Trinity Church Spokane Valley
Genesis 29:31-30:43
Genesis 29, verse chapter 30, verse 43, quite a big chunk of Scripture we're going to bite off this morning. So let's get right to it. I'm going to ask you to stand with me, if you will, out of honor for God's Word. This is 29, starting in verse 31, here God's Word is, it's read. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, "Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me." She conceived again and bore a son and said, "Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also." She called his name Simeon. "Again she conceived and bore a son and said, 'Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.' Therefore his name was called Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, 'This time I will praise the Lord.' Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing. When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, 'Give me children, or I shall die.' Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, 'Am I in the place of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?' Then she said, 'Here's my servant Bilhah, go into her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.' So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went into her, Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, 'God has judged me and has also heard my voice and given me a son, therefore she called his name Dan.' Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, 'With mighty restlings I have wrestled my sister and have prevailed.' So she called his name Naftali. When Leah saw that she had seized bearing children, she took her servant Zilpa and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant Zilpa bore Jacob a son, and Leah said, 'Good fortune has come.' So she called his name Gad. Leah's servant Zilpa bore Jacob a second son, and Leah said, 'Happy am I, for women have called me happy.' So she called his name Asher. In the days of wheat harvest, Ruben went out and found man-drakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, 'Please give me some of your son's man-drakes.' But she said to her, 'Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's man-drakes also?' Rachel said, 'Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's man-drakes.' When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, 'You must come into me, for I have hired you with my son's man-drakes.' So he lay with her that night. God listened to Leah and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, 'God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.' So she called his name Isakar. In Leah conceived again and she bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, 'God has endowed me with a good endowment. Now my husband will honor me because I have borne him six sons.' So she called his name Zebulan. Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah. Then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb. You conceived and bore a son and said, 'God has taken away my reproach.' She called his name Joseph saying, 'May the Lord add to me another son.' As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, 'Send me away that I may go to my home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you that I may go for you know the service that I have given you. But Laban said to him, 'If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Name your wages and I will give it.' Jacob said to him, 'You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock is fair with me for you had little before I came and it has increased abundantly and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?' He said, 'What shall I give you?' Jacob said, 'You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pastor your flock and keep it.' Let me pass through all your flock today removing from it every speckled and spotted cheap in every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats and they shall be my wages.' So my honesty will answer for me later when you come to look into my wages with you. 'Everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me shall be counted stolen.' Laban said, 'Good! Let it be as you have said.' But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, everyone that had wide on it, in every lamb that was black and put them in charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob pastored the rest of Laban's flock. Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plain trees and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks and the troughs, that is the watering places where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth stripe, speckled and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks towards the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban's flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock that they might breed among the sticks. For the feebler of the flock, he would not lay them there so the feebler would be Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. Thus, the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants and camels and donkeys. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Again what a portion of Scripture to bite off this morning. Maybe you were hoping a couple of times that I would stop so you could catch your breath. What's going on in these stories this morning? Well, very simply, if you look at it from a 30,000 foot view, you could probably step back and see what's happening in the context of the Book of Genesis. These two accounts have to do with birth, multiplication. This is exactly what the Lord had promised, Jacob, "I will multiply you and your offspring. I will bless you." So here it is. I'll give you the main point of these two texts. Maybe you've scratched your head at these texts before and you have some kind of theory on what's going on here, but let me just tell you what the point is here to the people of Israel. As the people of Israel read this, what is being shouted at them? What is being communicated to them? The Lord keeps his promises. The Lord is increasing and multiplying Jacob's seed and his wealth. That's what flocks are. He is blessing Jacob just as he promised he would, even in the midst of indentured servanthood. Even as Jacob is an indentured servant, he is a servant in Laban's household. It's a glorified slave to his uncle who does nothing but work ill towards Jacob. Yet the Lord is keeping his promises. He's increasing Jacob's seed. He's increasing Jacob's flocks. So in this section of Scripture, we actually see how Jacob is enriched and how the nation of Israel begins. You remember how Jacob shows up in Laban's home. You remember how he shows up? He has nothing. You're going to see next week how does he leave? He leaves full. Shows up with nothing and he leaves wealthy. How does that happen? The Lord keeps his promises. In this account, we have literally the birth of the nation of Israel. This is where Israel as a nation is born. So how important do you think this section of Scripture is for the people of Israel? What level of importance would they put on this passage? Huge! This is their origin. This is where the tribes of Israel are born. Yet to our ears, to our ears as we're reading through this, we're listening to these stories, these stories contain some of, frankly, some of the weirdest stuff in the entire story to this point. Man Drake's and Almond Sticks, maybe you read it this week and you're like, I have no idea what that's talking about, man Drake's and Almond Sticks. The Lord keeps his promises in the midst of captivity through horrible conflict. He continues to be faithful to Jacob and to his promises. At the center, again, of this story is a conflict between two sisters, Rachel and Leah. But if you could, if you could step back out of this text and just look around at what you're going to see, it's kind of like Russian nesting dolls. You know what Russian nesting dolls are, right? There's a big one and then you remove that and there's something there and then you remove that and there's something smaller and then you remove that all the way down. Now here at the very middle of this, this conflict between Rachel and Leah, that is at the middle of all these Russian nesting dolls. This conflict is bordered by another conflict between Jacob and Laban, which is at the center of another conflict between Jacob and Esau, which is in the context of an even bigger conflict between Jacob and the Lord. And that's a conflict that we're going to see play out in a couple of chapters. Literally the nation of Israel is born out of conflict. This conflict between these two sisters is reflected in the names that are given. Think about the origin story of Israel and the names given to each one of these sons. One of our teenagers this last week, we have youth night at our house on Wednesday nights, every other Wednesday night. And you're more than welcome to come if you're, you know, if you're a youth, you're more than welcome to come to that. But one of our, one of our youth the other night said, the sermon next week's like the battle of the babies. That's what it is. It's a battle of the babies. I thought that was kind of cute. That was a pretty good way to say it. I almost titled it The Battle of the Babies, I thought, yeah, no. Listen to what Leah names her sons. Look at the first four sons. Leah conceived and bore a son, Reuben, because the Lord has looked upon my affliction for now my husband will love me. She bore another son, Simeon, because the Lord has heard that I am hated. He has given me this son also. She bore another son, Levi. Now this time my husband will be attached to me because I have borne him three sons. And she bore another son, Judah. And what does she say with Judah? This time I will praise the Lord. So what do you have with these names? The Lord sees, Reuben, the Lord hears, Simeon. Now my husband will be attached to me, Levi, but then with Judah. Now I will praise the Lord. So we see here with Leah, what do we see? We see with Leah, a woman who desperately wants love from her husband. She wants her husband to love her. But she does not receive love from her husband. She believes that giving her husband's children will cause her husband to love her finally. But then with the birth of Judah, there's a change. With Reuben, the Lord has seen with Simeon, the Lord has heard. With Levi, now my husband, now my husband will attach himself to me. Now he'll love me. But with Judah, I'm going to turn my attention now to the Lord and praise him. What a sermon just in that. Does she give up on Jacob? I don't know. But I do know that she communicates here with Judah that she is turning her attention to praising the Lord. But the text then begins to focus on Rachel. Rachel sees that Leah is giving children to Jacob and Rachel envies her sister. She's filled with jealousy. She's filled with envy. Why? Because she cannot give her husband's children. She envies her sister's fertility. So do you see the irony here? Here we have two women who each want what the other has. Leah wishes that Jacob would love her like he loves Rachel. Rachel wishes that she could have children like Leah, the one who has children, wants her husband's love, the one who has Jacob's love, wants children. By the way, this is just an aside. I think it's going