Bury Me With Leah

I direct your attention today to the book of Genesis, the 49th chapter, and we'll begin reading at verse number 29. And as you're turning there, obviously, Pastor is away today. He is in a very intense travel schedule over the next week. I think in an eight or nine-day span, he speaks 11 or 12 times in several states and a few different provinces of Canada. So we want to keep him in our prayer, ask that God would strengthen him and put a word in his mouth. And I know I know he'll be a blessing. And of course, we honor him highly. And don't we have a great pastor, amen? I would submit today that the greatest way that we can honor him in his absence is to have the kind of church that he would want us to have. And so with that, I direct your attention to the Scripture, verse number 29, and the Bible says, He charged them and said unto

them, I am to be gathered unto my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Macpela, which is in Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying place. And there they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebecca, his wife. And there I buried Leah. I really wanted to preach to the church today the vein of revival that has been moving through this body. And I don't think it's done, but I've come today with a strong burden for someone or some people. I'm not preaching a word necessarily to the direction or the tone of the collective body, but I have come on assignment today for some people in this house. And I preach to you, bury me with Leah. Lord Jesus, I thank you for what

I feel. God, the burden that you put on me several days ago, I knew that there were people who would come into this room with struggle and trauma and pain. But I come today with confidence that there is a word in this house for those who have pain in their lives. And I'm asking, Lord, that you would help me speak and that you would help them here and above all, that the power of your Holy Spirit would settle in this room with touch hearts and minds and will bring the breakthrough that we have sung about here today. And we ask this in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen, amen. The Lord bless you. You may be seated. Bury me with Leah. Genesis is the book of beginnings. And in its pages, we are introduced to the patriarchs. We find their calling, their encounters with God. We also find their struggles. I'm thankful that thousands of years removed, God chose not to hide the

struggles of the heroes of faith from the pages of Scripture. In each of these patriarchs, it is notable that God lets us see the last moments of their lives. We read today of Jacob. He's born to Isaac and Rebecca. He is the grandson of the patriarch Abraham. Talk about a legacy. At least 12 times in the entirety of Scripture by my count, we read the phrase, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is to say the significance of these characters to God's story and his people cannot be overstated. The narrative turns to Jacob, the subject of today's sermon in Genesis 25. He's the younger of his twin brother Esau, who no doubt perhaps you've heard the story. I'm sure he was hungry, but he's empty-handed. He makes the reckless decision to sell a birthright for a bowl of stew. Now, in partnership with his mother, talk about family drama, Jacob conceives a plan that results in deceiving his own father to

obtain the blessing. As you might suspect, Esau is enraged. He's angered at this act. In order to maintain some semblance of normality or hope in the family, Rebecca tells Jacob, I need you to set out and journey eastward, and I want you to go to the land of my family. I have a brother there, and this is precisely what he does. He journeys east to find family in Heron and Mesopotamia. It's on this journey eastward, out in the plains of that desert land, he stumbles upon some shepherds with their herds and asks the question from whence are you, where have you come from? He inquires, and in their reply, a family connection is uncovered. These are the shepherds of Laban, Jacob's uncle. And word of Laban's wellness is welcome news to this wanderer, this deceiver. And then the Bible said he sees Rachel, and everything changed when he saw Rachel. He soon returns to Laban's house, and as the story would go, Laban

says it's not fitting for you, even though we're family, for you to work in my home without pay. Tell me what should be your wage? He says, well, I've kind of had a thing for this girl named Rachel since the moment I saw her at the well. I would be willing to work seven years for no money if I could have her hand in marriage. That's love. Genesis 29 and 17. Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful and well -favored. Jacob loved Rachel and said, I will serve the seven years for Rachel, thy younger daughter. In terms of the arrangement, her quickly agreed upon seven years of free labor for her hand in marriage. I'm sure he loved her, but Laban knew what he was doing. There is much to say what the Scripture means when the Bible says that she is tender-eyed. I've heard some preach that Leah was ugly. I don't know if that's true. I think she perhaps

was compassionate. That's what the word means. But this is what we do know. The conjunction but sets her in contrast to her sister. So whatever Rachel was, Leah was not. She's tender-eyed, but Rachel is beautiful. Seven years pass, and the Scripture says in verse 20, Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to her. My, how that love changes the perspective of things. What one would, under another circumstance, be so unwilling to do in these moments is so willing. Seven years, over 2100 days, was but a few days because of the love. And at the conclusion of seven years, Jacob approaches Laban, and I think probably with a little sense of entitlement, as if to say, I've earned this. Give me my wife for my days are fulfilled. The celebrations commence, the feast is made ready, but soon there is a troubling turn of events. Now, I will admit to

