Rejoicing in the Fire

Because the Lord was with him;

and whatever he did,

the Lord made to prosper.

Genesis 39:23

Joseph, sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites and then to Potiphar in Egypt, now finds himself in the king’s prison. It appeared that everywhere Joseph went, the world was against him, but God was with him. If God is with us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)?

Every attempt by the world and the evil one to knock him down or remove him only placed him right where God needed him to be. Joseph’s situations did not catch God by surprise. As persecution and lies rose against him, God was right there with him. Everywhere he went, whether as slave or prisoner, God caused all he did to prosper.

I believe the enemy notices when God causes the works of our hands to prosper, and he wants to stop it. He knows by our prospering that God is up to something. However, I believe he has no knowledge as to what that something is. If the enemy had a clue, he would never have pushed so strongly to get Christ on that cross, and he would never have tempted Potiphar’s wife to bring this accusation against Joseph.

In 1 Peter 4:12–13 we read,

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you,

which comes upon you for your testing,

as though some strange thing were happening to you;

but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ,

keep on rejoicing,

so that also at the revelation of His glory

you may rejoice with exultation.

My precious one, can you look at the fiery ordeal that you are now in and rejoice?

Do you see it as an opportunity for you to share in the sufferings of your Christ?

Do you understand that there is more to this ordeal than you can presently see?

Joseph’s situation, from the outside, seemed horrible, but it was only placing him in the position to be the savior and redeemer of his loved ones. Even the savior of his brothers, who had sold him into slavery in the first place.

Oh, what a picture of our beautiful one, our Savior, our Redeemer, our glorious Jesus Christ!

Oh Father,

That I would be one who trusts in You even through persecution and lies brought against me. Oh Father, that I would stand firm, as Joseph stood firm, and know that as long as You are with me, I will at all times and in every situation rejoice. You tell us to be strong and courageous, for You are with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9). Momentary light affliction in this world produces in us the fruit of righteousness and perfects us and brings us to spiritual maturity. Oh Father, mold me into a mighty servant soldier of Your kingdom. Oh, that I would trust in You at all times. My Jesus, thank You for Your eternal presence.

It’s in Your name I pray,

Amen.

A Time to Run

How then could I do this great evil

and sin against God?

Genesis 39:9

We return now to the life of Joseph, sold into slavery and bought by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh. Now Potiphar saw that Joseph was someone special. He recognized that the Lord was with him. He recognized that he had begun to prosper since Joseph had come into his charge.

Potiphar made Joseph his personal servant and placed him as overseer of his house and all that he owned. Potiphar could trust in Joseph, and so he worried about nothing while Joseph was in charge.

Potiphar had a wife, and his wife took quite a liking to Joseph and she pursued him. Joseph, however, would not return Potiphar’s wife’s advances. Day after day, she pursued him, and day after day, he refused her. He replied that Potiphar was his master, he trusted him, and he would not violate this trust. Even more, Joseph professed that he would not go into Potiphar’s wife and commit this great evil and sin against God.

This adulteress female did not want to accept Joseph’s no, so she grabbed his garment and commanded that he lie with her. Joseph ran, leaving his garment in her tightly gripped hand. In 2 Timothy 2:22 we read, “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

Joseph did just that; he fled!

When this woman, in her rejected anger, went to her husband and demanded that Joseph be killed because he violated her, I believe her husband knew the truth because he knew his wife and he knew Joseph. The Scripture says that “his anger burned” (Genesis 39:19).

I believed it burned not against Joseph, but against his wife, who had forced him into this situation. He had to address the charge, and he could not place the word of a slave over his wife. I believe Potipher’s belief in Joseph’s innocence is made evident in the fact that instead of killing Joseph, he placed him in the king’s prison.

Joseph knew that all sin was against God. He also knew that he could not hide himself from God. Joseph did not want to be the kind of person who would need to hide from God. He did not desire to be a man who could not look his master in the eyes.

