this person, 60, 50, 40, whatever it is. Don't just do it for the superficial stuff, because that stuff will melt away after probably the honeymoon. And then you realize, but anyway. And so you see all these people entering into these relationships for superficial reasons. And you see Jacob ignoring the greater reality, just like his father did. And so you see here, Jacob is just like his father, like father, like son. He's like his mother in very many ways, because again, Parents imprint upon their children and their children become like them. Not in every facet, but in many ways more than those children often want to admit. You see, this is one of the hardest things, one of the most confronting things for all people who've had kids or will have kids or any kind of thing. Very soon you start realizing you have to discipline your kids for the things that you do because they're like little mirrors, right? And that's the most irritating thing because you look and say, don't do that, but you know why they're doing it, right? because you do the exact same thing, right? They just absorb everything, take it all in. And so the hardest thing is that our children become mirrors of us. They show us our own imperfections. And you see this very quickly. Sometimes it's funny, but it very quickly ceases to be funny when we watch it as families continue with very bad habits. Right? We see generations of alcoholics, generations of gamblers, generations of sexual immorality, generations of abuse, all kinds of things. And every single one of us will even imprint our sinful habits, thinking patterns, and all of you have them, right? All of you have your own choice ways in which you choose to rebel against God because you don't want to submit to Him. I do too. We will imprint those on our children, just as all you guys have had it imprinted on you by your parents. And so we will pass on our destructive and sinful ways of living onto them. So really the first part, and look, it's not the end of the story here, but we must comprehend our actions, our lives have a profoundly deep impact upon our children, upon those in our family that we are close to, even our close friends. We have a deeper impact than we realize. And so realize your holiness and your walk with God is far more important than you think. And now that's the end of the story. You guys just have to work really hard and be perfect people so your kids don't... No, I'm kidding. That's not the end of the story, right? There is more to it. Even in the messiness and in the generational sin that will follow all of us, there is a God who reigns over it all. So remember, like I said, so this is our second point now. God's providence leads to blessing. So like I said, the first 30 verses of this chapter, God is silent, but silence doesn't mean gone. Silence doesn't mean he's not there. Because at all times he's working a million little things together. Remember how I was just making those remarks at the start as we were going through the passage? Oh well, what a random coincidence that he happens upon a well with three shepherds who happen to know his uncle. And just so happens that at the exact right time, Rachel, who will become his wife, which is the very reason he left Canaan in the first place, is coming towards him. All right? I don't believe in random coincidences. I believe in coincidences orchestrated by God, but not random ones. Those things don't just happen. And so you realize that though God is not mentioned in this passage, He is working. You can see Him bringing things together. and you see, this even mirrors a story we had just a couple of weeks ago. Derek did it, right? Abraham sent his servant off to find a wife for his son, Isaac. Sent him off. He arrives likely at actually the same well that Jacob meets his wife at. What does the servant do? He gets to the well and he says, God, send the person who will be the wife of Isaac. and then let her water the camels for me. And literally, as soon as he finishes praying, out walks a woman. Oh, well that's just luck of the draw, right? No, he prayed to God and God worked. It was not a coincidence and so neither is this. And so it's important understanding these things don't happen by accident. Coincidence is all circumstances come from God. You see, this is one of the most essential things for us to understand as Christians, is the sovereignty of God. There's really, I don't think you can stress how far it goes. Because we have to understand God's not just some big picture thinker, He's not the project manager in the sky who's telling the other fellows what to do. He knows every detail and He is in it all. Every day and every step is planned beforehand. Psalm 139 verse 16, in your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there were none of them. Every day God has planned out, right? It is set before you, you don't need to be stressing out being like, oh goodness, what if I do this and something else happens? God has it planned out. He is the one in control. And what is He doing? What is the point of His plan? For those who believe in faith, Romans 8, 28. God is working all things to the good of those who love Him. If you're working all things, you need to be acquainted with the details, right? And you see, without the attention to the little things, like just happening upon a well and your cousin coming towards you, neither would the rest of those events cascade that would lead to the rest of Jacob's life. Isn't it such a remarkable thing sometimes to look back on your life in hindsight and just