God's Fruit in the Land of Affliction

Do you believe that the Lord will bring fruit in your life through affliction?

Today, I'm getting passionate on the podcast as I preach the truth to myself - and you all get to listen. I briefly examine two specific examples in the lives of Leah and Joseph. Both afflicted, though in different ways, they experienced how the Lord saw their suffering and eventually answered them in the midst of it. They both came to a place where they could praise the Lord and bless Him for the affliction they walked through because it bore fruit. 

Can we and will we do the same? That's my challenge to you and to myself today: as we walk through suffering, will we trust the character of God who has proven Himself to us again and again? Or will we depend on our own emotions, what we see, and how we feel? 

Scriptures referenced:

• Genesis 29:31-35
• Genesis 41:50-51 (And listen to Voddie Baucham's sermon, "Let That Stuff Go"!)
• Romans 8:28
• Mark 4:13-20
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

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Questions? Comments? Email me at: carrie@ps8116.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

Hey everyone, welcome to episode six of Honey from the Rock. I'm glad you're here. I hope wherever this episode finds you that you are hanging in there this week. I know there is a lot going on for a lot of people because it is the middle of November and this is craziness. And Thanksgiving is only two weeks and one day away. And I literally don't understand how we've got gotten to this point in the year. It's just, I know it's been a crazy year in so many different ways for so many people. And so I hope, I hope wherever you're listening to uh this episode, whatever you've got in front of you that you are, that you are hanging in there so far. And if you are like me and you can't wait for 2025 to just kind of wrap up and be over, friend, we are so close. We are so close. Um, we thank you, Jesus, for the day that you've given us. And we also look forward to the end of of this year. Because it's been, it's been a doozy. I know it's been a doozy for a lot of people on a lot of different levels. So, and that's actually kind of what I want to talk about today. I mean, not really, I mean, a not the word doozy, uh, but um, I mean, I we've talked a lot about affliction, talked a lot about suffering, um, talked a lot about loving the Lord in these first few episodes. And today I actually wanted to read a couple of verses from the Old Testament and take a look at them because they are two sections of scripture that the Lord has really used to minister to me in the last couple of days. And they are things that I am sitting with and wrestling with, and and and that's usually where I am when I'm coming to record an episode. I am not coming to an episode having all of the answers. I mean, God forbid, it's like Paul says in Philippians 3, not that I have attained. Heck no. Uh, so usually when I'm coming to record episodes, yes, they're there are things that I've learned, things that I've walked through, things that I've grown in with Jesus, but they're also sometimes things that I'm still currently working through or wrestling through. And sometimes just talking them out helps bring clarity. So today I is is more of the former rather than the latter. I've read these verses before. They've ministered to me before, but they they just hit me in a different way today. And I wanted to take some time and encourage you. Uh, encourage and encourage myself in the Lord, encourage one another in that whatever state we find ourselves in before Jesus, whatever we're going through, that he is always working a deeper purpose that we can't see. And I was reminded of that again today, uh, in the midst of crying out to the Lord and wrestling with him on some things, and and really, really just pouring my heart out to him in where I was struggling with things that have happened this year, and and pouring out my own my own lack of understanding, my own inability right now in a couple of areas in my life to see his will clearly, where he is really requiring me to wait on him. I was drawn again to these verses out of Genesis uh to see that the Lord in his faithfulness, he sees us, he hears us, he requires us to wait, and in his appointed time, he brings forth fruit from our affliction. And so I'm going to read these two sets of verses uh today, and I pray just as I talk about them and share some of the insights that the Lord gave me, that that these that these lessons and these things that that are we're mining from the word of the Lord that they that they teach us and they bless us. But even more than that, again, like I said a few episodes ago, when we get in the word, that we're not going just to be, you know, well, what is Jesus saying to me? What is the word saying to me? But first and foremost, that when I read the word and when I'm getting into scripture, that I am seeking the Lord to reveal his character to me, that I would get deeper revelation of who he is, first and foremost. Not my ideas about who I think he should be or what he should do in my life or anything like that. But first and foremost, this is the word of God. It is breathed out by the Holy Spirit, it is the truth to us, it is it is the Lagos word of God, and and we need to read it first and foremost, asking him to reveal himself to us because that's what his word does. And it's on him, it's on Jesus, it's on the revelation of the Lord that everything else is built. And so as I read Genesis 29, and then as I read a couple of verses from Genesis 41, I pray that as we as we sit with these scriptures, that we would ask the Lord to reveal parts of his character that we either have not really dug deeply into or things that we think we know about him that he wants to turn on its head and reveal himself to us in a deeper way. And so I'm actually going to talk about two members of Jacob's family who probably, I mean, scripture doesn't talk a lot about these two particular people together, but you have to wonder at some point: was there enmity, was there strife? We don't know. Um, but they are two people who had huge impact on Jacob and had a huge impact on the future of Israel, and ultimately had huge impact when it comes to being the line, the the giving birth to the to the man Judah, uh who would eventually become the tribe of Judah, which is the tribe that that Jesus, that scripture tells us that Jesus was from the line of the tribe of Judah. So Genesis 29, 31 through 35, and this is in the NASB, is about Leah. So consider these words. Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was unable to have children. Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, Because the Lord has seen my affliction, now my husband will love me. Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, therefore he has given me this son also. So she named him Simeon, and she conceived again and gave birth to 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 Levi. And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, This time I will praise the Lord. Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children. So there's that beautiful section about Leah. And then the second section of scripture I want to read is out of Genesis 41. And this is right after Joseph has come to power in Egypt, right? Being set as the second, as the second most powerful man in Egypt. He is Pharaoh's right-hand man. He he marries an Egyptian woman. I believe she is the daughter of a um prophet or she's a prophetess of a god in Egypt. Um, and she and and he he has two children with this woman. And here's what Joseph names his children. He doesn't give them Egyptian names, he gives them Hebrew names. And he says, um, so this is Genesis 41. Now, before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asinaeth, the daughter of Potiphirah, priest of An, bore to him. Okay, those I cannot read those names, but also, yes, she was uh she was the daughter of a priest. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, for he said, God has made me forget all my trouble and all of my father's household, and he named the second Ephraim, for he said, God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. And that's the question I want to ask you today. In the land of the affliction that you have walked through, can you see where the Lord has borne fruit out of it? And I know many, many, many times when we are walking through things that are difficult, when we find ourselves in the midst of the depths of grief, when we find ourselves absolutely brokenhearted by betrayal or filled with shame because of something we've done, and and we know that the Lord is either dealing with us or he's requiring of us or he's silent and we can't find him. Do we trust that Jesus Christ is going to bear fruit in the land of our affliction? And so between these two people in scripture, and I and this is just a little bit of an aside, but I feel like it's important to say, I never want to call them characters because characters imply that they might be made up somehow. And these are people, these are real people who lived in history, who lived lives that that Yahweh absolutely impacted and changed and used for his glory and to bring about his will. And so we have Leah. We have Leah who was so scripture tells us here that she was unloved. And actually, in the original Hebrew, when you go to look that up, it means she was hated. Leah knew that she was hated by her husband. That had to be a devastating thing to live through. And in it, she was she was desperate for the love of her husband. She was desperate to be cared for by him. And she knew what I love about this section of scripture is she knew the Lord saw her affliction. She knew the Lord heard her cries in her loveless marriage, and that the Lord opened her womb and gave her sons as an opportunity for Jacob to turn to her. And we see, we can read Leah's desperation in her affliction, in the thing that her heart desired the most, which was the love of her husband. Maybe this time he will love me, maybe this time he will attach himself to me. I've borne him three sons. Maybe, maybe he will love me now. And you can sense the yearning and the desire in Leah to be loved by her husband and to have some sort of esteem from him. And and and then along comes Judah. And what does Leah say? She doesn't say anything about her husband when Judah is born. What she says is, this time I will praise the Lord. And I just think that is one of the most beautiful pieces of scripture because really you can read in it. I have wanted the attachment of my husband. I have desired and yearned for his love. And I know that these sons are a gift to me from God because Yahweh has seen my affliction. And yet after three sons, I still have nothing. And so when she has Judah, when she has her fourth son, she says, This time, this time I will praise the Lord. And to me, reading that, there is there is a contentedness in Leah saying, you know what, I have not gotten the affection of my husband, but I have I have the love of the Lord. I have the gifts that he has given me in my children. And this time I'm not going to seek anything from my husband with this child. I am simply going to praise the Lord. I'm simply going to worship the Lord. And there is something, there is something so beautiful about that. And I've read this scripture a multitude of times. But today, reading it again, I so identified with the yearning in Leah. You know, she wanted something so deeply. And and the Lord so cared for this woman who had been part of, I don't know, I can't remember, and so forgive my ignorance right now, but I'm pretty sure that Laban decided to um swap Leah and Rachel. I don't, I can't remember if I don't think Leah had a part in it. Uh, but she knows instantly the next morning after she's married Jacob that that he despises her. And and that he he's just absolutely besotted with Rachel, and that nobody will ever measure up to her in his eyes. And and he so much so that he decides to work seven more years, seven more years for Rachel. And he and and Jacob is so clear about his preference for her. And and Leah finds herself