you today this is a somewhat difficult story to reconcile in my mind, but on the night of that wedding, when the marriage had been commenced, it was not Rachel who walked into the chamber of the groom. It was Leah. Now, that in and of itself is troubling. I don't know the conversations that happen between Laban and his daughters. I don't know the conversations that happen between Rachel and Leah. I'm just telling you that's troubling. But what is even more troubling is the fact Jacob is oblivious to this reality until the morning light shines through the window. And the Scripture says in verse 25, it came to pass that in the morning, behold, it was Leah. And he said unto Laban, what is this that thou hast done to me? Did I not serve thee for Rachel? Wherefore, then hast thou beguiled me? We had in agreement, we had negotiated the terms and I upheld my end of the deal. Why is it that

you have deceived me? The deceiver has been deceived. Who would dare to make a deal with a deceiver and yet Jacob negotiates more terms? I didn't work for seven years for Leah. I came for Rachel. And so Laban says, well, if you will fulfill her week, you give Leah her seven days of celebration and I will give you Rachel also for the service which you shall serve me yet another seven years. Seven more years of work with no pay and I'll give you the daughter that you so desperately want. I want you to think now the tension of this home. The scripture says in verse 30, he loved Rachel more than Leah. He finds himself now married to both sisters, Rachel. The one he has desired from the moment he saw her at the well that day. The one whose beauty is undeniable, favorite of all people. One translation says there's a sparkle in her eyes. But the other one, there's not really

anything to say about Leah. I'm not necessarily saying she's ugly. There's just nothing that would make you talk about her. She's the ordinary one of the two. But the Bible is clear to us today. She is the one he hated. One is loved and one is hated. And if things could get any more complex, if the tension of the home, if the strife of the family could become any more severe, the Bible says in verse 31, but when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Beautiful, but barren. Despised by men, even hated by her husband. But God blessed her womb to conceive and have children. Rachel is beautiful. She is the one that is easy to love. She represents all that is beautiful. It is our greatest expectations. She represents all that we desire. The things we want and what we work for and what we pray for and what we hope for. But Leah,

on the other hand, nobody wants Leah. Leah represents that wearying circumstance. She is our pain. She is our problem. She is the thorn in the flesh that we did not ask for. Leah speaks to us today of that unrelenting pressure. The problems in our life that we cannot seem to escape from. Leah is that unwelcome delay on the journey towards the beautiful thing. Leah is the disruption that we cannot seem to escape from. She is the inconvenience that as much as we seek to ignore cannot be done. Leah is that negative diagnosis. It is that unhealed trauma. It is that burden that seems unbearable. Rachel was the beauty that he wanted. But Leah was the burden he received. Rachel was the dream he had lived his life for. But Leah was the disappointment he ended up with. But I had not just come today to preach to you of an old story. I've come from the old story to preach to you about

where some who sit in this house live in these moments. We find ourselves like Jacob enamored with beauty, chasing beauty. But we wake up one morning to find nothing but beauty, only burden. We awake to discover that we do not have what we want, what we thought we would. And I preach today there is more because the sum of the things to be considered in this story is not simply what he wanted, but what he needed. Rachel, yes, she would give him two sons, but that was all. Leah on the other hand would give him six. The point today is simple. Leah produced more children for Jacob than Rachel ever did. And I rise on this Sunday morning to preach to you great people that sometimes it is the things in our life that we hate that actually produce what we need. I didn't get what I wanted, but you know what I've learned? I got what I needed. And the thing that

