Title: High Places Part 7 LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE LEAD THEM TO BECOME FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF JESUS Throughout the time of the priest Jehoiada instructed him, Joash did what was right in the Lord’s sight. Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. 2 Kings 12:2-3 (CSB) WHAT IS MY YET THAT IS KEEPING ME FROM LOVING GOD MOST? KEEPING ME FROM THE LIFE GOD HAS FOR ME? Most people, if they have really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we have grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world [something supernatural and eternal]. C.S. Lewis Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. Genesis 25:21 (CSB) But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in your womb; two peoples will come from you and be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. Genesis 25:21-23 (CSB) Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Genesis 25:28 (CSB) “So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, and stay with him for a few days until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?” Genesis 27:43-45 (CSB) Jacob asked the men at the well, “My brothers! Where are you from?” “We’re from Haran,” they answered. “Do you know Laban grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked. “Yes,” they said, “and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with his sheep.” Genesis 29:4-6 (CSB) When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened. Laban said to him, “Yes, you are my own flesh and blood.” Genesis 29:13-14a (CSB) After Jacob stayed with him a month… Genesis 29:14b (CSB) Genesis 29:14b (CSB) After Jacob stayed with him a month, Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” Genesis 29:14b-15 After Jacob stayed with him a month, Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. Leah had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. Genesis 29:14b-17 (CSB) Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” Genesis 29:18 (CSB) Sex is very much like a fire. In the proper place and setting it is beautiful. But if it gets outside your fireplace, if it gets outside of where it belongs and where it is meant to be contained and harnessed and channeled, it can burn your house down and destroy everything you have. Ray Ortlund Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (CSB) Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel…” Then Jacob said to Laban, “Since my time is complete, give me my wife, so I can sleep with her.” Genesis 29:18, 21 (CSB) TOO OFTEN WE LOOK HORIZONTALLY FOR WHAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND VERTICALLY We maintain the fantasy that if we find our true soulmate, everything wrong with us will be healed. Timothy Keller That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her… Genesis 29:23 (CSB) That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her…When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?” Genesis 29:23, 25 (CSB) THE HIGH PLACES MAKE US THINK WE ARE GOING TO BED WITH RACHEL, BUT WE WILL ALWAYS WAKE-UP NEXT TO LEAH Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And He worked for Laban another seven years. Genesis 29:30 (CSB) When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive. Genesis 29:31 (CSB) When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive…”The Lord has seen my affliction; surely he will love me now...the Lord heard that I am unloved…at last, my husband will become attached to me…” Genesis 29:31, 32, 33, 34 (CSB) And she conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Genesis 29:35 (CSB) LOOK TO THE ONE WHOM LEAH’S LIFE POINTS STOP TRYING TO MAKE OTHERS INTO SAVIORS BECAUSE WE HAVE A SAVIOR, HIS NAME IS JESUS