This Time

Have you ever spent years trying to earn someone's love or approval?

Maybe it was a parent. Maybe it was a spouse. Maybe it was a coach, teacher, or boss. You kept thinking: "Maybe this time...", "Maybe this accomplishment", "Maybe this conversation", or "Maybe this success" would finally be enough.

Leah knew that feeling.

In Genesis 29:31-35, Leah spends years hoping Jacob will finally notice her, love her, and choose her. But what happens when the person whose approval you've been chasing never changes?

Pastor Jason explores one of the most heartbreaking stories in Genesis and reveals the freedom that comes when we stop building our identity on someone else's acceptance and discover the love God has already given us through Jesus Christ.

If you've ever struggled with rejection, people-pleasing, emotional neglect, or the exhausting pursuit of approval, this message is for you.

The greatest freedom isn't found when someone finally gives you the love you've been chasing; it's found when you realize God already loves you.  

Linkoln shares his story on why he started coming to Ravenna Church of the Nazarene and shares why you should consider doing the same.

Ravenna Church of the Nazarene
530 Main Street, Ravenna, KY 40472

Transcript

Pastor Jason 0:00

The greatest prison you'll ever live in. Maybe someone else's approval. Hey friends, welcome back to the Dirt Pastor Room Podcast. I'm Pastor Jason Marna, aka the Dirt Path Pastor. I don't know what kind of road you're traveling today. Maybe you're headed to work. Maybe you're sitting in your living room with a cup of coffee, or you're driving down a country road with nowhere to particularly be. However, you found this particular podcast episode. So thank you for spending a little time with me today. Now let me ask you this question before we get started. Have you ever spent years trying to earn someone's love? Maybe it was a parent, a spouse, maybe it was someone whose opinion carry more weight than you ever wanted it to. Yet you keep hoping. Maybe this time. Maybe this accomplishment. Maybe this conversation. Maybe this success would finally be enough. And you would get what you take from them. Now, if you ever carry those changes, I think that message is for you. We're going to chapter 29 and we're gonna meet a woman named Leah. To remind us that the greatest freedom isn't found when someone finally gives us the love we've been chasing. It's found when we realize God already has. So let's open our Bibles together.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

If you don't know where Genesis is, just take your Bible, go like this, and open it. And you shouldn't be there. You might end up the table of contents, we have to go right apart.

Pastor Jason 2:53

As you're turning there, how many of you have seen the sitcom, the Big Bang Theory?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Alright.

Pastor Jason 3:02

Good number of hands have seen the show, The Big Bang Theory. Uh, if you don't have not seen the show, the sitcom is about these nerdy scientists who live in California. And they're trying to navigate being super smart, but being very socially awkward at the same time. So it's a very funny show. Um because again, they're trying to think they're nerds, they don't know how to navigate any of this stuff. They're focused on science, not people. Uh, but that the show is them learning, navigating being focused in dealing with people and seeing the relationship. So it's it's it's a great show. I recommend if you've not watched it. But one of the main characters, his name is Leonard. And Leonard, he has a PhD, and he is a super successful physicist. Right? And uh during the show, Leonard finds friends, he gets married, and he builds an incredible life despite Sheldon's best efforts.

unknown 4:02

Right?

SPEAKER_02 4:02

You know who Sheldon is. Well, that's okay.

Pastor Jason 4:06

If you watch the show, you'll know who Sheldon is, and you'll never forget who Sheldon is. Uh but anyway, so but we're talking about Leonard here, but so by every measure, Leonard is successful in his life. He's succeeded, he's achieved all of his dreams, all he set out to do. But if you watch the series, you know that throughout the whole thing, there's one relationship that haunts him. And that's his relationship with his mother. Now, Sheldon haunts him too, but for different reasons. But the one that really bugs him is his relationship with his mother. And his mother's name is Beverly, and Beverly is a respected psychologist. Matter of fact, she writes if you wrote the show. Suppose she's written books on psychology and how you should parent children. So she's very intelligent, very accomplished, but when it comes to her relationship with Leonard, she's emotionally distant. Throughout the whole show, Leonard is trying to earn his mother's approval and her love. You know, those things that kids kind of suspect to get from their mother, Leonard never gets it. No matter what he does. But he keeps, throughout the series, he just keeps trying to say, well, maybe if I just show her that I'm this smart, or maybe she sees my lab in this experiment, maybe this time it'll be enough. Maybe she sees my beautiful wife, maybe that will be enough to convince my mom that I'm worthy of her approval and her love.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