in a in a devastating situation where she is married to a man who hates her. But the Lord does not hate her. He sees this woman and he sees her affliction, he sees the desire her desire, her yearning for connection with her husband and affection from him, and opens her womb. I it's just it's amazing to me. And and and I think it is just one beautiful example of how the Lord moves for us. It looks different in different ways, obviously, but he is not immune to the heartbreak of his children. I mean, you can see how this could tie into when the Lord calls Moses and he says, I have heard the cries of my children, Israel. He and my heart breaks for that. He is not immune to the suffering of his children. He never has been, and he never will be. And he works what is best for us. He does things for us out of the delight of a father's heart towards us, things that will bring us to a place where we can know him more deeply. But what I love about this is that in the midst of there was there was blessing and affliction in Leah's life. The blessing was her fruitfulness. She had four sons, and the affliction was her husband hated her. And and through it all, she finally comes to the place where it seems like she has just surrendered her relationship with Jacob to the Lord because by the time Judah is born, she says, This time, this time I will praise the Lord. And then she stopped having children. With this last child, I'm going to give thanks to the Lord for all he has done. And I'm just gonna trust him. And it's so important in the midst of our affliction, in the midst of our suffering, in the midst of grief, and again, in the midst of blessing, in the midst of blessing, to be able to say with whatever we are desiring, where we have asked the Lord and we have beseeched him, and we are crying out to him for answers or for understanding or for wisdom, that we hit a point that we can say with Leah, no matter what has happened in this Lord, I'm going to praise you. I am going to praise you in the midst of my affliction. Lord, I'm going to praise you even if I don't get what I've asked you for. And I'm not going to ignore the other blessings in my life that you have chosen to give me. I am willing to let this thing that I've held on to so tightly, whatever it is for each one of us, whether it's a relationship or it's a friendship or it's a job or it's a dream or it's a calling that we thought would go a different way or whatever it is, to hit a point in it where it says, you know what, Lord, I say to you, I don't know what you're doing, Lord, but this time, in this moment, I'm going to praise you. And I am going to thank you for the blessings that you've already given me. And I'm not going to do it in some resigned, like sad potato, like this time I'm going to praise the Lord. No, Lord, you have done so much for me. And in this moment, this time, this time, I'm not going to hope that that whatever happens is going to bring about the thing that I want. No, Lord, I am going to praise you. I am going to praise you. And so with Leah's example, and then looking at Joseph, looking at Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, was in prison, was forgotten by um Pharaoh's uh cupbearer, I believe, when he had the dream, you know, spent 14 years in prison, was wrongly accused, falsely accused by Potiphar's wife of rape and of insulting her. All of these things that Joseph went through. He's that he suffered at the hands of other people. And yet he was so faithful to the Lord. And he he, I mean, the motto of that man's life, how can I do this thing and sin against God? And so we see Pharaoh bestowing on Joseph the highest honor that he could give someone without giving them the whole land of Egypt and making them Pharaoh. Because Joseph wisely advised him on his dreams with the fat cows and the sickly cows and the plentiful ears of corn and the wilted ears of corn. And here Joseph is, he's he is he is a foreigner, he is not Egyptian, and he has married an Egyptian woman. They've given him an Egyptian name. And and and Vodhi Bakum has such an amazing message about this called You Gotta Let That Stuff Go. It's so good. Um, but he points out all of these foreign entities in Joseph's in Joseph's names, but he and and and the things that he's given and the position that he's given. And yet when his children are born, the names that he give, he gives them point back to the God that he has always served, the one true God. And again, those names are Manasseh, for God has made me forget all my trouble and all of my father's household, which is so interesting. And then Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. I can't imagine how many times Joseph laid in that prison cell after Potiphar's wife uh falsely accused him, and he just wondered, How did I get here? Why am I here? Lord, what are you doing? Have I done something to make you angry? And I and again, I don't want to add to or take away scripture, but just knowing my own human frailty and my own propensity, like having not experienced something like what Joseph walked through, just to be like, Lord, why are you doing this? What have I missed you in some way? Have I sinned against you in some way? All the questions I tend to ask myself and ask the Lord when I'm going through something difficult. But when when Joseph gets married and he has these two sons, the Lord restores something in Joseph, and you can see it in the names of his children. And I love Manasseh's name. God has made me forget all my trouble. And so interesting, and all my father's household, which we see just a couple of chapters later when his brothers show up, he's wary of them and he tests them to see if they are still the same brothers who threw him into a pit and sold him to a slaver as they were when he was young. But we see that when he realizes that there has been true change in his brothers, that he reconciles himself to them and them to himself. And so I think in, I have forgotten all my trouble and all of my father's household. To me, that speaks of I have forgotten the things that I choose to forget the things that they did