Retribution

What Were Their Options?

Scripture
Genesis 34-37

Observation
Shechem loved Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah. He violated her and the asked permission to marry her. Deceitfully her brothers told him that the men of Shechem would then have to be circumcised. They eagerly followed instructions, but not without their own ulterior motives. In Genesis 34:23 we read that they expected all of the livestock and property of the tribe of Israel to fall to them if the cooperated.

It appears that among God's chosen people we can read of nearly every conceivable sin. To find a righteous man or woman is an exception. Dinah's brothers attacked the men of Shechem on the third day after their circumcision when they were sore, and killed them all. Jacob had to move away because his sons had made their family name a "stench" in the vicinity.

God again appears to Jacob, after his move, and blesses him and changes his name. Of note to me is the fact that after Rachel dies Jacob is called Israel for the first time. His name then reverts back to Jacob until Genesis 43. It is recorded that, "Judah said to Israel, his father..." This is very significant in the fact that we might conclude that Judah appeals to his anointing, as opposed to his humanity. Jacob does not want to give up his youngest son to save the family from famine. After this he is called Israel.

Application
In the most difficult decisions we cannot allow our feelings to dictate what we do. I am reminded of Jesus' instruction to his disciples to leave father, mother, even wives, for his sake. He also instructs them to actually hate their loved ones and we know this is speaking in comparison to their love for him. In other words, nothing, no one, can stand between us and God and his will for us. In these times we have to consider our anointing, our new name.

Prayer
Father, help me to remember the implications of my new name.

Jacob Returns Home

Fear and Flight... History Repeats Itself

Scripture
Genesis 31-33

Observation
Jacob observes that his uncle Laban's attitude toward him has changed. It is amazing how often in the preceding stories jealousy comes into play. Here it happens again. Jacob has served Laban twenty years. Laban has taken advantage of him. Laban knows God is blessing him because of Jacob and naturally he does not want to let him go, so Jacob sneaks away, taking his family and all his possessions with him.

When Laban pursues Jacob, God warns him in a dream not to harm Jacob. Interestingly, Jacob is fleeing from a man he fears to a man he fears.

Very fascinating is the fact that Jacob, alone at night wrestles with a man and it says he (the man) could not overpower him, so he put his hip out of its socket, resulting in a permanent limp. Jacob, however, holds onto the man and refuses to let him go until he blesses him. Jacob is convinced he wrestled with God. It is always the greater that blesses the lesser.

Application
What aspect of our being is it that God wrestles with and cannot prevail against without physically handicapping us? How is it that we can hold onto God and demand a blessing?

Prayer
Lord, there are so many things I do not comprehend. I thank you for the beauty of revelation in your word.

Jacob Dreams

What a Vision!

Scripture
Genesis 28-30

Observation
Jacob dreams of a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending and God above it. Abraham receives a message directly from God: I am the Lord... I will give you... you will be blessed... you will be a blessing... I will bring you back... I am with you... I will not leave you. We read in Gen 32:10 that Jacob left home with only a staff in his hand. The following chapters record how God fulfilled his word to Jacob.

Jacob is captivated by Rebecca, Laban's younger daughter. I have always thought how unfair it was to everyone involved that Laban gave Leah to Jacob instead of Rebecca. However, there is some interesting dialogue in the story of the two women and their maids bearing children. It begins, "When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren." Through the birth of four sons, Leah progresses from, "the Lord has seen my misery," at the birth of her firstborn, Reuben, to, "This time I will praise the Lord," after she had given birth to Judah.

It must have been agonizing for Rachel to witness the birth of ten of Jacob's sons by other women before we read that "God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb."

Application
In looking deeper into this story, it appears it was God's design for Jacob to have twelve sons, and similarly, for Jesus, later in history, to have twelve disciples. In Revelation 21 we read of the twelve gates of the Holy City Jerusalem, on which were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the wall of the city which had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Three out of four of Sheldon's and my grandparents had twelve children, but there was only one mother in each case. On Sheldon's mother's side there were ten siblings.