to be helpful for a couple of you because sometimes we get a little wonky. If anyone thinks that the Bible endorses polygamy, if anybody thinks that the Bible endorses polygamy because the patriarchs have these multiple wives and the lightning bolt doesn't strike them, somebody thinks that the Bible endorses polygamy just because the patriarchs do this. Do you think polygamy works, do you think this is the picture a pleasant one? Never. Never. A pleasant one. Rachel envies Leah and she turns that jealousy. She fills herself with anger and she turns herself towards Jacob and anger. What does she say? Give me a child or I will die. When you read the Bible, do you ever read it with that emotion? You ever read it like it actually is real, do you ever read it that way? Give me a child or I'll die. What is she saying? Jacob. Fix this. That's what she's saying. Well, Jacob then gets angry with Rachel. Do you think I'm in the place of God? You think this is my prerogative? This is my place? So much going on in this statement. So then Rachel then says, right? This is what Rachel says. You know what Jacob, you're right. You know this issue between me and Leah has now spilled over on you and me. It's really disrupted our relationship. This issue of wanting what I don't have and being discontent with my situation is really, really a me and God issue. I'm discontented. I'm dissatisfied. You know, you're right, Jacob. I need to turn to the Lord and lay out my heart before the Lord. What he does is right. I want to grow Jacob in my trust of the Lord. Thank you, sweetheart, for appointing me to the truth. I know you were angry in your tone with me, but I forgive you. I'm going to seek the Lord now. Can I have some space to do that? Can I have some space to do business with the Lord? No, she doesn't respond that way. And neither do we, if we're honest, most of the time. What does she do? And her husband says, "I'm not in the place of God." Who do you think I am? She pulls a Sarah. That's what she does. Do you remember Sarah gave Hagar to her husband to fix the problem? That'll work. Let's do that. She pulls a Sarah. She takes her servant, Bilhah. And she gives Bilhah to Jacob and says, "Sleep with her." It's not going to complicate matters at all. The plan works, and that gives the way to the meaning of Dan. Dan means vindication. "I am vindicated by the Lord because of the birth of my son. My plan worked, and the Lord has given his approval. He has vindicated me because my plan worked." Oh, this is so important. There's so many different places we could just stop, and did you know the success of a thing does not equate itself to God's approval with how it was carried out. The success of a thing does not mean God approves of how it was carried out. Then Bilhah gave a second son, Naftali. She names that son. "I have wrestled with my sister and prevailed." It says, "Mighty wrestling's there." The idea is that she's wrestled with her sister and with God. She has wrestled, and she has prevailed. A lot of striving in her own strength. She did it. She made it happen. I fought the battle, and I won. God gave me what I wanted. The Lord has vindicated me, and I have gotten my way. This striving, the words that are used here for the naming of Naftali, this striving will come up again in Jacob's conflict with the Lord. This effort of Rachel to fix her own problem, though is countered by Leah. You give your servant. I'll give my servant. Again, this is a battle going on. She gives her servant, Zilpa, and by Zilpa Jacob gives her a son, Gad, the name I have been given good fortune, and Asher. I am blessed. Women have called me blessed. Women have called me happy. What we are meant to see is that Rachel's effort has been countered here by Leah. Rachel has not succeeded. And that then leads to this issue of Mandrakes. Leah still has a desire for her own children. Rachel has yet to have any of her own children, and this leads to the gathering of Mandrakes. Now, it isn't difficult to figure out what this is. Mandrakes are a plant type of plant. And there is some significance in the ancient world connected to Mandrakes and fertility. So fertility drug, an ancient fertility method or drug, believed to enhance the prospects of having children. Ruben, Leah's oldest son, finds some and brings them to his mom, Leah. Rachel then wants to barter for the Mandrakes. And Leah's response is insightful. This is at the center again of this conflict. Leah's response. Look at the response. Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? You've robbed me of my husband. My husband's affection. My husband's attention. You've taken my husband from me. Is it no small matter that you've taken my husband? You want my son's Mandrakes too? You want everything? Rachel then counter offers. Okay. I'll let you sleep with Jacob. If you read this and you don't just like shake your head like, what is going on? Apparently Jacob had not approached Leah for a while. There have been no sexual relationships between Jacob and Leah for a while. And Rachel says, hey, all right, give me some of the Mandrakes and I'll arrange for Jacob to sleep with you. Leah, alludes to this when she meets Jacob out in the field, she says, I have hired you. I've hired you for the night. The plan of Rachel backfires. She wants the Mandrakes so she can increase her odds of being fertile and giving a son, but her plan backfires, so often as is the case, Leah has two more sons and a daughter by Jacob, Isakar, Leah names Isakar saying, God has given me my wages. God has paid me my wages and zebulin. God has endowed me. My honor with my husband is secure. Jacob may not love me, but