[00:00:00] Welcome to Gracious Words. Gracious Words is taken from the weekly women's Bible study
[00:00:14] taught by Cheryl Brodersen at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
[00:00:30] Have you ever felt like something is missing from your life?
[00:00:37] Baroness can take many forms but there is only one true solution. God. God is for you and as you seek him
[00:00:45] he will bring fruitfulness to the barren places in your life.
[00:00:49] We will come before you love and wander, wander. We will fall on hearty's surrender.
[00:01:05] We surrender to you.
[00:01:14] Now here is part three of Cheryl's message titled A Tale of Two Sisters.
[00:01:19] Mandragora a Thessonorum is a stimulus perennial root in the potato family because you want to know this.
[00:01:27] It's shape and pungent fragrance may be the origin of its use and fertility rights and as an afrodigiac.
[00:01:36] It has dark green wrinkled leaves so you can recognize it if you see it in your yard.
[00:01:42] From which rise of violet, bell-shaped flower? We are on the lookout.
[00:01:49] Its fruit is a yellowish berry approximately the size of a small tomato which can be consumed.
[00:01:56] Just in case you are hungry, you want something extra for your salad.
[00:02:00] The mandrague is native to the Mediterranean region but not common in Mesopotamia.
[00:02:05] Now you know. Now you can go home.
[00:02:09] Rachel believes that if she has this fruit, this is the cause of the beariness.
[00:02:14] First Jacob's the cause, then she tries the serigates.
[00:02:18] Now if she has this afrodigiac, this will make all the difference.
[00:02:23] This is the remedy. This is the solution for her barrenness.
[00:02:30] And it doesn't work. Instead what happens? Leah gets a knight with Jacob and she gets pregnant
[00:02:40] and she conceives three more times. Finally, after Leah has three more children so it's seven o.
[00:02:54] Rachel, we're told that God remembered or was mindful of Rachel.
[00:03:00] Interestingly enough, Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel were all described in the Bible as beautiful
[00:03:08] and yet all three women were described as barren.
[00:03:14] God used Sarah's barrenness to bring out a covenant child, to arrest Abraham and Sarah's attention on the miraculous,
[00:03:25] on the singularity of this son, of this covenant son.
[00:03:31] God used Rebecca's barrenness to get Isaac praying and Rebecca to seek him concerning her pregnancy
[00:03:39] and the son she would give birth to. But Rachel's barrenness did not result in any special revelation from God,
[00:03:50] of a covenant son or a special work. Rachel has what we might call a user relationship with God.
[00:04:01] She pleads for God for a child. There are some people who this is what their relationship with God is like.
[00:04:08] It's God, give me what I want. God, give me what I need rather than God, give me you.
[00:04:21] When Rachel has a son she names this son Joseph saying God will give me another.
[00:04:30] The name Joseph, don't get upset if he named you son Joseph or if you named your daughter Rachel.
[00:04:37] This is unpopular with people of those names, this Bible study.
[00:04:42] Joseph means I want another one or not enough insufficient discontent.
[00:04:52] Later, we'll read next week in Genesis 31, 34 where Rachel steals her father's idols and lies about it.
[00:05:02] Jeopardyzing Jacob trying to get some inheritance from her father by stealing.
[00:05:07] Idols were not only images to other gods, idolatry but they also represented land rights.
[00:05:16] They were usually made of silver or gold, as to have value.
[00:05:19] You see Rachel is still seeking natural advantages.
[00:05:24] When Rachel gives birth to a second son, this will be in Genesis 35.
[00:05:29] She names him Benoni or son of my sorrow or the son that killed me, the son that cursed me.
[00:05:39] Such a name would be a curse on the child and a constant reminder that he had caused his mother's death.
[00:05:46] She is because of her own self-centeredness, in her death she is bringing a curse to her son.
[00:05:53] Jacob intervenes and this is the only child he names.
[00:05:58] And he changes the name from Benoni to Benjamin's strength of my right hand.
[00:06:06] Now, Leah has all the disadvantages.
[00:06:10] She's weak eyed whatever that means to you.
[00:06:15] She's ponded off by her father.