But each and every time it's not what you get. And even no matter what Leonard does, Beverly is always critical to him.

Pastor Jason 6:02

And it's hard to watch. It's hard to watch that. And I think it's hard for us to watch that because all of us, in some way, we've experienced that same thing. Even if you haven't watched the show, you know what it feels like to try and get someone else's to approve of you, to like you, to love you. But it just seems like no matter what you do, you can't get that. And that that's a it's for some of us, it might have been your parents, right? It could be your mother or your father. Maybe it was your spouse. Maybe you had a coach that was that way, or a teacher, or a boss. I have a boss right now who's terrible. No, so I was pointing at myself because some of you know what too. I work part-time somewhere else. So I was not pointing the finger at that. They're wonderful. They're more wonderful than the boss I worked for full-time. But somewhere in your life, someone should have loved you. But they never gave you the affection, attention, or the affection, the attention, or the approval that you were seeking. And that's a heavy set of chains to carry around. And because it's not a set of chains that's around our wrist, it's one that's around our hearts. And they they're forged, these chains are forged, and they're strengthened by years of rejection and trying to get this other person to give you that love that he so desperately wants them to give you. Well, thousands of years before sit comes, Genesis tells us the story of a woman living under those very same chains. That woman's name is Leah. And so we're gonna find her story here in Genesis chapter 29. That's what we're gonna read today. We're reading verses 31 through 35. This is how it reads. It says, When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb. But Rachel was unable to have children. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, because she said, The Lord saw my harsh treatment, and now my husband will love me. She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son. And she said, The Lord heard that I was unloved. So he gave me this son, too. And she named him Simeon. She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son. And she said, Now, this time, my husband will embrace me, since I have given birth to three sons for him. So she named him Levi. Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and she said, This time, this time, I will praise the Lord. So she named him Judah.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

And then she stopped bearing children. This is the word of God for the people of God.

Pastor Jason 9:05

Thanks be to God. And now I know I jumped to the middle part of Leah's story here. And there's still a lot more after this, but for those of us, maybe if you're not as familiar with this, you haven't read it for a while. Uh just no, Leah's story is sad. And so to understand Leah's story, you have to read the story of Jacob. Remember, Jacob's the one that tricks his brother into giving up his birthright for a bowl of camel soup. Right? That's what he does. And then he flees. He has to flee because Esau is upset, wants to kill him, so he flees to his uncle Laban's house. And when he gets to his uncle Laban's house, he sees Rachel. And Rachel is beautiful, and Jacob becomes infatuated with Rachel. He loves Rachel. He would do anything to marry Rachel. So he goes to his Uncle Laban and says, Hey, I want to marry her. Uncle Laban's like, oh, sure thing, but guess what? You have to work for me for seven years first. And so Jacob, he works for seven years so he can marry Rachel. Remember, we're talking about Leah this morning. And so Jacob on his wedding night, he gets drunk. And if there's ever an endorsement for not drinking to the point of drunkenness and being blacked out, this is the story. Jacob gets blackout drunk, and while he's going to sleep, rather than his Uncle Laban bringing in Rachel, the bride he wanted, into the room to consummate the marriage, he brings in Leah.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

So Jacob wakes up the next morning and he's not married to Rachel, he's married to Leah. But Jacob still loves Rachel.