I wish I could change, I have discovered is what changed me. I wish today I could rise to this pulpit and tell you that when you walk out those doors, every problem in your life is going to disappear and every pain is going to be gone. But that's not what God told me to tell you. But I have come today to preach a perspective change into your mind because the reality is there's going to be mornings that it's Leah. There's going to be days that it's Leah. There's going to be seasons that it's Leah. And she's not what I wanted. She's not what I've loved. She's not what I've worked for. She's not what I've prayed for. She is not what I've dreamed about. No, she is my morning disappointment. She is my daily frustration. And while I hate it, it turns out that sometimes what you hate can help you. Sometimes it is the things that cause me the most pain that

produce the greatest power. Sometimes it is what I want to change that actually changes me. This is why Paul said, all things work together for the good. It is not that they are good, but they produce good. And Leah shows up, she breaks my heart. She makes me angry. She exposes my flaws. She shows me that there's still some deceiver in you, Jacob. And while I hate her, she helps me. And this is the predicament of the patriarch, Jacob. He didn't get what he wanted. And when he did, it didn't give him what he wanted. He was beautiful, but it was barren. You know what I'm talking about? Chasing the beauty of earthly things. Careers and cars and homes and all this stuff. It's beauty, it's beauty, it's beauty. You hear this preacher today. I come with a word for you. And I've wrestled with God for the past few days. And I was sitting in my living room at 5.30 this

morning because I knew God had me say some things that you might not like to hear. But I'm preaching to you today. You can chase beauty. And you know what you're going to find out? Beauty is barren. A bigger house isn't going to help your family. A new car or another vacation is not going to give you what you need. I know by the world's standards that beauty is so enticing. It's so appealing, but it's fleeting. It disappears in a moment. But it's those things that we don't ask for. It's those things that we despise. It's the unwelcome disappointment. It's that mourning frustration. It's Leah. It's the thing that I hate that so often helps me the most. This is the dynamic of the patriarch torn between the tension of two sisters. The reality of two worlds, one governed by the value system of beauty and another by purpose. I preach to us today it is high time to decide what world and

what value system we're going to buy into. Are we going to live our lives according to what's pretty and what glitters and what looks good? Are we going to buy into a system that evaluates everything that comes through our hands, whether good or bad, through the redemptive perspective of divine purpose? I don't like Leah. She breaks my heart. She makes me angry. I've lived for God long enough, even in my short 18 years, 19 years of serving God. I've lived long enough to know this. It's the Leah moments in my life that make me who I am. She showed me myself. She showed me the man who would deceive his brother and trick his father. She exposed my flaws and I learned that what I hated helped me the most. No doubt God orchestrated these moments to come after. The angel of the Lord would wake him in the middle of the night, a ladder coming from the heavens. The angels of God

ascending and descending. He wrestled with an angel till the morning break. And there, his name has changed. Thou shalt no more be called Jacob but Israel. You're a prince. You're power with God and men. I'm changing you. And this is the tension that the days of his life are lived with until Genesis 35 and 16. The Bible says they journeyed from Bethel and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath. Rachel travail for she had hard labor. It comes to pass. She is in hard labor that the midwife said to her, Fear not for you're going to have this son. But it came to pass as her soul was in departing for she died that she would call his name but no nigh. But his father called him Benjamin. In her last breath Rachel looks at the son that she had so desperately wanted to birth. Says you will be called but no nigh. Son of my sorrow. And Jacob rises

up no dealt. He felt some kind of unction. Something rising up in him. Absolutely not. I know you're the woman that I wanted. But I've lived long enough and I've walked a little while. And I've learned that ingrained within that value system of beauty is the unrelenting rise of selfishness. And even in her dying moments she looks at her future. She looks at what would be her legacy. The son that she had so desperately wanted. And she says I'm going to call you the son of my sorrow. I'm going to curse my future because of my present suffering. And Jacob rises up and says absolutely not. You're not going to curse my son. And you're not going to curse my future. You're not going to speak negativity over him. Thank God for a father that rose up in that moment. And said no, I know your beauty captured me. And I chased you all these years. But I learned some things in the

journey. You know what I learned about Rachel? Rachel's an idol hiding woman taking statues from daddy's house. Lying to the man searching the camp. Carrying them in the saddle bags that she sits on. This is what Rachel does. And he looks at her and says absolutely not. You're not going to name my son that. This is Benjamin, the son of my right hand. There is power in this child. There is promise on this child. Can I preach to somebody today? You have a future. Oh, you don't know what I'm battling. You don't know what I've walked through. You don't know what I'm dealing with. This is what I do know. We all have a father who doesn't call you by what the system of beauty calls you. The world might call you poor. The world might call you ugly. The world might say you're barren. The world might say you're hopeless. You're a lost cause. You're too far gone. But thank God for