think, what if that thing hadn't happened? Sometimes I think about how me and Michelle met, right? We met at Bible College, but man, there were so many events in the past that had to perfectly correlate for us to be at that place at the same time. And I literally wouldn't be the pastor here today if it weren't for those events. Everything cascades from tiny small things. And it's amazing to look back in hindsight and think, yeah, that's all just a coincidence. I don't think so. Because you see, God is working all the little things that lead to the big things. And so you see, what does this have to do with these continual, know, father, like son, with the imprinting of parents upon children? It gives us hope that the parent isn't the sovereign one, right? Even with the bad things or even the good things they may imprint, that is also part of God's plan. He knows every little part of your personality, every little part of your journey and your life. And He is working all of that. He's working tirelessly so that blessing might come from it all. You see, often we become numb to this idea that God is actually with us because we can't see him, right? We walk around like we're blindfolded because we just think, well, God's not here. We believe in an invisible God, but we don't believe in an inactive one, right? We have to grasp with this truth. There is a spiritual world out there that we don't see. We only see its effects, right? Like I said, God is not mentioned in the first 30 verses of this passage. Doesn't mean He's not there. Doesn't mean there's not a spiritual world at play. Because you don't run into your cousin randomly 800 Ks after walking on foot. That doesn't. So you see all these things coming together, leading you to the place where God wants you, which is to bless you, to bring all things to your good, to your benefit. But now we must deal with the third point. God's providence also leads to blessing. Now the story almost has a romantic ring to it, right? He walks off, God brings them together. A match made in heaven. Isn't it beautiful? Just the one for him. Just the woman he wanted. But you know what's the hard thing sometimes with spouses? They bring inlaws with them, right? Just as he ran into Rachel, where did Rachel then run to and take him? To his uncle, Laban. Who, if you know anything about him, he doesn't really have a good relationship with. It starts off all right, but that's just because he doesn't really know the guy. And so you see, God's providence wasn't just concerned with his blessing and his prosperity with him gaining a wife, but it was also concerned with his discipline as well. You see, sometimes God guides our steps, not just into places of blessing, but places of our own suffering. Because blessing Jacob doesn't mean he doesn't need a change, he does. This fella needs a bit of a makeover. And it's funny, because you get to the end of the story, he's still not perfect. But God at every moment is walking us through circumstances, good and bad, until the final day when we shall stand before Him and finally be made perfect. But we have to walk that journey of being perfected. So God brings Jacob into Laban's house. And this is the most funny thing. This is why you cannot believe in random coincidences. He suffers the most poetic irony of all things. That the very thing he has done to his brother and his father in deceiving them through deception is the very exact same thing that happens to him. But anyway, it's all just coincidence, So what happens, right? We read the story. He works seven years for Rachel. They seem to him but a few days because he's just like, oh man, look at her. Isn't she a prize? Seemed but a few days. Finally the wedding day arrives, the wedding night, he's so excited. They have the feast. And again, they didn't have lights back then. So it's nighttime. She likely had a veil over her face, pretty typical back in that day. And he just switches them out, right? And then of course he wakes up in the morning and as it says in the verse, behold, it was Leah. Leah, right? Shock, horror, he had slept with the wrong woman. As that just happens accidentally. And so you see now, because he had married her, particularly in that context, they were wedded. You can't undo that now, right? You can't just throw it to the side and say, no, no, no, no, that one's mine. She is now his. And so you see there, you think this is injustice, this is wrong. But then the damning confrontation for Jacob comes in Laban's response. He says in verse 26, Laban said, is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Now you think, what's damning in that response? You know, when suddenly he's deceived and Laban just says, know, that's not how we do it here. Because you know what? in the previous chapter that we did last week, what the cultural, sorry, what do you call them, cultural expectation was, was that the firstborn is the one who gets the inheritance. But Jacob took it through deception and now he is having a local custom enforced on him through deception. I'm sorry, but he doesn't get to escape it now. Just because it's happening to him doesn't mean he gets to get all, no. God is bringing this so that he might learn. And so this is an act of discipline with ironic, with poetic irony to teach him the error of his ways, to help him feel how Isaac and Esau felt, the anger that they felt, but he has no place to really feel anger. And so now he has to give 14 years of free labour for two daughters, one he didn't want and the other he did, due to his uncle's deception. Now, was