Pastor Jason 10:48

He didn't want Leah, but now he's got Leah and stuff with her. But he loves Rachel, so guess what? He's like, you know what? Because his uncle Limbs like, hey, you cheated me. You wronged me. So guess what? So I want to marry Rachel. And then Laban gives his big excuse why he does that. And then Laban's like, but if you want to marry Rachel, you'll have to work another seven years. And so he works another seven years and he marries Rachel. Now, most of the guys in here, now, ladies, put the hymnals down. Most of us know one life is bad enough. Why would you want two? And why would you want them to be the sisters? Right? That just seems like a terrible idea from the get-go. But I want you to know sin created this mess. This mess was not God's design. This was not God's plan. God could say, hey, don't go your own Laban's house. I want this to happen. This was not God's plan at all. But God takes messes and makes beautiful things out of them. But anyway, so sin created this mess. Laban sinned by cheating Jacob. Now Jacob is going to compound that sin because whenever he didn't want Leah, he wanted Rachel. And he's going to pound it by playing favorites between Leah and Rachel. You see, so often when I don't know if you like me, but when I read this story, I know he's going to marry Rachel, so I don't even really pay attention to Leah's story.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

I pay attention to Rachel. But Jacob plays favorites.

Pastor Jason 12:11

Now, also, polygamy was culturally acceptable at this time. And for most of the Old Testament and parts in the New Testament, it's acceptable and culturally. But just because something is acceptable culturally doesn't make it acceptable before God.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

You hear me?

Pastor Jason 12:29

Just because culture says something's okay, just because our government gives us the freedom to do something doesn't mean you should take your freedom and do it for that thing. And the Bible is very clear marriage is between one man and one woman. That's God's design for marriage. Anytime you mess with that design, it creates a mess. So every time you read about polygamy in the Bible, yes, it never comes out and says polygamy is fat. It never says that it doesn't have to. You read the stories of polygamy and it never works out. It's always a mess. So when we read this story, we can't whitewash Jacob's story and say, oh, it's okay because Jacob is one of God's children. No, polygamy's still wrong. But God works in spite of Jacob's sin. Because here's what happens.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Leah is now stuck in a marriage to a man who never wanted her.

Pastor Jason 13:34

That's awful. That's wrong by her young father. That's wrong by her new husband. Okay. Let's go on to verse 31. Verse 31 says, The Lord saw that Leah was unloved. That's a strong word there. Like the Hebrew, it's more like it's actually the word that they use to usually translate hate. But it's not hate in the sense of Jacob looks at Leah and he despises her. Like he doesn't, he's not looking at her wishing harm upon her. Right? Now, now the Hebrew doesn't mean this, but but when we read this in our understanding, right, it's not so much that Jacob hates her, it's that Jacob has no feelings toward her at all. He doesn't think about her, he doesn't care about her, he has no emotional attack, he has no desire to be with her. That's we call that apathy. And apathy, see, the opposite of love is not hate. Because it requires just as much passion to hate somebody as it does to love them. The opposite of love is apathy, it's not caring at all. And that's Jacob's attitude towards Leah. God looks down and he sees Leah and says, he wasn't. So he wasn't, the Lord saw that Leah was unloved. See, Leah's husband may have been emotionally distant from her, but God saw her. Continuing on that verse, it says, God opened her wound. Now you and I we read this, like, oh yay, Leah's had a Leah's had a baby. Yeah, baby shower. Our lady's like, let's get the loot out.

SPEAKER_04 15:30

I'm thinking about I'm thinking a lot of people there, aren't I? I woke up when I was like, let's let's let's let's find.

Pastor Jason 15:40

But we read that that's our attitude, right? It's like it's a baby, yeah, exciting. But you have to understand, culturally, it's different from them. Like in culture, this wasn't about the excitement just welcoming a new child in the world with our family growing. The idea of the family growing meant that your family had a future, it was security, it was everything you worked harder would have somewhere to go. It was a sign that God was blessing you in this culture to have children. So in verse 31, it says, God saw that Leah was in love, but this God loses and works in a way to say, Look, Leah, I see you, and I'm going to set you up to where your husband should see you, because I am blessing you with children.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

A child should have caused Jacob to see God's hand on Leah. Now the text goes on to us that Leah has four boys.

