Crazy, Cross-Eyed Leah
Gen 29:16-17, 31-34
Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.
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, 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.
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.
Crazy, Cross-Eyed Leah or When God is Not Enough
Your initial response may be:
Pastor is attacking Leah – she is the victim & can’t change her eyes
Afterall, her heart was broken (& we can understand a broken heart)
Yes, God was sympathetic with Leah – that’s why “he opened her womb”
But Leah was partly responsible for her on-going heartache
And she was complicit (with her father, Laben) in getting into the whole situation
As a matter of fact – even after God showed Himself to be on her side
She still pursued Jacob more than God
Does that sound like somebody you know?
You see Leah’s pain in the naming of her children: Reuben, Simeon, Levi
Everything was about getting Jacob to love her
Leah was heart-broken & rejected – why do you call her Crazy
Leah kept doing the same thing, expecting different results
Nothing she did made Jacob love her more – yet, she kept repeating the same thing
Why did she keep repeating her actions? Pain is paralyzing – we get stuck
When we are hurt, we cannot always trust our minds
Instead of our thoughts healing us & elevating us
Our minds spiral downward – making pain & self-esteem worse
· We become extremely self-critical – call ourselves names
focus on shortcoming – feel disgust or shame
Why can’t we move on?
Leah had strabismus strə-ˈbiz-mus
Lack of muscle coordination in the eyes, so the eyes don’t point in same direction
Cross-eyed or wall eyed – colloquial term ‘cock-eyed’
Because the eyes don’t look in the same direction at the same time
Seeing 2 things – but can’t bring either one thing into focus
Leah held on to stuff for years
She couldn’t focus on God loving her & blessing her
Her thoughts consumed w/ Rejections – husband, sister, father (mother?)
Too many of us have the same condition as Leah
We can’t look forward for looking back
We can’t think about the goodness of Jesus
For thinking about the offenses of others
Not telling you to ignore your pain, but…
Pain distorts perception
We all know what it feels like to have a broken heart
But most of us have no idea of how to fix one
What I don’t want is you siting in our pain, eating ice cream & singing sad songs:
Unbreak My Heart, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? etc.
In the Mean-Time
John 14:1
Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
You must know that Jesus truly cares:
Luke 4:18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted.
Leah recovered her sanity & got her vision corrected
Gen 29:35
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. – The Lord became enough for her
Recovering from a Broken Heart
1. Beware of your own mind
It can be so self-critical
2. Don’t trust your own memory
Pain causes your memory to exaggerate – imaginations & idealizations
Never confuse memory with fact
3. Get corrective vision to cure your strabismus
Fix your eyes on Jesus – Heb 12:2
- or rolling your eyes
You’re going to have to let some things go
4. Change your self-talk
Focus on positives in self
Studies show: remind yourself of self-worth, you become more resilient
5. Change your thinking – “Think on these things” – Phil 4:8-9
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
6. Develop a support system – this is critical
Leah had no support system – father, sister, mother (absent), husband
risk of rejection used to be limited by the size of our immediate social circle
Circle size multiplied by social & electronic media & dating apps
Multiplied chances of rejection – now it’s public
We must learn how to support grieving people – we get lost
7. Identify & address the voids in your life – “Place”
Activities, learning something, travel, meeting new people
Assignment:
1. Select the 1 or 2 things from this list that you will work on
2. Confess it to a Friend
3. Pray for One Another