Category: OTC

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Jacob’s Dream and Double-cross; Jacob Flees

Genesis 27-31 and Psalm 8
Also read: John 1:50-51, Galatians 6:7

Rebekah hears Isaac’s plan to bless Esau, so she crafts a deception to allow Jacob to receive “the blessing” from Isaac. Of course, Jacob could have said no, but not only was Rebekah a strong leader, he wanted the reward offered by her scheme. The stage is set and Jacob plays his part well, lies to his father and receives the blessing. Esau finds out and is outraged as you would expect. This seems to be a typical Esau reaction, lots of words and anger, but later we’ll learn that he doesn’t act on the threats to kill his brother–he’s just piping mad! Who could blame him? Jacob stole his birthright over some lentil soup, now his father’s blessing.

The Stairway to Heaven

Jacob has a dream about a stairway from earth to heaven where angels are going up and down, a portal in our sci-fi imagination. God is standing above the stairway and declares that Jacob will receive all of the land before him and his descendants will fill the earth–basically Abraham’s blessing repeated. Jacob wakes up excited! He makes a vow to honor God.

Jacob continues on his journey to find a suitable spouse in Laban’s family. Jacob finds Rachel and is immediately in love with her, but Laban has his own plans in mind. Back when Isaac sent his servant to this land and found Rebekah, Laban wanted to delay the departure, but was thwarted by Rebekah. This time Laban will exact his will on Jacob by making him stay until he has fully taken what he wants from the exchange. For seven years Jacob works to receive Rachel’s hand in marriage only to be switched by Laban (my guess is Jacob had a lot of wine and didn’t notice who he was making love to that night–seriously?). He wakes up to discover the switch!

Another seven years for Rachel. Meanwhile, Leah gives birth to Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah (re: tribes). Rachel is barren, so she offers a servant as a proxy: Dan and Naphtali were born from Billah. Leah stopped having children, so her servant Zilpah was offered and she gave birth to Asher. Leah becomes pregnant again and has Issachar and Zebulun. Finally, Rachel has a son and names him Joseph. Thus the 12 tribes of Israel are born. Rachel and Leah worked hard for the privilege of having Jacob’s children. Through it all, we can see why Rachel favored Joseph over the others, but what a mess!

Jacob prospers and asks Laban to be released, but again Laban begs him to stay. Jacob has a plan to be released from Laban. His cunning scheme adds to the drama of this narrative and Jacob departs with better livestock. “So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob” (Genesis 30:42b).

Jacob is on the run again! Laban catches up to Jacob after three days, but God has told Laban in a dream not to say anything good or bad. In the dash, Rachel stole Laban’s gods. Laban searches but doesn’t find them (Rachel is hiding them in her saddle bags). Ultimately Laban concedes and agrees to let Jacob go with a blessing–after 20 years!

The famous Mizpah:

May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. Genesis 31:49

This is the agreement between Laban and Jacob as he finally is blessed to leave. An incredible story of deception and yet God still honors his commitment to Jacob.

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Esau Sells His Birthright

Genesis 25-26, Psalm 7

Malachi 1:2-5, Romans 9:6-16, Hebrews 12:16-17

Twins were born, probably not all that common, but not completely unheard of I’m sure. Hairy Esau was born first, but Jacob came out “with his hand grasping Esau’s heal” (Genesis 25:26). As a father of four daughters, I can identify with how very different siblings can be. In this case, Esau is the wild hunting man–perfect match for the SEC. Jacob hangs out around the tents, I can picture him reading books in the library, thinking of ways to build the family business while Esau is out hunting.

The narrative in Genesis 25:29-34 provide a glimpse into the relationship between the brothers. Esau comes in from a hunt a little too hungry and commands Jacob to give him some stew. Jacob sees an opportunity and says, “First sell me your birthright…Swear to me first.” The text simply says, “So Esau despised his birthright,” but I’m sure there was more happening in this scene, probably some words that didn’t get printed in the narrative. Psalm 7:15 includes:

“Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made”

This was no casual soup-to-birthright swap, this was Esau’s character epitomized by this particular event. God loved Jacob (Israel) and hated Esau (Edom) (see Malachi 1:2, Romans 9:13).

