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Living
Hope Fellowship Church
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Sermons
From the Pastor
LEAH’S HOPE
Training
Material
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
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LEAH’S HOPE
Preface
(struggle, deceit, God’s promises)
Jacob deceived his brother
Esau into giving up his birthright, but God appeared to
Jacob as he was on the run from his brother. He promised
him the same thing He had promised Isaac and Abraham. He
promised to be with him, to bless him and his seed, and to
multiply him greatly if he would serve Him.
The Bible speaks of the great
struggle between Jacob and Esau; between Jacob, Leah, and
Rachel; and between Jacob and the angel.
God has a plan for your
life. Look to Him and call on Him if you are having
difficulties or confusion. Let Him lead you in the way He
has chosen. That is the perfect way. Trust Him.
LEAH’S HOPE
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
Something inside of me cries when I think about the great
struggle between Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. Jacob and Esau
were twin sons of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
Almighty God appeared to Abraham, and to Isaac, and He also
appeared to Jacob. More than once in the Bible the three
are mentioned together. “I am the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Jacob was forced to leave his home place by his own
devices. Someone told his mother that Jacob was about to be
murdered by Esau as soon as Isaac passed away. Esau accused
Jacob of stealing his birthright, when actually Esau gave it
away.
Two girls were born to Laban, Jacob’s mother’s brother, in a
foreign land. They had the same desires and expectations as
any young women. They wondered what their future would be.
In those days the only way that they could expect to have
their own home and children was that they would have a
husband who would be able to work for them as was the custom
of their country. One was Leah and the other was named
Rachel.
Rachel was beautiful and well favored, good to look upon,
but the Bible says that Leah was tender-eyed. She was not
particularly attractive, but she was the oldest and
therefore first in line to be married.
At the time of Jacob’s escape over to Syria, we find that
Rachel had come to water her father’s flock along with the
other maidens, and she had rolled the stone off of the
well. Jacob asked her who she was, and she asked him who he
was. He cried when he realized that it was the providence
of God that he was in that place.
God had appeared to Jacob and had promised him the same
thing that He had promised Isaac and Abraham. He promised
that He would be with him, and bless him and his seed, and
would multiply him greatly if he would serve Him. Jacob was
therefore expecting a miracle from God.
When you got born again, the Spirit of the Living God spoke
to you, and you asked Him to wash you in the blood of
Jesus. He forgave you of your sins, and you were saved.
You became more sensitive as you continued to walk in the
Lord. Some become hardened after a little while by
hypocrites or by the feebleness of other Christians who
won’t go on. We can get hardened when nobody really cares
that we work our heart out. There are so many things, but
we must put them away and become more sensitive yet to God.
Have charity and take up your cross daily. It crucifies the
old hardness, and makes us more tender to God.
Rachel and Leah were looking to the future, but they did not
know the grief they would have to go through. Their father,
Jacob’s father-in-law, Laban, was just as conniving as he
was.
Jacob labored seven years for Laban to get Rachel, and that
was the contract they made. Rachel was excited and
prepared, but her dad went to Leah and told her she was
going to get married to Jacob. It was the custom in that
country for the elder to go before the younger.
Genesis 29:21-27 says, “And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me
my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto
her. And Laban gathered together all the men of the place,
and made a feast. And it came to pass in the evening, that
he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he
went in unto her. And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah
Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. And it came to pass, that
in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban,
What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with
thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? And
Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give
the younger before the firstborn. Fulfil her week, and we
will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt
serve with me yet seven other years.”
He worked seven years and got them both, but he had to
finish out his time for Rachel seven more years, so he
worked for Laban 14 years.
Genesis 29:28-35 says, “And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her
week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. And
Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be
her maid. And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved
also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven
other years. And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he
opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived,
and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she
said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now
therefore my husband will love me. And she conceived again,
and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I
was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she
called his name Simeon. And she conceived again, and bare a
son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto
me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his
name called Levi.”
Levi is where the priesthood and the rejoining comes from
between man and God. Verse 35 says, “And she conceived
again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the
LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left
bearing.”
Jesus came out of the tribe of Judah. Leah was the fruitful
one. Leah bore the majority of the boys, and she also bore
a daughter. Jacob had twelve sons. Rachel bore two sons,
Joseph and Benjamin.
