Fear the Lord and Live Rightly

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

Deuteronomy 6:20-25 The Message

20-24 The next time your child asks you, “What do these requirements and regulations and rules that God, our God, has commanded mean?” tell your child, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God powerfully intervened and got us out of that country. We stood there and watched as God delivered miracle-signs, great wonders, and evil-visitations on Egypt, on Pharaoh and his household. He pulled us out of there so he could bring us here and give us the land he so solemnly promised to our ancestors. That’s why God commanded us to follow all these rules so that we would live reverently before God, our God, as he gives us this good life, keeping us alive for a long time to come.
25 “It will be a set-right and put-together life for us if we make sure that we do this entire commandment in the Presence of God, our God, just as he commanded us to do.”

For Reflection

What do you tell yourself when you collide with a commandment? The notion of rules regulates a society.  Without them, there is chaos, everyone doing as he or she pleases without regard for anyone else but themselves. The networks established for safety, security and the fulfillment of the promise of humanity as God has intended would become impossible to sustain. Humanity would disappear. It would self-destruct.

And yet, sometimes the rules are in conflict. Just making more rules increases the potential for confusion.  That is when only one rule matters. The first rule of justice is love.

Pray

Pray so that you can live reverently with confidence in the Lord.

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Do What Is Right and Good

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

Deuteronomy 6:16-19 The Message

13-19 Deeply respect God, your God. Serve and worship him exclusively. Back up your promises with his name only. Don’t fool around with other gods, the gods of your neighbors, because God, your God, who is alive among you is a jealous God. Don’t provoke him, igniting his hot anger that would burn you right off the face of the Earth. Don’t push God, your God, to the wall as you did that day at Massah, the Testing-Place. Carefully keep the commands of God, your God, all the requirements and regulations he gave you. Do what is right; do what is good in God’s sight so you’ll live a good life and be able to march in and take this pleasant land that God so solemnly promised through your ancestors, throwing out your enemies left and right—exactly as God said.

For Reflection

Whatever happened to the concept of the "greater good?" Have we become so self-absorbed that "We" bears less importance than "I?" What happens when we are seduced into doing the wrong, hurtful things and claim the false righteousness in the name of God? How long can we provoke God?  Remember that God is love, not hate. 

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to judge what is right and good in the eyes of God.  

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Fulfilling the Royal Law

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

James 2:18 The Message (MSG)

18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department; I’ll handle the works department.”
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

For Reflection

Professing Christianity is professing the law of love.  It is the law of laws, the foundation of all law and the arbitrator of all legal conflicts. Talking the talk is nothing if one doesn't walk the walk.

Pray

Pray with your hands and feet. Pray in service to the living God.  Walk the walk.

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Treat Your Neighbors Justly

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

Leviticus 19:13-18 The Message

13 “Don’t exploit your friend or rob him.
“Don’t hold back the wages of a hired hand overnight.
14 “Don’t curse the deaf; don’t put a stumbling block in front of the blind; fear your God. I am God.
15 “Don’t pervert justice. Don’t show favoritism to either the poor or the great. Judgeon the basis of what is right.
16 “Don’t spread gossip and rumors.
“Don’t just stand by when your neighbor’s life is in danger. I am God.
17 “Don’t secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out into the open; otherwise, you are an accomplice in his guilt.
18 “Don’t seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people.
“Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God.

For Reflection

Here are prayers prayed with the body. There are a bunch of "don'ts" and a few "dos."  These are active morality prayers. They portray the kind of behavior one expects of one who purports to love God. They are the opposite of "Me first!" Act toward others as you wish they act toward you.

Pray

Pray so that you act in love. Pray so that you begin to love as God loves. Pray so that others would say of you, "There goes a good person."

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The Most Important insrtuction

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Devotion

Matthew 22:37-40 The Message

37-40 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

For Reflection

What does it mean to love God?  Loving God means that you are in a mutually advantageous relationship.  You are bound to God and God is bound to you.  You help God to further God's kingdom, and God helps you to discover the paths to comfort and joy.  One in a loving relationship must not place himself or herself above the other.  They enjoy an equitable share of the consequences and an equal share of the responsibilities.
In the same way, one must love others as one loves one's self. In this scenario, each is responsible and connected to the other, a symbiosis of Love. One vast network of loving souls.