Genesis 26 reveals Isaac’s faithfulness to God and the rewards that are proffered to him as a result. Interestingly, in 26:7-11 we see the, “she is my sister” trick work for Isaac as it did for Abraham. I’m not sure what to think about this as it simply slips by in the Scriptures as a means to an end. Isaac and Abimelek reach an amicable arrangement and ultimately Isaac makes a very public treaty with Abimelek’s commander, “Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully” (Genesis 26:31).

Isaac becomes wealthy and prosperous without bloodshed or aggressive behavior. That alone is a valuable lesson to gain from these chapters. As I skim over the text that talks about Isaac I get the sense that he was magnificently obedient to God. When confronted over water rights issues, he dug another well. “He moved from there and dug another well, an no one quarreled over it” (Genesis 26:22). In our modern, often pushy society, we see many examples where the aggressive business-person is greatly successful, but that’s only because they are the ones that attract attention. When we read books like Good to Great, we learn that success doesn’t require arrogance. Just like Isaac, we can receive blessings through obedience.

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Isaac Gets Life

Genesis 22-24 and Hebrews 11:17-19, John 3:16, Romans 8:32

“Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”>Genesis 22:7

This is an amazing, familiar story that I’ve heard preached and taught several times. Isaac was born to Abraham as promised, now Abraham is put to an ultimate test.

One thing that caught my attention this morning was Isaac’s question, “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Apparently, Isaac was familiar with the system of sacrifice; that is, Abraham raised him in such a way that Isaac knew the process well: you willingly sacrifice the best you have for the Lord.

“and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:18

Surely Abraham knew God would bless him during his time on earth, but he had to know these words were set for some distant future–he would not fully realize the blessing. Lord, help me to be willing to sacrifice my best without reservation. Help me to understand that I might not see the future you have planned through some action I take today, but let me be true to your will.

Abraham dispatched a servant to find a wife for Isaac from his own people, very intentionally not from Canaan. The servant set off with a prayer that God would reveal the right woman to him when he got there. At the well, Rebekah showed incredible kindness to Abraham’s servant, so he concluded this was a providential meeting.  Rebekah’s father, Bethuel agreed that she would become Isaac’s wife. Somehow Laban is in the decision chain here and as they were getting ready to leave, he and Rebekah’s mother ask the servant to let her stay for 10 days or so before leaving. The servant suggests the decision will be Rebekah’s to make. Her willingness to go immediately continues the story of obedience. (Laban’s story continues later.)

May we all learn from these stories of great sacrifice and faith.

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Destruction and Birth

Genesis 19-21 and Psalm 6

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed. Whether an enormous earthquake (the consensus of the references I found) or some unknown catastrophic event, the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah were ultimately punished. Lot, his wife and two daughters flee at the bidding of the angels disguised as men “grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them” (Genesis 19:16).

“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” Genesis 19:26

Given the result, it seems fair to conclude that Lot’s wife didn’t just glance over her shoulder; rather, she was consumed by her desire for that which was left behind. When Jesus was teaching his disciples about the end times, he referenced this narrative: Luke 17:28-29, 17:32.

“Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it” Luke 17:32-33a

Once again we see the need to understand the Old Testament better to appreciate the references from the New Testament. It’s important to see what has happened to appreciate what will happen. Lord, increase my understanding!

Lot’s two daughters were apparently raised in such depravity that they conspired to get their father drunk and have sex with him in order to have children. Thus we have the beginning of the Moabites and the Ammonites from which battles will ensue in the coming generations.

Abraham and Abimelek — “She’s my sister” a second time. Abraham uses the same ploy a second time (and Sarah added ‘He is my brother.’ Abimelek has a dream that reveals the deception and has a meeting with Abraham where he explains the riddle,

Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother.'”Genesis 20:12-13

There is truth and there is the whole truth. Interesting. Abimelek gives Abraham lots of stuff and Abraham prays for him. Thus Abraham is again rewarded for this deception.