Pastor Jason 16:42

Verses 32 through 34 share about the first three sons. And as you read through this, you can you hear the desperate desperation in Leah's prayer? We become to realize that Leah is a woman of deep faith, of deep prayer. She's not just half hazardly going through this situation with her husband. She is crying out to God, God, would you help? Would you help my husband to love me like he's supposed to? Would you help him to notice and pay attention to me like he's supposed to? She's desperate. And so each time we go through verses 2, 2, through 3, 4, we see that God, that each time reveals that God hears Leah's prayers. So she she has Reuben and says, The Lord saw my heart's treatment. And now my husband, now he will love me. I have the son Reuben, and yes, my he converted my sister. I was the unwanted wife, but look, now I have a son. He's in see me now. But it doesn't happen. Right? We know pregnancies last nine months. This isn't we read this and we think this happened at last half a finger. No, nine months. And all the time before that, what time she gets pregnant, the Bible doesn't give us the timeline for that. But we know it takes nine months for her to carry Reuben, then she's gonna get pregnant again sometime after that. And so she has after she has Reuben, she has Simeon. And after she has Simeon Simeon, she says, The Lord heard I was in love, so he gave me this son too. Again, her idea here is the fact that God gave me this. So now that I have two sons, now my husband Jacob, he really ought to see you. You ought to see that I am building a beautiful, strong family, strong household that's coming through me. So you should pay attention to me, he should love me. Thank you, God, you should see me now. But guess what? Jacob doesn't see her ever symptoms. So she we know that from the text because she's praying again, she's and she can see us again. This third time she names Levi. And in Levi, she actually named it. She says, This time, this time my husband will embrace me. She is desperate to get Jacob's attention. She's desperate for him to approve of her. And as we go through this text, every child becomes another attempt for Leah to earn love from Jacob. And here's the disgusting part of all this. You know, I've been telling you, Jacob has no emotional attachment to Leah whatsoever, but guess what? He has no problem using her. That's wrong and disgusting! He doesn't even want to, but he'll definitely take advantage of it. Hey, I got this, it's a bonus. God blesses Leah and answers her prayers over and over again. She has these three sons, and we see God and we say, hey, look, I'm blessing you. I'm building you a strong family. But Jacob refuses to see it. Nowhere in this text do we ever see that Jacob changes his opinion about Leah.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

She's still that unwanted woman that he broke up next to because she broke crazy and she let me get to verse 35.

Pastor Jason 20:31

Thank you for that email. I appreciate it. Let me get to verse 35. And verse 35, oh, you read that one. That was a little different. It hits a little different when you pay attention to it. Right? So Leah's had three boys, right? Up to this point. Each time her prayer is, God, would you help my husband? See, would you open his eyes? Would you see that the blessing for his family is coming through me? And each and every time Jacob doesn't pay any attention to it.

SPEAKER_04 21:04

Well, there's 35, she has a fourth child.

Pastor Jason 21:08

But notice what she says when she has that fourth son. It's not, Lord, oh, maybe this time he'll see me. It's not, oh, maybe this time, Lord, my treatment will change. Now, this time she says, I will praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord. She's not saying that because Jacob said they woke up and he loved her that morning. Jacob does not change in this story. He's the same jerk as he was at the beginning of the story all the way through to the end. He never changes. God doesn't come into the rescue and fix her broken marriage. He doesn't change that. But you know who God changes? Because all those times Leah was trying to earn the love and the approval of Jacob, she finally realizes you know what? He may never love me that way. And guess what? There's somebody who does love me, who's been paying attention to me this whole time. And I will praise him. And she you know what she names that son?

SPEAKER_02 22:10

She names him Judah. You know what's fascinating about that name? Judah?

SPEAKER_04 22:17

Kings are gonna come from that line.

