We turn now to the Hebrews in the New Testament. Hebrews chapter 12, and then we turn to Genesis chapter 29. Hebrews chapter 12, and then Genesis chapter 29. Let's stand for the reading and hearing of God's holy word. Hebrews chapter 12, we will read. Actually, verses 3 through 11, particularly a portion of the New Testament that reminds us that God disciplines us, his children, and that we have a duty to receive that humbly, remembering it is for our good. Hear the word of the Lord, for consider him That is the Lord Jesus to whom we look, running the race. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You've not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness. No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. We continue reading in the Old Testament, Genesis chapter 29. Genesis chapter 29. We'll read there the first 30 verses. Here again, the word of the Lord. So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. And he looked and saw a well in the field, and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well's mouth. All the flocks would be gathered there, and they would roll the stone from the well's mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the well's mouth. And Jacob said to them, my brethren, where are you from? They said, we are from Haran. Then he said to them, do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, we know him. And so he said to them, is he well? They said, he is well. Look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep. And he said, look, it is still high day. Is it not time for the cattle to be gathered together? Water the sheep and go and feed them. But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and they have rolled the stone from the well's mouth. And then we water the sheep. Now he was still speaking while he was still speaking with them. Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess. It came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's relative and that he was Rebekah's son. So she ran and told her father. And it came to pass When Laban heard the report about Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him, brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him for a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my relative, Should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be? Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance. Now Jacob loved Rachel. So he said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter. Laban said, it is better that I give her to you than I should give her to another man. Stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. And Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife for my days are fulfilled that I may go into her. And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. Now it came to pass in the evening, he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob and he went into her and Jacob gave his Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid, so it came to pass in the morning that behold it was Leah. He said to Laban, what is this that you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me? And Laban said, It must not be done so in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill her week and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years. So Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter, Rachel, as wife also. And Laban gave his maid, Bilhah, to his daughter, Rachel, as a maid. Then Jacob also went into Rachel and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. He served with Laban still another seven years. Grass withers, the flower fades, the Word of our God endures forever. We turn in the Word of God to Genesis chapter 29. If you haven't been with us, we are working through a series, sequential, expository exposition of the Word of God. Not only the content of this is important, but even the practice declares something of what we believe the Word of God to be, to be profitable for instruction, reproof, correction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work, and that all of it, every page, is God-breathed and inspired. And so we submit ourselves again to it, page by page, again this morning. We've come in the story of Jacob's life, the place where God begins to rebuild and bring back to Jacob the man who we left last week alone in the desert. penniless, without a family, a home, or a future, where the living God begins to bring back to Jacob those things which he has promised Abraham to Isaac, which Isaac has told Jacob about at the beginning of the previous chapter and repeating the promises of God, which God himself at Bethel drew near and declared to Jacob again that he would be a God to him and his descendants after him. In Genesis chapter 29 we're going to see a second thing, that even as God begins to work and restore in the life of Jacob, that he will also discipline his son, his son Jacob. One of the greatest mistakes you could ever make as a believer or an unbeliever, you're a Christian here this morning or if you don't know, God or the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the greatest mistakes you could ever make is to underestimate the perfect justice of God. The greatest mistakes you could ever make is to underestimate the perfect justice of God. There's two ways that we do this. See, because we know that we're sinners and sinful and we're conceived and born in sin, if we know the Scriptures and we know that we do wrong things and we know that we do wrong things daily, And one of the ways we underestimate God's justice is we think somehow, even as believers, even if we've walked with the Lord for decades, we still are tempted to think that somehow there's some things