The Birth of Issac

Just as the angel said, Sarah became pregnant at the age of 90 (Abraham became the father of Issac at 100). Somehow they still have a sense of humor about the entire affair:

God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. Genesis 21:6

Sarah must be filled with joy as she realizes that God allowed her to have a son, so much so that everyone will laugh with her. It’s a wonderful image. But once again, Sarah is extremely unhappy with Hagar and Ishmael, so Abraham sends them out. God provides for Hagar in the desert of Paran. They are now out of Sarah’s way!

God is the Lord of promises kept. As humans, we tend to make a mess of everything, but God works with us anyway! Praise God for his patience, his providence, his protection and relentless pursuit of his people.

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Ishmael Born, Abraham and Sarah Laugh

Genesis 16-18 and Galatians 4:21-31

Abram was 75 when the journey began (Genesis 12:4). At 86, Hagar bore him Ishmael. It was common in those days for a proxy to support child-bearing in support of the larger family. Sarai did what the locals would do and Abram agreed with the plan. Together, they pitch in to “help God” with his plan to create a nation through Abram. They are doing what seems right to man, but this is not God’s plan. The story quickly gets ugly as Hagar despises Sarai and likewise Sarai is angry about the whole affair. But God comforts Hagar and promises Ishmael will become the father of many.

The story picks up 13 years later…13 years! It’s hard to imagine the interaction within this family for so much time, but here we see more than a decade passes. Now, at 99, God has a chat with Abram,

I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers…your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. Genesis 17:1-5, 15

Now Lord? Abraham laughs to himself and says, really Lord? The Lord hears his laughter, the question in his heart and continues to explain he will have a son with Sarah and his name will be Issac.

Three visitors meet Abraham near the great trees of Mamre: The Lord and two others (18:1). This time Sarah is the one who laughs to herself and is called out by one of the visitors.

Abraham bargains with God for the lives of the few good people in Sodom: 50, 45, 40, 30, 20 and finally 10. If there are 10 righteous people found, he would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

In Galatians, Paul provides this contrast: “His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise” (Galatians 4:23). In this sermon, Paul teaches us that we are born of freedom, not of slavery, “we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.”

Reading the reference in Galatians alongside Genesis helps to understand the sermon; those who originally heard this lesson probably knew the story of Ishmael and Issac well. For us, we simply need to read by the Old and New Testament stories to gain an appreciation for what God is telling us in the Bible.

Obedience. This is all about being obedient to God, hearing his promise and living out the plan he has for our lives. It might make us laugh at times, but God hears the laughter and is not moved. Lord help me to see your plans clearly and keep me from pushing my agenda ahead of yours!

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God’s Covenant with Abraham

Genesis 12-15 and Psalm 5

“…in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness” Psalm 5:4-5

King David teaches us a lot about transparency by writing many of the psalms that reveal his frustration with those who seek to undermine God’s people. David made plenty of mistakes, but he always came back to God and entreated others to do the same. “Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies–make your way straight before me” (5:8). Just as we sing songs that repeat phrases as we emotionally pour ourselves out to God, David repeated asks the Lord to lead him and to wipe out the wicked; both with trust that God would do what he has promised.

And so we begin the amazing story of Abraham in Genesis 12. A story of promise, another covenant between God and a humble man. From the very beginning God’s promise is emphasized, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2).

So Abram took his family, everything they had, and completed the trip his father begun–they went to Canaan. There was famine in the land, so they packed up and headed to Egypt where Abram’s first deception plays out, “Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” Apparently, Sarai is quite beautiful, so Abram has a plan to take advantage of the Pharaoh’s eye for women…and it worked. Pharaoh’s men took Sarai to the palace and Abram was able to acquire cattle, servants, etc. When Pharaoh discovered Sarai was Abram’s wife he made them leave the country, but they were allowed to take all they had accumulated. So they departed.

Abram became quite wealthy and accumulated livestock with his nephew Lot, to the point that they needed to part ways to make room for the animals. Abram gave Lot the choice and Lot chose what he considered the better option in the area of Sodom. As time went on, the kings of the surrounding lands began to fight, “four kings agains five.” The band of four kings seized Lot and his possessions and took them away. The news was reported to Abram, so a rescue mission was planned with “the 318 men born in his household” (Genesis 14:14). This morning I noticed the phrase, “The 318 men…” not some random group, this is “the” group. According the NIV Study Bible notes, “the Hebrew for ‘trained men’ is found only here in the Bible.” Interesting.