Pray

Pray about all things so that you can strengthen your loving relationship with God.  Hold nothing back. Pray so that you can trust God and God can trust you.

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Rachel gives Birth to Two Sons

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 30:22-24; 35:16-22 The Message

22-24 And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, “God has taken away my humiliation.” She named him Joseph (Add), praying, “May God add yet another son to me.”
16-17 They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid—you have another boy.”
18 With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).
19-20 Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, “Rachel’s Grave Stone.”
21-22 Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did.

For Reflection

Life is messy. Balancing our ego-driven motives with more altruistic ones is a constant struggle. It is the basis of our most frequent sufferings. Perhaps through the story of Jacob and Laban, we can begin to understand that the will of God persists.  And then these stories of intrigue, treachery, and betrayal become a source of hope.  Through the joy and suffering, we see the guiding hand of God and the power in the freedom to choose God's will. 

Pray

Pray so that you perceive life's challenges and uncertainties as opportunities to choose love over hate and compassion over the treacherous betrayal of God's saving grace.

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Jacob and Laban Make Peace

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 31:43-50 The Message

43-44 Laban defended himself: “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they’ve had? So let’s settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us.”
45 Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.
46-47 Jacob called his family around, “Get stones!” They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).
48-50 Laban said, “This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me.” (That’s why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, “God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there’s no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us.”

For Reflection

So Jacob and Labab buried the hatchet and raised the stones.  After all the greed, and treachery, they resolve a covenant. They mark the truce with a monument as a witness of their new beginning. No grudges held; no blame assigned. The Covenant is sealed and protected by God.

Pray

Pray so that you can bury your conflicts and over the resting place raise a monument to peace.  To those with whom you war make peace and erect a lifetime of reconciliation as a living prayer to our creator.

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Jacob Flees Laban

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 31:1-9 The Message

31 1-2 Jacob learned that Laban’s sons were talking behind his back: “Jacob has used our father’s wealth to make himself rich at our father’s expense.” At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn’t treating him the same.
3 That’s when God said to Jacob, “Go back home where you were born. I’ll go with you.”
4-9 So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were. He said, “I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn’t treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn’t changed; he’s still with me. You know how hard I’ve worked for your father. Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me. If he said, ‘Your wages will consist of speckled animals’ the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, ‘From now on your wages will be streaked animals’ the whole flock would have streaked ones. Over and over God used your father’s livestock to reward me.

For Reflection

The story of Jacob and Laban is a peculiar story about which I can't seem to get a robust notion.  We are in part a product of our experiences. Here we see Jacob's selfish urges dominate him with unsatisfying results.

Throughout this story, Jacob changes. He controls his egoistic urges and becomes more righteous. Perhaps over the twenty years of service to Laban, he saw the worst of himself reflected in Laban. In a sense, suffering Laban's treachery helped Jacob find that point in his soul which with God's help ignited Jacob's transformation.

Pray

Pray so that your suffering, mild or severe, ignites that spark in your soul that makes you yearn for the life God has intended you to enjoy.  Pray so that you will strive to achieve God's will for you and all of humanity.

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Leah Gives Birth to Four Sons

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 29:31-35 The Message

31-32 When God realized that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and had a son. She named him Reuben (Look-It’s-a-Boy!). “This is a sign,” she said, “that God has seen my misery; and a sign that now my husband will love me.”
33-35 She became pregnant again and had another son. “God heard,” she said, “that I was unloved and so he gave me this son also.” She named this one Simeon (God-Heard). She became pregnant yet again—another son. She said, “Now maybe my husband will connect with me—I’ve given him three sons!” That’s why she named him Levi (Connect). She became pregnant a final time and had a fourth son. She said, “This time I’ll praise God.” So she named him Judah (Praise-God). Then she stopped having children.

For Reflection

I'm sure Jacob did not see God's intention in the marriage swap. But God knew what Leah needed. Unloved by her husband, Leah was blessed with children and her inner beauty was undeniable. God always has an eye on those who suffer.

Pray

Pray so that your selfish desires will not hide the will of God in the ebb and flow of everyday life.

