Jacob And Esau

Genesis 27 and 28

The story of Jacob and Esau, the twin boys born to Isaac and Rebecca.

God shows us just how dysfunctional this little family of four was. Isaac favored Esau, the hairy he-man who liked the outdoor life. And Rebecca favored Jacob, the smooth-skinned mama's boy who hung around the kitchen. She encouraged Jacob to trick his dad into giving him the blessing Isaac wanted to give to Esau. 

But God used the dysfunctionality of this family to further His purposes. Even though it caused upset and division among those who should have been united, God used the situation to get Jacob to where he would marry the ones with the DNA God wanted for His people.

No matter what happens, even when we do things with worldly motives that seem to tear things apart, God can use them to have things fall into place in our lives to get us to where He wants us to be, to do what He has planned for us to do, to fulfill His purposes.

O my Father, it breaks my heart to see the dysfunctionality in my own family, but I know that You know what You're doing, and that You can use these sorrows and wounds to bring glory to Your Name. Please, Father, just keep me in that path You have set my feet upon, regardless of what others do around me. Help me to remember that Your joy gives me the strength to follow Your ways in all my relationships with my family members and others. That Your light in me might shine out upon all whose lives touch mine, drawing them to Yourself in Your goodness and love. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Isaac And Rebecca--A Love Story

Genesis 24

Who was Rebecca? She was Isaac's cousin, being the granddaughter of Abraham's brother. She had a sterling character, being a virgin who was concerned for her modesty, and a willing worker, offering to draw enough water for ten camels--at 30 gallons each, that comes to 300 gallons of water! A lot of hauling for one little lady!

The culture was very different from where I live, because she agreed to marry a man she had not yet met! She did know that he was able to support and take care of her. And they did ask her if she wanted to, so it was her own decision.

When the servant told Isaac everything that happened on this trip and what she was like, he must have admired her. Then they got acquainted with each other and his admiration turned into love.

What a wonderful love story!

O my Father, I have never seen Jesus. I've met Him in the pages of Your Word, and I love Him. And I agree to being His bride. I look forward to His coming and that great Marriage Feast. Not much different from this story of Isaac and Rebecca. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Substitutionary Sacrifice

Genesis 22: 13

...Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

This is a very specific and obvious substitution of the animal for the person's death. This was before the Law was given. 

We see since Adam and Eve that the death of an animal was to substitute for the death of the person, as God clothed them with the animals' hides.

God has always taught His people this principle, which He later codified in the Law He gave to Moses. The very first sacrifice a person was to offer was the personal, individual one, listed first in Leviticus, the book of sacrifices. The person brought his own animal to the priest, laid his hand on the animal's head to identify with it, and the priest would then kill it, burn it on the altar, and splash its blood on the sides of the altar. This blood would cover the person's sins, and they could be forgiven.

This lays out what Jesus came to accomplish, and He fulfilled all the Law, including the sacrifices. Jesus died in the place of each of us, individually, when we admit to God that we deserve death and let Him be our personal Sacrifice, His blood splashed on the sides of His altar, the Cross.

God does not change. He required a death from the very beginning, because "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), so each of us deserves to die. 

That's how much He loves us. God planned from before He created, to have Jesus be the Sacrifice to take away our sins, to make us fit to live with Him forever. From the Garden of Eden to Abraham's offering of Isaac, to the Law, to Jesus fulfilling all the letter of the Law. We don't offer animal sacrifices any more, because Jesus died "once for all" (I Peter 3:18). No more blood sacrifices will ever need to be made, since Jesus fulfilled that requirement for all time. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

"I Thought"

Genesis 20

V. 3 God came to Abimelech in a dream...

V. 11 Abraham said, "I thought surely there is no fear of God in this place...

Abraham and Sarah had moved to Gerar, and Abraham had told King Abimelech of Gerar that Sarah was his sister, rather than his wife, because he was afraid that they would kill him to have Sarah, because she was a very beautiful woman. And Abimelech had taken her into his harem, but hadn't come near her yet.

This is the second time Abraham did this. Right after God promised Abraham that He would make him into a great nation, and he had begun to travel around the land of Canaan, there came a famine, so they went to Egypt. And Abraham told Sarah to tell them that she was his sister, so they took her into Pharaoh's harem. She must've really been beautiful, at age 65! (see Genesis 12.)

These two times we see that Abraham depended on his own reasoning concerning these pagan kings, thinking that they would take his life to get him out of the way to procure his wife for their own harems; but they took her, anyway, considering her his sister. 

I wonder why it didn't occur to him that God couldn't make him into a great nation if he was dead!

How many times have I depended on my own powers of reasoning and logic to make pivotal decisions? Instead of relying on God and His Word? How often have I not even thought to consult my Father in Heaven? Do I think He wouldn't be interested? That's not just silly, it's foolish! Of course He's concerned for every detail of my life. If He counts how many hairs that are on my head, how much more is he watching what I do!

Well, God protected Sarah from having to sleep with either of these kings, and they even paid Abraham to take her and leave.

Would that my foolish choices could turn out so well. I have found that my consequences haven't been that rosy. So I want to remember to pray about every decision before I come to act on it. I want to consider Him and His ways in everything I do, all the time. 

This takes practice, to remind myself to pray. So I've been working on "practicing the presence of the Lord" for quite some time now, and I hope that my thinking processes are beginning to proceed along my Lord's lines, instead of my flesh. 