[00:06:17] She is married by pretending to be someone else.
[00:06:21] She is unloved. She's unwanted. Her sister is jealous of her and she's in an emotionally unhealthy atmosphere.
[00:06:32] Yet, the names of Leah's children reveal much about what was going on in her heart and life.
[00:06:40] The name Ruben, scene is justified as God has seen my affliction.
[00:06:48] God knows what I'm going through.
[00:06:51] The name Ruben is hearing or God has heard my prayers.
[00:06:58] These names are reminiscent of what Hagar realized.
[00:07:02] Hagar, who had all the disadvantages.
[00:07:05] She was the bond servant.
[00:07:08] She was taken advantage of.
[00:07:11] Sarah treated her cruelly.
[00:07:16] But when she ran away, God spoke to her.
[00:07:19] She told her she would give birth to a son Ishmael.
[00:07:24] And she named the well where God met her, El Roy.
[00:07:28] Or you are the God that sees Genesis 1642 and she named her son Ishmael or God hears.
[00:07:36] These are the very attributes that Leah acknowledges.
[00:07:40] The Lord surely looked on my affliction.
[00:07:44] The Lord has heard that I am unloved.
[00:07:47] Her third son is named attached, Levi speaking of a hope that will not be fulfilled.
[00:07:53] Her fourth son is named Judah or praise.
[00:07:58] At this time in her life she stops conceiving which could mean that Jacob is not coming into her anymore
[00:08:07] and now that he has got Bill Ha and Rachel.
[00:08:11] He is a little busy.
[00:08:14] Leah then offers her maid, Zilpa to Jacob.
[00:08:18] In offering their maid in the Eastern culture this was something beneficent.
[00:08:24] Remember Sarah did it for Abraham?
[00:08:26] That Abraham might have a covenant son.
[00:08:29] They think they are doing something that honors their husband because their goal is to give their husband
[00:08:36] as many sons as possible.
[00:08:40] We would slap our husband's cell if they tried this.
[00:08:44] It is like you want to put over this, don't try this at home or anyplace else.
[00:08:51] Zilpa like Bill Ha, these are names we should all remember, has two sons that Leah names GAD or a troop comes.
[00:09:00] It means strength or blessing.
[00:09:03] Ayesher means blessed or happy.
[00:09:05] They have nothing to do with Rachel.
[00:09:08] They are not take this Rachel, look at this Rachel.
[00:09:12] These only have to do with Leah's relationship to God.
[00:09:17] Then after the mandric incident it is Leah not Rachel who conceives.
[00:09:23] Now she bears two more sons and a daughter, Issaqar.
[00:09:27] God has given me my higher or God has rewarded me.
[00:09:32] God has blessed me.
[00:09:34] Zebulin, God has endowed me with a good endowment and then dinat.
[00:09:41] God has been right in his judgment or God has been good.
[00:09:48] Though Leah is the disadvantage she turned her attention to God.
[00:09:53] You see disadvantages when given to God can become advantages because we realize one that this world has nothing to offer us.
[00:10:08] That we will not find our value in this world.
[00:10:14] I don't think there is anything better than that.
[00:10:17] I think that happened to me sometime in my 50s.
[00:10:20] In my 50s it was like wow my daughters get all the attention now.
[00:10:25] People rush to bag their groceries and they are like you can do it yourself.
[00:10:30] I hope you brought your own bags.
[00:10:33] But it is a way of turning our attention heavenward to the one who will be our guide even into our old age
[00:10:43] who loves us just as much as he loved us when we were young and vibrant.
[00:10:51] That we are more important than Sparrows, Matthew 10, 29, 331.
[00:10:56] That we no matter what our age, no matter what we look like, no matter what our physical shape,
[00:11:05] that we have all been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, the greatest most valuable commodity of all time.
[00:11:13] All place, all people in the entire world was shed for each of us, 1 Peter 118 and 19.
[00:11:24] Leah's value came from God's attention to her and on her.
[00:11:32] Jeremiah 923 through 24 says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.
[00:11:38] Let not the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches but let him who glories glory in this that he understands and knows me the Lord.
