A. Leah Receives Grace

This one text contains the gospel in seed form.

First, Leah stops putting her hope in her husband. She does not mention him here. She simply and beautifully states. I will praise the LORD.

Second, she stops using the generic name for God, and pulls out God’s covenant name YHWH. Everyone in that time used Elohim to refer to God. But at some point she heard about the promises to Jacob’s grandfather – and she used that name to call out to YHWH. She calls on the covenant Lord, and enters into a relationship with him.

Third, she gives birth to Judah.

You see, grace is something that you receive. Leah is the girl who no one wanted. Her father rejected her, her husband rejected her, and her own desires degraded her. Yet, God noticed her. He noticed her simply because she needed noticing: 31 When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb.

As she received this covenant love, the Lord freed her from her lust for her husband’s love. The same can happen to you. Look upon the Son that no one wanted. When Jesus came to his own, they did not receive him. His best friends all betrayed him. His own father in heaven turned his back on him. Jesus willingly suffered that misery for you, so that you would never have to know how it feels to be alone.

For some of you that sounds like pie in the sky silliness. That’s okay, you haven’t met the Lord yet, so his love is not real to you yet. I only challenge you to face your disappointment in life, and ask God to make himself real. Do that, and see.

Others of you know. You know what it means that your life is hid in Christ, and he is your life. I encourage you to feed that truth, and hide yourself more and more in him until the day of his appearing.

B. Leah Sort of Gets the Gospel

She does fall back into looking to her husband.

Why would I end with this? Why end on a failure? Because you are a failure. The biggest misconception of our time is that the gospel is something you only need when you are an unbeliever. One of the most ignorant critiques you can give is to say that a preacher only preaches evangelistically – he only talks about the gospel.

You see, there is much more to this life than just checking a box, yep I believe the gospel, now everything will be fine. All of your life in Christ is a continual process of finding places where you depend upon yourself or the world for fulfillment. We continually give those things up, and grow into a deeper and deeper love of Christ.

Conversion is making the initial discovery. You finally see that you are the problem. Leah finally realizes that it is not Jacob, it is her dependence upon Jacob that leads her to despair. But do you think 25 years of habit were that easy to walk away from?

If you have never trusted Christ, then I ask you to finally stop being angry that this world does not satisfy your hunger, and let your hungers be satisfied by the divine food of Christ for the first time. Come experience that satisfaction today.

If you have been walking with Christ for five years, then I ask you to remember that the boyfriend or new wife you want so badly will never fully satisfy you. Let Christ satisfy you for the 100^th time.