Are you living your life today fleeing from youthful lust?

Are you able to call on the Lord from a pure heart?

Today, could you look your master in the eyes?

Oh Father,

Sometimes doing the right thing does not always give us the result we expect. Yet the right thing is still the right thing. Oh Father, that I would know, as Joseph knew, that all sin is against You. I pray that I will always have the strength of conviction to turn away from sin, to run away if need be. Oh Father, how I desire to be true to You. My Jesus, may I always be able to look You in the eyes. The seductions of this world might grab me with tightly gripped hands, but my feet are shod with the glorious gospel, and you will my clear my way as I turn from the grip and run toward You. Your grace will be sufficient, and You will always have a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).

My Jesus, I love You, and it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

Throwing Stones

When Judah saw her,

he thought she was a harlot,

for she had covered her face.

Genesis 38:15

We will discover in our journey through Genesis that God has chosen for the scepter to never depart from Judah, yet at this point in history, Judah has no clue about this prophecy. He has not demonstrated Godly leadership thus far in his life.

We see in Genesis 38:2 that Judah takes for himself a Canaanite woman. We know from Genesis 9:25 that the Canaanite is cursed. We also know from Genesis 27:46–28:1 that Rebekah was not pleased with Esau’s Canaanite wives and that Isaac and Jacob were commanded by their father not to take a Canaanite wife. I believe this runs much deeper than just personal preference. I believe this had to do with the promised seed.

This Canaanite woman bore Judah three sons. When he was of age, Judah chose for his firstborn, Er, a wife; her name was Tamar. Now Tamar was not a Canaanite woman. Er did evil and died without a son, so Judah gave Tamar, as was the custom, to his next born, Onan. Onan also did evil, and he died without a son.

Judah sent Tamar to live with her family as a widow until his third son would be of age for her. However, Judah had no intentions of giving her to his third son, for he thought Tamar was the curse.

He did not see the evil in his sons.

Judah did not keep his word and did not give Tamar to his third son. Tamar knew she had been dishonored as a woman, and so she took matters into her own hands. She had heard that Judah’s wife had died and that he was visiting in her home town, so she portrayed herself as a prostitute, and Judah went into her.

 Tamar conceived.

When word came to Judah that Tamar was pregnant, he was ready to have her stoned, yet Tamar was not an ignorant woman. She had asked Judah to leave her a pledge for his promised coming payment—his staff, his seal, and his cord—which he did. These items at this point and time in history were as good as DNA testing, so when Tamar laid these items at Judah’s feet in his answer as to whom she had conceived by, he knew she was more righteous than he.

“He who is without sin among you,

let him be the first to throw a stone at her”

(John 8:7).

Through Judah would come Christ, but not through a Canaanite wife; through Tamar.

What I love about this twisted story is how it somehow retains its goodness in the fact that Judah never laid with Tamar again. He took her in as his family, as an independent woman, and cared for her and his sons. He did not sin against God or Tamar again, but confessed his sin and repented and walked in righteousness before God and before her. I believe that it was at this point that God began an awesome work in the life of Judah, the son of Jacob.

Oh Father,

It never ceases to amaze me how You can take our worst mistakes and make them glorious. In You all things become good. You are sovereign even over sin. There is nothing that escapes Your mighty hand. No matter what we have done, when we bring it before You, You can heal and restore and make new. We may suffer consequences, but all consequences and circumstances are bearable if we are in right fellowship with You.

My Jesus, it’s in Your name I pray,

Amen.

Sold

Then some Midianite traders passed by,

so they pulled him up

and lifted Joseph out of the pit,

and sold him to the Ishmaelites

for twenty shekels of silver.

Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Genesis 37:28

Joseph’s brothers decided not to kill him. Instead they sold him, sending him to Egypt and going home and cruelly telling their father that all they found of him was his bloody tunic.

Joseph was sold by his brothers for twenty shekels.
Their brother’s life was only worth twenty shekels split between ten brothers.