he cannot help to honor me. Jacob's affection may not be mine, but my place is secure. I am the honored wife because I have given him six sons. And then she has a daughter. Daughters are not usually mentioned unless they're going to become significant and this one's going to become significant here soon in the next couple of few chapters. Again, Dina is from the same root that Dan is from vindication, judgment. God has vindicated me. Leah is vindicated. Leah is secure in her place. But then something unexpected occurs. Look at it there. Rachel finally bears a son. Look at what she says. She conceived him for a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. He's rolled away my shame. She named him Joseph and listened to what this name means. It says it right there. She called his name Joseph saying, may the Lord add to me another son. She named her son Joseph saying, not enough. Give me more. Wow. She finally gets what she's been wanting and she wants more. So I've walked through that passage and explained it, okay, so you understand what's happening or see the kind of tensions that are being laid out. We'll return in a moment and summarize with some application for us. But now let's turn our attention to the next section. Okay, really, these are two different stories, two different sections. We could have had separate sermons on each one. I decided to combine them for some reasons because they both have to do with the Lord's control over birth and multiplication, the Lord answering his promises. Let's turn our attention to this next story. As soon as Rachel bears a son for Jacob, he wants to leave. It's time to go. Apparently, his 14 years up, he's fulfilled his obligations and he wants to finally go home with his wives and children. Similar to when he said, give me my wife. My time is completed. Now he says, give me my wives and children for whom I served you and let me go. Give me my wages and let me go. But Laban is not eager to let him go. Why? Well, Laban explains why. He says, I have learned by divination. I've learned by divination. I've contacted the supernatural and I have figured out that you being here is good for me. What a crock. I've learned by divination. Some alternative source of knowledge. He says strictly forbidden in the Pentateuch, by the way, and completely unnecessary to draw this conclusion because it is obvious. The Lord has been the source of blessing. The Lord and his promises to Jacob end up blessing those who are in close proximity to Jacob. You don't need divination. Laban says, I don't want to let you go. I've figured it out. Jacob, you being here is good for me. Name your wages and I will give it. Malph, you're Jacob, right? Name your, time out, time out. Last time we did this, last time you asked me to name my wages, right? Are we doing this again? Last time I named my wages I ended up with the ugly sister. Jacob, he's crafty, he's thinking. Laban, you know my service to you has increased you. My service to you has increased you and enriched you. The Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. It's undeniable that the Lord has blessed you because of me. Now shouldn't it be my turn to provide for my family, for my household? Sure, Jacob, Laban says, name your price, what do you have in mind? No, no, I don't want you to give me anything. Jacob says, I don't want you to give me anything. This is kind of like when Abram rejects the offer of the King of Sodom. Remember the King of Sodom comes and says, let me give you, he says, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want anything from you. Why? It's not going to make me rich. It's not from your hand that I'm going to be blessed, it's from the Lord. Instead, he says, do this. Let me have all of the discolored sheeps and goats. Notice this is really simple. Sheep are typically solid white, sheep are typically white. Horse are typically black or brown. Now there are other colors, there are other variations of color and spots and specs and stripes and sometimes although rare a sheep can be black, a black sheep, that's the whole point, right? The outlier. Some of you are the black sheep, right? So this is, this is, this is not the norm, that's the whole point. So just give me the exceptions. Give me all the outcasts, Jacob says. And that will be my wages. Well, Abram thinks this is a good deal. There aren't many in number. In fact, Jacob is a part of this, it's kind of a stupid bargain, of course, Jacob let it be done as you have said, but then what does Laban do? Laban has his men go through and remove all of the discolored livestock. Why? Because he's thinking, okay, discolored will breed discolored. So let's take away all of the discolored livestock and remove them three days away. Let's see what Jacob can get out of this. So Laban, again, he is tricky, he thinks he's pulled one fast on, Laban thinks he's pulled one fast on Jacob. There's going to be a few of these. But then Jacob, enter the peeled, poplar, almond, and plain tree sticks. Now there's tons of debate on what's going on here, and it is, it is super interesting. Not really. Maybe you really get a kick out of reading people's theories and speculation. It continues to puzzle me how people treat the Bible this way. Like why are passages like this, what you want to fixate on? What's going on with the poplar sticks? What's going on with the almond sticks? Are the ancients telling us something that we could be, you know, it's like, this is an ancient eugenics practice. In other words, Jacob, there's some, some believe it could be superstition, it could be real. Maybe it's real. Or this long article on how, no, no, this is real, you