In Jacob's family there were four women, plus servants, I'm sure, to look after the twelve children. Essentially it was the jealousy and rivalry between the women that resulted in twelve tribes being born to Jacob.

Prayer
Lord, "all things work together for good, to those who love God" (Rom. 8:28). Help me always to be confident of this.

Comment
The KJV, NET, NES, all translate Romans 8: 28 as above. However, the NIV says, "in all things God works for the good of those who love him." I think there is a difference in meaning between the two. The latter to me implies that God is working among, and around all things, to bring about good. The former says to me, that the actual components of our lives are building blocks for God's purposes.

Jacob Gets Isaac's Blessing

Haven't You Reserved any Blessing for Me?

Scripture
Genesis 25-27

Observation
We may think that bestowing a blessing is an act of our own volition. Perhaps we even under value the blessing. In this story we see the agonizing regret of both Isaac and Esau, when Isaac is not able to speak the words of blessing to him that he desires to, that were intended for him. It is as though the blessing is a tangible thing. Once given it cannot be revoked or retrieved.

In the story of Balaam and Barak, Balaam says, "Indeed I have received a command to bless; he has blessed; and I cannot reverse it" (Num. 23:23). In the previous verse he says, "God is not a man that he should lie, nor a human being that he should change his mind. Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken it and will he not make it happen."

Application
I am once again impressed by the extreme importance of watching what I say. According to Proverbs 18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." I had a very wretched experience once. The wife of a relative had left her husband and I carelessly said something to the effect that it was good for her and my attitude was that, he might learn a lesson. The next thing I heard he had killed himself.

Prayer
Father, set a watch before my lips and restrain me if necessary from speaking what I should not. Make me attentive to your spirit, to speak your words. Help me to be silent about myself and to speak only that which edifies.

The Lord Will Provide

NowI Know That You Fear God

Scripture
Genesis 22-24

Observation
The evidence that we indeed fear God is in our willingness to sacrifice everything to him. This is what the angel said to Abraham, "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son; your only son."

We see an example of the integrity of Abraham's heart when he insisted on paying for the burial plot he purchased from Ephron the Hittite for his wife Sarah. This reminds me of David saying, "I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which costs me nothing" (2 Sam. 24:24).

Abraham sends his servant on a journey to acquire a wife from his brother's household for his son Isaac. This too is an act of faith and the Lord provides. His servant appears anxious about this responsibility and Abaraham assures him that God's angel will go before him and give him success. We see how the beautiful story plays out. I sometimes wonder how many jars of water it took for Rebecca to satisfy ten camels. There is a parallel here with Jesus when he asked the woman at the well to give him a drink.

Application
Intimacy with God requires complete obedience. This obedience is inspired by faith in God's word and his good intention toward us.

Prayer
Father, I desire this intimacy. Help me to make the necessary sacrifices. Help me to have complete confidence in your goodness in all the dealings of my life and to fearlessly take the steps of faith you require of me.

The Imperfect Faith of Abraham

Is This Faith?

Scripture
Genesis 16-21

Observation
In chapter 15 we read that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness, yet it is surprising how immediately in the next chapter he demonstrates a lack of faith by following Sarah's suggestion and sleeping with her maidservant.

This apparent lack of faith is also evident when he is in Gerar, in the land of the Philistines. As he did in Egypt, Abraham asks Sarah to claim that she is his sister. Of note here is the fact that generations later the Israelites were severely oppressed by both the Philistines and the Egyptians, not to mention the Arabs, the children of Abraham's illegitimate son.

I can't help but wonder, however, if the powerful prayer of Abraham that reopened the wombs of the women in Abimelech's household, overflowed to his wife, because in the very next verse we read that God's promise to Sarah was fulfilled and she became pregnant.

Interpretation
The law of sowing and reaping is evident here. In these chapters I am reminded of how critical it is for us to be honest and upright in our dealings, or the consequences of our sins may come back to haunt us.