to me. Because look at what the Lord has given me, look at what he has done for me. But I think out of all of it, what is so powerful is Ephraim's name. The Lord has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. And friends, that is what I want to encourage you with today. Like Leah, like Joseph, when you are going through such tough times, or there are things that your heart so desperately desires, and you are crying out to the Lord for those things, and you are beseeching him for whatever those things are, that at some point all of us would be able to take a step back and say, you know what, Lord Jesus, I am going to praise you here, and I am going to thank you for the fruit that you are bringing forth in my life through the affliction that you have appointed me to. And even if nobody can see that fruit, even if the fruit is just visible in my own heart, where Holy Spirit, I know you've come and you've filled me and you are changing me and you are leading me into all truth. And I can I can see the desire for your fruit, Holy Spirit, to be the fruit of my life, Lord, then I'm going to bless you for the fruit that you bring forth in my affliction. I'm not going to be like the soil that Jesus talks about, where once the seed is planted, when trials and tribulations and afflictions come, that that that fruit withers away right away because it has no root. No, Lord Jesus, I want to see the fruit of my affliction because those roots went deep. Because when when, like we talked about last week, when the waves and the when the waves and the storm pound against my house, Lord Jesus, that I don't topple because I am built on you. You are my foundation, you are my strong tower. I can run into you and be safe. You are my redeemer, my rock, my salvation, my shield. You are the one, Lord, who brings forth fruit in my affliction. And this time I will praise you for it. And I want to encourage you with this, my friends. It is, I and I can tell you from my own experience being tossed in the tempest of spiritual warfare, of being tempted to doubt the Lord, of being tempted to accuse him of unfaithfulness, of being tempted to just throw my hands up in desperation and in difficulty and in frustration in all of it, in warring to stay faithful to Jesus and to trust him. This is why I talk about and why I talked about at the beginning of this episode, when we read scripture, it can't just be what is Jesus saying to me, but this is the very character of God revealed to us. This is why we can have confidence. This is why we know we can plead with him and we can bring every petition that we have to him, because he sees and he hears our affliction like he did with Leah, because he redeems us, he helps us to forget our troubles, and he shows us the fruit that he bears in us in our affliction, like he did with Joseph. In the land of my affliction, the Lord brought forth fruit. And I know I'm getting all fired up about it, but you know why? Because I'm preaching to myself. I'm preaching to my heart, my soul, my spirit that I know is so prone to wonder, that gets overwhelmed with my own feelings, that that fights to tell the truth to myself, to preach the gospel to myself, to remind myself daily of the character of the God that I serve, that he is sovereign, that he is good, that his will is perfect, he is never late, he shows up right on time. Everything he does for me is for my benefit and to be conformed into the image of his son. He wants me to know him, he wants me to love him, he wants me to walk with him in deeper ways than I have before this moment. It is truly all for my good. We quote Romans 8.28 all the time, but do we think about what that really means? We know that all things, all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Those things cannot work together for us if we are absent, if if if our lives are absent the love of God. If we do not love him, then we will, we will, we will hit a point where we we hate his purpose for our life. Because loving him is not the foundation of our life. But when we love him, when we make the pursuit of him and knowing him, the whole purpose of our life, we can not only believe, but we can know and walk in confidence that whatever comes to us, no matter how devastating and grievous and difficult and heartbreaking and hurtful it is, that Jesus Christ will use it for our good, that God the Father will use it for our good, just like he did for Leah, just like he did for Joseph, just like he did for David, for Moses, for Deborah, for Jeremiah, for Isaiah, for Paul, for Peter, for Mary, the mother of Jesus, every single thing, even in the midst of devastation, in Jesus himself, all things working together for good, the ultimate good. Jesus crucified in an agony, crying out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why? And yet, knowing he knew his crucifixion was necessary and he knew that God was going to make him fruitful in the land of his affliction, and the father did. The father did. Isaiah 53 tells us that even though he was cut off in his generation, right, he had no children, but still he is fruitful. Jesus Christ is fruitful and he makes his children fruitful. And so today, my friends, I just want to say to you no matter what you are facing, no matter what kind of warfare. Is coming at you, no matter how you feel that you are drowning in your own feelings and your own doubts and your uncertainty about what the Lord is doing for you. I would encourage you to stand fast. And I am I am preaching to myself to stand fast in the character of our God. He sees our affliction, he hears the heart's cry. He works all things together for our good because we love him and we are called according to his purpose. And he will, he will, he will, he will bring forth fruit in the land of our affliction. And so as we finish, I want to, I want to bless you with this in the midst of everything that we've talked about. That again, that this is the character of our God. This is who he is. This is what he will do. And so I want to read 1 Thessalonians 5 23 through 24. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Amen.