Pastor Jason 22:19

Not just any kings, but the king of kings and the Lord of Lord is gonna come from that line. As a matter of fact, the son that she praised for that third son, right? Have you been Zebite, the law is gonna come through him? And we're gonna learn from the law that no matter how much you strive, you can never earn God's favor of grace. Grace comes through Judah, not through Levi.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

That was free. It has nothing to do with where I was going. I just got said.

Pastor Jason 22:53

She wanted him to notice her. Again, you can hear her the desperation after each boy is born. And God is doing everything he can to help Leah get noticed by Jacob. He is blessing her. He is showing, hey, this is where my blessing's at. But Jacob doesn't see it. So instead of keeping her hope resting in the back, that maybe one day my husband will see me, she shifts her hope from Jacob to God.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Maybe God, my God sees me.

Pastor Jason 23:33

Leah was changed in this need for her husband to see her and approve of her. But it never happened. So rather than stay shamed in the misery, Leah made faith came to see her value was not based on her husband's approval. She finally came to research, it doesn't matter what he thinks of me because my God loves me, my God sees me, my God hears me. And that is enough for me, so I will praise him. She finds freedom, but she doesn't find freedom and changed circumstances. She found a change in her heart. She found freedom in her heart. And then that the freedom she finds is demonstrated in that moment when she says, I will praise the Lord. Now I'm not gonna lie to you and say Leah's perfect from here. I think she has a moment of faith, a crisis moment of faith, where she realizes God is enough for her. But if you go on to read this story, it's just so that is a bit of a simple rivalry with Rachel.

SPEAKER_04 24:34

But it doesn't mean she's having faith in God. She means she's a broken person like us. Growing what a neat growing grace that God brings us.

Pastor Jason 24:44

No longer is she pursuing the favor of her husband, instead she's just battling it out with her sister. That's a whole different ballgame. This day, my brother and I we can't play any games together without trash talking trying together work. Right now, actually, my brother's thinking of this stupid game I phone where you're trying to build the best five basketball players of all time, right? And and you're trying to get a team that goes AQ and O. And I'm competing with my brother in all this little randomizes your team though. You get a specific team in a decade. I don't know what way you can detail this, but we're competitive!

SPEAKER_04 25:17

Like we're trying to outdo each other. We're a broken people.

Pastor Jason 25:30

Let go of things like that. This tastes sleep. Yeah, she has the rivalry aspect of it, but she's she stopped living in the chains of trying to win her husband's approval. You see, here's the thing. You and I, we all have a Jacob in our life. We have a Jacob in our life, we have someone in our life, we are desperate to gain their approval of. Maybe it was your parents. Maybe you wanted to hear them say I love you or I'm proud of you. And let's be honest, that's incredibly important for kids to hear. They need to hear that. Don't just show it, don't don't just don't just say it, show them, but don't just show them, say it do. Because they need to know that. But maybe it's maybe you never experienced it. You longed for it. You sought after it. You were waiting for that little weird dad that you said, I am proud of you, sonner. I love you, daughter, but that moment never came for you. Maybe you never heard the words, or maybe, and maybe you never even saw the evidence of it. When we get married, our assumption is our spouse will love us and want to spend time with us. That's what we assume. However, sometimes our spouse spends time with everyone but us. We feel left out. We're kind of like Leah, like, why don't why don't they love you? Why doesn't it pay attention to me? Why don't they approve of me? It could be a boss, it could be a pastor, a church family, or even a friend. So what we do, we keep doing all these same things, saying, well, maybe this time I have done enough. If I have just done enough, maybe this time they'll see me, they'll say I'm proud, they'll say I'm love, maybe they'll want to spend time, maybe they'll want to be with me if I just keep doing these things.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

But it never came for Leah. At least not from Jacob. It might not come for us.