Leah was hated. The only reason that she was able to bear
these children is because he was “fulfilling her week”. A
week many times in the Word of God is counted out as a seven
year period. They possibly only came together one
time a year. He was just doing his duty of marriage and
fulfilling a contract, and that was the only reason that he
had anything to do with her at all. I want you to
get a heart for Leah! Rachel was loved, she was beautiful,
and she was the one he wanted in the beginning. She was the
one he actually worked for. Leah knew that her husband
hated her. She knew he was only with her because he had to
be and that the seven years that he worked for her, were
actually for her sister. In essence, to get Rachel Jacob
was willing to work fourteen years. Jacob was willing to
put up with Leah so he could have Rachel.
Consider the personal, mental well being of Leah. When
somebody wants what they want, it doesn’t matter about
anybody or anything else, they get what they want. Oh, the
needless pain we bear when we go after our way, our design,
and plans, and will.
Leah had a terrible home life. Jacob, no doubt, was
disgusted that every time he did come in unto her she became
pregnant, and Rachel was barren, unfruitful.
God knew that Leah was hated. Leah knew she was hated.
Every time she bore a child she thought, Now he is going
to love me. Though she was hated, God hearkened unto
her. Though you may be despised and have troubles, God will
hearken to you at your lowest time.
Everybody where they lived knew about Leah, because they
lived there many years, but things began to happen, and she
bore him six sons out of thirteen children. When she quit
bearing she gave him her handmaid. Finally, after years of
trying Rachel became pregnant with Joseph. Later most of
his brothers wanted to kill him, but Reuben stopped them.
They turned around and sold him as a slave. In Egypt he
became the deliverer for the whole house during seven years
of drought.
Even with all the turns and twists in the hearts of these
people, the promises of God are yea and amen to them that
believe.
Jacob had all of his conniving thrown back into his face,
because his father-in-law was slicker than he was.
Eventually God redeemed him and set him free from him. When
he left to go back to the land of his fathers, Laban pursued
him, but God spoke to him.
Genesis 31:29 relates what Laban told Jacob: “It is in the
power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father
spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou
speak not to Jacob either good or bad.”
Consider the opposition between Rachel and Leah. They were
sisters, had played together, and they loved each another,
but this man whom they both loved came between them, causing
great jealousy and envy between them.
If you will search it out, you will see that what you are
going through can be found in the Bible, whether it is
trouble in a marriage, or in a family, or trouble in a
church.
There was a constant war between these sisters. It is sort
of like getting saved and deciding to go on with Jesus. It
is sort of like getting filled with the Holy Ghost and
saying you are going on into the deeper things of God in
your life and ministry. There is a war going on. There is
a part of you that you love dearly, and there is a part of
you that you hate. Your sinful part left when the blood was
applied.
I’m talking to you about your design and your plan for your
life! Leah is a type of God’s design for your life, and
Rachel is a type of your design for your life, and it
is of course the most appealing to you, the one you actually
work for!
When you first came to the Lord and got saved, your zeal
made you think that you could save the world! Then you
found that just raw zeal doesn’t get you much. Victory
doesn’t always happen over night. It takes some time and
dedication, and you don’t have a burden if you don’t have
commitment!
You haven’t much of a burden if you just quit and it doesn’t
bother you anymore. You never wanted the thing very badly.
Leah is the plan of the Father, a plan that you didn’t know
about when you got born again. When you get saved, you are
not your own; you are bought with a price. People frustrate
the grace of God, but when they pray, they want a miracle to
be done. If you are quenching the Spirit of God, how can He
flow through your prayer?
Jacob only came around Leah when he had to. Liken this to
how some treat the Spirit of God! Jesus was despised and
rejected of men. Some do not consider Him someone they want
to get around. King David even went so far as to say in
Psalm 77:3, “I remembered God, and was troubled: I
complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.”
As you go through life you realize that God is going to
restrict you on certain things, and you begin to get
troubled. As you look in the Word of God you find out that
some things are wrong.
Confusion comes when you say no to God and push Him away,
and then try to get into something else or try to hide from
the true calling. Then things begin to happen, because you
are out of the will of God.
