The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 15: Leah Feels Unloved (2024)

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

Fr. Mike focuses on Leah's painful struggle trying to make herself lovable as we continue to read Genesis 29-30, Job 19-20, and Proverbs 3:5-8. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, I'm Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. This is day 15, so let's get started. We are reading today day 15 from Genesis chapter 29 and 30. We're also reading from the book of Job, our friend Job, chapters 19 and 20, and then also continuing on chapter 3 of Proverbs,

chapter 3 verses 5 through 8. If you want this Bible reading plan, you can go to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year and you can get that reading plan just in front of you right now. You don't have to let me announce it to you. You can know what we're reading. Also, the translation that I'm using is the revised standard version, Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension to proclaim this word today to you all with us all. Man, oh man. If you want to, please subscribe to this podcast app or in your app so that you can get the updates every time we drop a new episode,

which is every single day for the entire year, 365 days in a row. You also can sign up for our email list by texting the word CatholicBible to 33777. Those are some of the announcements. I am so grateful for you being here as we just read through, walk through, get proclaimed to by God's very word. So let's begin. Once again, we're reading Genesis chapter 29 and 30. and came to the land of the people of the east. As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there,

the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place upon the mouth of the well. Jacob said to them, My brothers, where do you come from? They said, We are from Haran. He said to them, Do you know Laban, the son of Nah from? They said, We are from Haran. He said to them, Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? They said, We know him. He said to them, Is it well with him? They

said, It is well. And see, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep. He said, Behold, it is still high day. It is not time for the animals to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them. But they said, We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them. But they said, We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together, and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well, then we water the sheep. While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. Now when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. And

Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebecca's son. And she ran and told her father. When Laban heard the tidings of Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to the house. Jacob told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be? Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful and lovely. Jacob loved Rachel and he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter, Rachel.

Laban said, it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man. Stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed at him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, that I may go into her, for my time is completed. So Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went into her. Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah.

And Jacob said to Laban, What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me? Laban said, It is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years. Jacob did so and completed her week, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to wife. Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid. So Jacob went into Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. 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 him Reuben. For she said, Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, surely now my husband will love me. She conceived again and bore a son, and said, Because the Lord has heard upon my affliction, surely 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. And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son and said, Now this time my husband will be joined 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 and 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 is my maid Bilhah. Go into her, that she may bear upon my knees, and even I may have children through her. So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went into her.

And 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. 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 maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, with mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed. So she called his name Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son, and Leah said, Good fortune, so she called his name Gad. Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, and Leah said, Blessed am I, for the women will call me blessed, So she called his name Asher. In the days of the wheat harvest,

Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, give me, I pray, some of your son's mandrakes. But she said to her, is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also? Rachel said, then he may lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes. When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes. So he lay with her that night, and God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, God has given me my hire because I gave my maid to my husband.

So she called his name Issachar. And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will honor me because I have borne him six sons. So she called his name Zebulun. Afterwards, she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah. Then God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph, saying, May the Lord add to me another son. When Rachel had born Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you,

and let me go, for you know the service which I have given you. But Laban said to him, If you will allow me to say so, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Name your wages, and I will give it. Jacob said, you yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared 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 house 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 feed your flock and keep it. Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and such shall be my wages. 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 he goats that were striped and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and 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 fed the rest of Laban's flock. Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plain, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the runnels, that is, in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the rods, and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban, and he put his own droves apart, and did not put them with Laban's flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob laid the rods and the runnels before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the rods. But for the feebler of the

flock he did not lay them there. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. Thus the man grew exceedingly rich, and had large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys. Job chapter 19 and 20. Job answers, I know that my Redeemer lives. Then Job answered, how long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have cast reproach upon me. Are you not ashamed to wrong me? And even if it be true that I have erred,

my error remains with myself. If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and make my humiliation an argument against me, know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me. Behold, I cry out violence, but I'm not answered. I call aloud, but there is no justice. He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.

