Get the Flesh Under Control

When the flesh gets out of control

Gen 30:1-9

This lesson is a good picture of a struggle of the flesh in the life of a carnal believer. You have a woman who wants desperately to have a baby and is and willing to do whatever it have one. When God fails to answer her prayer she will turn to her own schemes to get what she wants. (She is going to help God out) Life is always difficult and sometimes it is compounded when the desires of our heart, are deceptive and mis- leading. In this chapter Leah and Rachel represent the divided heart, and the impatient flesh. They both want what they want and they want it now. They don’t care who it will hurt as long as they are satisfied.

I. Rachel’s Flesh

1 When Rachel saw that she wasn't having any children, she became jealous of her sister. "Give me children, or I'll die!" she exclaimed to Jacob.
2 Jacob flew into a rage. "Am I God?" he asked. "He is the only one able to give you children!"
In this first 2 verses we see a terrible picture of what can happen when the flesh is in control:
Rachel wanted children, and when God did not answer her request she became irate with God and took matters in her own hands. The first offense was that she blamed her husband for her bareness Rachel was out of control with Jealousy, consumed with envy and filled with wanting what somebody else had.

Note
This consumption came from what she saw that her sister had and that she did not. Leah had children from Jacob, and Rachel did not. (This drove her crazy) Her frustration came to a head when she blamed her husband for being the cause of all of her problems. She demanded that he fix her barreness!

Observation
Spouses must be careful with blaming each other for things that only God can change. Only God can give life and satisfaction in the human heart. Spouses cannot change spouses, only God can do this. Children come from the Lord, and from nowhere else. (God says how many you will have, and if you will have any. There is a powerful principle in this lesson; Rachel puts a impossible request upon her husband. Her expectation of him is unfair. It is overbearing to say the least and it also gives a picture of a wife who is out of control.

3 Then Rachel told him, "Sleep with my servant, Bilhah, and she will bear children for me." 4 So Rachel gave him Bilhah to be his wife, and Jacob slept with her.
5 Bilhah became pregnant and presented him with a son.
6 Rachel named him Dan, for she said, "God has vindicated me! He has heard my request and given me a son."
7 Then Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel named him Naphtali, for she said, "I have had an intense struggle with my sister, and I am winning!"

Observation
It was not uncommon in that time for a servant to be given to a husband as wife. Servants were seen as property of another and less than human beings. (Sarah Abram’s wife did this with Hagar) So what we see here is that Rachel uses her servant any way that she wants too. However, even though she had a right to use her servant in this manner it was not the will of God. Nor was it ordained by God. (It was a pagan law) Jacob goes along with it to try and keep the peace, and to try and make his troubled wife satisfied.(This was not good)

Note

1. Here is where we see Jacob as a men pleaser and a weak leader. Like his grandfather he succumbs to the demands of His wife.
2. He has not cultivated a heart for God, nor a conviction to do what is right.
3. He is yet carnal and willing to do things his way instead of God’s way.

One thing that men can learn from Jacob is that they must be willing to make hard decisions in spite of what their wives demand and suggest. If a man is going to be a godly man it will cost him something. (God was going to give Rachel children, but it was going to be in his time and not hers) These extra babies were going to cause trouble in the end, for the child that Rachel will one day have.

• Rachel in this verse uses her servant to get what she wanted
• Rachel in this verse opened her bed to a stranger to please her own desires
• Rachel in this verse brought children into a situation where they would be impacted for the rest of their lives

Application
When we try to take matters in our own hands instead of waiting on God, we too can make terrible mistakes that will impact our families for life. Rachel represents the child of God who is impatient and out of control. She wants what she wants when she wants it. Nothing or nobody will stop her from getting it.

Chapter Two: When You Misbehave to Get What You Want!

Gen 30:14-15

Introduction

What a lesson, the flesh is so far out of control that both of these women will not stop until they out to do one another harm, and or get everything they want in life. The child of God can learn from this text, that unless they get absolute control of their desires they too will do things they never thought they would do. Rachel and Leah have out of control “wanters.” They both want stuff and are using others to get what they want.

I. The Love Apples

During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."

Background

There was a pagan superstition that taught that mandrakes would help a woman conceive. Both of these ladies want children so bad they are willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want.