this happening to Jacob as punishment for what he did to Isaac and Esau? No, it was not punishment. Because if it was punishment, then he would just get punished and that would be the end of the story and we'd move on to the next character. Remember I said this is not punishment, this is discipline. When God brings suffering to his children, it is not about punishment, it's not about exacting justice. God doesn't judge his children. Romans 8.1, there is therefore no condemnation, right? For those who are in Christ Jesus. So you're not being judged anymore. You can't be sent to hell. There's no guilty charge. It's all gone. So why does he take us through suffering? because he is a father and a good father disciplines their child, right? Does anyone have perfect children yet? No? Yeah. Luke, are you perfect yet? Anita, you happy with them? Yeah, no? Yeah, I didn't think so, right? Well, like you're good, you're not too bad, but anyway, You see, there is no perfect child. But anyway, a father still provides even in the midst of the disciplining them, right? So God still loves Jacob doesn't mean... He just said, all done, you're right. God loved Jacob too much to leave him as he was. And he was gonna use pain as a teacher. Because you see, pain is one of the best ways to wean us of our love for sin and to actually point us towards God. God will make us suffer at the hands of our own sin. Whether we suffer slander from others, whether we have to suck a, suck a, suffer sickness, or suffer just struggles in life. We walk through them because the pain and the discipline points us to the fact of what we really need, which is a deeper relationship with God, a deeper knowledge of who He is, and a greater obedience to His will. So you see, these are all the things pointing us to what we need. And so you see, this is giving us hope. Hope that we will not be left simply in our generational sin, simply going the way of more and more sin. There's actually someone at work who loves us, who is disciplining us, so we do not continue to walk in those ways. So we go on to the fourth point now. Everything will be redeemed in the end. So right, we've already covered Jacob is like his father, but he also has a heavenly father, God, who is guiding him through good and through bad. But now we come to this closing scene. Suddenly the shift goes away from Jacob to focus upon Leah. Leah, I don't really know which one to stick with. Leah. Now, Leah was likely complicit obviously in her father's scheme. Obviously you wouldn't just accidentally happen to attend a happen and accidentally sleep with a guy. She knew what was happening, right? but then suddenly discover a week later, Uncle Laban actually gives the wife that he wanted in the first place. She's probably been sitting there for seven years, envious thinking, I want Jacob, I want him. And she finally gets him, but then he gets the wife he wanted anyway. So now she's simply stuck in a loveless marriage and she in some way has also been deceived by her father. Why? Because Laban just wants more free labor. See Laban is an example of what our sinful nature actually desires. All of us want to become like God. Because that's been there since the beginning. What did the serpent say in the Ganda, Adam and Eve? Eat of this fruit and you will be like God. You will be the one that finally gets to have the say, to get control, to tell people how it's gonna be. You will be the one to decide the plan. You know, it's a funny thing. All of us keep making plans and none of them seem to work out. So, obviously there was a lie in that. But all of us are trying to get to that place. If I can just get enough resources, if I can just get this thing, if I can just get my mind right, if we can just get these things in order, my plans will finally come to fruition. I'll be like God. When I say things, they will actually happen. But yet, talk to anyone who's been around for a couple of decades, they've gone through it and still things aren't going that well to plan. But you see, we are always trying to do that. And what is the problem particularly with that? As we seek to elevate ourselves, what happens to the people around us? They become objects. They become things to help you get where you wanna go. That is what Laban was right. He had daughters. Surely any father loves their daughters, but what did he love more? Free labor. That's boosting his wealth, boosting his income. And so he says, well, look, hey, They're going to a good person, right? Yeah, sure, they might be stuck in a loveless marriage and yeah, yeah, all that, but hey, look how well my farming's going. And Laban did become very wealthy at the end of it all. See? So you see, he traded them in, his own daughters, for what he really wanted. And so you see, the sinful nature is constantly compelling us to want the world to be about us, for everything to be about us. And so then everyone has to be of zero value except what they can bring to us, what they can do for us. And so you see, when they're not doing it, we shove them to the side. You see, and where do you think he learned this from? Probably his father before him, and probably the father before that. Because again, they are all following in the step of Adam, who imprinted his nature on the first human. Because we are all sinners at heart. And so we keep passing it down, it keeps getting worse. That's why we're living in this world the way it is now. because people are sinful, seeking to become God themselves, and so that's why everyone's just lonely and sad. But you see, the God