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Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 29:15-30 The Message

14-15 Laban said, “You’re family! My flesh and blood!”
When Jacob had been with him for a month, Laban said, “Just because you’re my nephew, you shouldn’t work for me for nothing. Tell me what you want to be paid. What’s a fair wage?”
16-18 Now Laban had two daughters; Leah was the older and Rachel the younger. Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful. And it was Rachel that Jacob loved.
So Jacob answered, “I will work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19 “It is far better,” said Laban, “that I give her to you than marry her to some outsider. Yes. Stay here with me.”
20 So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel. But it only seemed like a few days, he loved her so much.
21-24 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife; I’ve completed what we agreed I’d do. I’m ready to consummate my marriage.” Laban invited everyone around and threw a big feast. At evening, though, he got his daughter Leah and brought her to the marriage bed, and Jacob slept with her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.)
25 Morning came: There was Leah in the marriage bed!
Jacob confronted Laban, “What have you done to me? Didn’t I work all this time for the hand of Rachel? Why did you cheat me?”
26-27 “We don’t do it that way in our country,” said Laban. “We don’t marry off the younger daughter before the older. Enjoy your week of honeymoon, and then we’ll give you the other one also. But it will cost you another seven years of work.”
28-30 Jacob agreed. When he’d completed the honeymoon week, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.) Jacob then slept with her. And he loved Rachel more than Leah. He worked for Laban another seven years.

For Reflection

Ironic isn't it?  Jacob gets bamboozled again. But in God's time and at God's pace all will end well.  

Gods plan for human perfection is mysterious and difficult to see with a human eye.  God is patient. God is loving. God's creation was conceived in love and is propelled forward in love.


Pray
Pray so that you will be more able to discern and accept God's intentions for your life.

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Nathanael Will See Greater Things

God Blesses and Recreates

Jacob Forms a Relationship with God

John 1:47-51 The Message

47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
48 Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51 Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”

For Reflection

Jesus saw something in Nathaneal that interested him and commented on Nathaneal's ethics  Nathaneal was a man without deceit, a man that was worth emulating, a man who spoke the truth and could be trusted.

I want to be known as Nathaneal was known. 

Pray

Pray, so you can become known for your trustworthiness and competence.

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Tithe to Support the Community

God Blesses and Recreates

Jacob Forms a Relationship with God

Deuteronomy 14:22-29 The Message

22-26 Make an offering of ten percent, a tithe, of all the produce which grows in your fields year after year. Bring this into the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates for worship and there eat the tithe from your grain, wine, and oil and the firstborn from your herds and flocks. In this way, you will learn to live in deep reverence before God, your God, as long as you live. But if the place God, your God, designates for worship is too far away and you can’t carry your tithe that far, God, your God, will still bless you: exchange your tithe for money and take the money to the place God, your God, has chosen to be worshiped. Use the money to buy anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, or beer—anything that looks good to you. You and your family can then feast in the Presence of God, your God, and have a good time.
27 Meanwhile, don’t forget to take good care of the Levites who live in your towns; they won’t get any property or inheritance of their own as you will.
28-29 At the end of every third year, gather the tithe from all your produce of that year and put it aside in storage. Keep it in reserve for the Levite who won’t get any property or inheritance as you will, and for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow who live in your neighborhood. That way they’ll have plenty to eat and God, your God, will bless you in all your work.

For Reflection

"Follow the money!" If you want to know what is essential to people, look for how they spend their money. One can have many high priority interests. But by giving to God first, sacrificing ten percent of money time and talent one not only deepens his or her commitment to God but also how invested one is in his or her faith.

God has provided plenty. We are the stewards of God's creation. It is our task to see that God's plenteous resources are equitably distributed so that few suffer and all prosper.

Pray

Pray so that your relationship to God grows stronger each day. Pray so that you will share God's gifts.

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A Great Priest for the People

God Blesses and Recreates

Jacob Forms a Relationship with God

Hebrews 10:19-25 The Message

Don’t Throw It All Away

19-21 So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.
22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

For Reflection

The Christ event shook the foundations of the Jewish faith practice.  No longer did they need an intermediary.  Christ has shown that they and we are free to address God personally and boldly. The holy place now surrounds us. 