The story of Abraham asking Sarah to pass herself off as his sister lodged itself in my mind today, particularly since he did this twice. I believe that Abraham was genuinely afraid for his life, but did he not care about his wife? What did he intend to do if the king slept with her, live complacently beside him? Was he expecting God to intervene? Did he have a back-up plan of maybe destroying the king if he violated his wife? This does not seem consistent with the man of faith.

We know that the evidence of Abraham's faith was in his willingness to leave his homeland, his willingness to believe that God would give him an inheritance through his blood line when he was past child-bearing age, and his willingness to sacrifice his son if necessary. He put his life on the line for Lot and he gave up the superior land to his nephew. I just do not understand his giving up his wife, so to speak, to preserve his own life.

All I can conclude is that fear and deception plagued the great men of the Bible and today these two faults still trip up leaders. God chose to Abraham to be the father of a great nation despite his human imperfections. It is striking to think how the course of history can be affected by the actions of one man! We can never tell what influence our choices may have.

Prayer
Father, you intervened in Abraham's life. I thank you that you have intervened in my life so many times, when I was inclined to speak or act inappropriately. I thank you for fixing my mistakes. I thank you for the numerous times you have guided me. I thank you that I am able to respond to you in faith, although sometimes imperfectly. I thank you that faith is our ticket to righteousness. I thank you that at one point in history you chose a man named Abraham to be the father of the nation through whom you would unveil your loving plan of redemption.

God's Covenant with Abraham

Abraham's Faith is Accredited to him as Righteousness

Scripture
Genesis 15

Observation
After Abraham defeated four kings and rescued Lot and his family, the Lord said to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield and your very great reward." I wondered what fear he was addressing, but it appears, by his response in the next verse, that he was afraid that his inheritance would go to his servant. This is after God promised to make of him a great nation and give them the land of the Caananites (ch. 12). It says, however, that this time when God told him that his heir would be his own son, Abraham believed him and the Lord credited his faith to him as righteousness.

An interesting observation for me was the fact that a "thick and dreadful darkness" came over Abram while he was asleep, just before the Lord spoke a prophetic word to him concerning the future of his descendants in Egypt. We don't usually associate the presence of God with thick, dreadful darkness.

Interpretation
We don't know what God has in store for us, or what he will require of us, but Abraham is an illustration of how God takes an interest in our lives and has a plan for our future.
Abraham now and then built an alter after a significant encounter with God. One time he returned to an alter he had built and we read, "There Abram called on the name of the Lord." Apart from this, we don't read that he particularly sought God. Once Abraham interceded for King Abimelech and once for Lot and his family.

God took the initiative to speak to Abraham. We tend to link God's speaking to us to devotional times or times spent in church or in worship. From this passage I conclude that if God has something to say to us, he'll speak to us any time and he doesn't require an invitation. Abraham, the man of faith, interestingly, did not seem to be actively seeking God for his plan for his life. He did however demonstrate a willingness to follow him and this may have been the prerequisite for future revelation.

Prayer
We never read in the Bible that anyone was ever in doubt about what God spoke to them. Lord, is there something wrong with our hearing or our understanding today? Help us to receive a sure word from you concerning our lives. We are so privileged to have the Bible to learn of your character and your ways. But Abraham received specific personal instruction. Was this because he did not have the advantage of the scripture? Should we not expect you to speak to us in the same way today?

Abraham's Dealings with Lot

Trouble on the Home Front

Scripture
Genesis13-19

Observation
Of Terah, Abraham's father' it says, "he took... his grandson lot..." In Abraham's case it simply says, "and Lot went with him" (12:4, 13:1). Lot's presence became a great inconvenience to Abraham. First of all, their herdsmen fight over land and when Abraham gave Lot an option he takes the most appealing land for himself. In the second case, Abraham is forced to go and retrieve Lot and his family from captivity after they have been carried off by four kings. A third incident involves the wrath of God being poured out on the residents of they city Lot lives in and Abraham once again is compelled to intervene and plead with God to spare Lot. One final disgrace is Lot's daughters' scheming to make their father drunk and then become impregnated by him.