[00:11:51] That I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these I delight.
[00:12:01] The Lord said here's your value. It's not in wealth, it's not in wisdom, it's in understanding and knowing me.
[00:12:13] This is what gives us value when we understand and know that the Lord exercises loving kindness, good judgment and righteousness in the earth.
[00:12:27] This is what Leah progressively came to know about God.
[00:12:34] God saw that Leah was unloved, God opened Leah's womb and made her fruitful.
[00:12:43] From these names we see the progressive revelation about God that Leah received.
[00:12:51] God saw her affliction, knew her emotional turmoil. God heard her, God was with her.
[00:12:58] She learned to praise God, to find her contentment in God. God gave her strength, God brought her happiness, God rewarded her, God blessed her, God was good to her.
[00:13:10] What she was saying with these names is God cares about me.
[00:13:16] You see God doesn't use the criteria of culture. We learned that last week when God did not take the culture of the Canaanites to honor the first born, the first out of the womb or honor the hunter, the stronger one, the one who got for himself.
[00:13:38] God's criteria is not the culture of men, it's not the criteria of this world.
[00:13:47] God blesses those who seek Him in their disadvantages.
[00:13:54] Isn't it often our very disadvantages that brought us to Jesus?
[00:13:59] I know that for me, even though I was raised in a Christian home, it wasn't until my first year of college when everything went wrong for me.
[00:14:11] And I realized that my way, some my thinking was just making my life a mock terrible.
[00:14:21] That I came to the Lord and said, Lord, I need you. I don't like myself. I don't like what I've done with my life so far.
[00:14:30] I need you. I need you. Okay, I give up on my way. I'll do it whatever you want. I'll do it your way because this is terrible.
[00:14:41] I came because of the disadvantages to Jesus. It drove me to Jesus.
[00:14:48] The plight of these two sisters mirror the struggle between Laban and Jacob. Laban has all the advantages.
[00:14:55] Jacob is in Laban's hometown. Laban owns the livestock and can set the conditions.
[00:15:02] Jacob has nothing but wives and children. Jacob is dependent on the wages that Laban gives him.
[00:15:10] But yet, Jacob with the disadvantages has the greatest advantage of all because he has a gracious God who is for Him and has vowed to bless him.
[00:15:21] At the end of these chapters, we realize that physical, material, social, financial and whatever other advantages the world has to offer can still leave a person barren and discontent.
[00:15:36] What is barrenness? It's that nine emptiness. That somehow, no matter what I've done, no matter what I have, I'm still not happy.
[00:15:49] I remember meeting a woman running into a woman I knew who had two adorable daughters, the son and the husband that absolutely dored her who was very wealthy.
[00:16:00] And I met her at the mall and she's with a different man and I said to her, hey, what's going on? Because they were little cozy.
[00:16:10] And she said, I've just been a search for myself. I just have to find myself because I'm just not happy.
[00:16:19] And I said, and you think you're going to find it with, I don't know your name what's your name, Todd?
[00:16:25] And I said, nothing's Todd. But you think, no, he's just one of several men that I've been dating. I just need to stop this nine.
[00:16:33] And I looked at her and I said, this is not the way. I said, I know the way. And it's only God. God puts, you know, I did the whole thing.
[00:16:44] There's a emptiness in your soul and it's God shaped. And only when you seek the Lord, well that nine barrenness and discontent be filled.
[00:16:57] And she said, oh, thank you very much. True contentment, purpose and fruitfulness come from one awareness of who God is.
[00:17:08] It starts there. He's loving kindness. He's compassion. He's righteousness. He's a good judge.
[00:17:21] But also from God's personal compassion and concern for you unless it becomes personal.
[00:17:32] You won't feel that fruitfulness, that contentment. And finally, it's not till you're attached to God.
[00:17:42] Not anything of this world, not Jacobs or the Jacobs of life. No attachment to them will take away the barrenness. It's the attachment to God, the relationship to God, the God who is loving kindness, the God who gave his son for you to bring you into blessing, the God who cares for you.
[00:18:08] Perhaps you feel disvanaged. Perhaps you can say, sure, if we're going to start talking in securities and disadvantages, do you have three hours? And the answer is no. But God does.