that we do that escape the scrutiny of God. that he doesn't quite notice them, that he doesn't know and see all things. Psalm 139 says that there's nowhere we can hide from God, there's nowhere we can flee from his presence. He sees and knows all things. He knows every word that comes out of your lips before you speak it. He knows everything and all things about you. He's the all-seeing God. Solomon says that he is the God who one day, who will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. You can't escape his scrutiny. Everything you've done, He knows and sees every thought you've had. You cannot escape the all-seeing eye of the living God. But there's a second way we make a mistake. We think that somehow, at the end of all things, that some of our sins aren't so bad and that they don't really deserve the time that God would have to mete out justice for them. But somehow at the end, there's going to be some way that we could, that things could be fudged a little bit in our benefit. And the evidence, as I'm saying these things, you're saying, well, I know God sees everything. And I believe in His perfect justice, that there's gonna come a day when He's gonna judge the living and the dead, and He's gonna see all things and all men. He's coming to judge the earth in righteousness, the peoples with equity. I know those things. I don't make these mistakes. We make these mistakes every time we sin again. Because if we had any sense of who God was, perfect justice, if we really believed it, we ought then to fight against sin and to not sin. There's a biblical principle of God's justice that's interwoven also in and through our lives. The Apostle Paul speaks of it in Galatians chapter 6. It's a general principle that flows through all of life. Do not be deceived for what a man sows, that he will also reap. Now there's an ultimate sense to this. We talked about a moment ago, the ultimate final great judgment of the living God. But there's another way in which this happens in the course of life. Not only will God one day at the end of all things make every injustice right and praise be to his glorious name that he will. But in this present life, we get glimpses of that same holiness that God has seen and knows the things we've done, and that he will deal with us in this life in a way that makes us understand and know that simple truth for what a man sows, that he will also reap. Now he graciously reveals this part of his character to us in the present day before that great and final judgment. He reveals it to us in all different ways. Children, you know a little bit about justice already at home. If you disobey your parents, there's going to be consequences for sin. There's natural consequences for certain sins. If food is an idol to you, you're going to feel the consequences. If drink is an idol to you, you will feel the consequences. If pleasure is an idol, there's natural consequences built into the creation, into the very fabric of things. If you break the law, the civil law, there's judicial consequences. There's all kinds of places where the justice of God is on display and the principle for what a man sows that he will also reap comes into effect in our lives. And these are gracious. But there's not only these natural ways or judicial ways. Sometimes God in his providence so weaves our life and its circumstances that he brings us face to face with ourselves and our own sins in the difficult providences we face. And they have been specifically designed by God to reveal our sins. That's what we're about to see in Jacob's life. He's fresh from this glorious encounter with the living God at Bethel. He is perhaps only beginning to faintly see the outlines of the grace and glory and promises of God. He's had a deep impression of God in his glory and holiness. Surely the Lord is in this place. This is the very gate of heaven. This is the house of God. He has named the place Bethel, the house of God. He has set up a pillar there. He has had an encounter that will change him for the rest of his life with God himself. Now he has traveled from Bethel about 400 or more miles to the land of Haran, the land of Laban, also called Padanerim. And he has traveled a long, dangerous journey by himself in search of his mother's relatives, in search of a place to go for safety and finally in search of a woman that he might marry. But the man who leaves Bethel is in many senses still the man that we've read about in the earlier chapters. He still seems to be, even in this chapter, you remember when Abraham's servant went to find a wife for Isaac, you remember how often he prayed and pleaded with the Lord. We won't find Jacob praying here. We won't find him referring to God here. We will find him in one sense looking very much like the pre-Bethel Jacob, where he has been dependent on his own wits, abilities, and natural strength to get what he wants. And in the middle of all of that, we will find that God brings him face to face with himself. But what's the narrative? How does God bring Jacob face to face with himself? How does God bring Jacob to see his own character? Again, reviewing the journey, he's had problems, he's got an angry brother behind him. He's running for his life. His family is broken. He is lonely. He will never return to a home that isn't broken. He doesn't have a wife. He's alone. It's not good for him to be alone. He's the critical son of promise, the one in whom all the promises of God have been invested. There are many things in Jacob's life which are pressing. Both his father and his mother have given him one simple solution to all these problems. Go to Laban. Go find yourself a wife there and get out of Esau's territory and Esau's direct line of