Jesus was also sold: “Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?’ And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him” (Matthew 26:14–15).

How much harder the betrayal falls when it comes from those we thought loved us. Jesus, of course, knew his betrayal was coming, for the Scriptures would be fulfilled. In Zechariah 11:12–13 we read, “So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’” Of course, knowing doesn’t make it any easier, nor does it make the actual act of the betrayal easier to bear.

Joseph, I am sure, being the younger, disliked little brother, was probably used to being slightly tortured by the hands of his brothers when Daddy wasn’t around. I am sure that as he cried out from the pit, he held hope that this was just another one of those moments and that eventually his brothers would pull him up. I cannot imagine the look of horror and pleading that was upon his face as he was sold to become a slave in a strange land. 

Do you realize, my friend, that we were sold by our father for one piece of fruit? But we will see that the amazing thing is that God allowed it all for His greater glory.

Oh Father,

I was sold by my forefather, Adam, to be a slave in this land. I was placed under the yoke of sin, and my taskmaster was cruel and hard. I was born a slave and had no idea I was a slave that could be free. Then You, my Creator, sent Your Son in the likeness of my flesh to come and pay my ransom, for I was a slave and my redemption was too costly. I could not redeem myself or anyone else (Psalm 49:7–9). Oh, my Jesus, thank You for coming to set me free! You paid my debt through Your death on the cross and rose again so that I might have eternal life in You. You were sold that I might be bought. My Jesus, I love You. Oh Father, help me to walk in a manner worthy of my redemption, and use me, oh God, to go out to the slaves and tell them about the One who is able to set them free.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

Brotherly Hate

So it came about,

when Joseph reached his brothers,

that they stripped Joseph of his tunic,

the varicolored tunic that was on him;

and they took him

and threw him into the pit.

Genesis 37:23–24

How cruel can brothers be to brothers? How cruel can man be to man? These ten grown men grab their seventeen-year-old little brother and strip him of his tunic and hurl him into a pit. They did so and then sat down to eat, as though they had done nothing wrong.

I am reminded of the cross when Jesus was also stripped of His garment: “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments” (John 19:23). Just as the brothers sat down to eat as though they had done nothing wrong, so these soldiers sat at the foot of the cross of Christ and gambled for His garment as though they had done nothing wrong.

We read this part of Joseph’s life, and this part of the life of Christ on this earth, and it is so evident how desperately we need a Savior. We read in Ecclesiastes 7:20 that “indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.”

We all need a Savior.

I finally understood the full depravity of man when I was in Poland. I walked through the gates of Auschwitz and Majdonek and stood in the court of the Warsaw Ghetto while hearing from the lips of Holocaust survivors what they had experienced in these places. What shocked me the most was not just what they experienced by the hands of the Nazis, but what they experienced from those whom they had once called friends.

As a child, my friend Irving Roth, a survivor of Auschwitz, watched his father’s best friend betray his father. As a child, Irving experienced his own friends’ betrayal, as they turned their backs on him simply because he was a Jew. He experienced people who had been in his life always—those he had cared for, laughed with, played with—not just disassociate with him, but turn to hate toward him and his family.

Have you experienced this, my precious one?

The betrayal of a friend, of a family member?

Oh, my friend, know that you have One who understands,

“for consider Him

who has endured such hostility

by sinners against Himself,

so that you will not grow weary

and lose heart”

(Hebrews 12:3).

Oh Father,

Help me to never forget that I am my brother’s keeper. That I am to regard others as more important than myself (Philippians 2:3). Help me, Father, to remember that I am not to hold my faith in Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism (James 2:1). Oh Father, you tell us in 1 John 4:20, “If someone says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” Oh Father, forgive me when I hold bitterness in my heart and spite toward another, even if they are not my brother or sister by flesh or through Christ. Open my eyes that I might see when my attitude is not what it should be that I might seek Your face and go before Your throne of grace and receive forgiveness and an attitude adjustment. Oh Father, guard my heart from hate and help me to love others with the love with which You have loved me.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

A Man With A Dream

Now Israel loved Joseph

more than all his sons.

