Grace Church - May 11, 2014 - A Mother's Worship

A Mother's Worship
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Jacob hated Leah. She was not beautiful to him. God loved Leah. She was beautiful to Him.

Leah didn't "measure up". How do you feel you don't measure up?

Especially with social media, we compare our normal life with everyone else's highlight reel.

Put your real life on social media today. Use the hashtag #gracetulsa

Leah strove through childbearing to earn the love of her husband. When she realized it wasn't working, she found rest in worshiping the Lord.

A Mother's Worship
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Genesis 29:31-35 (ESV)
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31. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

32. 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."

33. 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.

34. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, "Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore his name was called Levi.

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.

The Lord saw how Leah was treated.  No body may see what you are going through in your life but God does. 

Why was Leah hated?

Genesis 29:15-18 (ESV)
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15. Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?"

16. 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, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.

18. Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."

The point here is not in what was the matter with Leah's eyes but the comparison of the two woman.  Rachel was obviously better looking than her sister.  Jacob was a man, he went for the good looking one.  

How does that make Leah feel? This is a problem that woman face than as well as now.  Woman even try to compare themselves to the Proverbs 31 woman.  That can be a hard thing to reach.

Do not compare yourself to others.  We tend to compare ourselves to everyone else's highlight reel.  Social media has made this worse.  

God saw the broken hart of Leah.  God is with us in all the problems.  

v. 32 - Ruben - husband to love her, she looked to motherhood to get her husband's approval. She should have got her sense of worth from God not her husband. 

v.33 - Simon - shows that he still hated her.  When we do not get what we want from others we still try to get it from them. We need to turn to God.  

v. 34 - Still did not work, still kept trying. What is it in your life that you keep striving to accomplish?  

v. 35 - Something happened in her life to stop striving and to praise the Lord.  Judah was born from this.  We need to learn to stop striving and to praise the Lord.  Reading on we will find out this was short lived and she went back to striving.  We need to keep going back and praise the Lord each day.