O my Father, please help me keep my focus on what You would have me think about, to see with Your eyes and discern with Your understanding. Thank You for Your promise to never leave me, so I know that You are with me every moment of every day. Help me to continually be aware of Your constant closeness, and rest in Your arms.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Fear Or Faith?

Genesis 19: 19-21

"...I can't flee to the mountains. ... Here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared." He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request, too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of." ... (That is why the town was renamed Zoar.)

V. 30

Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.

Lot didn't want to go to the mountains like he was told to do, and so Bela's name was changed to Zoar, meaning "small" (see Genesis 14:1, 8), and it was the only town in that whole plain that was left intact; everywhere else around it was totally destroyed. 

So now these village people probably blamed Lot for the disaster, not realizing that it was because of him that they were still alive. So he feared for his life there, and ended up in the mountains, after all.

Lot was a city guy, but God wanted him in the mountains. How often do I not go where God says, and delay God's plan for me? How often do I just stay where I am and not get off my duff and do what He has shown me to do? 

O my Father, strengthen me to go and do what You want me to do, not procrastinate and delay and put it off. Help me, Father, for I am weak. My strength is only in You. 

Then allow me to accomplish what You have placed before me; to not bang on the door you have closed, but to see and enter through the door You have opened before me, no matter how scary it looks to me. 

Let my confidence in You give me the boldness to enter in, and do what my hand finds to do, even if I never did it this way before.

And may You get all the credit, all the honor, all the glory, all the praise, as You are the One Who has planned it all out and designed it to work this way.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Methods Of The World

Genesis 16: 2

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

The custom of the peoples living around them had this practice of using a slave-surrogate to bear children for a barren wife. So Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah) thought they could accomplish God's plan for them using the methods of the World! 

And today we see the results of this. Verse 12 says that, "his hand will be against everyone, (then) everyone's hand will be against him. And he will live to the East of his brothers." So Ishmael will provoke "everyone" to bring their response of being against him; and they do live East of Israel, and are the most passionate against Israel. 

How often we want to do things the way the World says, instead of doing the hard thing God has asked us to do. The thing we are not able to do at all. But we want His plan to succeed, and decide that we can do it for Him. 

That always comes back to bite us. Every time I try to do things my way, they always mess up my life. Only as I learn to lean upon Him and not my own understanding, as I do things His way, even it it seems crazy, then He will cause it all to turn out well (see Proverbs 3:5-6).

O my Father, teach me Your ways, keep me from being seduced by my own flesh to do things the way the World says to do them; but to always turn to You and Your Word for the way to think, to speak, and to act. Show me the deception in all the World's ways, as they have taken Your good principles from Your Word and taught that we don't need You to follow them.

But I know that You alone are wise, that the World's wisdom is foolishness, and Your ways seem foolish to the World. But I want to do all I do according to Your ways, and trust You to bless others through me as You bless me.

Then You will get the credit, not me. You will receive the glory, and the honor, and the praise for everything You have done.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Faith That Saves

Genesis 15: 6

Then he believed in the Lord, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Abram (Abraham) believed in the Lord when He showed him all the stars in the sky, and there was no "light pollution" to to mask any of them; Abram must have seen thousands, even millions of stars, and God had told him that's how many descendants he would have, even before he had any children yet of his own. Even before God made the blood covenant with him with the divided animals (15:9-17) to "sign" the covenant, the contract He made with him to give his family the land (15:18-21). 

Abraham believed, even before Isaac was born (21:1-7). Abraham demonstrated and proved his faith when God tested him (Chapter 22:1-18). And God said, "by Myself I have sworn," declares the Lord, "that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants shall take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your Offspring all Nations on Earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed Me." (22:16-18).

So Abraham believed in God, and his faith was counted as righteousness in God's eyes. Then years later, God tested his faith, and because he trusted God enough to go ahead with the sacrifice of his son, he proved that his trust in the Lord was strong enough to overcome even the most challenging circumstance. 

So our faith alone is enough to save us, but if it is genuine, saving faith, it will express itself in what we do. Our obedience proves that our faith is genuine; and the trials we face will grow our trust in God, Who always provides a way to escape the temptation, and do what is right (I Corinthians 10:13), just as He provided the ram caught by its horns in a thicket (22:13) to take Isaac's place in death. 

O my Father, I look back and see how much You showed me, before I believed. I was taught Your Truth about Who Jesus is, but You showed me that He took my place on that Cross. How much more have You shown me through the years since that day You saved me. Thank You so much for Your grace-gift of the faith to trust You with all I am. Thank You that you are worthy of all my trust, that You are Almighty God Who can do all things. And thank You for designing this World to run on Love. Continue to teach me more of Who You are, how You designed things to operate, and how I can cooperate with You in my thoughts, my words and my works.

Keep me on that path You have set my feet upon, that I may confidently step each step with my hand in Yours, not turning to the right or to the left, with Your Light illuminating all the pitfalls and stumbling stones in the way. Cause what I do to be a benefit to all You bring across my path, and bless them also with Your good gifts. 

And Father, draw them to Yourself, hiding my flesh in that "cleft of the rock" as You cover me with Your hand, and shine Your light that You have placed in me upon them.

And may You receive all the credit, all the honor and glory, for all that You are doing in my life and in this World.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!