The fruitful one is the Spirit of the Living God. Our
spirit lusteth to envy; it is always clamoring, wanting to
serve self. Our self will is constantly at war with the
Spirit of God. Sometimes we neglect Him. Sometimes we
don’t listen; we quench God’s Spirit. Don’t count the
Bible as nothing. Despise means to turn away, to neglect.
If there is thick dust on the furniture, someone has
neglected or even hated their house. The Bible says that no
man hates his own flesh. We take good care of it, and we
nourish and cherish it. That is why fasting is such a
powerful element in prayer time. When we hate our own
flesh, our own self, we prove it by fasting. We seek God
for a time that we might get a hold of Him and become
spiritually minded. We put down our carnality to get in
tune with the Living God.
Leah is a type of God’s plan in your life, and Rachel is a
type of your plan for your life. You are married to both of
them, and you are having all kinds of trouble! Leah had
many children. The fruitful way is God’s way! We
complain. We fast and pray. We say, Why can’t my plans
work?
These two women each loved Jacob tremendously. It took all
the heart out of a woman to hand over to her husband a
handmaid to bring forth children. They wanted children so
desperately out of their husband that they were willing to
hand over their handmaid to conceive from him. They would
be there at the birth and claim the child. The handmaid
might nurse the child, but they would raise the child. It
took a time of decision making for a woman to decide to
allow her husband to do that. God wasn’t for multiple
wives, but they did it in spite of what God wanted!
We are supposed to be married to the Lord, but we also are
married to this world and self. The Bible says it is legal
to be married to another after the husband is dead.
(See Romans 7:3.)
We get saved, but after a while we start looking at the
other spouse by looking back. Jesus said in Luke 9:62,
“. . . No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking
back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
It is like committing adultery against the Lord when you
serve other gods at the same time that you try to serve the
Living God. If you serve other gods only, that is like
fornication.
Over the years as he labored and travailed, Jacob had a
change in his heart about Leah. She was always there, and
the children were running and playing before Rachel ever
conceived the first time. It was humiliating to Rachel.
Think about what these people went through.
Maybe the Lord has blessed you and Leah is producing
right and left, and you just say, Well, ok, fine.
You aren’t as pleased as you would be if your own plans were
going forward.
Jacob had lots going in his life concerning the plan of God
and the plan of Jacob. The devil has only one plan for
you. John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy. . . .”
Jesus saves us and fills us with the Holy Ghost so we can do
what Jesus did - Acts 10:38 says, “How God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went
about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil; for God was with him.”
We have to do things God’s way. Don’t jump into anything
unless it is an act of faith, and God has told you that
according to the Word it is alright. Prayer, fasting and
seeking God are required. When you jump out of God’s will
it doesn’t work, and you get in deep trouble. Don’t go on
in your own plans, and think you are going to save the world
and shake people up!
Genesis 30:17 says, “And God hearkened unto Leah, and she
conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.” Verse 22 says,
“And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and
opened her womb.”
God’s eyes were always on Leah, but Rachel He remembered it
says. Later an incident was recorded where Rachel took her
father’s gods. God’s eyes weren’t always looking at Rachel,
because she had other gods and other plans. She was
carnal. She blamed her husband because she couldn’t get
pregnant, but by that time he already had several children
by Leah. That’s the way self is.
Genesis 30:1 says, “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob
no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob,
Give me children, or else I die.” It wasn’t his fault! It
was her problem.
When the Lord remembered Rachel she bore Joseph. It was
some time before she bore Benjamin. He was the youngest.
Genesis 35:16 says, “And they journeyed from Bethel; and
there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel
travailed, and she had hard labour.” Bethel means church,
or the place where God meets you. Verse 17-19 says, “And it
came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife
said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And
it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she
died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called
him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to
Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.”
Rachel died on the way to the place where the King of Kings
was born. Verse 20 says, “And Jacob set a pillar upon her
grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.
And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower
of Edar.”
Each of
Jacob’s son’s names has a meaning. Reuben means “my
affliction”. Simeon means “I was hated”. Levi means “my
husband will be joined unto me”. Judah means “I will praise
the Lord”. Those were Leah’s sons.
Rachel’s handmaid, Bilhah, bore Dan and Naphtali. Dan means
“God has judged me”. Naphtali means “great wrestlings, and
I prevailed”. The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, were Gad
and Asher. Gad means “the troop cometh”, and Asher means
“happy am I, and blessed”. Leah’s other sons were Issachar,
and Zebulun. Issachar means “God gives higher”, and Zebulun
means “a good dowry”.
Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph means “God
hath taken away my reproach”. Rachel died when she bore her
second son, and she named
him Benoni, which means “son of sorrow”, but his father
named him Benjamin, which means “son of my right hand”.
Jacob still had Leah, two handmaidens, and his children, but
He buried Rachel on the way back to where he started with
God and left her behind. It is extremely difficult to leave
the one you have always loved, and cherished, and worked
for. He had planned to spend the rest of his life with
her.
However, something happened to him when that happened. Leah
couldn’t do a thing about it but watch him grieve. There
was no way she could comfort him. This was between Jacob
and God.
Many years later he recounted his life to Joseph. Jacob
was old, and Joseph was governor of Egypt. Jacob and all of
his family had been brought into Egypt to keep them from
dying in the famine. Joseph had come to the side of Jacob,
his dying father, who was about to pronounce his blessing on
his children.
In Genesis 48:7 Jacob says, “And as for me, when I came from
Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way,
when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath:
and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is
Bethlehem.”
It was just a little way farther that we find that all of
his self motivation and focus on self planning died, just as
he was about to enter into the home of the King of Kings.
You know when you are getting close to God, and going
through the wall whenever all of your self will and all
of your own plans die. When we don’t get our way we mourn
over it.
We act like little children. The mourning starts out as the
lower lip that you can trip over. If we don’t get our way
we pout. People pout differently, being angry, or sad, and
some start compulsive eating, but you need to let go and let
God have His way in your life!
Right before you enter into the veil all your plans die, but
the one who was with you all the time and brought you to
that place is still there. That One is the fruitful one,
the One you hated so many times, the One you quenched so
many times, the One that you told, Will you leave me
alone. I will get to you when I feel like it! I know my
obligations, but right now I’m busy! He is still
there. Thank God He is still there.
Later on, after he blessed his sons Jacob was dying.
Genesis 49:29-31 says, “And he charged them, and said unto
them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my
fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the
Hittite, In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah,
which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham
bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession
of a buryingplace. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his
wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and
there I buried Leah.”
Rachel was buried alone away from Jacob, but the hated one
was buried right beside her husband. He said to bury him
back with Leah where his father and grandfather were
buried. That was a great honor. Jacob died and made heaven
his home. It was not because of a natural Leah, but because
he finally got it in his soul and in his spirit what God
wanted for him.
God took away the most precious thing that he had, to show
him the more precious thing that HE had for him. He
was buried with Leah, the hated one. Isn’t that awesome?
The Bible says that the last shall be first, and the first
shall be last. The first thing that you had on your mind
was your will, not God’s will, but your will has got to come
last. It has got to die before you can enter in. It has
got to die before you can go through. All the
precious things that I have, all the designs and plans that
I have, have got to die first. Those are more dear to us
right now than some of the things God has shown us, because
we can’t see anything except through the eyes of faith, but
God is telling us, “This is the way, walk ye in it.”
There came a day when God knew that Jacob could stand for
Rachel to die. There is coming a day when God knows that
you can stand (be able to take) for all your goals and
desires to perish. Folks, there is not a more glorious day
in your life than that. There is not a more important event
in your life than for everything that you want to be gone
from you, so that God’s perfect will, and way, and holiness
can be fulfilled in your life. Then you can walk exactly
like Jesus!
My plans changed after I got saved, but they still changed
the way I wanted them; I still wanted to help God
along the way. God wants to do a great thing in our lives,
but remember that the first must come last. John 3:30 says,
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Ask God to forgive you where you have had your own design,
and ask Him to set you free from your own plans, so that you
are not buried with them!
You may be going through hard times, but whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered (see Joel
2:32). He has a plan for your life. Look to God and call
on Him if you are having difficulties or confusion. Don’t
despise Him. Let Him lead you in the way He has chosen.
That is the perfect way. Trust Him.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY
LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O.
BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL 62941
CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541
E-mail
livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net
These condensed Bible
studies have been published to help new Christians in their
new walk with the Lord. Kevin Badgley, the author, is the
pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.
This is a Living Hope
Fellowship publication.
©
Living Hope Fellowship, Inc.
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