Genesis 37:3

I read this scripture and I am reminded of John 3:35: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.” Joseph’s brothers knew that their father loved him more than he did them, and they hated Joseph for it.

Joseph was a picture of the coming Christ. Of course he was to be hated, “for everyone who does evil hates the Light” ( John 3:20). Joseph’s brothers hated him so much they could not even speak to him on friendly terms.

When we read this chapter of Genesis, we discover that Joseph was a man whom God spoke to through his dreams. Joseph has two dreams that are very similar in nature. In the first dream, Joseph and his brothers were in a field binding sheaves. Joseph’s sheave stood erect, and then his brothers’ sheaves bowed down before it. In the second dream, the sun, moon, and eleven stars all bowed down to Joseph.

It amazes me that Joseph even felt comfortable enough to share his dreams with these men who hated him. Perhaps he was actually this naive; perhaps he truly had no clue what these dreams meant and was seeking help. Maybe he saw these dreams as an opportunity to say to his brothers that it really didn’t matter if they hated him because one day they would bow down to him. The Scriptures do not give us insight into the motive behind Joseph sharing his dreams with his brothers; we just know he did.

The relating of these dreams just fueled his brothers’ jealousies and increased their hatred of him. “So from that day on they planned together to kill him” (John 11:53). This was as true in the life of Joseph as it was in the life of Christ.

Joseph was who he was, and as far as we can tell from what is recorded in the Scriptures, he never tried to be anyone or anything different than who he was. Joseph was highly favored by his father and a man who desired to live a life pleasing to the God of his fathers.

My friend, have you come to that place where you know that the only opinion that matters is that of Jesus Christ and your Father in heaven?

Oh Father,

That I would live a life pleasing to You, never seeking the approval of man, but only the approval of You. Help me, Father, to remain true to who I am in You, in Christ. Even if the world rises against me, even if my family and my friends turn away from me, help me, Father, to never forsake You. May I always stand firm on the side of truth; whether I am liked because of it or hated, may I stand firm. May I hang on to the dreams and vision that You have placed within me, and even if all laugh at my sharing of them and mock me to my face, may I cling all the more to You.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

In Good Times and In Bad Times

Discovering the Comings of Christ

and Trust in the Midst of Trial

through the Life of Joseph

This post begins the third and final section of our devotional study in Genesis. I hope you have been blessed by the journey thus far and in all sincerity I can't imagine how you could not be blessed, encouraged, strengthened, and filled with hope as we continue this journey through the Word of God. Let us keep going and be led by the Spirit of God into the recorded life of Joseph, son of Jacob...

Joseph, when seventeen years of age,

was pasturing the flock with his brothers

while he was still a youth.

Genesis 37:2

We now begin the story of Joseph—the firstborn of Rachel, Jacob’s most favored son from his most loved wife. There is so much to learn from the life of Joseph. He is the most accurate picture of Christ in the Old Testament; the similarities and the foreshadowing are eye opening.

One thing that still amazes me is that God, in his sovereignty, chose for Christ to come through the line of Judah as opposed to the line of Joseph. At this point, by all human merit and reasoning, Judah is far from holiness and righteousness and justice. Yet God does not work according to human reasoning; His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).

What we learn from these chapters about the life of Joseph is that obedience to God sometimes brings hatred from others. God’s favor on our lives sometimes brings jealousy from those who are not seeking or striving toward obedience to God and His Word.

Joseph will go through a lot in the next thirteen chapters of Genesis, yet through it all, he holds fast to God. Might we learn from the life of Joseph how to handle the things in life that we just don’t understand.

