Pastor Gillit began his message with a light hearted yet painful memory from his own life. At thirteen years old in the intense Texas heat, his very first date ended in disaster when he became ill on a carnival ride and lost his girlfriend to another boy. He used this story to introduce one of the most difficult experiences recorded in Scripture, the wedding day of Jacob and Leah, which he called the worst first date in history. Through the account in Genesis chapter 29, the pastor showed how God meets us in our brokenness and uses even the most overlooked lives for His glory.
Three truths about ourselves
1. We are inadequate in many ways
In verse 17 we read, Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. The narrator is not simply commenting on Leahs eyesight. She likely had some kind of deformity with her eyes, perhaps even a disfigurement in her face. Rachel, the younger sister, was a real knockout, while Leah was considered ugly.
Put yourself in Leahs place for a moment. Imagine being a young lady with a physical deformity that disfigured your face. Every day Leah likely struggled with feelings of inadequacy. She probably prayed, asking God why He made her this way and if He really loved her. Her disability was made worse by the fact that her younger sister was beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful girl around. Friends and family celebrated Rachels beauty, which only made Leah feel uglier. She lived with the identity of being the ugly one.
In at least one area of our lives, we are all the ugly sister. Whether we admit it or not, we may feel too fat or too skinny, too dumb or too smart, too sheltered or too rough around the edges. We often go through life wishing we had someone elses money, looks, education, or family background. All of us feel inadequate in at least one area. Our physical, financial, and family inadequacies serve a purpose to point us to a greater inadequacy: our spiritual inadequacy. We know there is a creator God, and we have fallen far short of what He created us to be as His image bearers. All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So in at least that way, and probably in some other ways, we are all the ugly sister.
2. We are wounded in many ways
Jacob came to live with his uncle Laban. The first day he saw Rachel he was captivated. He agreed to work seven years for her hand in marriage, and those years seemed like only a few days because of his love for her. After the wedding feast, with the bride veiled and the night dark, Jacob entered the tent expecting Rachel. The next morning he discovered it was Leah. He had been cheated by the cheater. Laban explained that local custom required the older daughter to marry first and offered Rachel as well if Jacob would work another seven years.
Imagine you are Leah. All your life you wondered if anyone would ever love you. Finally someone comes along who has worked seven years, and you believe he has chosen you. Then you learn the only reason he married you was because your father needed to unload you. The emotional weight of that rejection is almost unbearable. If her own husband and father did not want her, why would anyone else?
We are all like Jacob and like Leah. We think that if we could just reach the right school, job, income, or neighbourhood we would finally be somebody. Or we believe that if a certain person would love us or approve of us we would no longer feel ugly. Yet no earthly achievement or relationship can satisfy what only God can give. We will think it is Rachel, but in the morning, behold, it will be Leah. We are inadequate in many ways and therefore wounded in many ways.
3. We look for acceptance in many ways
When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. In that culture children, especially sons, defined a womans worth. Leah gave birth to Reuben, whose name means see a son, hoping Jacob would now love her. Then came Simeon, meaning heard, because the Lord had heard she was hated. Next was Levi, meaning joined, in the hope her husband would finally be joined to her. With each child she tried to earn Jacobs love and approval.
We all do the same. Deep down we know we are the ugly sister, so we spend our lives trying to prove our worth. We chase a spouse, children, status, or success thinking then we will no longer be Leah but Rachel. The pastor shared transparently from his own life. Called to preach at thirteen, he later set his identity on growing the youth group to one hundred teenagers, then on building an addictions recovery ministry to one hundred people, and finally on becoming senior pastor. Each time he reached the goal he still felt empty the next day. Ministry is a wonderful calling but a terrible god. Any good thing, when we ask it to do for us what only God can do, becomes an idol. Gods pleasure in us does not rest on our performance for Him. It rests on Christs performance for us.
Three truths about God
1. God loves broken people
When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb. Everyone else looked away from Leah, but the Lord drew near. The Bible says the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken spirit and saveth such as be of a contrite heart. Religion tells us to clean ourselves up before God will love us. The gospel says the opposite. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God does not wait until we are lovable. He loves us even when we are unlovable. Your brokenness does not repel God. It attracts Him.
2. God transforms broken people into beautiful people
Leahs brokenness showed clearly with each of the first three sons as she tried to earn Jacobs love. Something changed between the third and fourth child. When she gave birth to her fourth son she said, Now I will praise the Lord, and she called his name Judah, which means praise. She realised she might never earn her husbands love, but she could praise the Lord anyway because she had the love of One infinitely greater than Jacob. In Jacobs eyes she remained Leah the ugly sister. In Gods eyes she was Rachel, fully loved.
That is the gospel. Though we are all Leahs, sinners and broken, when we are in Christ God sees the beautiful, righteous life of His Son. Jesus took our ugly sin upon Himself on the cross. Those sins were buried with Him, and when He rose they stayed in the tomb. When we come by faith to God, He no longer sees our failures. He sees Jesus. Leah stopped striving to win approval through more children. She found freedom in the unconditional love of God. When you know you have the approval of the only One you will stand before on the final day, the rejection of others loses its power. God does not love you because you are valuable. You are valuable because He loves you. That truth transforms broken people into beautiful, joyful, confident people.
3. God uses broken people to change the world
Jacob and his family had twelve sons, but only one was the ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. God chose the child of the ugly sister, not the beautiful one. He delights in using weak and ordinary people in extraordinary ways so that He receives all the glory. As the apostle Paul wrote, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
God does not need our ability. He has plenty of that. What He needs is our availability. He can use murderers like Moses, adulterers like David, liars like Peter, doubters like Thomas, and persecutors like Paul. The pastor closed with the story of Alejandra, a teenage girl from deep poverty who had attempted suicide after her best friend succeeded. When asked if she believed God loved her, she listed everything that had gone wrong in her life. The pastor reminded her that God Himself came down, lived in our broken world, and died on the cross for her, saying with His dying breath, Father, forgive them. That love gives every one of us a reason to live.
Conclusion
The story of Leah shows that because of Calvary every one of us can have a beautiful story. It begins the moment we give our lives to Christ and choose to believe we are who He says we are, not who we think we are. Surrender your inadequacies, wounds, and failures to the Lord today. He loves you just as you are, He will transform you into the person He created you to be, and He will use your life to change the world for His glory. Look past every excuse to the old rugged cross where your value was written in red.