[00:18:21] God has all the time you need. Take heart because God is drawn to you right now. God is attracted to the neediest person in this room.
[00:18:33] Whoever's got the most innocent advantages wins right now. That's the person right now that God is the most attracted to.
[00:18:44] In Capernaum, when they wanted to entrap Jesus, they brought the neediest man into the middle of the synagogue, a man with a withered hand, and they put him in the center of the room
[00:19:01] where Jesus could not miss. They knew something about Jesus that we often forget. They knew that Jesus could not resist need.
[00:19:12] They knew that even though it was the Sabbath and even though they were disapproving, and even though it could bring their iron condom nation,
[00:19:24] and it would look to them like Jesus was breaking the law, they knew that Jesus could not resist need. That he would heal this man with a withered hand.
[00:19:37] That he would not allow that man to come into his presence and leave in the same condition.
[00:19:46] We're told in Mark chapter 3 that Jesus looked around and he was angry at those men because of the hardness of their heart, that they did not have any compassion for this man or his need.
[00:20:02] And then Jesus said, which of you that had an animal that fell into a pit wouldn't go and save that animal.
[00:20:10] And yet you have no compassion for this man, the son of Abraham. Then Jesus looked at this man and said, stretch out that hand and the man stretched it out and it was whole just like the other one.
[00:20:28] Jesus is attracted to disadvantage and to need. If you have ever felt barren, and that barrenness takes many forms, something is missing from your life.
[00:20:42] Others have something that you don't maybe know a husband actually brings coffee.
[00:20:51] Somebody was telling the story, Glinda was telling today that she saw an interchange between my mother and father where she heard about her and my mother told her where she said, my mom said, where is my valentine?
[00:21:05] And my dad said, I don't know. Did you send it? In other words, he thought she was saying where is the valentine? I sent you. Take your eyes off of others.
[00:21:19] Don't compare yourself with others. The Bible says they that compare themselves among themselves are not wise. Don't compare. Don't blame others for your barrenness.
[00:21:38] Don't say, well it's this person or that person if they done this or they had done that. Don't look for substitutions or ways to make yourself fruitful.
[00:21:52] Don't look to folklore or remedies or the methodologies of this world. Don't look to riches or your rights but seek the Lord.
[00:22:09] Seek the Lord because barrenness is something only God can remedy. Baroness is something only God can change but knowing God makes all the difference in our life between contentment or discontentment, between sorrow or joy, between barrenness or fruitfulness.
[00:22:37] God is God. God is for you and if you seek God, he will bring fruitfulness to your life because this is what he did.
[00:22:57] He said in John 15, if you abide in me, you will bear fruit. If you abide, that's the remedy for barrenness is abiding in Jesus.
[00:23:17] You see the object is not Jacob, the object is not Leah, the objective is not to have as many children or even fruit for that matter.
[00:23:31] Our objective is abiding and our object is Jesus and when we abide in Jesus it doesn't matter what disadvantages you have.
[00:23:45] It doesn't matter because Jesus is the one who will bring fruit to your wife. In fact in the Bible it says in the barren has become the mother of many children because of Jesus, Jesus abide in Jesus and not you might bear fruit.
[00:24:13] But you will bear fruit.
[00:24:43] Remember God is for you and if you seek Him he will bring fruitfulness to your life because this is what he does.
[00:24:51] As Jesus said in John, if you abide in me, I will abide in you and you will bear much fruit. That's the remedy for barrenness abiding in Jesus.
[00:25:02] We hope you have been blessed by today's Bible study. For more information about the gracious words radio program and the teaching ministry of Cheryl Broderson, please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:14] Coming up next time on the gracious words program we'll look at Jacob's departure from Laban as we continue our series, Our Great Creator in the book of Genesis with Cheryl Broderson.
[00:25:25] We do hope you make plans to join us. Again for more information please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:33] We will come for you Lord in wonder, wonder. We will fall on our knees and surrender. We surrender to you.
[00:25:52] This program is sponsored by Calvary Chapel, Coastamasa, California.
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