Oh Father,

When I don’t understand why, help me to not forget the who—the who being You, my God. May I cling to and remember Your Word when times of trouble try to overtake me. You have given me Your Word that I might know that You are God. You have recorded the lives of Your saints that I might know that You are faithful. You are my God, and You are with me wherever I go. You never forsake those who seek You (Psalm 9:10). My Father and my God, I trust in You, and I know that You are never caught by surprise, nor are You ever caught off guard. In good times and in bad times, You are my Adonai.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

Leave A Legacy Not A Tragedy

Now these are the records

of the generations of Esau (that is Edom).

Genesis 36:1

This entire chapter is dedicated to the descendants of Esau by his three wives. As we read through this list of genealogy, we see the names of so many nations that are enemies to the nation of Israel, from past history to present day. It never ceases to amaze me the weight that our choices have on our future and on the future of our children.

In Deuteronomy 5:9–10, we read “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

You see this truth played out in the genealogies of Esau. You can see this truth being played out in the world today. When one generation chooses to not honor God, to not obey His commandments, to not teach them to their children, we quickly see the sad results.

My parents were taught the Word of God in school. I was not. Now my children are in a day where the Word of God is not simply neglected in school, but it is ridiculed and disdained. You see, our actions always have reactions and our disobedience and sin always have consequences.

Do you not rejoice that our salvation is according to us individually and is not hinged on the obedience of others?

Thanks be to the divine intervention of the power of Christ and being made new in Him. In Christ we have a future and a hope no matter what lies behind us or before us. In Christ our salvation is not dependant on our nation, our ethnicity, our gender, our race. It is our own personal faith.

Oh Father,

I so desire to leave a legacy and not a tragedy. Help me to make wise choices according to Your wisdom and not my own. May I never forget that I am a sower of seed. May I never forget that my children are watching me. May I never forget that there are eyes on me who are searching out the reality of You. Might they see in me how You are to be honored and worshiped and obeyed.

My Jesus, it is in Your name that I pray,

Amen.

Son of My Right Hand

Then they journeyed from Bethel;

and when there was still some distance to go

to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth

and she suffered severe labor.

Genesis 35:16

In Genesis 31:28 Jacob wrestled with the angel. When Jacob cried out for the blessing, the angel said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”

The Lord has given him this new name. This new name points us toward the nation that God said He would make through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We will see Jacob and Israel interchanged throughout the rest of the Scriptures.

Here in Genesis 35, God addresses Jacob as Israel. God reminds him that a nation and a company of nations will come from him, and kings also shall come from him. And what we know today is that the King of kings shall come from him.

Israel is on his way home, to the land of his fathers. Rachel again conceives a child. Possibly, her pregnancy was one of the reasons that Jacob chose to set up camp at Shechem.

On the journey from Shechem to Bethel, Rachel goes into labor. They have to stop at Ephrath, which today is called Bethlehem. Let that sink in for a moment. I believe it is no accident that Rachel goes into labor in Bethlehem.

The Prophet Micah declared,

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago,

from the days of eternity.

Therefore He will give them up

until the time when she who is in labor

has borne a child.

Micah 5:2–3

Rachel has trouble in her labor. The midwife tries to encourage her by telling her she has another son. Rachel, however, knows that she is dying; her last words are in the naming of her son. She names him Ben-oni, which means “the son of my sorrow.” Jacob, however, changes his name and calls him Benjamin, which means “the son of my right hand.”

There are no coincidences with God. In the birth of this son, God gives us a beautiful picture of the comings of Christ. When Jesus came to the earth the first time, he came as the son of sorrow. He came to bear our sin and the sins of the world on His shoulders. He came the first time to die a substitutional death on the cross.

Oh, but, precious one, rejoice because He also is Benjamin, the Son of God’s right hand. “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3). When Jesus comes again, He will come in all His glory.

Oh Father,

How I thank You for my salvation. My Jesus, thank You for coming to bear my sins, to make the way for me to be forgiven and reconciled to God. ThankYou for now being my High Priest who stands at the right hand of God, interceding on my behalf (Hebrews 8:1).