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed AbramGenesis 14:18

The King of Sodom tries to make a deal with Abram, but he is rebuffed harshly, “I will accept nothing by what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me.”

Abram is still troubled that he has no child of his own blood. The Lord hears his lament and reminds him of the promise, “He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars–if indeed you can count them…so shall your offspring be.'” The response: “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” As Abram struggles with understanding how all of this will happen, God makes a covenant with Abram and gives him a glimpse of the future where his descendants flourish.

In Romans 4 Paul points to this text as the basis for preaching justification by faith over works, “therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring…He is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16). See also Galatians 3:6-14.

Lord let us be a people of faith. Help us to learn from the example Abram showed — all the honor and glory belong to you.

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Sin Spreads Worldwide

Genesis 5-6

Chapter 5 describes the long lifespans of mankind before The Flood. Some would argue they had a different definition of years in those days, but the theme I get is man lived, multiplied and died…except for Enoch. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away (Genesis 5:24). He must have been a model follower of all God had envisioned. “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death…he was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5).

What is really meant by “Sons of God” and “Daughters of Humans” and who were “The Nephilim” mentioned in Genesis 6:4?

These are hard topics to discuss because we lack details and as a result the “experts” provide all kinds of interesting insight. Those who are far from Christ will use these types of references in an attempt to destroy our credibility. Many of those who have been raised in the church don’t even know how to approach the subject because they weren’t taught much (back to the “lack of details” concept).

If we are to be the light and salt in this every postmodern world, we must not simply skip verses we don’t understand. At the same time, it doesn’t make sense to overemphasize concepts that aren’t well substantiated. All that to say, in my perspective, we should step back and look at what God is telling us in Genesis 5 through most of chapter 11 — this is the core theme: mankind (that which God created, Genesis 5:1-2) had become corrupt and required a restart. I’ll continue to pray for insight into the sons and daughters and Nephilim, but I cannot ignore that there is evil in this world, that there are those bent on selfish desires of their fleeting flesh. So there, I just skipped verses I don’t understand, but at least with the caveat that I don’t fully understand them either. I hope I’m not a stumbling block for someone reaching out to Christ as a result.

We will soon see the full fury of God’s wrath in the next few chapters. This prelude gives us a glimpse of creation in chaos. Such disorder is not acceptable to God and he will put an end to those who have taken sin to an extreme.

Noah is given a job to do because of his reputation, his faithfulness. The weight of this responsibility is beyond my comprehension. God provides detailed instructions to preserve life as the world gets a jump start. We teach this in kids Bibles and VBS all the time, but honestly, it’s one of the saddest stories in the Bible. It truly breaks my heart to think about the masses of humanity that died as a result of depravity. I’m not questioning God here, just extremely sad.

God help us to pull people out of darkness and into your great and glorious light!

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Sin Spreads to Family

Genesis 4, Psalm 2

The lesson from Cain and Abel is still very much alive today. Even within my own family I see examples of how one brings an offering with truly good intents while another has ulterior motives. Thankfully, at least to date, the worst of the motives are petty in nature, nothing like Cain!

Sadly though, reading the local newspaper reveals the darkest of hearts still exists in our local communities. So sad, especially in these small, rural communities. Given the number of people in large metro areas, you would expect to find stories of violent domestic disturbances, just because the statistics favor large numbers, but here?

We need to be aware of the struggles that people are dealing with on the inside. This is only possible when we build relationships, something that takes time and only happens when we truly care about our neighbors.

In many ways I think we’ve lost the art of making friends. Facebook teaches us that you click to add friends and while we all know that’s not reality is subtly creeps into our subconscious thoughts. Dale Carnegie’s famous, How to Win Friends and Influence People, was a book based on biblical principles written to an audience that was generally interested in learning how to apply these concepts. I’m not a big fan of wikipedia, but take a glance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People. Don’t misunderstand me, we don’t “handle” people or in any way, shape or form try to manipulate them to our way of thinking, but if we are students of Jesus Christ, we will see the 20th century principles Carnegie was trying to convey.

