Latest / The Leah Effect / 2.4 | He's My Christopher Columbus

Transcript

2.4 | He's My Christopher Columbus · The Leah Effect

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, hello, hello.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: You're tuned in to another episode of the Leah Effect.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Charnel, and I'm so glad you can join me for another episode today.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Here at the Leah Effect, we unpack the stories of Bible figures and see how their turning points in their narratives affect us in today's time.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: We are in the thick of season two, and while we are talking about the names of God, I think it's time to also incorporate a bit more gratitude since we are entering the month of November, the month of Thanksgiving.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that gratitude is something that we should practice daily.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So let's practice the art of giving thanks now.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let's meditate on the scripture, Philippians 4.8.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever things are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want you to take one thing from your mind that you're grateful for and sit with it.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: How does it make you feel?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have the language for it?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Can you express it?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Can you just say thank you?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: For me, one thing that I'm grateful for, I'm grateful for new days.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: A fresh 24, if you will.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm speaking for myself.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I do not always get it right.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're human.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Error is not foreign to us.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: But the Lord in his graciousness sees it fit for us to start a fresh 24 with new mercies.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Morning by morning, the songwriter says, you know, so I am grateful for new chances to get it right.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or at least try my best with what I have that day.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have something you've been thinking on lately, be sure to write us at the Leah Effectpod at gmail.com so we can think on these things together.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know last episode I was like, it's a two-part episode.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: We have part one, we have part two.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Part one is talking about Abram, Sarai, and Isaac.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And part two is gonna talk about more Hagar, Abram, Sarai, Ishmael, and that's exactly what's gonna happen here.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so excited.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, really, really, really excited.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I find this story to be so touching upon reading it and doing more research on it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, part one was Jehovah Jirah, and part two is El Roy.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Are we ready?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Please allow me to set the scene.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Join me in Genesis chapter 16.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we have Sarai, Abram's wife, who had borne him no babies.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but she did have an Egyptian slave named Hagar.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: So Sarai had the bright idea that either one way or another, Abram will have a son that will fulfill the promise that God made to Abram, meaning that he'll have an heir and that he'll have so many descendants.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: He can't count like the number of stars in the sky, the number of sand on the beach.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: She takes it into her own hands, right?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And shares the idea that she has with Abram.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord has kept me from having children, so go sleep with my slave.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps I can build a family through her.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you see the issue already.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sarai takes matters into her own hands and essentially tries to take ownership of God's promises by interrupting God's process.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because she tells Abram, the Lord is the reason I'm not pregnant.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because we've been trying.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm old, you're old.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So let's try and build a family through what I know makes sense in my own understanding.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you get someone who's young, someone who's spry, someone who's fertile, someone who is of childbearing years.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: She builds upon the thought of what becoming a mother means.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Status, its identity, its purpose.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Dare I say, security.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And leaning on your own understanding will have you prematurely making decisions that throws the process of God's promises all over the place.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it it gets really messy when we try to bring our understanding to God's understanding.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Which shows us something here that I think we really need to take into consideration when it comes into God's timing.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: God made the promise to Abram 10 years ago, and a child has not come yet.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: But hear me, a seed that is not sown in surrender will reap a harvest wrapped in resentment.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Don't believe me?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let's keep going.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Abram agreed to what Sarai suggested.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sarai gets Hagar and Abram together.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: They get married first, so Hagar is now a wife.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Abram then gets to know Hagar biblically.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Walk with me now, pick up what I am putting down, and Hagar becomes pregnant.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when Hagar knew that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress Sarai.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar is now a woman who was knowingly used as a resource for someone else's benefit against her will, against her input.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now she's not rocking with her mistress or her sister in marriage because now it's polygynous, y'all.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now Sarai peeps this contempt, this behavior from Hagar, and Sarai pulls Abram to the side and says, Abram, it's you.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're the reason why I'm experiencing the suffering at the hands of this woman.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I gave my slave to you.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now she knows she's pregnant, and now she despises me.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: May the Lord judge between you and me.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now Abram found a scapegoat again.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because, yes, even though he is the father of many nations, several world religions come from this one man.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: But we see from Abram, but what we see from Abram is a way to escape confrontation.