My Jesus, thank You for the truth that I know You are coming again. The first time You came concerning sin, but the next time You will come for salvation, without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await (Hebrews 9:28). Come quickly, my Jesus. How I look forward to the day when all eyes will see You in Your glory; When all will know and when none can deny that You are King of kings and Lord of lords.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

Put Away

Put away the foreign gods

which are among you,

and purify yourselves

and change your garments.

Genesis 35:2

After the slaughter at Shechem, God comes to Jacob and tells him, once again, to go to Bethel and live there. God also says to build there an altar, but first Jacob and his family have business to attend to.

They have foreign gods among them; they have rings in their ears and garments on their bodies that represented these foreign gods, and they were to be removed.

These foreign gods were made by a goldsmith, formed by silver and gold. These foreign gods had to be carried around on someone’s shoulder. They had to be set in place and stood up by someone because they cannot stand up on their on. These foreign gods that had to be bought, formed, and stood were worshiped, and those who stood them bowed before them.

Jacob knew that it was not these foreign gods that had protected him and answered him in his day of distress. The family carried these foreign gods, but the One True God carried the family.

The God of Abraham and Isaac had been with Jacob wherever he had gone. Jacob did not have to pack God with the tents in order for Him to come along.

Jacob is finally completely surrendering to the Lord his God and is finally stepping up as the spiritual leader of his household.

Oh Father,

You have called us to be separate, and we are to put away all idols and everything that is in our lives that comes before You. We are to purify our hearts and change our actions and our attitudes so that they are in line with You. You called me to be Yours and to represent You and to be a holy priesthood and a light in this dark world. My light cannot shine if it is smeared with the muck of this world. My God, how I need You. You deserve nothing less than all of me. Show me how to give all I am to You.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

Like Father Like Son

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah,

whom she had borne to Jacob,

went out to visit the daughters of the land. When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite,

the prince of the land, saw her,

he took her

and lay with her by force.

Genesis 34:1–2

How dangerous it is for us to stop short of total obedience to God’s Word. We must never settle with “almost” and “close enough” when following the Lord. How careful we must be not to set up camp outside the umbrella of His will.

God does not hide from us the consequences of being outside His will. God does not hide the faults of His people. He does not sugarcoat the recording of the history of His people.

Jacob stopped short of where God called him to go, and now we are seeing the results. Dinah is raped, and things are about to get even worse. Shechem wants to marry Dinah, so he and his father come to Jacob to work out the arrangements. Dinah’s brothers speak deceitfully to Shechem and his father.

My friend, our children are watching us. Do you see the way of deception passing from generation to generation? Laban was a deceiver, as was his niece Rebekah, as was her son Jacob, and now we see, so were the sons of Jacob.

They devised a plan, claiming that Shechem and all the men of his land were to become like them and be circumcised, and then they would allow the marriage. Then they could all live peacefully together as one people.

When the men of the city complied with the circumcision (basically because they thought they would eventually end up with all that Jacob owned) and were in great pain, Simeon and Levi came in and attacked the city and killed every male, including Shechem and his father. They then took Dinah, along with all the wealth and possessions of the city, including all the women and children, and they returned to Jacob.

Jacob is not happy with his sons, and he scolds them for they have put the entire family in danger; yet Simeon and Levi show no remorse: “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?” (Genesis 34:31).

Doesn’t the old saying go “What a tangled web we weave when we deceive”?

Oh yes, my friend, our choices matter. Our children and all those little eyes and young hearts around us are watching.

Oh Father,

How I want to follow You. More than anything, I desire to be in Your will; to go where You go and be in Your presence. In complete obedience to You and Your Word, this is my desire. My Jesus, I want to serve You, and I want my family to serve You. The last thing I want to do is jeopardize my children simply to satisfy the desire of my flesh. Oh Father, make the way clear, the path straight; lead me in accordance with Your will. Strengthen me when I am weak and revive me when I am tired and help me to press on until You have completed Your work in me.