know, the sticks have been proven to have medicinal and it works, right? This is really a thing. Well, okay, fine. Whether real or imagined superstitions, what's the point? Well Jacob believes that by having the peeled sticks, either in the water or in front of the water, as the herds come to mate, they, when they come to drink water, that's when they mate. So Jacob believes, whether real or not, that when the flocks come to the water, if they're looking at the sticks or if they're drinking the water with the sticks in it, that this will enhance or change what type of flocks they have. That's what he believes. It works, it works. He makes sure he does it only when the stronger of the flocks come and are mating and not the weaker. So when the weaker ones come, he says, no, no, no, no sticks for you. The strong one's hips, okay, sticks there. There's a lot of work, but it pays off. So you can say, Jacob is a great rancher, right? He's a great shepherd. Jacob's a smart guy, and that's what it concludes with, right? Thus, 43, thus, in this way, the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants, male servants, camels and dockings. So that's the moral of the story, children. Be smarter than the next guy. Know your stuff. Know your husbandry. Be a hard worker. Do your homework, and God will surely bless you. That's what we get from the Bible, right? It all depends on your ingenuity, on your craftiness, and know how, doesn't it? It all depends on you. It also doesn't hurt to have the number of a good diviner in your back pocket, maybe a line on the most contemporary fertility methods, ancient or modern, that's it, right? God is up there, and God is doing His thing, but when it comes down to it, God helps those who help themselves, obviously not. Know what these two passages communicate, it's far different than that. I've already told you what the big 30,000-foot point is. The Lord keeps His promises to bring blessing, even in captivity, even in the midst of horrible conflict. The Lord is keeping His promises. The Lord is faithful. He's keeping His promise to Jacob to multiply his seed and to make him a nation, to enlarge him in posterity and wealth. It's got nothing to his name, and yet the Lord's grace to him increases him. His uncle is sinning against him at every turn, but that's not going to deter the Lord and the Lord's promises. The Lord is doing exactly what He promised to do, and this would resonate, this would resonate with the original audience. Again, Israel, they were the descendants of Jacob, they were the descendants of these children born to Lea and to the servants and to Rachel. They too, these people who are reading this, who are hearing this, they too know what it's like to be in captivity, don't they? They too know what it's like to be slaves, enslaved by a cruel master, a cruel master who even at one point has all the baby boys killed, trying to stamp them out. But what happens? What increases the fertility of the Hebrew women? God multiplies them and so vigorously, the midwives can't even keep up, right, is what they say. And then as the people of Israel leave, we're going to bring this up again, but as the people of Israel leave, what happens? The people of Egypt throw their wealth at Israel. They leave captivity wealthy. The Lord keeps His promises. The Lord does exactly what He said He was going to do. This is their story. They're made wealthy by their captors. They have the spoils with them as they go. This is their story. God has kept His promises, He's keeping His promises to them and He will keep His promises to them. Have you noticed that this is a theme that comes up over and over and over and over and over and over again? You never get too far away from this theme of God keeping His promises? Maybe you hear me say that pretty much every week God keeps His promises, God is faithful, God keeps His promises. You go, you know, Pastor Paul. But if you get a little bit more creative, you know, I know you get excited up there, but your preaching is a little like, mmm, because you keep saying the same things over and over again. Well, that's because we are very dull and thick-headed. You need and I need to hear this truth over and over and over and over and over and over again. The Lord keeps His promises in every generation, for every one of His people year in and year out. In spite of the circumstances, in spite of the opposition, in spite of even our own sin, the Lord keeps His promises. This is what God's people need to hear. This is what Israel needed to hear, and this is what we need to hear. In every generation, in every family, in every single family, in every church, in every day, in our minute. What if you could just remember this, that God is keeping His promises? God is keeping His promises to you. What if that was the one truth that you just held onto in life every day? God is keeping His promises. God is keeping His promises. Looking to His promises instead of your situation. The Lord knows this is what His people need to hear. The Lord knows this is what His people need to be reminded of. You also have, and coming off that, just going to give you two points. So the Lord keeps His promises. What else do we see here coming off of that in these two stores, in these two accounts? First, we see that the Lord alone brings life. The Lord alone brings life. Let me put it this way. If you think that the power of life belongs in your hands, you are deceived. If you think that the power of life, if you think that the control of life, let's put it that way. If you think control of life belongs to you, you are deceived. There's one important point as I was recounting