He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. He has kindled his wrath against me. He counts me as his adversary. His troops come together. They have cast up siege works against me and encamp round about my tent. He has put my brethren far from me and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me. The guests in my house have forgotten me. My maidservants count me as a stranger. I have become an alien in their eyes. I call to my servant, but he gives me

no answer. I must beseech him with my mouth. I am repulsive to my wife, loathsome to the sons of my own mother. Even young children despise me. When I rise, they talk against me. All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. Have pity on me. Have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me. Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh? Oh, that my words were written. Oh, that they were inscribed in a book. Oh,

that I had an iron pen and lead. They were graven in rock forever. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me. If you say, How we will pursue him, and the root of the matter is found in him, be afraid of the sword. For wrath brings the judgment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment. Then Zophar the Namathite answered, Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me. I hear censure which insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me. Do you not know, this from of old, since man was placed on the earth, that the exulting of the wicked is

short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment. Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, Where is he? He will fly away like a dream, and not be found. He will be chased away like a vision of the night. The eye which saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him. His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth. His bones are full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. The wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, though he is loathe to let it go and holds it in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, though he is loathe to let it go and holds it in his mouth, yet his food is turned in his stomach. It is the gall of asps within him.

He swallows down riches and vomits them up again. God casts them out of his belly. He will suck the poison of asps. The tongue of the viper will kill him. He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down from the profit of his trading. He will get no enjoyment. For he has crushed and abandoned the poor. He has seized a house which he did not build

because his greed knew no rest. He will not save anything in which he delights. There was nothing left after he had eaten. Therefore his prosperity will not save anything in which he delights. There was nothing left after he had eaten. Therefore his prosperity will not endure. In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in straits. All the force of misery will come upon him. To fill his belly to the full, God will send his fierce anger into him and rain it upon him as his food. He will flee from an iron weapon. A bronze arrow will strike him through. It's drawn forth and comes out of his food. He will flee from an iron weapon. A bronze arrow will strike him through. It's drawn forth and comes out of his body. The glittering point comes out of his gall.

Terrors come upon him. Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures. A fire not blown upon will devour him. What is left in his tent will be consumed. The heavens will reveal his iniquity and the earth will rise up against him. The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath. This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God. Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 through 8. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Father in heaven, we give you praise for your word. We thank you for speaking to us once again this day. We thank you for the group of people who are journeying with us, this team of people, this family of God who seek after your word. We listen to it attentively, and we ask you to make yourself known even more fully, not merely through your word, but also through the spirit that works and animates in your word.

May it also animate our hearts. May it also illuminate our minds as we come back again and again to your word as you reveal it, as you reveal yourself to us in this sacred scripture. We give you praise for revealing your heart to us. Help us to not be afraid to reveal our hearts to you. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So, gosh, our friend Job, we're not going to talk about him today too much, but just so we can see what's going on, that Job has these three friends. If you've lost the context a little bit, Job has these three friends. There's going to be a fourth who shows up later on, but these three, they know that Job must have done, you know, they quote unquote know that Job must have done something wrong. And so every time they speak, what they're saying is essentially,

now Job, be honest with us now. Tell us for real. You either think you're righteous, but you're not, real. You either think you're righteous, but you're not, or you have rebelled against God and you're hiding it from us. And Job is like, I don't know what to tell you. It seems like God is my enemy. It seems like God is not on my side. It seems like I served him and now he doesn't care about me. We're getting more deeply and deeply into that. We're coming out of it at some point, about me. We're getting more deeply and deeply into that. We're coming out of it at some point, not anytime soon. Well, yeah, pretty soon. But just to know that what happens with Job is he is honest. He is honest. Now his friends are doing their best to be honest, but God's going to have some words for his friends that they did not represent him in the way that they should have to our friend Job. So that's coming. But today,

before we conclude this time together in God's word, it is so important to highlight what is happening with Jacob and Leah and Rachel and Laban and this whole family. It is a mess upon a mess. And this is like, this is so good for us to understand that here is the family of God. This is the family from which Jesus came. There's all these messes, all this dirtiness, all this brokenness. Here's Laban who like, yeah, you can have all the, all these sheep, all these goats, and then he takes them all away. And so then Jacob's like, well, in that case, I'm going to make sure that the ones I want are the ones I get. But even worse is you have this deception happening from Laban with his two daughters, Leah and Rachel. As we noted, sorry, my gosh, did I say Rachel? I meant