a father who lives up his voice and speaks hope and promise. Hallelujah. He la robo Shakarabah. Come on. This is a church where no one has a past and everyone has a future. Bring your drug addiction. Bring your alcohol problem. Bring your immorality. Bring your addiction. Bring your trauma. Bring it. Bring it. Cause this is a house where nobody has a past and everybody, everybody has a future. I'm telling somebody this is the day that you lay that label down. I don't care who said it. I don't care what they said. This is a place and now is the time that the label can change. You have a future. God has a plan for you. God has a purpose for you. Thank God for a father who would lift his voice because Rachel, defined by beauty, governed by a value system not of God. Oh no. She'll curse her future because of her suffering. She will sentence her future with a negative name

because she didn't like her present moment. And hearing all of this until these moments, he's blinded by love. Jacob has lingered in a cycle of dysfunction for a long time because he's mastered by beauty. But in this moment I would submit everything changes. In the death of Rachel he would discover the truth of the proverb not yet written. But it said favor is deceitful and beauty is vain. What he wanted is now gone but what he needed is still alive. Now he can learn to love Leah. By Laban's own declaration he said fulfill her week. This is to say that there was an appointed time that you have to dedicate yourself to walking through the process of pain that Leah gives you. But I want you to hear me. It's appointed. The beginning and the ending set by God. There is a time in our lives that is reserved for Leah. Days of frustration. Seasons of struggle. And to you who find yourself

living in the days of Leah I've come with a word today just hang on. Don't you throw in the towel. Don't you quit. Don't you walk away. Don't you turn your back on the promise. Hang on. Hold on. Leah's time is by the moment. I'm preaching to you today that these moments of Leah give you something Rachel cannot. It was Leah. Leah would give him what Rachel could never give him. Leah burst many sons but to bear significance to us here today she birthed Levi. From Levi would come the Levites. It was ministry. These were the men that would offer the sacrifices. These were the men that were walking into the tabernacle going to the altar of incense the table of showbread. These are the men that are conducting the house of worship. Where did this come from? It came from the thing he hated. Not just Levi, Judah. You know what Judah means? Judah means praise. Praise. And that messianic promise came

to the patriarch and the Lord said the scepter is not going to depart from Judah until the coming of Shiloh. He said until the Messiah comes I'm entrusting Judah. I'm entrusting the lineage of Judah to be the people that carry this messianic power and this messianic seed. Do you get this? Locked up inside of Leah was the seed of the Messiah. The lineage of the Lord himself was locked up in the womb of the thing he hated. What are you saying? What I'm saying is the most powerful and pronounced things in your life more often than not come from the things that you hate the most because it is in the wisdom of God to use the thing that we hate to help us and the thing that we are saying, God, change this. Change this. Change this. He's saying I'm using this to change you. I really wish sincerely today I wish that I had a word to tell you the problem

was going to disappear by six o'clock tonight but that's not what I've come to preach. What I have come to preach to you today is there must be a perspective change concerning the problems and the pain in your life. It is the thing you hate that is helping you. It's the thing that bothers you that drives you to your knees. It's the burden you walked in here that brought you to the altar. Do you not realize it? The thing that you have been bothered by has drawn you closer to God than you've ever been. The thing that you hate is helping you. The lineage of the Messiah born in the burden of a circumstance that He hated. How does that come? I'll tell you how it comes. You get enamored with Rachel and you think everything and every day and every season of your life ought to be you and Rachel but Rachel can't give you what Leah can. I want you

to hear me today. I know I'm preaching to people that love God. I know I'm talking to people that fear God. You're sacrificial, you're giving but I want you to hear me. Pleasure and intoxicates us. We become inundated with the unnecessary. Burden by the beautiful. We get so much extra in our lives that we never have time for the essential. I'm talking to you now. I'm giving you what the Lord gave me. Inundated with the unnecessary. So much extra. We don't ever get to the essential. What then is the cure? A little pain. A little struggle. Pressure strategically placed by the wisdom of God. Divine prodding through unfavorable circumstance. We didn't ask for it whether we like it or not. He allowed it. It is the morning light shining on the face of Leah. What is this? It's not what I prayed for. It's not what I believed for. This is not what I've been working for. What is this? It's Leah. And

if you just hang on a little while you're gonna learn she can give you something Rachel can't. I am not my shine. I'm not my fashion by God. And it's perfect wisdom to mold us and to move us. The deepest work I've learned is not found in my pleasure but my pain. It's not in my desire. It's in my disappointments. I know this is not popular preaching to American culture. There are times and there are moments that the Lord may say the problem ends today. I submit this is not one of those moments. I'm talking to some people who've been walking through hardship. You've been living through prolonged trial, struggle, adversity, pain and problems of all sorts and the family and your finances and your mind and your soul and your body. At your job with your vehicle, your home it's one thing after another. Listen, I'm telling you what I've been walking through for 90 days. I'm preaching to somebody in this

