Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Handle Rejection | Torah | Genesis 29:31-30:24

Episode Date: March 16, 2022

When was the last time you were rejected? Were you rejected from a job? A relationship? A college? Everyone's felt rejected at some point, but how should you react to rejection? In today's episode, Jensen looks at Leah and Rachel's feelings of rejection in Genesis 29:31-30:24. Listen to find out how to deal with rejection. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Luke 12:6-7, Romans 8:14-17, Genesis 29:31-30:24 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Right now, we're going through the first book of the Bible, Genesis. I was reading an article a few weeks ago that asked people to share their most brutal rejection stories, and I'll attest to the fact that most of these stories are brutal. One guy said he had been having a hard time dating, so he decided to try his luck at a speed dating event. And when he got this, he was he, he realized that he was the only guy who showed up. It was him and 14 women, which might seem like good news, except in his own words, he says, all 14 chose to stay single rather than go out on a date with me. Rough. That one was my favorite, but it also makes me really sad. It makes me sad

because I feel his pain. Being rejected is the worst. Whether it's been a job or a relationship or a college application, friendship, family member, we've almost likely felt the sting of rejection. As much as we try to push it off or forget about the rejection, it could be really hard. Rejection can hit at the core of who we are. It makes us wonder why we aren't good enough. We think things like, what's wrong with me? How come they didn't want me? What could I have done differently to make them see that I'm worth it? Constant rejection can make us feel stuck in a cycle of believing we're less than,

unworthy and unloved, and it hurts. The two women in today's passage are not unfamiliar with the sting of rejection. We'll be looking at Leah and Rachel, sisters who are married to the same man, Jacob. Now, if you're confused at all about who these women are, Go back and listen to Tanya's episode from yesterday. It'll help give a little context to the messiness of the story. But in today's passage, it's going to be all about Leah and Rachel's struggle in bearing children. And we're going to see how each woman faced rejection in the struggle.

For now, let's jump into the story. When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive. But Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Rubin, for she said, it is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now. She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son, she said, Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.

So she named him Simeon. Again, she conceived. And when she gave birth to a son, she said, Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have born him three sons. So he was named Levi. She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son, she said, This time, I will praise the Lord. So she named him Judah.

Then she stopped having children. So immediately in this story, we see where Leah's rejection comes from. She's not loved by her husband. The older sister whose father had to trick a man into marrying her is now stuck in a marriage with a husband who clearly loves her younger sister and not her. It's a sad picture. This is daily rejection that Leah is faced with. We see her desperation in the way she talks about each son,

hoping that this time, this time her husband will love her because she's given him another son. And each time, it fails to make a difference. But Leah isn't the only sister facing rejection. We read on, When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob,

Give me children or I'll die. After Leah has her first four children, her sister Rachel becomes jealous because she has been unable to have any children. She becomes so distraught that she says to her husband, Give me children or I'll die. This is intense. Rachel is clearly feeling strong emotions

and we can't blame her. The struggle of trying to conceive a child can be long and difficult and painful. Even more so in Rachel's culture, bearing children was directly tied to a woman's worth. To not be able to produce a son as an heir made a woman an outcast. Many often believed that it was some fault of the mothers that kept her from conceiving. And so feeling the sting of rejection from society, Rachel takes things into her own hands. We see her fall into the same sins of those before her as she gives her servant to Jacob to bear children for her. And when Leah sees her sister giving Jacob sons through her servant, she also gives her servant

to Jacob to give him more sons. At one point, Leah ends up trading Rachel some mandrakes so that she can spend one night with Jacob. And she ends up conceiving another son on this night. after the six sons she has for Jacob, Leah says, this time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have born him six sons. But the text tells us that this is most likely not what happens. Verse 22. Then God remembered Rachel.

He listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, God has taken away my disgrace. She named him Joseph and said, may the Lord add to me another son. As we continue in Genesis, we're going to hear more about Joseph's story, but for now all we need to know is that Joseph is his father's beloved son. Jacob shows far greater love and affection for his son Joseph, born by Rachel, than any other.