Application
Sometimes there are people in our lives who create what seem like unnecessary difficulties for us. They may be family or church members, people we cannot easily get away from. But in Abraham's case, they did not deter him from his destiny. In fact, they caused him to meet with God in a new way. The same can be true for us.

Prayer
Lord, help us to look at the difficulties in our lives as opportunities for a greater revelation of you. Help us to trust you and see you work out your purposes through them.

Repopulating the Earth

How Many Grandfathers?

Scripture
Genesis 10-12

Observation
Matthew Henry in his Commentary of the Bible makes an interesting observation regarding the confusing of languages by God during the building of the tower of Babel. Whereas the people were scattered by God because of their arrogance and rebellion, in contrast, in the book of Acts, God restores understanding through the gift of the Holy Spirit and tongues so they can glorify him.

I spent considerable time with the genealogy of Shem to Abram. I am fascinated by how rapidly and drastically the life expectancy declined. It is said of Abraham that he 'died at a good old age, an old man, full of years' at the age of 175 (25:7). Yet Noah, only ten generations earlier, lived to be 950.

Another thing I learned from Matthew Henry is that Terah, Abraham's father, worshiped other gods (Josh 24:2). There is some question about how old Terah was when Abraham was born. It is thought that Abraham did not leave Haran before his father died. Seeing that he left when he was 75 and Terah died when he was 205, Terah may have been 130 when Abraham was born. This will have meant that all his grandfathers back to Noah were still alive when he was born! If my calculations are correct, he could have been fifteen when Noah died!

This brings me to another very fascinating observation. We are not told how old Haron was when he died. I think Jewish tradition probably sees more in this short narrative than we do. Why are we not told? In any case it appears his son's death is very devastating to Terah. Haran died in his homeland, Ur of the Chaldeans, and sometime afterward Terah decides it is time to leave. Haran died, 'while his father was still alive' (11:28). This is so tragic, but the tragedy is multiplied when we consider that he also very possibly died before any of his grandfathers since the flood died, including Noah! What a funeral that must have been! Maybe it was high time to make a break from the relatives. Of course, considering the tower of Babel, they could well have been scattered with everyone speaking different languages. Who knows?

Application
God has called us to leave our relatives and it has been difficult at times to be distanced from them. But, when we lived in Manitoba we saw that about a third or even half of our ministry time was taken up with spending time with family. We have a lot of family. When I feel like I should be there for them, I remind myself that God is taking care of them and they have each other. Praise be to God, he has drawn many of them to himself while we have been away! Sometimes it is necessary to make a break.

Prayer
Father, help us to always be willing to follow where you lead.

A Flood to Irradicate Sin

Is There a Righteous Man?

Scripture
Genesis 7-9

Observation
This scripture always provokes a lot of questions. What are the "springs of the great deep" that burst forth? How were they sealed again? How did someone know that the mountains were covered to over twenty feet? Noah was shut in the ark until the waters receded. One thing I have calculated in the past is that Noah's grandfather and father didn't live to see the flood. It is interesting to me that Noah didn't have any children until he was five hundred years old, and although all of his sons were married, none of them had children.

I think it is incredible that God spoke to Noah, as he did to Moses and later to Solomon with specific measurements for the construction of the ark. It makes me realize that seemingly material interests are also God's interests.

God found a righteous man, a blameless man. Noah saved the day. God could not pour his wrath out on him because he was righteous. He chose to save him in the flood and to make his his covenant with him.

Application
The severity with which God dealt with sin makes us realize how detestable it is to him. I believe God looks no differently on sin today. In fact, if people scorn the sacrifice of Christ and continue to live in sin, it probably grieves him even more. I wonder how many times since, the great, holy, Creator God has wanted to destroy this evil world but has had to restrain himself because of his covenant.

