Faith to Be Loved

How many of you have experienced a deep rejection in your life? Throughout your entire life you feel as if people do not understand you, they don’t care enough about you or what you have to offer. All you want is for someone to love you for who you are.

God Loves You

I know someone who is full of love, who knows where you’ve been, who seen and heard every word that's been spoken over you. I know someone who knows your true heart and nature. GOD...

God sees all things and knows all things and trust me, He’s near.

Psalm 34:18 ESV

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Having Faith to be Loved

Hebrews 11 The Message (MSG)

11 1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.

A lot of times throughout our lives, we experience rejection. We experience hurt and pain by the hand of someone else and after experiencing it over and over again, you wonder why people can not see you for who you are and you start to lose hope, you start to lose confidence in yourself and you start lose faith in love.

God is Love

1 John 4:7-8

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

When we lose faith in love, we lose faith in God. It’s hard for us to believe that we are loved by God or anyone else and we become disconnected but let me share something with you…

2 Timothy 2:13 ESV

If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

When we lose our way in God, when we lose faith and hope, God is still faithful.

I want to talk to you about a woman who went through a tough season in her life. She experienced rejection, she experienced hatred, she experienced a desire of her heart that was not fulfilled in the way she thought it to be. She was not loved the way she should’ve been but God loved her. I'm talking about Leah.

Leah’s Pain

Leah was placed in a situation that she had no control over. Her Father created a plan to trick Jacob into marrying Leah for his own personal gain. Jacob was supposed to marry her sister Rachel but when the time came for Jacob to take Rachel as a wife, Laban {her father} gave him Leah knowing that Jacob would do whatever it takes to gain Rachel as his wife because Jacob loved Rachel.

Laban did not love his daughters the way a good father would. Instead, he put them both in an uncomfortable situation not caring about what would take place or how they felt about anything he planned to do. Laban was not right before God.

Unrighteous Fathers

When Laban deceived both of his daughters he was not being a good father. Most women who have a problem with their earthly father, also have a problem with trusting God, their Heavenly Father. God will never treat you the way your earthly father or mother would treat you.

Men, especially fathers, are supposed to be good examples to their families by following the ways of the Lord but due to Man having a sinful nature, we don’t all follow God as we should and people are left hurt and bruised by the hand of Man and now it’s hard for people to believe that God is who He says He is.

God doesn’t want us to hurt but he knows we will because of the world that we live in. Scriptures tell us that God is our strength and this is true.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 40:29 NIV

29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

After a while of going through the same cycle over and over we do become weak, we do become tired but we should be able to trust God in all things because the truth is Man will always disappoint you but God will not.

Romans 5:5

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Leah’s Hope In Man

Now Leah had hope. She had hope that Jacob would love her but things did not quite work out that way. Leah was hated and when God saw that she was hated He opened up her womb and she conceived a child.

Genesis 29:31 (ESV)

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32 And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben,[c] for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.”

33 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.[d]

Note: Leah knew and understood that God was with her through the hatred, through the suffering but yet her hope did not cease from having Faith in receiving love from her husband.

34 Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.[e] 35 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah.[f] Then she ceased bearing.

A Change of Heart

Just because Leah had sons with Jacob, it did not change his heart for Rachel but something did change in Leah at this moment, and she decided to praise God.

Psalm 28:7

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

Faith to be loved was real for Leah but she missed the fact that God loved her in a way that her husband could not.

Isaiah 54:5 ESV

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name;

Leah was not alone.

John 14:18 ESV

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

God came to Leah in His Faithfulness, showing her that He loved her.

God didn’t have to do this but God is love. He moved in love on behalf of Leah's affliction.

Now, did God stop the rejection? No. But God was there for her and though she desperately wanted to be loved by Jacob, she also knew that God has been faithful to her.

Psalm 91:4 He will cover you and completely protect you with His pinions, And under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a wall.

God is so faithful to us. His love is real in our lives. He's a good Father who's full of love.

There’s more to Leah’s story next week!

Rev. Kathryn Gore