The ability to address God directly also carries a tremendous personal responsibility.  We can no longer hide behind the form of our religion or escape personal responsibility for our worthiness. We can no longer seperate our secular lives from our spiritual ones.  Worship, like prayer, is a matter of our becoming more and more like Christ each day, loving as Christ has loved and serving as Christ has served.

Pray

Pray with your mind, your soul and your hands.  Pray so that you can grow into grace as God has intended.

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Elijah Meets God's Angel

God Blesses and Recreates

Jacob Forms a Relationship with God

1 Kings 19:4-9 The Message

3-5 When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day’s journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: “Enough of this, God! Take my life—I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave!” Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush.
Suddenly an angel shook him awake and said, “Get up and eat!”
6 He looked around and, to his surprise, right by his head were a loaf of bread baked on some coals and a jug of water. He ate the meal and went back to sleep.
7 The angel of God came back, shook him awake again, and said, “Get up and eat some more—you’ve got a long journey ahead of you.”
8-9 He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep.
Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”

For Reflection

Jacob, fearing the wrath of Jezebel, flees and rests in the shade of a bush. Despondent, this once strong man had become weak. God sent a messenger and pushed Jacob into action in spite of his depression.
Sometimes we make tremendous strides in the forward movement of God's Kingdom only to have the accomplishments seem to fade away under the rule of an unrighteous leader. The story of Jacob reminds us that no matter what, God's will for human reconciliation will be one day fully realized.

Pray

Pray and receive the comfort that only God can give. Pray and rest in the knowledge that God is in charge and is leading his creation to the fulfillment of God's promise of reconciliation and peace. Pray prayers of thanksgiving for the opportunity to serve the will of God.

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Samuel Hears the Word of. God

God Blesses and Recreates

Jacob Forms a Relationship with God

1 Samuel 3:1-9 The Message 

“Speak, God. I’m Ready to Listen”

3 1-3 The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli’s direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen. One night Eli was sound asleep (his eyesight was very bad—he could hardly see). It was well before dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still burning. Samuel was still in bed in the Temple of God, where the Chest of God rested.
4-5 Then God called out, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Yes? I’m here.” Then he ran to Eli saying, “I heard you call. Here I am.”
Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” And so he did.
6-7 God called again, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel got up and went to Eli, “I heard you call. Here I am.”
Again Eli said, “Son, I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” (This all happened before Samuel knew God for himself. It was before the revelation of God had been given to him personally.)
8-9 God called again, “Samuel!”—the third time! Yet again Samuel got up and went to Eli, “Yes? I heard you call me. Here I am.”
That’s when it dawned on Eli that God was calling the boy. So Eli directed Samuel, “Go back and lie down. If the voice calls again, say, ‘Speak, God. I’m your servant, ready to listen.’” Samuel returned to his bed.

For Reflection

To what extent are you ready to listen? Samuel had to be told that the voice he heard was God's call. God speaks to us in unexpected ways. Sometimes like Samuel, we hear this little inner voice and we ask, "Could it be?" Occasionally, we are suddenly aware of an urge to act, a feeling that won't go away. At times it comes from the voices of others that result in a compelling response to service.
Just hearing the call tells you something about the work of the Holy Spirit in your soul. It says you are tied to God in a unique way that requires a choice to accept God's call and follow it to its conclusion.  God's call is the spark that ignites your soul into action.

Pray

The call of God demands a response.  Seek the wisdom of God through prayer.  Pray so that you can see more clearly the intentions of God's request.  Pray so that you can discover the most loving choice you can make.  Pray so that you are open to the pathways God has prepared for you.  Pray so that you will have courage and conviction to follow through. Pray so that you can hear God's whispered counsel. 