to say Rebecca. No, I meant to say Rachel. Rebecca's Jacob's mom. Okay, going back to this. Leah and Rachel. Scripture says that Leah had weak eyes. Maybe to say that she wasn't so easy on the eyes is one of the ways people can interpret that. But Rachel was very beautiful. And Rachel is the one who had Jacob's heart. But you see how sometimes the Bible shows us instead of tells us some things. Here's the first thing. One is that Laban, who tricks Jacob into marrying his daughter Leah, says that it is not right in our land. I don't know how it works where you came from, Jacob, but in our land, it is not right to give the younger what belongs to the older. And just rewind a couple chapters and we see what happened was the younger Jacob took what belonged to the older Esau.

And so here's this way in which the scripture, again, shows us, and it doesn't necessarily tell us, but it shows us like, okay, Jacob is the deceiver. Jacob is the one who grasps. Jacob is the one who's getting, you know, he's used to kind of getting what he wants. And here is Laban, his uncle, who is getting what he wants. He's kind of pulling a Jacob, you might want to say. That's an interesting thing. And it's an interesting thing that God is revealing to Jacob and to us.

But there's a painful thing that happens. And the painful thing is, I want to highlight Leah. You imagine, Rachel is the one who was loved by her husband. Leah is the one who was tolerated by her husband. And this is one of the wounds that so many people have, whether it be with their spouse or with their parents or by their children or by life. Sometimes the people in our lives that we think they should love us and they don't, they just tolerate us.

In fact, this is sometimes what a lot of people envision God does with them is just simply tolerates them as opposed to God truly loves you. God truly loves you. And so here is in chapter 29, beginning with verse 31, it says, when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb. Rachel was barren and she conceived and bore a son and named his name Reuben because she said, because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, surely now my husband will love me. And this is the refrain, right? The next child was Simeon. And she says, because the Lord has heard that I'm hated, he's given me this son also.

And then the third son is going to be Levi. And she says that now this is the time my husband will be joined to me because I have born him three sons. See, every son she thought, now my husband will be joined to me because I have born him three sons. See, every son she thought, now my husband will love me. Now my husband will be joined to me. Now my husband will stop hating me. She thought what she could do would make herself more lovely, make herself more lovable. That's this trap that so many of us fall into if i can do this it'll make myself more lovable and at one point with the birth of her fourth son judah leah has given up trying to make her husband love her and she says you conceived nabora's son and said this time i will praise the lord

therefore she called his name judah that's what judah means praise praise the lord instead of the others which is um this will make him love, this will make him love me. This will make him be my spouse. This will make him stop hating me. Now, of course, that doesn't end because even she and Rachel trade some mandrakes in order to have access to their husband's bed. And it just, again, brokenness. And yet God works through all of this brokenness. God will continue to work through all this brokenness, being unloved, being hated, trading, even handmaids. It's all so much of a mess, and yet so are our lives. It is really rare that anyone has a completely clean life

where everything is super simple, everything's super clear, everything's super easy. Even those who are being used by God to build his kingdom, it's incredibly rare that you find a person who doesn't have a mess. In fact, it's so rare that I would say it doesn't exist. And that's one of the reasons why we keep coming back to the Bible. That's one of the reasons why we keep being part of this community is because we know that our lives kind of mirror the lives of these people in the Bible.

And so if they're going to mirror the lives of the people in the Bible at the end of the story, where there's glory and where there's honor being given to God and there's holiness, then it's sometimes okay to recognize that right now, though, right now there is some brokenness that God can still use, and that's the thing. He can still use it. So let's keep praying for each other. Please pray for me. I'll be praying for you, and pray for each other, this community of people going through the Bible. We're going to be doing this for the next 365 days or, you know, minus 15, and it is going to be phenomenal. I'm continuing to pray for you, and please know that you're not alone. You're not

alone in your brokenness. You're not alone in your grief. You're not alone in your sorrow. You're not alone when you feel unloved because you are loved. My name is Father Mike. God bless you and I'll see you tomorrow. you