the story there that I failed to draw your attention to. Look at the very beginning of the section 29-31. What does it say in 29-31? When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb. He opened her womb. Verse 17, after all the Mandrake business, after Rachel tries to increase her chances, God listens to Leah and she conceives. You mean it's not Mandrakes after all? Then verse 22, "God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb." So this emphasizes the point. The Lord opens the womb. The Lord is the one who brings life. So here you have, in both stories, the attempt to control life, the attempt to either bring life or to somehow affect life. But the Lord opens the womb. You say, "Well, what about the eugenics trick of Jacob?" That was pretty smart. That doesn't give credit to the Lord. Thus he was increased. It was all Jacob. Jacob's ingenuity, right? Well, I didn't include this, but look at chapter 31. It's just in the next page. Look at chapter 31, verse 5. Look what he says to his wives. Chapter 31, verse 5, "I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said the spotted shall be your wages, then all the flock bore spotted. And if he said the stripe shall be your wages, then all the flock bore striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me." Who does Jacob give the praise to? It was the Lord who did it. God has taken the livestock of Laban and given the livestock. Why? Because if Laban said spotted, that's what came. If Laban said speckled, that's what came. It was God who did it. Now again, this doesn't, this belief, this robust belief in the sovereignty and control of God. God's determination of life and God's control and God's sovereignty over life. This doesn't lead us to passivity. We don't throw our hands up and say, "Well, God's going to do what he's going to do. I guess I'll just kind of take a time out." No, we're active. We obey. We're faithful. We seek to be faithful. It also doesn't lead us to recklessness. Whatever God's going to do, he's going to do so I can just throw caution to the wind. No, we have real decisions to make and real plans to make and all of the things that we do need to be wise about. But what's the point? The result does not depend upon us. Life does not depend upon us. Is the Lord who brings life? The Lord is the one who opens the womb. The Lord is the one who dictates and controls the results of breeding. This isn't just for the ancient world but extends to all peoples and all cultures, all times. You can try all the man-drinks you want. You can peel all the sticks you want. But at the end of the day, it is the Lord who sees fit to bring life. He will do so by using whatever means he sees fit and will do so with whatever results he sees as fitting. The Lord alone is the giver of life. It's interesting right in the middle of all this. The Jacob asks Rachel, "Am I in the place of God? Am I the one you should be turning to?" I think we live in a culture that would answer with the resulting, "Yes. Yes, we are in the place of God." What do we? Is there a more arrogant name of a place than Planned Parenthood? Let's talk about what that actually says. Planned Parenthood. We plan it. We decide it. We control it. We are the ones who determine life and death. I don't want a child. I'll decide that. We know how it works. Maybe those ancient people turned all kinds of stupid stuff, hocus pocus and superstition and all that. But we've advanced so far scientifically that we haven't figured out and we can control it. It's in our hands to do what we want. How's that gone for cultures and societies? How's that gone for China or for Japan or Europe or now even the United States all saying irreversible population declines, whole peoples being carried on to non-existence because we control life. How stupid. Society is full of elderly people with no young to take care of them. The population's full of men who want to be married but cannot because there are not enough women. All controlled, manipulated. We do a great job of controlling life, don't we? Now all of us is stand back and think on that and say, "Hey man, hey man, who do we think we are?" Look at this foolish world thinking we have the power over life. But isn't this exactly how we act too? Isn't this exactly what we think too? Isn't this exactly how we believe and act? We think we can control our children. Right? I thought that we could apply this and illustrate this in many, many, many different ways. Do you believe that you are the one in control when it comes to your parenting? If only I did the right thing. If only I could plug in the right formula. Take my children to this school. Make sure they have this education. Make sure that they go to this Sunday school. Make sure they never watch Disney movies. And we can produce. I'm going to make sure they do these things that these markers all along the way and at the end, the results. This is what's going to happen. You think that. Are you in control? No, you're not. Again, that doesn't lead us to passivity or recklessness, right? It's important, the choices we make. It's important. But where do we put our dependence? Do we think it depends on us to figure it out and to do it the exact right way? Only the Lord brings life. This is important as we think about the salvation of others, as we think about others and them coming to faith in Christ. Do you think you can produce that? Do you think you can manipulate that or cause that to happen? What does this principle then lead us to do? It leads us to pray for our children to pray that God who alone brings life will cause and bring life. I say this very carefully. Some of us here