Pastor Jason 27:48

But notice the detail before Leah prays in verse 34. It's 35, it says, God saw. And despite the disappointment following each child, Leah eventually realized that God was paying attention to her. She realized that there was a love that was greater than Jacob could ever offer her. It wasn't loud, it wasn't demanding, it was just in the details. It showed up. There was evidence for it. There was a love out there for her that she did not have to earn. She didn't have to win God's approval or God's affection. God just looked at her and said, I see that you're unloved, I'm gonna love you. This was God's love. And that same love that God showed Leah is there for you. If you've been there, if you've been in Leah's spot, let's you know that God's love has been there for you all along. I'm not saying the way they treated you was right. I'm not saying that was godly or what God wanted of them. I'm here to tell you that God loves you despite that. Despite how they have their approval of you, despite the way they love you. And God's saying, you don't have to earn it with me, you don't have to prove anything to me. I love you as you are. I see you, I hear you. And here's the thing about God's love. And we see this also with Leah. Leah, she's praying and talking to God, but she's not seeking him that way. And we just read it in the service today. We love God, not because not because we love God because God first loved us. God made the first room. Think about what it says in Romans. It says, when we are still sinners, Christ died for us. It doesn't say once we were good, it doesn't say once we started going to church, doesn't say once we were baptized, doesn't say once we were on the membership roll. It says when we were still sinners, who wanted nothing to do with God, who was running as far away from God as we possibly could, Christ came and died for us. And that is proof of God's love for you. There is no mountain too high, no wall too impenetrable, nothing that will stop God's love from getting to you. David, that could almost be a song. All those tears that you have cried and you've failed attempt to get this person to notice you and to love you, God has seen each one of them. All the times that you've prayed or talked with yourself or rest on your mind, God has heard those. And he loves you. And Jesus is calling for us to stop chasing because he wants to give you something better. His love and his acceptance. So the question this morning is who have you been trying to convince to love you? It wasn't a mom or dad. You never seemed pleased with anything you did. I was pretty good fortunate. I had a dad that I knew love before you, you know, I had enough time to know before he got sick. You know, there were times where I was holding the flashlight, I wasn't sure. I knew he loved me. Are you chasing the affection of a spouse who has grown cold? Keep asking what's wrong. But you just tell me you're dying for them to talk to me. They just are not interested in talking to you about. Maybe it's that boss that no matter how hard you work or how much time you put on you, you know, you know, tell you go above and beyond and we'll take care of you. Sometimes that doesn't happen. Maybe it's someone's opinion of you, and this person, you really evaluate their opinion. Their opinion of you matters greatly. Whoever it is, if your life has become one long attempt to earn someone else's love, this morning, stop chasing that. Stop chasing it. Because here's the thing if you have to earn love, it's not love. Love is not earned, love is not conditional. Love is unconditional. Love is based on I see you, I hear you, I love you for you. So stop chasing me! Now this morning, I'm not asking you to stop loving people. I don't know how that's possible. I'm not asking you to give up on a broken relationship. But I am asking you to stop making that other person's approval, their love for you, the thing that you're chasing. Because some for somehow in our minds, we make that person's approval of love. The object of who we are.

SPEAKER_04 33:15

And that's not who you are. Who you are is someone that God loved enough to die for.

Pastor Jason 33:23

You remember Leonard from the big name theory? Talk about him in the beginning. Talk about how his mother, Beverly, treating him as an experiment experiment that Leonard spent his whole series chasing Beverly's approval.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

One of the most underrated scenes of the entire series is when you get to the end.

Pastor Jason 33:42

It's not the last episode, it's not even the last two episodes, it's like the last three or four years. And Leonard finally has a lot of sit-down conversation with his mom. And he's he's made out of shape because I think she's come to visit him and she makes it sound like she's interested in his work and the project he's working on. And she's acting all approving and loving, and Leonard's eating up at the end of the episode. He finds out she's been doing it as an experiment for her book.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

And so he calls her out on it.

Pastor Jason 34:12

He says, Mom, that was not right, that was not okay, you hurt me. And as he's raving at her and yelling at her, trying to get it, and she finally finally dawned on him. Why am I trying to get her approval so badly? Why is my identity based on her, what she thinks of me? I've got a degree in science. I've got a woman who loves me, I've got friends all around me. Why am I still chasing this woman's approval? So finally, rather than continue to yell or you know what he says, he says, I forgive you. You may you're never gonna love me the way that I want you to, but guess what?