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Esau Loses Blessing: Exiled

God Blesses and Recreates

A Troubled Birth

Genesis 27:30-40 The Message 

30-31 And then right after Isaac had blessed Jacob and Jacob had left, Esau showed up from the hunt. He also had prepared a hearty meal. He came to his father and said, “Let my father get up and eat of his son’s game, that he may give me his personal blessing.”
32 His father Isaac said, “And who are you?”
“I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Isaac started to tremble, shaking violently. He said, “Then who hunted game and brought it to me? I finished the meal just now,before you walked in. And I blessed him—he’s blessed for good!”
34 Esau, hearing his father’s words, sobbed violently and most bitterly, and cried to his father, “My father! Can’t you also bless me?”
35 “Your brother,” he said, “came here falsely and took your blessing.”
36 Esau said, “Not for nothing was he named Jacob, the Heel. Twice now he’s tricked me: firsthe took my birthright and now he’s taken my blessing.”
He begged, “Haven’t you kept back any blessing for me?”
37 Isaac answered Esau, “I’ve made him your master, and all his brothers his servants, and lavished grain and wine on him. I’ve given it all away. What’s left for you, my son?”
38 “But don’t you have just one blessing for me, Father? Oh, bless me myfather! Bless me!” Esau sobbed inconsolably.
39-40 Isaac said to him,
You’ll live far from Earth’s bounty,
    remote from Heaven’s dew.
You’ll live by your sword, hand-to-mouth,
    and you’ll serve your brother.
But when you can’t take it anymore
    you’ll break loose and run free.

For Reflection

Here we have a story where the patriarch, Isaac acts contrary to God's prediction, Esau, the firstborn wants his birthright even though he has no real interest in it, and his brother driven by greed conspires with his Mother to steal the inheritance, thus fulfilling God's prediction.

Both sons suffered immensely Jacob and Esau finally reconciled. Jacob repented and became the founder of Israel and Esau the founder of Edom. God's promise was fulfilled.

This is a story of the evolutional process of God's intention for humanity.  If one reads only the first part of the story, one has difficulty seeing the will of God at work.  It is difficult to see God's intention in the midst of the moments of suffering.  But in the end, all that has transpired turns to good.

 "For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." (1 John 5:4)

Pray

Pray so that you develop confidence in God even when the outcomes are difficult to predict.  Pray so that you will be able to see more clearly the intention of God in the pleasure and pain  of everyday life.

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Rebekah Diverts Isaac to Bless Jacob

God Blesses and Recreates

A Troubled Birth

Genesis 27:5-17 The Message

5-7 Rebekah was eavesdropping as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. As soon as Esau had gone off to the country to hunt game for his father, Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob. “I just overheard your father talking with your brother, Esau. He said, ‘Bring me some game and fix me a hearty meal so that I can eat and bless you with God’s blessing before I die.’
8-10 “Now, my son, listen to me. Do what I tell you. Go to the flock and get me two young goats. Pick the best; I’ll prepare them into a hearty meal, the kind that your father loves. Then you’ll take it to your father, he’ll eat and bless you before he dies.”
11-12 “But Mother,” Jacob said, “my brother Esau is a hairy man and I have smooth skin. What happens if my father touches me? He’ll think I’m playing games with him. I’ll bring down a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”
13 “If it comes to that,” said his mother, “I’ll take the curse on myself. Now, just do what I say. Go and get the goats.”
14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother and she cooked a hearty meal, the kind his father loved so much.
15-17 Rebekah took the dress-up clothes of her older son Esau and put them on her younger son Jacob. She took the goatskins and covered his hands and the smooth nape of his neck. Then she placed the hearty meal she had fixed and fresh bread she’d baked into the hands of her son Jacob.

For Reflection

Treachery is impossible among those who keep the word of God in the manner of Jesus Christ.  The loving relationships among Christians override the emotions that drive such action.

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to respond to emerging events with love and compassion. Pray so that you can drive out the natural selfish responses and displace them with supportive behavior.

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Rescued for Egypt and Settled in Caanan

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Choose to Love and Serve God

Joshua 24:4-12 The Message

2-6 “This is what God, the God of Israel, says: A long time ago your ancestors, Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor, lived to the east of the River Euphrates. They worshiped other gods. I took your ancestor Abraham from the far side of The River. I led him all over the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac. Then I gave Isaac Jacob and Esau. I let Esau have the mountains of Seir as home, but Jacob and his sons ended up in Egypt. I sent Moses and Aaron. I hit Egypt hard with plagues and then led you out of there. I brought your ancestors out of Egypt. You came to the sea, the Egyptians in hot pursuit with chariots and cavalry, to the very edge of the Red Sea!
7-10 “Then they cried out for help to God. He put a cloud between you and the Egyptians and then let the sea loose on them. It drowned them.
“You watched the whole thing with your own eyes, what I did to Egypt. And then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. I brought you to the country of the Amorites, who lived east of the Jordan, and they fought you. But I fought for you and you took their land. I destroyed them for you. Then Balak son of Zippor made his appearance. He was the king of Moab. He got ready to fight Israel by sending for Balaam son of Beor to come and curse you. But I wouldn’t listen to Balaam—he ended up blessing you over and over! I saved you from him.
11 “You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The Jericho leaders ganged up on you as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but I turned them over to you.
12 “I sent the Hornet ahead of you. It drove out the two Amorite kings—did your work for you. You didn’t have to do a thing, not so much as raise a finger