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we see it a few times in the book of Genesis.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because Abram refusing to uphold accountability in his partnership is how Hagar came into the story in the first place.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's unpack that really quickly and then we'll come back to the story at hand.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: So Abram and Sarai went to Egypt, right?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because there was a famine in the land.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And as they began to enter Egypt, Abram says to Sarai, look, you're a very beautiful woman.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're gorgeous, right?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when these Egyptians see you, they're gonna want you.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: But they'll kill me to have you because I'm your husband.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: So in order for that not to happen, say that you're my sister.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, let me read it as the scripture says, okay.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Abram says, Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I wish y'all could see my face right now.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So Sarai and Abram went according to plan.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because Pharaoh's officials saw Sarai, they bigged her up to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's palace.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in the midst of a famine, mind you, Pharaoh gives Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, hello, and camels.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Abram has all these things and no wife.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because the wife is cosplaying as a sister and now in Pharaoh's quarters.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Huh?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And because of this, the Lord sent lethal diseases upon Pharaoh's house, much like the wizard.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a pox, a pox on your house.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: My summer home too?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: He sent lethal diseases to Pharaoh's house because he had Sarai up in there.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Pharaoh calls Abram back to the palace and asks him, What have you done to me, man?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Why did you say she was your sister?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: I took her to be my wife.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I ain't do nothing because you know the diseases came, but man, take your wife and go.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's exactly what happened.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Pharaoh sent them away with everything they had.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: More than likely, the Egyptian slave that belonged to Sarai was given to her from this exchange.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, Abram is not new in finding a scapegoat and lacking responsibility for his wife.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, wives.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Back to the story at hand.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Abram tells Sarai, your slave is in your hands.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do with her whatever you think is best.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, your slave, your rules, do whatever you think is right.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, Sarai mistreated Hagar, her husband's wife, the surrogate of their child.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And because of the abuse she faced from Sarai, Hagar fled.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: The angel of the Lord finds Hagar near a spring in the desert to specify it was the spring that is beside the road to Shura.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the angel asked, Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And where are you going?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai, is what Hagar answers.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: She doesn't even answer the question that was placed before her.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The angel asked, Where?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And she answers, why?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: The angel of the Lord told her to go back to your mistress and to submit to her.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: I will increase your descendants so much that they will become too numerous to count.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: The same promise that is made to Abram is the same one made to Hagar, the pregnant slave who is seeking refuge.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: The angel of the Lord continues to speak to her.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that shortly.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar then gives this name to the Lord who spoke to her.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So Hagar returned and bore Abram a son.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Abram gave him the name Ishmael.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham was eighty-six years old when Hagar birthed Ishmael.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Eighty six years old.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: So at the age of a hundred, Isaac is born.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And a couple of years after that, Isaac is weaned.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Isaac being the promised heir of Abraham.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And on the day that Isaac was weaned, Abraham threw a huge feast.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now Abraham has two sons.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Ishmael in his early teens and Isaac in his toddler years, right?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And Sarah, not Sarai anymore, Sarah saw Ishmael playing and ordered Abraham to get rid of quote unquote.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is her direct words.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Get rid of the slave woman and her son.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: For that son will never share the inheritance with my son Isaac.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Proving this, Hagar was a means to an end.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: She was not regarded for her personhood.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: She wasn't even regarded for her contribution that she never even wanted to give.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: She's thrown away and disregarded.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: But they perceive her incorrectly.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: God tells Abraham, do not be so distressed about the boy and the slave woman.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So early the next morning, Abraham gets some food and gets some water and gives it to Hagar and sends Hagar and Ishmael on their way.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: They wander into the desert of Beersheba.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now the food and the water supply run out.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And she places Ishmael under one of the bushes because she thought to herself, I cannot watch this boy die.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: I can't watch my son die.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the angel of God called out to Hagar after hearing the cries of Ishmael, finds Hagar and says, What is the matter?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Lift him up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Then God opens her eyes and she saw a well of water.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So she went and refilled her supply of water and gave the boy something to drink.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: And God was with Ishmael as he grew up.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: He lived in the desert and became an archer.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's the story of Hagar, Ishmael, Abram, now Abraham, and Sarai, now Sarah.