We can imagine that Leah, after bearing Jacob's six sons, feels the cut of this rejection deeply. And that's where this story ends. Leah is still unloved by her husband and Rachel has suffered years of rejection from her society and sister as she lived a barren life in the ancient Near East. Have you ever felt rejection like this? Can you at all relate to the feelings of despair and worthlessness that it led these women into? In their feelings of rejection, Rachel and Leah grasp for control in a myriad of different ways. Feeling rejected, they put their hope in having

more children and they do whatever they can to make it happen. And in doing so, we see their family face tension as jealousy and despair run rampant. Where do you grasp for control? Where are you prone to judge and feel jealousy and compare because of feelings of rejection? It was a long time ago now, but I remember it so clearly because of how much it hurt at the time. It was grade school and I was on a bus with my best friend. She was cute and popular, and I was the best friend who hadn't quite lost her baby fat yet. I remember her asking two boys in front of us on the bus who was prettier, and no surprise, they both said she was. It hurt. And that moment of rejection led to a friendship where I constantly compared myself. I was jealous whenever she succeeded. I always felt less than,

and I knew if I couldn't be prettier. Well, I would try my hardest to be better at everything else than her, just so I could feel worthy. No surprise, it never worked. It just ended up pushing a wedge in our friendship, a friendship that eventually fell apart. And it left me with a feeling that I needed to prove to the people around me that I was enough, that I was worth their affection and friendship, because I never wanted to feel the sting of rejection again. To this day, I can feel myself being tempted to cover up my inadequacies because I'm terrified of people seeing them and deciding that I'm not worth their time. The fear of rejection is real and it has the power to shape and affect our choices every day. It has the power to lead us to make poor decisions like Leah and

Rachel as we try our hardest to avoid its sting. But it's never enough. It's exhausting and it doesn't work. But there's hope. If we look back at the lives of Leah and Rachel, we only see them at peace at very specific times. And it's when they recognize God's part in their story. When Leah is having her first four sons, continually she hopes that the next one will make her husband love her, see her, accept her. Until she has Judah. Judah's name means praise. And when she has Judah, she says this time, This time, I will praise the Lord. It's a breath of fresh air in this tumultuous story because finally, Leah sees her God and she believes that she is loved and she chooses to praise him instead of looking to her husband for her worth.

Similarly, Rachel, after a lifetime of striving to be worthy, plagued by rejection, scripture tells us that God remembered Rachel, and after the birth of her son, she says that God has taken away her disgrace. She didn't produce Jacob's heir. She still has far less sons than her sister, but finally she feels seen by God and recognizes his hand in her life. When we find our joy and contentment in the Lord and not the acceptance of the world, we can find peace even in the face of rejection. Leah's demeanor changes not because her circumstances changed, but because her perspective did. Rachel never outnumbered her sister and sons, but she finally feels peace when she remembers that her God has not forgotten her. When we look at scripture, we're reminded over and over

of the love of God. You have a God who sees you. He sees you and he died for you in all of creation because he loves you. Luke says, are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered, fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows. Romans tells us, for all who were led by the spirit of God are sons of God, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs. When you feel the sting of rejection, remember that God sees you. He knows every hair on your head. When you feel unworthy,

remember that you are valuable to the God who created the universe. When you feel unloved and rejected, remember that you are a child of God adopted into his family. When you're afraid of the loneliness of rejection, remember that you have a father who loves you and has made you an heir in his kingdom. Our worth is not found in whether this world rejects or accepts us. Our worth is not found in whether we're single or married seen as beautiful or ugly, whether we have a good or bad relationship with our family. We are worthy because we are loved and accepted by God. When you face the fear of rejection, remember this truth. You are a child of God, loved and accepted by the grace of God. No circumstances can change that. No rejection can ever threaten your security in

Christ. Christ has died so that you can live in his promises. Rest in this truth today. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.