Prayer
Father, I pray for your church to be righteous and blameless, to be your joy, not your regret. May we be overcomers through the blood of Christ and the word of our testimony.

Sin is Crouching at Your Door

Opportunity for Correction

Scripture
Genesis 4-6

Observation
The personification of sin in the fourth chapter of Genesis always grabs my attention. Cain offered a sacrifice that God did not accept. God says to him, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" It was not just a matter of the sacrifice being accepted. God personally intervened by warning him of the pitfall that awaited him if he didn't get over his anger and disappointment. In other word, he still had a chance to do the right thing. Cain chose the wrong thing and fell to the power of sin. "But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

Application
The lesson is clear. When I fall short I can accept God's grace and correct the error of my way. If I don't I am opening the door to sin. Cain's anger and downcast expression were in indication that things were not right in his heart. He resented his brother whose sacrifice was accepted. He was jealous. Proverbs 27:4 says, "Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy?" Envy is intolerable. Beware of envy. It will master you if you don't master it.

I don't think it is wrong to desire to be as 'spiritual' as someone else, provided you are willing to pay the price in service self-sacrifice and humility. Wanting to be close to God is an honorable desire. When we see an example of this we should be inspired. However, some people become jealous, resentful and petty. They attack the person who has what they do not have. This is very wrong.

Prayer
Lord, give us clean hands, give us pure hearts. Help us to humbly receive correction from you.

A Case for A Creator

Evolution, Theory not Fact

Scripture
Genesis 1-3

Observation
How easy it would be for people simply to take this account at face value, but, like Eve, we want to question everything and come to our own conclusions. We want to be "like God". I recently read how the feminist movement is attempting to create a world in which there is no room for God. It angers me to hear the "theory" of evolution spoken of to our children as a fact. It has so little support, even scientists are embarrassed that it is being given the current credit in schools. But there seems to be no reversing this, because people would rather believe a lie, than submit to a God who might require something of them. How ironic, when he created them. What will judgement day be like, when EVERY KNEE WILL BOW?

Application
I made it my mission to train our sons to stand in awe of the wonders of God, to have no choice but to believe in God in light of the evidence around them. I did not give them arguments for the existence of God, I simply drew their attention to the evidence. Countless times God worked miracles on our behalf and they were witnesses of this.

My personal belief is that the motivation to live, to love, to do right and the ability to hope and have faith is God's imprint on our lives. If I truly believed there was no God I don't think my regard for my fellow man or life would keep me from evil and death. The most coveted things in life still result in emptiness without God. I have seen enough of life to know that if I could have anything I wanted in life, any lifestyle, any home, live any place on earth, have any position of influence or any relationship, I could still imagine myself feeling a dreadful void without God.

Why would someone who has explained God away still have a reason for living? My only conclusion is that they have created in their minds something they perceive worth living for, in other words, other gods. It may also be that by the grace of God, they still have hope within them.

Prayer
Father, open blinded eyes to see the reality of your existence, your love and your eternal plan.

Greater Love Has No Man

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Scripture
Luke 22-24

Observation
The story of the cross and of Jesus revealing himself to the disciples after his resurrection are charged with emotion, but I am particularly touched today by what he must have felt the evening he ate his "last supper" with the disciples. He knew everything would change from this moment on. There would be no more leisurely teaching of crowds, no more healing of the sick, and no more companionable times with his disciples. They would see him crucified and then they would see him glorified and at last they would understand who they had been with. He now looked forward to the day when they would eat at his table in his kingdom. At that point their relationship would be all he had dreamed of.

Application
Jesus' disciples could not comprehend the scriptures even after they were fulfilled. How like that we are. I find it interesting that Jesus "opened the scriptures" to the two men on their way to Emmaus, and later, when the two were in the company of the disciples and he appeared to them he, "opened their minds to the scriptures." I want my mind supernaturally opened to the truths of God.

Prayer
Lord, help me to open the scriptures to people. Help me to help the lost sheep to find their way back to you. Open our minds to understand your living and active word. In Jesus' name I pray.