house today that if you're gonna get what Leah has for you you have to have a change of perspective concerning the problems God allows into your life. I know we want Rachel. I know we want a nice home and a new car. We want a better vacation than the last one. I knew this and knew that. I know the enticement beauty has upon the minds of people. I know how it pulls on the passions of man. But I'm preaching to you today beauty. Beauty is vain. It's a fleeting thing here today and gone tomorrow. So when Rachel dies in the bitterness of beauty speaks in those dying moments the patriarch says you know what I think we're just gonna bury you right here. I've walked with you long enough I've lived for you long enough and when beauty finally died he could appreciate Leah for what she could give and Rachel could not. And we come to our text where we read this

morning Genesis 49 it's Jacob's last moments his family is all gathered around and he begins to give them instruction you're gonna bury me with my fathers where they buried Abraham and Sarah where they buried Isaac and Rebecca and where I buried Leah you see the shift from third person to first person that's where they put my granddaddy that's where they put my daddy and that's where I put Leah Leah the one you hated yeah cause I learned in the process that what I hated was allowed by God to help me get what I needed to get I've learned I don't always get what I want but he does give me what I need well what about Rachel? Rachel she's back there on the side of the road walking into the city of Bethlehem beneath a pile of rocks but Leah the one that I was so oblivious to in my youth the one I was blinded to in the pursuit of beauty I

have learned to love I buried her there and I want you to bury me with Leah see age and experience teaches you a little bit about beauty it's shallow and insufficient oh it's good while it's there but it ain't always gonna be there beautiful but barren he learned to love Leah because the thing he hated the most gave him the most there are seasons and circumstances moments for summits days and summits weeks I hate to say it but for summits years and we stand in the days of Leah why why me why now why not yet this is not what I work for this is not what I was hoping for and in the absence of understanding I stand with no choice but to trust and I wish that trust was as easy as putting a sign on your wall that you bought at Hobby Lobby I wish it was as easy to live as it is to post about oh but trust

is a hard thing because trust is no guarantee of the conclusion you want it is no certainty of what the next step may hold it is simply a choice as Paul said having done all to stand stand therefore this is trust sometimes when you're trusting you're not progressing but I would submit neither are you retreating it is standing I may not know how and I may not know when I certainly don't know why but I choose to trust because this is what I know God is good listen the sermon this morning was not planned in conjunction with the music but I think the song set us up well today I'm preaching to somebody who is living in the days of Leah you must allow God to shift your perspective because Leah is producing something inside of you Rachel can't give you I know it's easier said than done and I know it's not pleasant to hear the Psalmist said it was good that

I was afflicted good not because it was pleasant to experience but because of what it produced Leah gives but Rachel cannot the disappointment gave him what his desire could not I know we talk a lot about desire if we can hang there if we can believe my friend humans are but humans and God knows the cure for the fleeting nature of desire that so easily move with the emotion of men has just let a little disappointment get in your world his affliction produced what his ambition could not this is how God works power comes from pain there is no other path I preach this unpleasant reality today that pain trials and suffering will work things in you that will save you what I wanted nothing to do with what caused me pain brought me grief what made me angry what stole my peace and robbed me of sleep I want you to bear it you can tell the story of my life but

I want the last chapter to be for all my family to know I learned to love the thing I hated because it gave me what Rachel could not I preach today maybe to one maybe to ten maybe to a hundred I don't know this is what I do know I didn't come here today to preach to the whole church God put a burden on my heart early this week to come to this church today and to reach for the one or the some who are living in the days of Leah who have got pain unanswered prayers who have been living with prolonged trial who are carrying heavy grief it's not what you wanted it's not the beauty you are hoping for but it's the burden you've got I want you to hear the word of the Lord he said be in confident of this very thing that he see this is trust your trust isn't in me I thank God for our pastor

but the trust that I have is not anchored in him that he he which has begun a good work when you say it don't look very good right now no look is beauty look is Rachel I'm not talking about how it looks I'm talking about what you are learning I'm not talking about how pleasurable it is I'm talking about what's being produced the good work which he has begun he will perform it there is an end God has already set the date determine the end of the matter the question is simply this are you going to hang on until the days of Leah have been fulfilled are you going to rise up against Laban are you going to kick her to the curb are you going to make her move out because you're intoxicated with beauty you're inundated with the unnecessary fixated on the extras that you've not yet discovered Leah is giving you something Rachel can't give you pain taught you how