sight. Because if you don't, he's going to kill you. Run. And Jacob has been getting out of town. He's on the run, and you remember his situation. He has nothing. Where God and his providence have brought Jacob is to a place of only possessing one thing, the promises of God. He has no inheritance. He's empty-handed. He's poor. His family legacy is a hatred. division, and now he is alone. His reputation is of a greedy, deceitful, self-centered man who's confident in his own strength. His spiritual legacy is in tatters if he has one at all. God has stripped everything away from this man, Jacob. You remember the first thing that God did to him in that situation was brought him at Bethel to see that his first and greatest need was the living God himself and the way between heaven and earth, supremely the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgiveness and cleansing and all grace and blessing would come from the living God. No other place. That's the beginning of Jacob's spiritual life. God is your inheritance, Jacob. But Jacob now, perhaps only beginning to understand grace, who knows something of the presence and glory and power of God, is about to learn some hard lessons about himself. And look at the narrative and listen again for the providence of God in these things. And Jacob went on his journey, verse 1, came to the land of the people of the east, and behold, he saw a well. Some critics say here that because Jacob comes to a well like Abraham's servant came to a well that we have a copy of one story just copying another story and that we have a repeated series of really what they say is myths. What you miss right here is this very simple significance when you say it's of a well. If Jacob was going to travel from Bethel to Haran, his whole journey would have been from well to well to well. It's a dry and thirsty land. He's going across some places which are flat out desert. And the entire life and community of every city and town is focused around the presence of water which would keep them and their livestock alive. It was the meeting place, the central place in every town. It was the place you would go for directions, to meet people, to find things. It was part of every traveler's itinerary to stop at the major wells because that's the only way they could live. And so Jacob arrives at another well on his journey. He sees a well in the field and three flocks of sheep lying by it. Out of that well they watered the flocks. There was a large stone. The shepherds there are waiting for the well to be opened. And the events at this particular well show the providence of God. He ends up at exactly the right well, and he finds himself there with Laban's people. He asked in verse 4, My brethren, where are you from? They said, We're from Haran. Do you know Laban? We know him. Is he well? He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep. He's exactly at the right place. And then exactly the right woman in the providence of God, who would be his wife, comes walking to the well. While he was still speaking, Rachel came with her father's sheep. She was a shepherdess. And it came to pass that when he saw her, remember, he greets her. And you have to understand here, this is first not a greeting of passion, or that he's instantaneously falling in love with her. He has found the only family that he has left on the face of the earth. She's going to be one of his relatives. She's a cousin. He has found the place where his mother and father sent him to go. He's found the place where he has the only hope for a future and a family. He's found perhaps the only other family in the world that he can go to that would receive him. And he weeps. And he rejoices and God has led him to exactly the right place at the right time and even the right woman. And he responds with extraordinary strength when he sees Rachel, you see there that stone, which many men would roll off. We read earlier in the chapter, Jacob went near and he rode the stone from the well's mouth and he watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. He's 77 years old here. His extraordinary strength. He has an immediate affection for Rachel and for her family. And from there, he is rushed by Rachel to Laban, her father, and the two of them sit down and speak together. So she ran and told her father. At the end of verse 12, when it came to pass, Laban heard the report about Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. And they have a conversation. And Jacob tells Laban everything that has come to pass. And Laban's conclusion is important. He says, He said to him, surely you are my bone and my flesh. I am convinced what you say is true. Come into my home, stay with me. And so he stays with him there for a month. But Laban has more than one response to Jacob. Laban has a response that we see in his life and every time and every place. If you go back to chapter 24, his happiness to see his kinsmen, Beneath it really lies a deeper motivation. The last time relatives showed up, Laban did fairly well. Chapter 24, verse 30, notice what he notices. Laban ran out to meet the man by the well, that's Abraham's servant. So it came to pass when he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists. And when he heard the words of his sister, Rebecca saying, thus the man spoke to me, he went to the man and then verse 31, come in, oh, blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? But Moses, inspiration of the spirit says, the first thing he sees is the money. This man has enriched my sister. And then in verse 53 again, with Rebecca, we find Laban again revealing his true heart. Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother Laban and her mother. Laban already knows, he has an eye for the good things. Another relative has come. But the problem is this one is empty handed. How is Laban gonna make money off an empty-handed relative? Well, he's got a plan for this already. In verse 15, Laban said to Jacob, because you're my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing, tell me what shall your wages be? He's gonna make something off of Jacob yet. He's convinced of his identity. He still sees an opportunity to advance himself even. And Jacob has no options. He has nowhere else to go. He has his eye on Rachel already. We'll see in a moment. And what's happening here is a face-off between two powerful conniving men. They both are out to take advantage one of the other. And when Laban makes the offer, tell me what will your wages be? Jacob sees a golden opportunity to get what he wants, Rachel, without having to pay the dowry because he's empty handed and he has nothing in his pockets. He has no inheritance. He's a poor man. And so he goes in with an offer which he thinks Laban can't refuse. A normal labor for a woman to be a man's wife at this time was three and a half or four years. He puts an offer on the table that can't be refused, that Laban will take, and he says, what shall your wages be? Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter. Laban jumps at the opportunity and he says, it is better that I give her to you than I should give her to another man. Stay with me, makes a verbal contract. Now the deal is sealed. And now Jacob has to labor seven years to receive Rachel's hand in marriage. And if you were Jacob, at this point, everything's been coming together the way it always has. He's come empty-handed. He's come looking for a wife. He's come with nothing. And God is now, he seems to be that he's now by his cunning rather to get everything that he ever wanted. Life is good, but little does he know that in the providence of God, he has met his match in Laban. He's met his match in Laban. Because in a moment, God is going to humble Jacob remarkably. This is the way God works in the lives of his children. He declares his great promises to Jacob and Bethel, objective, great, and glorious promises. And we know them, we know the promises of the gospel. But he doesn't only do that, he also chastens and instructs and even afflicts his children so that we might learn that what we receive, we receive by grace. How does God bring you and I to a deep trust in his promises? He does it always in two steps. He humbles his people and then he lifts them up. He brings us low and then he lifts us up. And he's gonna do exactly the same thing to Jacob here. He's gonna bring them low and then he's gonna lift them up. Look at the high that Jacob thinks he's riding on. From cast off poor, no future, to being at the right well at the right time, having a contract for a beautiful woman whom he loves, perhaps, He's recalling Genesis 24 and he's saying, God's going to do everything for me. He did for my father, Isaac. Laban offers the wages. He makes the contract. Everything is going well. And notice how Moses sets up for us that Jacob has no idea what is coming. Verse 20. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. For seven years, God has him. Looking forward to everything he ever hoped and dreamed and planned for and thought he had in his grasp. Seven years. Hosea 12.12 tells us what he did these seven years. He was a shepherd. Jacob fled to the land of Aram and there Israel served for a wife and for a wife he guarded she. But it is the hand of providence behind all these details. Jacob is like one of those people for whom nothing ever seems to go wrong until now. He comes great, crashing, humbling. And in verse 21, the seven years are complete. And here is the climax of the whole chapter. Then Jacob said to Laban, notice as an aside here, an application to purity in holiness before marriage. Give me my wife for my days are fulfilled that I may go into her. And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. He's betrothed to her. He thinks that this is going to be the moment. Seven years are complete. The wedding procession happens. The veiled bride comes. The feast is over. The bridegroom takes the bride into the wedding chamber. He goes into her. The text says, and in the morning he wakes up and he finds verse 25. So it came to pass in the morning that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, What is this that you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you, here's the phrase, deceived me? Where has God brought Jacob? To the very place that he himself has lived for decades. Laban is interested only in his own profit. He's going to sell off his own two daughters into a bitter, broken home, and he doesn't seem to care. He never changes. But it is Jacob who has shown the same interest in gaining for himself since the day that he bargained for Esau's birthright. Laban flatly deceives Jacob, lying to him, making a contract he knew he would never keep, even as Jacob deceived his father Isaac and lied to him, saying things that were never true. Laban uses Jacob's blindness as the veiled bride enters into the tent in the darkness at the end of the day to pull the wool over Jacob's eyes and make the deceit final and complete, even as Jacob takes advantage of Isaac's blindness and lies to him and deceives him in his weakness. Laban defends himself. Notice when Jacob comes to him and says, why have you deceived me, Laban? How does he defend himself? It must not be done so in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. The very thing that Laban appeals to is the very thing that Jacob has unreservedly, without shame, sought to upend his whole life from the day he traded for the birthright to