Below The Surface—Lesson 4
What Will U Do 4 Love? Genesis 29
FOCUS: God made some beautiful promises to Jacob as he ran from a dysfunctional situation at home
towards another dysfunctional situation with Laban’s family, but God used this to show the
importance of keeping relationship with Him a priority as He turned a giant mess into something
beautiful and eternally good!
FUNCTION: We will recognize the importance of seeking God as our “soul mate” rather than trying to fill
that with a human relationship and will surrender to Him and make choices that enable Him
to turn our dysfunction into a legacy of eternal purpose and goodness for generations to come
I. Intro: ELF VIDEO—“I’m in love! I’m in love! And I don’t care who knows it!”
A. Someone being head over heels in love is exciting! Who doesn’t love the idea of love?
1. God created us with the capacity to love & a need for others—such a great thing
2. By design—Created with a need to help us realize what our relationship with Him should be
3. BUT—We have an enemy who takes what is good and offers us a perverted twist of it
B. Genesis 2 provides us with teaching about God’s desire to take care of our needs
1. Food, water, shelter, purpose, boundaries are all emphasized
2. The final need, which He spends most time on, was provision of a helpmate
3. A picture of complementing one another—covenant love—w/ a precedent for marriage given
4. Any possibility that this could become an idol?
II. Jump forward in time to Genesis 29 and we find Jacob traveling back to his mother’s homeland (V. 1)
A. The truth is, he is leaving under bad circumstances:
1. Older brother was obviously dad’s favorite (25:28)
2. Wanting Dad’s approval led to lying & stealing the blessing & having to run for his life!
3. Gone more than 20 years—No account that he ever sees his mother again
B. This damaged person is seeking a wife and look what he finds (29:9)
1. A total gift from God is emphasized by the way this account is written
a. Combine V. 2 & 6 and we see 3 “behold” statements
b. This connects to what happened in 28:12-13a as Jacob traveled out of the Promised Land
c. God made promises to bless Jacob & this is written this way to show how Rachel is this
2. How does Jacob respond to Rachel? (ELF VIDEO CLIP)
a. Moved to emotion (V. 10)—rolls stone away, waters flock, kisses Rachel, cries out; weeps
b. ELF VIDEO CLIP
3. He agrees to work 7 years as a bride price (V. 18)—More than double the norm
a. Such a romantic statement in V. 20—(ELF VIDEO CLIP)
b. Is it possible to use this “head over heels” love against him? Remember the enemy!
i. How often are we willing to pay more for a relationship than we should?
ii. How many have compromised values; taken on debt; established bad habits in the effort to keep someone’s affection?
iii. How far will we go to hold onto a relationship that isn’t even healthy?
c. Laban & Leah both take advantage of his fixation
i. Laban pulls a switch and gets another 7 years of service out of Jacob
ii. Leah does not speak up, but goes along with the plan
iii. How bad would you have to hurt to accept a broken relationship like this? (V. 30)
iv. Why would she do this? Maybe she has accepted she is the ugly sister no one wants
v. Look at the pain expressed in what she names her first 4 children (V. 32-35)
4. All of this sets up a divided family even into the next generation!
III. Where is God in the midst of all of this?
A. He made promises to Jacob of blessing and will work things out
1. 12 sons is ultimately the result of this crazy marriage of Jacob to sisters—Tribes of Israel!
2. It is AFTER all this that Jacob wrestles; has name changed; has focus brought back to God
B. He has not forgotten Leah’s pain either (V. 31)
1. 6 sons born through her
2. Leah is the one Jacob winds up being buried next to
3. It is thru Leah’s child Levi that the priesthood comes (Moses & Aaron—her lineage)
4. It is thru her child Judah that David and then Jesus come
C. Jacob ran from one dysfunctional situation into another one—God worked through it!
1. Leah went from one situation of feeling unloved into another one—God never forgot her!
2. Who was Jacob’s soul mate? Who made him complete? NOT RACHEL!
3. Who was Leah’s soul mate? Who made her complete? NOT JACOB!
4. No one can take the place of God!
a. When we get like this: (ELF VIDEO CLIP)—Don’t take God off the throne!
b. He is our One true soul mate! Only He makes us complete!
c. If only we would keep things in proper order
IV. INVITATION
V. GIVE BLESSING
A. The Lord bless you and keep you
B. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you
C. The Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace
Discussion Questions:
1. How has your desire for affection and approval from human relationships influenced your spiritual journey with God?
2. Have you had any relationships where you gave up more for the relationship than you should have? What kinds of values have you been willing to compromise in order to hold onto a relationship, even if it wasn’t healthy?
3. How has pain & brokenness from earlier relationships in your life led to problems in the way you live in later relationships? What can you do to break this cycle?
4. We see things set up positively and negatively for generations because of the choices made in relationships. Favoritism and division in Isaac and Rebekah is carried into Jacob’s sibling and marriage relationships and is then continued between his 12 sons. What kind of legacy are we setting up to leave behind for the generations that follow us?
5. God still gets the last word in Jacob’s family situation! How have you seen God work through the dysfunction within your own family? What eternal plans has He been able to reveal and bring to fruition even with you and your family being a mess? How do the ways Leah’s story plays out in future generations provide you hope?