My Jesus, it is in Your name that I pray,

Amen.

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Some related blogs:

Obey All The Way

Train Up A Child Day 14

  

Good Is Not Always Right

Then he erected there an altar

and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

Genesis 33:20

Jacob has reconciled with Esau. He is supposed to be on his way home, for God’s command was to “return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives” (Genesis 31:3). Jacob stopped for a while in Succoth, and now he has made it to Shechem, where he has bought land and pitched his tent. Here he erects an altar and names it El-Elohe-Israel, or “God the God of Israel.”

We don’t know why Jacob chose to stop here and set up camp. Whatever his reason, we will soon see that he stopped too soon. Perhaps he thought that by erecting the altar he could compromise with God. Perhaps he thought he was making a wise decision, yet he does not consult his God.

Don’t we as the church, as individuals, sometimes just do what we want to and then expect God to bless it just because we say it is for Him and His kingdom? “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). How many “good” decisions made without seeking the counsel of God have brought bad consequences?

One of the hardest lessons in this journey through life is that what seems good is not always right. This is the privilege, the advantage; we have in following El Elyon, God Most High. Our God knows the beginning from the end, He knows the best path, and He will guide us if we will just listen. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth” ( John 16:13).

The bright moment here is that God is no longer just the God of Abraham and Isaac, but Jacob now proclaims Him as his God, the God of Jacob. Jacob has learned a lot about the God of his fathers in the past years, but he still has a lot to learn.

Don’t we all?

Oh Father,

Let me not set up camp too soon. Help me to always be where You desire me to be; not my will, but Your will be done. Oh Father, I have so many times made decisions based on my own knowledge instead of waiting for Your answer and for Your guidance. Never have those choices produced good results. This journey of life is not always easy, it is not always fun, and I long for the day that I am finally home; but until that day, help me to not grow weary. Let me not lose my love of the journey, the wonder of seeking You, the moments of revelation, the discoveries of truth. Let me place my foundations not in this world but in the solid rock of my Savior and His Word. Oh Father, may I chase after You and pursue You with a passionate heart.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

No Holds Barred

Then Jacob was left alone.

Genesis 32:24

Jacob was first a man of the flesh—he was Jacob the deceiver. He is now a man fighting and struggling within himself, and he sends everyone across the stream and is left alone. Soon he will encounter God in a way he never has before.

Jacob had encountered God at Bethel. At this encounter, Jacob responded to God by giving him a test: “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God” (Genesis 28:20–21).

Jacob then encountered God at Mahanaim in Genesis 32:1–12, and he called on Him to get him out of the mess he was in with Esau.

Now Jacob will encounter God again, and this time Jacob will encounter God with his heart. I believe God has been waiting for Jacob’s heart to finally call upon Him.

We all are first born of the flesh. We are all also born with God evident within us and around us (Romans 1:19). God blesses us all with encounters of His truth and with the reality of His presence (Psalm 19:1). We all have struggled in some way, wrestling with the idea of God.

Jacob now is alone with God. Here across the ford of Jabbok he goes toe to toe with a man, a man that I believe to be an angel, possibly even the pre-incarnate Christ. He wrestles with this angel. The angel allows Jacob to keep struggling with him, but he reaches out and dislocates Jacob’s thigh with just a touch of his hand. I believe he did this just to remind Jacob that he was in control the whole time.

Jacob did not let go after the touch. He held on tight. Jacob had finally come to realize that he needed God. He now understood that he could go no farther without God. He knew that he did not just want what God had to offer him; he did not just want God to get him out of trouble. He just wanted God.

Know, precious one, that if you are wrestling with God, He wrestles you as a lifeguard wrestles someone drowning in the water. Oftentimes when a person is drowning, he fights the one who is trying to save him as much as he fights the water that he is drowning in.

A lifeguard is trained to knock out a drowning victim if he continues to fight him so that he may safely bring him out of the water. God wrestles with us to bring us life and save us from this body of death. Sometimes God has to knock us out to save us. Sometimes He has to dislocate our thigh so that we remember that He is in control.