the day that he sought to steal the blessing of his older brother. It all comes back to him line after line. And Laban's deceit and hard-heartedness will lead to a broken home in many senses for Jacob and his family after him. A home of brokenness and stress, sadness and even hatred. Just as Jacob's deceit shattered his own family. And in a moment, God brings to Jacob's eyes everything that he has been doing. It shows the intentional, humbling hand of God. Galatians 6, 7. Do not be deceived. For what a man sows, he will also reap. Let me ask you a question. A very simple question. Perhaps you've been living like a Jacob. It's a remarkable thing that we have before us in these two chapters. We have a man here who has a real sense of the reality and holiness and splendor and glory and even forgiving mercy of God. We have a man who has been at Bethel, at the gate of heaven, who still needs to be brought low and humbled by God that he might see his own sins. At the end of the day, a man who has seen all of that glory is still living an independent, self-willed, prayerless life. who thinks that all the good breaks will keep coming his way in one sense. And when things are bad, there is no problem to bring big form, filled with natural strength, who takes that rock at the well when he sees Rachel and is able to roll it away, who's filled still with vigor and intelligence, who can drive a hard bargain, but who cannot escape the providential hand of God. And so many of us are like this. Nothing can ever really get us down. We cut corners all the time. All that matters is I get from A to B. The simple lesson from the providence of God in showing Jacob his own sin is this, be sure your sin will find you out. The way of transgressors is hard. That God will bring every work into judgment, every secret thing. For what a man sows that he will also reap. This is a rule in the economy and ways of God and that there's no use running, hiding, or evading. Second thing we have to learn. As though as the people of God we have the glorious good news, grace and forgiveness are free. We also have to recognize that the sins even of the people of God have consequences. Jacob will live the rest of his life with the results of this discipline of God. Not only that moment at that morning when he wakes up and he realizes he's been deceived, but for the rest of his life his home will be infected with a certain brokenness that he will never forget how God has humbled him and brought him low. He does get Rachel to be his wife. Laban does ask him, make another contract, fulfill her week, we will give her to you. He marries the one whom he loved. He receives Rachel, but even in receiving her, he now has two wives who are sisters. The one will be hated, the other will be loved, and there will be discord in his family. His sins bring consequences. The one-woman, one-man pattern, broken, always brings, in all of the Scriptures, great and sad consequences for the family, and here it will again. And Laban surely is greatly to blame as a wicked man who sells his daughters. But Jacob will live. with the chastening hand of God for the rest of his life. Third thing to learn here is when your sin does find you out, even as Jacob's did, humble yourself and repent. Over this chapter is not only what a man sows he shall reap, but whom the Lord loves he disciplines. Notice how God uses the particular circumstances, even difficult people to discipline this man. Might be a Christian that God puts into your life, a believer or an unbeliever. Sometimes in an uncanny way, the person who stands against you or makes the trouble might be a very echo of your own character and sinfulness. Someone selfish, deceitful, and gossiping that God uses to uncover your own selfishness, deceitfulness, and hardness. And God often and throughout history has oppressed and even afflicted his people in order that they might know themselves. And if this is happening to you, the first thing you need to do, Lord, search me and try me and see if there is any wicked way in me. Oppression is designed by God to root out sin and ungodly behavior and to form godly character and holiness. And that's what God is doing in Jacob's life. But against the backdrop of his discipline, there is also great mercy of God in this whole chapter. The mercy of God in that, first of all, he takes Jacob in his self-confidence and humbles him. The fact that God does discipline, we so often hate trials, hardship, and opposition. Writer Hebrews read earlier no chastening seems pleasant for the present but painful nevertheless remember this after it word it It rewards or yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have trained by it. What you're going to see through the rest of Jacob's life is that God is going to chasten and shape and mold and break down his hard-hearted, self-reliant character. And finally, he is going to come out as one who is pleading and praying with the living God, I will not let you go until you bless me. And it is the disciplining, sovereign hand of God that's going to bring him from self-reliance to humility. Here, the reminder that God has seen and knows everything he's done, and the little glimpse of God's perfect justice, is a gracious reminder to Jacob that God would have him be holy for his own namesake. And if God reminds you in this life, indiscipline, hardship, opposition, of his own holiness and watchful eye, and that he knows everything that you've ever done and ever said. Remember that if you receive his discipline in this life, he is gracious to his people. Second thing, the mercy of God in Jacob's life. He gives him the delight of a woman he loved. This chapter is filled with a love story from the beginning to the