SPEAKER_04 34:44

I forgive you. Let's go.

Pastor Jason 34:50

Let's go, not because Beverly changed, but because Leonard refused to let that pursuit keep him in chains anymore. You see, sermons and simcoms can point us toward truth, but only Jesus can set us free. And Jesus doesn't simply tell us to let go to let go. Jesus says, let go of what you're clinging to so that way you can take and hold on to my hand. Don't worry about that. Stop making their approval of you, you're ID. I already love you. Grab onto me. Stop chasing the love and approval from that person. Instead, like we are notice that God sees you, that God accepts you, that God loves you without you happing to earn it. Because here's the thing the greatest freedom isn't found when someone finally gives you the love you've been chasing. That's not freedom. The real freedom is when you realize God already loves you. So this morning, what I'm asking you to do is to let go of that, to stop chasing that and say, God, I'm gonna turn towards you. I'm gonna take your hand. And here's the thing when you turn to Jesus, I promise you this, when you turn to him, just like not only are you gonna hear those chains break in your life, you're gonna feel them drop off your heart and disappear. But that can't happen. As long as you keep holding on to this and you keep chasing it, you have to let go. Hey, I know we're not in a church setting right now, so you can't come to an altar like I invited at in this sermon, or at least the conclusion of it. But maybe your altar right now is the passenger seat of your truck, or the driver's seat. Maybe it's your kitchen table before everyone else wakes up. Or maybe right now you're sitting in your break room, or you're on your quiet drive home after work. But wherever you are right now, I want you to invite you to do the same thing Leah did. Stop chasing. Stop trying to earn the love you spent years hoping someone would finally give you. You may never hear the words you've longed to hear. You may never receive the apology you've waited for. And that relationship may never become what you hoped it would be. But don't let someone else's inability to love you keep you from receiving the love God has already offered you through Jesus Christ. If you've never trusted Jesus, today is a good day to begin. If you've been following him for years, maybe today is the day you finally laid down those chains you've quietly carried for so long. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for seeing us when we felt invisible. Thank you for hearing our cries when no one else seemed to notice. Most of all, thank you for proving your love to your son Jesus Christ. Forgive us for the times we build our identity on someone else's approval instead of your love. Help us lay down the chains of rejection and striving. Teach us like Leah to turn our hearts towards you and say, This time I will praise the Lord. For the person listening today who feels forgotten. Remind them that they have never been unseen by you. For the one who feels unloved, remind them that your love was settled at the cross. And for all of us, help us walk in the freedom that only Jesus can give. We pray this in the holy name of Jesus. Amen. Friend, thank you for walking this dirt path with me today. I know it was a hard one. And if today's message encourages you, I'd love to hear from you. You can connect me with me through the dirt path pastor on social media like TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook. Um you can visit the web search the website, the either the Ravnas website or uh the dirt path page. Uh or another simple way to do it is there's a link in the show notes that says send us a message. Uh that sends a direct message directly to me through the through uh the host site. Or you can simply email dirtpathpaster at gmail.com. That's dirtpath at gmail.com all over the case. Uh uh I'd be so grateful. Also, I'd be so grateful if you would subscribe to the podcast and share this episode with someone who might be caring about. If you'd like to support this ministry financially, just know that every gift goes to the Nazarene Compassion Ministry's emergency relief fund. And that means your support doesn't come to me. It helps provide practical cris-centered relief to people around the world facing disasters and crises. Much like the families recently affected by the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela. And as you go this week, remember this you don't have to spend another day chasting the love that Jesus has already given you. The God who saw Leah sees you. The God who heard Leah hears you. So wherever this week takes you, walk in the freedom of knowing you are already loved. Until next time, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Thank you for listening to this episode of the podcast.com. If you'd like to send me a message, we'll do it.