Ultimately we have to choose to either submit to Him and honor Him as God, or to keep fighting and become harder in heart and die without Him, eternally separated.

There comes a time in every person’s life when he or she is left alone, alone with God. The time will come in all our lives when the wrestling match will go toe-to-toe, no holds barred.

Have you been in the wrestling match?

Are you struggling with the reality of God?

Are you struggling with understanding that God desires all of you?

Are you fighting and struggling within yourself?

Have you realized that you agree with the law of God in your inner man but see that the members of your body do not want to obey His law?

Do you see that evil is present within you?

Is there a wrestling match going on between the law of your mind that knows what is right and this body of flesh that wants to do wrong?

Oh, precious one, have you cried out as Paul cried out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death” (Romans 7:24)?

Have you cried out as Jacob did, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26)?

This war, this wrestling match, does not end at salvation. While we remain here in this body of flesh, we will wage war. When we submit and hold on to God just as Jacob did, we too will become men and women obedient to the faith (Romans 16:25–27).

Have you been toe-to-toe with God?

Remember this, my friend: “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).

Remember that “in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Don’t let go, my friend.

Hold on to God; cling to Him; He will bless you.

Oh Father,

How I love You. You are my God. Oh Father, thank You that Your relationship with me is intimate and personal. Oh, thank You for Your Word, so that I may speak to You face-to-face. I can go toe-to-toe with You through Your Word. Then I must choose to either submit to You and Your Word and order my life accordingly or suffer the consequences of disobedience and unbelief. Oh Father, when times come that I wrestle with You, help me to tap out quickly. Oh Father, I believe in You and I trust in Your every word. Continue to transform me into the image of You from glory to glory
(2 Corinthians 3:18).

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

How To Say I'm Sorry

Then you shall say,

“These belong to your servant Jacob;

it is a present sent to my lord Esau.

And behold, he also is behind us.”

Genesis 32:18

How do we face someone we have wronged or angered?

We must face them in humility.

And according to Genesis 32:5, bringing along a gift appears to help.

Jacob is in the process of learning that if we are to be in a right relationship with God, we must also be in a right relationship with our fellow man. In Luke 2:52 we read that Jesus increased in favor with God and with man.

Christ came to be our Savior and to be our standard.

The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36–40). God simply will not allow us to go on unreconciled. God came in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ so that we could be reconciled to the fellowship that we lost with Him in the garden. He died for us and gave us the gift of the shed blood of His only begotten Son.

Christ went to the cross when it was not even He who had done the wrong. We wronged Him, yet He made the initiative to reconcile. “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10).

We are to forgive just as God forgave us and continues to forgive us. In Matthew 5:9 Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

Are you a peacemaker or a pot-stirrer?

 If Christ were to come to you today would He find you involved in strife, jealousy, gossip, disturbances (2 Corinthians 12:20), or would He find you being made complete, comforted, like-minded, living in peace (2 Corinthians 13:11)?

Are you quick to forgive?

Are you quick to seek forgiveness?

Oh, precious one, let us not give in to the schemes of Satan by holding on to unforgiveness or withholding forgiveness. Let us remember the example set for us by Jacob. Let us even more remember the example set for us by Jesus Christ, our Peacemaker.

Oh Father,

Open my eyes to anyone whom I have wronged that I might make it right. Oh Father, may Your Holy Spirit within me convict my heart when I have need to initiate a reconciliation. Help me to not hang on to unforgiveness. Help me, Father, to see to it that no one comes short of Your grace and that no bitter root springs up, causing trouble in the work of Your kingdom (Hebrews 12:15). And when I feel I have been wronged and someone comes to me to be reconciled, help me to always be ready to forgive. May I have already forgiven before the reconciliation attempt has even been made.

My Jesus, it is in Your name that I pray,

Amen.

Never let it be too late to apologize...