Application

“God is the one that Gives children, not mandrakes”
The apples were deceiving and a desperate person will see them as the answer to their struggle. Rachel was desperate and willing to do anything to satisfy the flesh. (Remember Eve in the Garden with the serpent)
Sometimes a quick fix can be deceiving. When we fail to wait on God we try to help God out. Have you ever noticed that the world is always available with an answer for a spiritual problem? Though they are ready with their sinful solutions, their response is never to trust God and wait on him. Rather they tell us to do things their way, take matters into your own hands, and fix the situation yourself. They want you to believe that you cannot trust God to fix your crisis or to help you get through them.

II. Soliciting Love Apples

15 But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?"
"Very well," Rachel said, "he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes."

Leah who has received the blessing from the Lord, with several children is yet not satisfied, because her motives are to out do her sister, not to minister to her. Leah now represents the child of God that is misbehaving. She is taking advantage of her sister. She see’s her hurting and is willing to use her pain to profit from her own desires Leah is out of control! Leah is acting carnal at best. Leah has forgotten what God has done for her. She takes what Rachel wants and craves and then uses it to elevate herself in her eyes.
She sees Rachel’s obsession and takes advantage of her?

Question

1. Have you ever manipulated a situation between you and your brother or sister in Christ?
2. How out of control were you?
3. What does that feel like when you mistreat someone this way?
4. How do you think that they feel?

Rachel is also out of control, and we see it here in this verse! She rules Jacob and bargains his time for what she wants. Both of them are filled with envy and Jealousy

Application

• The child of God cannot operate in envy or Jealousy
• We are to behave as god fearing men and women who know that God is more than enough
• Until we recognize this we will always have out of control wanter’s. (This is the root behind most of our addictions as well)
• Our desires have consumed us and now we are addicted to whatever attracts us the most.

Note

• Leah is addicted to the idea that Rachel has something she wants, and can’t live without.
• Rachel is addicted to the Idea that Leah has something she wants and can’t live without
  God must be enough in every area of our IMPERFECT LIVES!

Chapter Three: When God used Misbehavior

Gen 30:16-24

On last week we learned that when, the flesh is so far out of control the believer will not stop until they get everything they want in life. We discovered that unless we get absolute control of our desires we too will do things we never thought we would do. Rachel and Leah were out of control .They both wanted stuff and were willing to use each other to get what they wanted. In today’s text we see the amazing hand of God and how he chose to answer selfish prayers in order that he would be glorified in the earth.

1. Why would God do that?
2. Why would he give Leah what she wanted and finally grant Rachel her desire as well?
   What you will discover on this journey with God is that he can use man’s misbehavior to fulfill his divine plan for him in the earth. However, this does not mean that man will not pay for what he has done, or that sin does not have a cost. Sin does cost man something, whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. Leah and Rachel have not had to pay yet, but they will pay dearly as their journey continues.

I. Leah’s Motivation

So that evening, as Jacob was coming home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. "You must sleep with me tonight!" she said. "I have paid for you with some mandrake roots my son has found." So Jacob slept with her. And God answered her prayers. She became pregnant again and gave birth to her fifth son.
(Let us review our thoughts)

• Leah who has received the blessing from the Lord, with several children is yet not satisfied, because her motives are to out do her sister, not to minister to her.
• Leah now represents the child of God that is misbehaving. She is taking advantage of her sister. She see’s her hurting and is willing to use her pain to profit from her own desires
• Leah is out of control! Leah is acting carnal at best. Leah has forgotten what God has done for her. She takes what Rachel wants and craves and then uses it to elevate herself in her eyes.
• She see’s Rachel’s obsession and takes advantage of her?

As she approaches Jacob, she is bartering for his time, because she is not wanted by him. Leah is going to make him be with her at a price. She is also revealing that His Love Rachael has sold him to her as the highest bidder. Her flesh is out of control.

Note

• She then prays and God answers her prayer. This is a good picture of what we do. We often times do something and then ask God to bless it as we go.
• Leah is a good picture of a carnal and selfish prayer that God answers. She gets what she ask for, but has no idea that a price is going to come with it.

II. Leah’s Mindset

She named him Issachar, for she said, "God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband as a wife."
Then she became pregnant again and had a sixth son. She named him Zebulun, for she said, "God has given me good gifts for my husband. Now he will honor me, for I have given him six sons." Later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

Note
There is no mention of it here, but how did she get Jacob to stay in her tent again? Perhaps she went into the mandrake business! Perhaps she had Rachel so dependent on the drakes that she kept the deal rolling for years to come. (She has three kids back to back)

Question
Will not sin do this to you? Will not the idea that you have been successful before make you believe that you can do it again? Will not your own desires allow you to gloat a little bit?
Leah thinks that God is on her side, and that her selfish prayers are what pleases God.
Sometimes God gives the child of God what they ask for so they can become more dependent upon him.