to pray in a way pleasure never did suffering taught you how to find the savior in a way that your success never did I know I'm not preaching an exciting word but I'm preaching to where a lot of people in this house have been living for a long time I know you got your suit and tie I know you sang to the songs but what the Holy Ghost gave me insight too to what maybe the people to your right or left don't know is you've got relentless heartache you cry tears that nobody sees you have sleepless nights that nobody knows why me why now why this it's Leah it's Leah Leah but just hang on because there's ministry coming out of you there's praise coming out of you if you just hang on a little while you're gonna have a testimony you're gonna have a ministry you're gonna have a story to tell I come today to put confidence back in you circumstance

has stolen I come today to preach faith back into you that the fight has taken out of you that frustration has robbed you of oh God help me come on would you lift up your voice right now come on lift up your voice pain pain I'm gonna hang on in one day I'm crying today but one day I'll dance I'm weeping today but one day I'll testify you can bury me with her boys because I've learned to love the thing I hated yeah let me have your attention for a minute I'm gonna give you some instruction and then we're gonna pray but I'm gonna tell you what you're gonna have to do for this prayer to take effect some of you have to open up your soul and let let the well of emotion that is inside of you come out in the presence of the Lord you can't bottle this up you gotta let it come out and here in just a

minute you might hear some people go whoo you might hear them take off in tongues you might hear them moan and travail as they intercede and sorrow comes out of their soul and they empty themselves of grief in the presence of the Lord and Paul said it like this be careful for nothing I don't want you to be anxious about anything be anxious for nothing oh yeah preacher easier said than done guilty but thank God he continued and told you how to deal with it but in everything by prayer it's supplication everything be anxious about nothing but in everything I would say to you like this whatever takes your peace you take it to prayer what you troubled about concerned about your finances your car break down sickness in your family trauma in the home burdens in your life if it's taking your peace then take it to prayer it's not the will of God for you to live and prolong dysfunction and

cycles of anxiety and cycles of depression sleepless nights and days with no joy I want you to hear this preacher today it's not the will of God but if you're going to find victory that emotion that you're directing all these other places you're going to have to take the thing that takes your peace and you're going to have to take it to prayer and get in the presence of God and let that well of emotion come out of you in his presence I want you to hear me I pray I hope I've asked God that the trial would end but my word for you today is this that what he's doing in this moment is changing your perspective concerning the suffering cause the thing I hated is what's helped me the most I could tell you stories all afternoon how about frustrations and trials dark seasons lonely moments promises from God concerning very specific things that I carried in my spirit for 10

years before God answered oh but Conor I got a story to tell now though I can come in this house oh he's been so good frankly he's been so good oh he's healed he's provided he's sustained but what I've learned is anything I have Leah gave me Ha Ta La Bo Sha Ka Ta La Ma Ha Ta La Bo Ho Sa Ta La Bo Ho Ri Ha Na La Ma come on that's the wind of his spirit but you can't hold it in I want you to lift up your hands I want you to open up your mouth and I want you to let that well of emotion out in his presence right now come on you're gonna learn to love the thing you hated cause the thing you hated is what's gonna help you the most come on that's it lift up your voice don't hold those tears back don't quiet your cry come on that's it pour your pain out in

the presence of God pour your frustration out in his presence I know it's hard to see right now but your disappointment it's gonna produce something that your desire could never give you it's gonna teach you how to pray you're gonna learn how to walk with him you're gonna find his voice come on that's it pour it out pour it out pour it out maybe you've already lived through the days of Leah maybe what I preach is not the day you live in maybe this is not your season but for somebody in this house it is come on Jacob you're gonna have to give Leah her days you're gonna have to suffer for a season he's good even in the pain the promise remains come on if you're not careful your comfort will turn you away from God and he'll have to send discomfort he'll take the thing he blessed you with don't make him do it cause he will his purpose his plan

it's too important to be jeopardized so if comfort and convenience becomes your idol if you become blinded by the beauty you'll find Leah in the morning come on across this whole sanctuary make this a house of prayer right now you don't know the depth of another's pain you don't know the weight of their grief you don't know how crippling that sorrow might be