If we are not thinking like Christians, these same principles can be used to manipulate others as well. Why? Because we are social beings. God intended for us to be a community, to be in community with one another.

The narrative in Genesis 4 doesn’t explain why Cain’s offering wasn’t acceptable, at least not directly. When we read the rest of the story, especially Genesis 4:7, we see that there is something going on beyond the simple offering of grain, the fruit of the land.

“…But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Abel offers the best from the flock and apparently Cain picked up what was simple and common. God provided an opportunity for Cain to learn, knowing what would happen next.  Hebrews 11:4 stresses that faith was the key to Abel’s offering, his intent was righteous.

Lord, sharpen my senses to see that my own intentions are righteous, are a worthy offering to you. Teach me to learn your ways, each day. Help me to show others the strength in community, even though it requires time and energy.

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God’s Breath of Life and the Fall of Humanity

Genesis 2-3, 1 John 4:7-8, 12

Community. God wants us to live in community, to love one another as he first loved us. The picture of the Garden of Eden is one of perfection that was marred by temptation, by listening to the voice of the great deceiver. God’s plan was for man and woman to live together in harmony. When sin entered into the equation, the plan changed.

Satan enters the story in Genesis 3, early in the account of creation, setting the stage forever. The great deceiver begins by luring Eve into a conversation, “Did God really say…” Eve’s response is interesting because it seems that she adds a provision we don’t see in Genesis 2:16-17, “…you must not touch it…” Of course, God could have given them a list of rules and we only see the summary in 16-17, but here’s the reality: Eve and Satan are having a conversation, worse: Eve is listening to the serpent. That cannot end well.

Adam is complicit as well. Eve offers him the fruit and he eats it even though he knows the simple command that God provided. Peer pressure to the extreme, perhaps, but Adam knew (“who was with her”) and he disobeyed, “and he ate it.”

At this moment God could have simply cleaned the slate and started over, but that was not his reaction. Mankind is forever changed, but with a desire for restoration, not termination.

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The word enmity is not something I hear in conversation, so I looked it up: Webster’s provides this simple definition: “a very deep unfriendly feeling.” Dictionary.com is stronger, “a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism” and Google shows, “the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.” It looks like Webster is trying not to offend people (seriously!). When I insert one of these definitions into the verse, it helps me understand a bit more:

And I will put [the state of being actively opposed] between [Satan] and [women]…

Ultimately woman will give birth to Jesus who will crush Satan forever and erase this curse as Paul describes at the end of Romans (Romans 16:20), “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

There is a lot to consider with these few verses. The introduction of sin into our world is a heavy subject, one that is hard to discuss with those who have been raised without God in their lives. We need to wrestle with this concept because as we begin to understand how sin entered the world we will see how the Bible provides the narrative to tell the story of God’s relentless desire to restore our relationship. This gives us the knowledge to explain how Christ came to relinquish sin (pain and suffering) and restore God’s creation. As we grow in this knowledge we prepare ourselves to give an answer to everyone who asks us for the reason we have hope (1 Peter 3:15) — the hope of the world — Jesus Christ.

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God’s Good Creation

Genesis 1 and Psalm 1

From the beginning God’s essence includes the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. In verse 26, the triune nature of God is presented as he created mankind, male and female in his image, “let us make mankind…”

If God is invisible, what do you think “created in the image of God” means? This is actually the first time I thought about the question. I’ve never really thought about God being invisible and creating visible beings. But perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to assume that this creative moment is meant to be bound by human flesh. We know the mortal body will eventually return to dust. What is left of that which God created then?

We are not mere mortals, as C.S. Lewis reminds us. If we believe each of us embodies a life of eternity, we must treat each other with great love, compassion and respect. Since we are created with the DNA of God, we have the opportunity to be the light of the world, one candle at a time. If we would simply trust that God will ultimately handle those who are wicked, just let go of self-righteous thoughts and focus on reaching those who are far from Christ, we would advance God’s kingdom here on earth beyond our wildest imagination.

The creation story doesn’t satisfy scientists, but I’m pretty confident that was never its purpose. The story assures us that God put things in motion, in order, by his hand. Psalm 1 reminds us that he will stay in control.

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