Example
She got more kids but she never got Jacob, she was always pleading with God to help her out. The more she requested the more of God she needed.

III. Rachel’s Miracle

Then God remembered Rachel's plight and answered her prayers by giving her a child. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. "God has removed my shame," she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said, "May the LORD give me yet another son." After all of the mandrakes and other things she has tried, she finally recognizes that God is the one who gives life. She has tried everything to have children, and has made many mistakes, but God has answered her prayer.

1. Why could not she wait on God?
2. Why cannot we wait on God?
3. Everything he had for her he had in time, why was his time not good enough for her?
4. What is wrong with the child of God that cannot wait on God?
5. Do you struggle like Rachel? Why?

Observation
What was for Leah was for Leah, and what was for Rachel was for Rachel. God had a plan for both of them before the world began, and he would even use their misbehavior to accomplish his will for them in the earth.
God is going to start the twelve tribes of Israel out all that these two women have done. They will be a people at war with each other, and with others. But God will get the glory out of all of their pain and suffering.
God is amazing! He uses our blended families in spite of making terrible mistakes. He is a wonder working God, and will get all the praise and glory in the end.
NLT

Chapter Four: What Will Sin Make You Do?

Gen 19:30-37

This text today is an alarming story of what Sin will make you do. Because of Lot’s desire to dwell in Sodom it has now affected his entire family. Their thoughts are perverted, their actions are diabolical and their desires have been warped. But, they have gotten this way because of desperate times and confusing situations
What they think of and plan to do comes from their memory of the place they once dwelled in. Lot has lost everything, he is in a strange place, he has his 2 daughters with him, and they have brought an appetite for sin from Sodom. No one else has survived, there is no life anywhere, and they believe that they are the only ones left and that they must repopulate the earth. (Instead of trusting in God)

I. Sin In a New Location

Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.

• Lot has finally been delivered from Sodom. No more sinful neighbors and no more vexing of his soul day and night with the sodomite ways.
• Lot escaped God’s wrath, but sin crept out of Sodom too.
• Though he was free from the location the longing of sin was even closer than before. His daughters had taken on the ways of Sodom and would bring them into this home.

Note
Sometimes a relocation from the problem and influence of sin is a good thing, but there yet is a problem of sin in the human heart. You can move your location but if you don’t change your heart Sin will relocate with you. There is also an element of desperation in this text. These ladies are alone in their world. They have seen no other man, they want to see the human race continue, so they take it upon themselves to play the part of God and fix their desperate situation

Question
Have you ever seen someone desperate try and help God out? They want something so bad they devise a plan to get what they want?

II. Subtle Suggestions and Lies

31 Now the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth.
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father."

The influence of the older daughter impacted the younger daughter. Her ways were corrupt. She attempted to influence her sister to believe and speculate like she did. “Our father is old, and there are no more men on earth”. (What she meant was there are no more men who know Sodom but our Father left.)

• The girls entertained the lie that they would never get a man
• The girls danced with the thought that the family name would not be preserved
• The girls developed a plan to preserve their family name through deceit.
• Lot’s daughters acted wickedly in that they got their father Drunk, and then did what they did to him. It was a plan that only they knew about.

Note
They used a noble thought such as carrying for the name of their father to do the wicked act of deception and drunkenness to make Lot a partaker of their sin.

Question

1. In what ways has sin cause you to manipulate someone else? (Think on this to your self)
2. How was the power of influence in this text use to manipulate?

III. Sister and Sinful Secrets

33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34 It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, "Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father."
35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

• When the first act of sin occurred it had to be told. The older sister told it to the younger
• Sin has to be talked about! The wicked want someone else to know of their deeds done in the dark.
• There is an enticing element among the world to participate in that which is forbidden, the older sister shares with the younger and they BOTH decide to repeat the act again the next night so the younger could participate. (Sin had a strong hold on their minds) They did the act at night, they did the act under the influence of wine.
• They now shared a secret among themselves that would forever affect the family because of a sinful decision on their part.

Note
Sin is subtle and it is all encompassing. It first deceives you into believing it is no big thing, and then it absolutely corrupts. If you do it once you can do it again.

Question

1. Why did the younger sister participate in this act?
2. How was she influenced by the older sister?

III. Sin begets Sin

37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

Because of this act of wickedness enemies were born to Israel. The Moabite and the ammonites are related to the Israelites through Lot. However they would not be the seed that God would chose to bring the savior of mankind into the world. These people groups would war against Israel all of their days, and cause great pain and suffering.