end, in the midst of the brokenness A stunning declaration of the mercy of God. He looks for a wife. He gives him a wife, particularly a wife whom he loves. The text is so abundantly clear about this again and again in verse 11, his affection for Rachel at the beginning, but then later on clearly this is becoming an understanding and a deep love and even passion for a beautiful woman. In verse 17, Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance. Now Jacob loved Rachel. The fact that he could serve only seven years and they seemed only a few days for him, Finally, he marries her and with joy loves this woman. He finds a wife. He finds a good thing. He finds favor from the Lord. In Genesis chapter 48, we will find that on his deathbed he is still talking about this woman who God gave him, Rachel, and his love for her. Lonely Jacob receives the companion that he has longed for. And God shows, even in the midst of the brokenness, great mercy. There's one more place that God shows mercy. If you read this story, we can focus on Jacob. If we only looked at Jacob, and only Jacob and Rachel, perhaps we wouldn't get to the most painful theme in the whole chapter. What about this heartbroken, lonely, unloved, in verse 31, when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, the language of the text really there is hated. There is such great sadness here. And Jacob bears some responsibility, Laman bears great responsibility, and this Leah sold off, traded off for someone who was really loved, then left in a home where she becomes unloved. What about her? Where is the mercy of God in the life of this sad and broken woman? If we have any compassion when we read this chapter, can we not see that there is somebody here who seems off on the sidelines and living in colossal heartbreak and brokenness. She ends up sharing a husband with her sister. A sister who at the next chapter opens envies her There will be no happiness in the things of this world in many ways for this woman. Where is the mercy of God and the remembrance of God for this? And why does God bring Leah to Jacob that night? And why in the providence of God do these things happen the way that they happen? What will God bring from it? We have a little hint of Leah's struggle in the last names in the chapter. In the last verses, we notice that God opens her womb because he loves her. And God saw that she was unloved, he opened her womb, and notice what she names her first son, it's Reuben. Why? Here, a son. And you can imagine her bringing Reuben back to Jacob as the unloved wife in that brokenness and saying, Seer, God has blessed me, here's a son, will you not love me? And then she has another son, Simeon. And it means heard, and she says, why have I named him this? Because the Lord has heard my cries. Jacob, here's Simeon, God has heard me, he's blessing me. And then another son, and she names him Levi, which means attached. And here her hunger and longing to be loved comes out again. She says, I've named him this so that I might be known as the one who was attached to and loved by my husband, Jacob. And you see that child after child, even though God is remembering her and blessing her, her tears are flowing and she is longing for these good things. But then finally, in her affliction, she has a son in this chapter. She conceived again and bore a son, verse 35, and now she said, I will praise the Lord. Therefore, she called his name Judah, and she stopped bearing. The very end of it all, God in mercy remembers the downtrodden. He gives her three sons. And who are they? Reuben, the firstborn of the family, the one of honor. and then Simeon, and then Levi, the priesthood of Israel, the ones who would represent God's mediation and forgiving grace towards his people, and then finally and gloriously Judah, from whom would come the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you read the end of the book of Genesis, chapter 49, and you go to Abraham's tomb, who are the ones who are lying there? Abraham and Sarah, who fathered Isaac, the son of promise. Isaac and Rebecca, who fathered Jacob, the son of promise. And then Rachel dies on the way and she is buried on the way to Bethlehem. But Leah is laid to rest in the tomb of the patriarchs, beside Jacob. the one in the brokenness who becomes the great-great-grandmother of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, in his mercy, lifts her up to be a mother in Israel, and she seems to have learned it. She called his name Judah. Praise the God of Israel. Praise the God of the covenant. She has found her rest in God. Do you not see both the chastening hand and the overwhelming mercy of the living God in these things? Let us pray. Lord our God, we pray that as we see these things, as you so work by your providence in our lives to bring us to a place of chastening and a hardship, we ask first for grace, not to kick against the pricks, But to recognize that you in your divine wise providence shape and form our characters, you rebuke our sins, you bring us low, you make us often come face to face with the very things we wrestle against in our own hearts. Lord, give us the grace when you discipline us to humbly submit. Lord, help us also to remember your mercy. your mercy and your discipline, your mercy and your good gifts that you shower upon us undeserving, and finally, your mercy that for the downtrodden and the brokenhearted of this world, you lift us up by your grace. You give your promises, supremely your promises of forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ and the blood of his cross. Grant us grace, then, O God, to believe in you, the living and true God, in all that you have said, and forgive our sins for Jesus' sake. Amen.