are very arrogant in what we think we control. And it works harm on people around us, as it always does when people try to be in the place of God. God alone is in that place. He alone brings life. Have you ever considered all the barrenness in the Bible? All the barrenness. You see that, don't you? The pattern of barrenness all the way through the Bible? Sarah was barren before giving birth to Isaac. Rebecca was barren before giving birth to Esau and Jacob. Rachel is barren until the Lord opens her womb. Hannah will be barren before giving birth to Samuel. Elizabeth will be barren before giving birth to John the Baptist. Bear in this in Scripture always precedes miraculous birth. What the text is saying is no one can bring life. Only God can do this. To the world. Not just in a barren womb, but from a virgin womb. Impossible. What's the ringing message? Not only through a barren womb, but through the womb of a virgin, I will bring life. This is who our God is. We are not in His place. The second application. The Lord alone brings life. If you think power of life belongs in your hands, you're deceived. But that brings us to the second application. The Lord alone satisfies life. The Lord alone brings life. The Lord alone satisfies life. Again, think of this conflict between the two sisters. Each wanted what the other had. Each doing everything they can to meet the need that they can't live without. Take matters into my own hands. The Lord alone satisfies life. So what James 4 tells us, you know our conflict comes from. Conflict comes from the desires that we have that aren't met, that we want, and we will do whatever we can to get our way. We will do whatever we can to fill those desires. And even in our prayers, we only want God to do for us what we want. And so our prayers are not answered because we only want to use Him for our ends. The Lord alone satisfies life. The Lord alone and His promises are to be the satisfaction of His people. I'll put it this way. If you think control is in your hands, you're deceived. If you think contentment is found in any other place besides the Lord and His promises, then you will never be happy. That is the name of Joseph. This is such a staggering point when she finally gets what she wants. She's not satisfied. She wants more. If you think contentment is found anywhere else but the Lord, you will never be happy. You think if you get what you want, then you'll be satisfied. No you won't. Why? Because contentment, true joy, true happiness comes only in the Lord and His promises. And this is what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1. All of God's promises are yes to you in Christ Jesus. All of God's promises are yes to you. Everything. Listen to what that say. God has said yes to you in Christ Jesus. He is answering your heart's greatest desire. He is filling you with that which truly makes you satisfied. All His promises to you are yes in Christ Jesus. He said yes to you already in Jesus Christ. But here's the problem. Many of us, we don't want God's yes. We want our yes. We want our yes. When do you say yes to me and what I want? God hasn't met my expectations. God hasn't filled me. I have these desires and He hasn't given them to me. I want my yes. What is your yes so for Leah that her husband would love her? How painful is that? Do you hear her desperation? She just wants her husband to love her. What a sad, sad, sad situation. Doesn't your heart just go out for Leah? Some of you might even find yourself in that very same situation only if my husband would love me. He would just love me. And as it hasn't happened, maybe it is as Rachel, an empty womb and the pain of that and the prayers that have been lifted up. Anyone who's not in your situation cannot understand how difficult that is. But maybe these desires as you see in the scripture, maybe these desires, you're allowing these desires to keep you from seeing and hear this as I intend to communicate it. Maybe these desires which are good desires and wholesome desires to have your husband love you, to have children of your own, maybe these desires are good and wonderful desires. But maybe these desires are keeping you from seeing God's yes to you in Christ Jesus. If you will not be filled with his promises for you, then you will never be satisfied no matter how much control you take, no matter how much you try to manipulate. The Lord keeps his promises to his people and all of his promises are yes in Christ Jesus. What a God. How good has he been to us? He's given us everything. He is the giver of life and he's the only source of true joy and satisfaction. Do you believe that today? I call you. I ask you to believe that. This morning we pray. Father, thank you for this word. Thank you for this passage about mandracks and almond sticks which seems to us on the surface to be very strange. So we see here something very common and very much like us, thinking we can control, thinking we can manipulate, thinking that the results are up to us. We see our own hearts not satisfied, discontented with our situation and circumstance, having our hearts set on even good desires, but these desires control our life. It causes conflict all around us. I pray today that you would bring us to a place of rest in your promises. As Jesus said, "Come to me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I pray that our rest would be found in Christ. Our satisfaction would be found in Him. Your grace to us found in Him. Heal our hearts. Heal our relationships. Give us such a big view of you and what you are doing that we would leave in awe and thankfulness and rest. We pray all of this for your sake. Amen.