The Lord's Day (February 11, 2024) at Rainsville First Baptist Church

Michael Bolton sings "When a Man Loves a Woman." But tomorrow as we gather for worship and open our Bibles again to Genesis 29-30, we will discover a different version of the song entitled "When a Man Does Not Love a Woman."  

Genesis is the book of "firsts." This is the first story of a romance in the Bible.  All the other marriages hadeen arranged, and certainly this one was, as well, by Laban; just not in the order Jacob had expected.

Genesis 29:31 is one of the saddest verses in the Bible when it reads "When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved."  First of all, this is a wife (Leah) who was not being loved by her husband, Jacob.  Second, this is the Lord confirming that, not Leah. 

We will watch as she reveals her grief and hurts through her children.  The second saddest verse is the next verse when Reuben is born (her first born) and she says, "Now, my husband will love me."  We will deal with the fallacies women experience to be loved.

But the real issue in this story is not Leah, but Jacob.  We will bring the New Testament into our day of living out love in a marriage when Ephesians 5:25 instructs "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it..."

Jacob did not love Leah.  That is the real issue in this story.

Join us tomorrow for worship at Rainsville First Baptist Church at 10:15.