of the Bible is different. He is God. Does He rip people of their humanity and render them as just objects with no value? No. He breathes life into them and actually makes them of value. You see, He raises people up, whereas we tear people down. God makes us truly human. When we try to be God, people become objects to us, right? Our children simply become a means through which we can finally feel fulfilled in ourselves. Leah, she became a manipulated pawn in her father's game and then a simply unloved baby factory to her husband. But then something changes. Verse 31, when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her room, but Rachel was barren. For the very first time, someone acts out of love for Leah. knowing her circumstance, looks on her with compassion and actually does something for her, not for themselves. They do not see her as a means to an end. They see her as the end in and of itself. Think about this. In a culture where women were simply seen as only good for their child-rearing ability. In a stage in her life where her father had traded her for seven years of free labor and now stuck in a loveless marriage, what silver lining can there possibly be? The only silver lining that there can be is that there is a God who emerges, who shows love to a mistreated and unloved You see, all of us have suffered on both sides of the coin. We have treated people as objects to get what we want. We have ripped them of humanity, treated them as nothing, taken away the image of God that is put on them so that we might get to our end. And so all of us have suffered the other way. We have been rendered as nothing so that people might get what they want. I know I'm making this sound really harsh, but trust me, it genuinely happens all the day, all the time. And so you see, all of us have suffered this without exception. We walk in the images of our parents, we carry this baggage, sinful practices, habits, thoughts, and all of us have left behind a bigger trail of destruction than good. Every single one of us, because we are sinners and mistreating each other is what we do. But there is a God who reigns over the worst of messes. Even when he appears quiet and silent, he is working, bringing his plans together using both good, like Rachel being brought to Jacob, and also bad, like Jacob being brought to Laban. You see? Good and bad, but God works in it all. So you see, despite your background, your mistakes, your upbringing, everything that is part of your story, For those who believe in faith, God has chosen to make your story part of His. And you see, when you become a part of God's story, one day everything in your story will result in praise and glory to God and it will result in your joy. It has to, because God will have it no other way. You see, Leah, seen only for her childbearing. She kept going saying, this will be the way that I earn my love. This is the way that I'll become something that I'll get my humanity back. So she tries one child, two child, three child, but she remains an unloved incubator. But finally with the fourth child, what does she say? She conceived again and bore a son. Said this time I will praise the Lord. And she called his name Judah. And then she ceased bearing. In this mess, God has led Leah to praise His name because she has finally seen that in the eyes of someone, she is worthy. She is valuable, right? No longer is she going around trying to find her satisfaction in this world, but she realised there is someone who has always loved her. And better yet, she has been redeemed because you know who Judah became? Through him would come the line that would come Jesus, right? She would be a mother to the Messiah who would save us all. So you see, good things and bad things will come. Sometimes suddenly, sometimes gradually, sometimes they've followed us from childhood. They are a part of your story, but when they become a part of God's story, they will result in your joy. God will redeem it all. Your final response will be just as Leah's was. One day you're gonna sit there, look back on your life and say, now I will praise the Lord. Your final response will be as Job was. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Because you see how he has worked in it all. So I hope all of you see you guys are hot messes, every single one of You've had 80 years to figure it out and you still haven't figured it out. You just keep getting worse with age. We're not like a fine wine, I'm sorry. But there is a God who redeems all of it, every single bit. So let's finish in prayer and then we'll draw into communion. Father, you are the God of the great redemption. You are the one who can take the worst things in our lives and make them for good. whether we suffered them at the hands of our parents, of people we didn't know, of people that were our dearest friends. Lord, you bring good and bad into our lives, but it is part of your plan. So much we don't understand, so much we question because we don't understand why you would do it. And Lord, that plan may not be revealed to us. We may look back on hindsight and still not understand, but one day we will. One day we will see your plan, we will understand and we will praise your name. But help us in this meantime to have faith in you. Lord, to persevere for the sake of our children, to not imprint the sins of our fathers onto them. But rather Lord, to walk in your ways and to show our children that way. But to trust that even in the mistakes we make Lord, you will redeem them all. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.