Note
This lesson could act as a warning for having children out of the union of Holy Matrimony. Problems always in sue with the children of those who secretly plan to get them by ways other than God has allowed.

Closing Thoughts
Sin has messed things up for Lot. He has lost all of his possessions, his wife, his influence and now ruined his daughters. But God is still with him. Grace has followed Him and mercy has covered Him.
These many lessons could’ve been avoided had he chose to travel another route. But his journey had to be so, that you and I could learn from his ways and follow and obey the will of the Lord.

Chapter Five: What Do You Do When the One You Love Does Not Love You? (A painful love story)

Gen 29:31-35

This story is just beginning but already we can see that somebody is getting the shaft. Leah has been forced to marry and she loves her man, but he does not love her. Her father used her as a ploy to keep a good employee, but he really cares nothing for her future. Her sister has been blessed with the good looks, and agood figure, but she doesn’t have a good outward appearance. Because Rachel is beautiful she has to share her husband with her. What’s wrong with this picture? Leah wants a picture perfect marriage, but it isn’t happening. She needs some answers and she wants security in her relationship. It is situations like these that break your heart and crush your Spirit. However, in the midst of her desire to be loved God sees her struggle and intervenes with a divine blessing.

Note
Two tracks emerge in this story:

• We are Leah in many ways. We try hard to be married to the world and get it to appreciate us and accept us and even love us. But no matter what we do, it will not accept us. We are unattractive to it.
• God blesses us in-spite of the rejection we receive from the world. In his blessing we are given the privilege to reproduce ourselves in the earth.

I. Leah’s Lack of Love

31. When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. 32 So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, "The LORD has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me."

Note Leah longed to be loved by her man, but Jacob was not interested. To him Rachel was the apple of his eye. Leah needed to be appreciated, wanted and desired by someone who loved her, so God heard her cry. It is the Lord who sees when we are afflicted in the earth. God takes notice of un-righteousness and judges accordingly. God sits high but he looks low and he engages in our daily dilemmas and depressing situations. God in this text reveals that he alone can open the womb for birth and he alone can shut the womb. He delights in giving babies, and he says who will have what and how many they will have. Children are a blessing from God, they are not a mistake, nor are they a burden, they all come from God for the purpose of God. Leah was in need of being loved because in her marriage she was not. So God gave her children to replace and heal her pain.

Application

• God will hear your cry too if spouses, parents or relatives don’t love, care for or desire to have you around.
• You are loved by God and desired more than you know. God wants to provide for you and love you with an everlasting Love. (See Jer. 31:3)

Question

1. How do you think Leah felt?
2. When a marriage goes in this direction, how can it be fixed?

II. Leah’s Longing to be Loved

33 Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also." And she called his name Simeon.
34 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore his name was called Levi.

Note

• Leah has found out who it is that loves her in this Life.
• She recognizes that it is the Love of God that is being poured out on her.
• She sees the blessing of children. She can have them and others cannot
• She sees the joy that their little faces bring
• She sees the image of God in the earth, and that God has chosen to make her a vessel for him to use in the earth

Observation
Even-though she has received two men children from the Lord, she yet desires for Jacob to love her. However, he does not respond. Sometimes we can try to get people to love us in fractured relationships and it does not happen. What should be our response? Why did Leah never divorce? Why was she willing to stay with her man?

III. Leah’s lesson in Love

35 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Now I will praise the LORD." Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing. God used his daughter’s sufferings to reveal to her who she was to be in love with. (HIM-JEHOVAH) God allowed Leah to go through the pain of being married and not being loved, to reveal himself to her in a supernatural way. It took the fourth child before she realized just how much God meant to her. She decided that no matter what Jacob did she was going to praise God in-spite of her situation
Leah understood her purpose for praise! She was to give thanks for what she had and for what she did not have! While she didn’t have the love of a fallen man, she had the love of an eternal God. She learned that she could live without Jacobs love, but she needed the Love of God to survive.

Application

• Those of us who have to suffer under great loneliness can take a page from Leah’s life, and find strength in the struggle.
• If we can dig deep to praise God for what we have, we can find a freedom that cannot be stolen by envy or jealousy over what we don’t have.

Question

• If you could talk to Leah, what would you ask her?
• How does this lesson relate to your situation?
• What have you learned about Leah’s struggle?