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: So what exactly is the Elroy effect?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: El Roy.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: El meaning God, Roy meaning to see.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Put these two together, it means the God who sees me.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: For most of Genesis 16, Hagar is barely spoken to directly.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: We see all these choices made for her.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: She is spoken about, spoken around, and when she is finally spoken to, it is only to enforce decisions that have already been made for her.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And because of her position, she has to comply.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really a lose-lose.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And think about what she is asked to do throughout the course of her time in Abraham in Sarah's house.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: She has to marry Abram.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: She has to conceive a child with Abram.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: She has to carry a child for nine months by a man in his mid-80s.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And throughout this chapter, we see her will being extracted from her.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: She isn't considered or seen as a person.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: She has no voice.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: She has no agency.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: What is she seen as?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: A resource, a conduit, a surrogate for what she can do and not for who she is.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, when she says, I can't do this anymore, she flees.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the first time we hear her name spoken by anyone other than the narrator is by the angel of the Lord who speaks it.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And where are you going?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: The first voice that shows concern for her well-being, and she can't even answer.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: She only says what she's running from.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And what she means by it is, listen, I don't know where I'm coming from.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know where I'm going.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: I only know I'm running from something that will break me if I stay.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: To the role that I've played, that I didn't even ask to play.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't take that anymore.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very much done with that.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the angel of the Lord tells her to go back and submit.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I know you can knuck, and Sarai can buck, but in all of this, there is purpose.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: There is a promise of provision.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Jyra is in this too.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: You will be sustained.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: You will carry this child to term.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I, the Lord, have seen what you've been through.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: It echoes what God says to Moses about Israel at the burning bush, where he says, I have seen their suffering and I have heard their cry, and I am doing something about it.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: God is not turning a blind eye or a deaf ear.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: He sees her and he sees to her.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: You will deliver a son and name him Ishmael, which means God hears.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: But a wild donkey of a man is a man that is similar to that of a wild donkey, correct?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And wild in this context means undomesticated.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Free.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: And imagine what this means for his mother, who is a slave.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: That your son will be free and incredibly strong-willed.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you will have more descendants than you can count.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is not only a promise to Ishmael, it's a promise to Ishmael's mother.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: The slave woman everyone speaks of so lowly.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And what I love so much about this story is that it shows us that God is not idle.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have something that I call God winks, and I view it as God's way of showing me that I'm on the right path.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that he heard my prayer and is speaking directly to that and to my concern.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, let me condense that a little more because I can go on a tangent with that.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: So a God wink for me is a confirmation of God's participation in my situation.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, that's good, ain't it?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now consider who Hagar was.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar is a slave from Egypt.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar comes from a polytheistic culture where they have different gods for different things.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Fertility, sun, moon, water, earth, sky.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: And in this moment, she could have called on any of them.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, Hagar, who is destitute, who is pregnant and seemingly alone, meets a messenger of the Lord that finds her in her position and calls her by name.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Calls her by name first.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not by her role, not by her position, not by her potential.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: She responds to the God who came and found her.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she gives God a name.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Elroy, the God who sees me, the true essence of who I am, not what others think I should be worthy of.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: There are ones who she is in close proximity to who do not see her correctly.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Sarai uses Hagar as a way in, as a way through, and a way out.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: They get the promise and go on living as if nothing happened.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar was made Abram's wife, which put her on the same playing field as Sarai.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: This was not a well-thought-out plan at all.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you really think about it, like Sarai was just messy with this, okay?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: She was used and then abused so badly that Hagar's only solution was to escape.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: God sees all of this and responds.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: He affirms Hagar to let her know listen, you are not damaged goods.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're treating you as you are.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I say who you are.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Elroy removes the lens of position and perception.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: We see Hagar about maybe 15 years later in Genesis 21, and Isaac has been weaned, and there's a feast, and Ishmael is seen playing with the child, and Sarah interprets it as mocking the child.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And Sarah tells Abram, and Sarah tells Abraham, get rid of that slave woman and her son.