Grow Group Lesson 1

A few years ago, I did a short study on Leah, Jacob’s wife.  Leah is not someone in the Bible that we would like to be.  She was unloved.  No woman wants to be in that situation.  No woman wants to be unloved.  It is a deep, searing pain to feel unloved.  In the lesson I expounded on how she longed for her husband’s affection, and hoped to win it by having multiple children, even giving her maidservant to have more children for her.  Did her plan work?  Did Jacob love her more than Rachel because of all the children Leah gave him? No.  Man’s love is limited and conditional. Sometimes it is even superficial and fickle.

Now, clearly Leah did not have a say in her situation.  I doubt she wanted to be married to a man who loved another wife.  If anything, she was probably trying to make the best of the awful situation she was in by having a number of children.  “Maybe then he will love me.” she thought.  “Perhaps the children will fill this ache in my heart.”  Now here is where I think it gets interesting when you focus on it for a little bit.  You see God pursuing her with His love, and she in turn continues to pursue her husband’s love.  It’s like an open love triangle.  God, in His beautiful love, saw her situation, and opened her womb.  It seemed as if He was saying, “I see your pain.  I know your heart. I love you.”  Now as we see her name her children, we also get a real good look at what she was thinking.

Genesis 29:31 - Reuben - God has seen; now my husband will love me.

v. 33 - Simeon - God has heard.  No mention of husband here.

v. 34 - Levi - My husband will be attached to me!

v.35 - Judah - I will praise the Lord!

Just as a side note, Rachel has her husband’s love and she is not satisfied.  Unless you receive God’s love you will not be satisfied.

30:9-11 - Leah loses sight again and gets into the competition. - Gad - Good fortune - No mention of God or husband.  Now it seems she’s just focused on beating her sister.

Vs. 12-13 - Asher - Happy am I! Women have called me happy!  - Now it’s just all about her and what other women think of her.

Vs. 17-18 Issachar - God has given me my wages, because I gave my servant to my husband. - This is an interesting statement.  She seems a bit delusional at this point. It’s like she’s saying God rewarded her with another son for giving her servant to her husband.  It also seems to imply that she think God owed  her a son.

Vs. 19-20 Zebulun - God has blessed, now my husband will honor me.

She then stops bearing children.  Now if she hoped that eight sons would surely make her husband love her, she was sorely disappointed.

Genesis 33:1-2 Okay, first of all, what a coward!  This isn’t a “ladies first” kind of situation!  He’s basically saying, “Okay, if they attack us the servants will get killed first, then Leah and the children, then Rachel and the children and then last of all - me.”  Second, and more sobering for Leah, her plan didn’t work.  Her sister Rachel was still smack dab in between her and Jacob.  After all that battling, and all that bearing of children, and all that hoping and waiting, it didn’t make a difference.  He still loved Rachel more.

Michael W. Smith has a beautiful song called “Never been unloved.”  In the song he goes on saying how he’s been unfaithful, unworthy, undesirable, unwilling and so on.  He then shifts into saying that, “but because of You, and all that You’ve been through, I know that I have never been unloved.”

Leah’s situation was definitely sad, heartbreaking even.  But here is the truth of the matter. She was never unloved.  The God of the universe Who created her and everything around her loved her. Not only that, He didn’t wait for her to have a better attitude and come around to loving God first and foremost.  He loved her in the midst of her sorrow and blindness of heart.  He loved her in the midst of her futile love quest with her husband.  Through all this, He gave her multiple “I love you” gifts. Regardless of how she responded to His gift - good, bad, praising, selfish - He loved her.

Now what of all this?

Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The fact of the matter is that we’re sometimes just like Leah.  We pursue other futile loves.  We look to them to satisfy us and they just will not reciprocate or fulfill like we thought they would.  And in the midst of all our sin and blindness, God loves us.

Or sometimes we get it in our head that because of all the bad things we’ve done, God doesn’t love us anymore.  Or maybe if we do this service or that good thing for God He will love us more. The truth is, no matter what we do or have done or will do, God’s love for us will not change.  It’s worth mentioning again.  God’s love for us will not change.

The idea here is to know, and settle for yourself, and rest in the fact that YOU are loved by God. Unconditionally. Period.  The question is, will you receive it?  Will you be satisfied by it?  Will you know it?

What comes to your mind when you think of the fact that Christ died for you?  He endured pain for you.  He wanted to be with you.

There is a quote from the book Uncommon Woman by Susie Larson.

“To ‘know this love’ is to be so acquainted with Jesus’ affections for you that more than anything else in all the earth you identify yourself as someone who is loved.”

I’ve adopted a couple questions from Kim Walker’s testimony.  This is the woman from Jesus Culture that sings the song, “How He Loves Us.”  Ask Jesus these questions.  Wait for His answer.  Expect His answer.

How much do you love me?
What were You thinking when You created me?

Oh the beauty of knowing the love of God!