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: As derogatory as you can picture it is how it was said.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: So who considers Hagar now?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who holds Hagar now?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Who cares for Hagar now?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: The same God.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: The same God who sees her at the spring, sees her in the wilderness.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And the scripture that comes to mind is Psalm 8, verse 4, where David writes, What is man that thou art mindful of him?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the Son of Man that thou visitest him.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: What is a person that God would consider them?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Hagar is the answer.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: A slave girl, a slave woman, discarded, and invisible to everyone around her with power.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, the God who sets the stars in place sees her and is mindful of her and visits her.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: That is the Elroy of it all.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: That, my dear listeners, is the Elroy effect.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: To be seen is to be loved, and to be loved is to be seen.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Seen for who you are, not for what you produce, not for the potential you carry.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: You are more than what your hands can do, more than what your feet can do, or what your body can do, or what your mind can formulate.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And God's sight, God's vision pulls her out of the places of despair and hopelessness.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Twice.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't help but to think about Psalm 121.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: I lift up my eyes to the mountains.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Where does my help come from?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: He will not let your foot slip.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: He who watches over you will not slumber.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord watches over you.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord will keep you from all harm.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: He will watch over your life.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is one of the songs of Ascents, traditionally sung by those who are making a great pilgrimage to Jerusalem for annual feasts.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: They walk through rough terrain, brutal weather, and sing this psalm along the way.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Wherever they went, the God who sees provided covering and protection.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And Hagar learns the same thing.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: The Elroy effect sees you.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: It tells you this is who you are.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what you're not.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I say you are.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And anything that doesn't line up with what I, the Lord, says is not the truth.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: So let God's word be true.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: And every man a liar.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: His promises are yes and amen.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: He sees you, he tells you who you are.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Songwriter says he walks with you and he talks with you and he tells you that you are his own.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we we lose ourselves, right?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: When we get caught up in other people's perception of us.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's one memory that just triggers us and brings us back to a place.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the one who sees us isn't someone that we have to chase or convince because he is already seeking us out.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: The one who sees us knows our end from our beginning.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: He sees us at our lowest, he sees us at our weakest, he sees us in our deepest, darkest points, and he meets us there.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: And lifts us up to tell us, hey, just take one more step.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're not alone.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: I see you.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm holding you, I'm keeping you, I'm covering you.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: For you're under my watch.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I won't turn my eyes against you.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is the Elroy effect.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: God sees you, God knows you, and God will care for you because of that.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, after hearing about the Elroy effect, I know you probably want to hear a song to really wrap it up and drive the point home.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oddly specific, but you're in the right place at the right time.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Song of Songs segment where we align the topic of the episode with a song that is just right.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: No Goldilocks.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And today's song of songs is My Heavenly Father Watches Over Me.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a song that my grandma knows, this is a song that my parents know, and it is now a song that I know, that I sing on my hard days.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: The song touches upon the notion that God is constantly watching over us in good and bad times, ensuring that we are safe in his keeping and under his watch.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the imagery of this song is really what made me love it all the more.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's a verse that says, He makes the rose an object of his care.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: He guides the eagle through the pathless air.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: And surely he remembers me.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: My heavenly father watches over me.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Elroy will see about the smaller creations with delicacy and care.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, how much more will he care for us?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Much more.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let this be a reminder that the Father knows, he sees, and he cares.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that, my beautiful people, is the end of episode four of the Leah Effect.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Can you believe it?
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Woo! We are really fine by in this season.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: I would like to thank you for taking the time to learn about this detailed, detailed, detailed family affair.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: And please follow us on Instagram at underscore the Leah Effect.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe to our YouTube channel at the Leah Effect.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: And do not forget to write into us at the Leah Effectpod at gmail.com.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: There are several ways that we can link up and get in touch.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Utilize one and or all of them so we can think on the good and lovely things together.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Charnel.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Leah Effect, where there is always more to the story, and the effects, the effects are truly endless.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Catch you next time.