For Reflection

The story of the Hebrews is a remembrance of how God delivered them out of bondage. Their faith is mostly defined and encouraged by the interactions they have had with God. This God is not mythical, or only spiritual.  This God is active in the lives and history of God's chosen. Salvation is a real physical event.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to understand God more fully. Pray so that you can experience God's holy spirit in your growth in grace and God's hand in your material life.

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Isaac Prepares to Bless Esau

Genesis 27:1-4 The Message

27 When Isaac had become an old man and was nearly blind, he called his eldest son, Esau, and said, “My son.”
“Yes, Father?”
2-4 “I’m an old man,” he said; “I might die any day now. Do me a favor: Get your quiver of arrows and your bow and go out in the country and hunt me some game. Then fix me a hearty meal, the kind that you know I like, and bring it to me to eat so that I can give you my personal blessing before I die.”

For Reflection

We often place blame on Isaac's wife and son for the deceptive manipulation of an old man's blindness. But Isaac must also share the blame. Isaac played favorites with his children. He openly favored Esau and thus set the stage for envy.

The culturally embedded rules also bear some culpability. It was a matter of form that the elder son would inherit the leadership of the patriarchal system. Lineage was the glue that held the social structures together. Perhaps one of the themes of this story may show a weakness in this inequitable, non-merit system.

Pray
Pray for those who live under inequitable social, economic and political systems. Pray for the equitable distribution of those things which lead to a safe and satisfying life.

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Live Openly and Honestly

God Blesses and Recreates

A Troubled Birth

1 Peter 2:18-25 The Message (MSG)

The Kind of Life He Lived

18-20 You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting the punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.
21-25 This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.
He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.
They called him every name in the book, and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

For Reflection

Accepting Christ into your life does not end suffering. We are, after all, human. We suffer as Christ suffered, physically and emotionally.

It is through mild or even paralyzing suffering that we are perfected, freed from the threat from that which we suffer. We learn patience. We learn to embrace the pain. We learn to trust unreasonably in the promise that God will make all things right. It is when we suffer that we invite the Holy Spirit to comfort us and ignite the goodness in our souls.

Many have suffered recent natural disasters. But the storms and flooding did not destroy the human spirit. Look at those helpers who have suffered as much or more than those they helped. They have responded not with victimized whimpering but with responses of service. We can emerge from those things we suffer stronger, more able to see beyond the current trouble into the opportunities to love as God loves and participate in acts of healing.

Pray

Pray so that you can see beyond the curtain of suffering into the opportunity to understand who you are as a child of God.  Pray so that you can perceive the goodness of God's creation in the midst of suffering.


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Nothing Separates Us from God's Love

Our Love for God

God Commands Our Love, Respect, and Obedience:
Love and Worship God

Romans 8:31-39 The Message (MSG)

31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

For Reflection

How well do you trust God?

We often read scripture that encourages us to trust God in spite of our human perceptions of dread. We hear stories of those who faced tremendous odds overcoming them.  We say, "divine intervention" with a note of doubt.  We say, "Don't worry. It will work out." Or, "hand it over to God. Don't worry."

But how many of us honestly expect God to do something to alleviate our suffering when we have seen the wicked thrive?  Being faithful does not end our suffering as it did not deter Christ's suffering.  But what we do know and should trust is that each of us will see beyond the immediate into God's intention for us. Wait patiently on the Lord.

Pray

Pray for patience. Pray for confidence in the promises of God.

Reject Deceit and Seek God's Face

God Blesses and Recreates

A Troubled Birth

Psalm 24:1-6 The Message

A David Psalm

24 1-2 God claims Earth and everything in it,
    God claims World and all who live on it.
He built it on Ocean foundations,
    laid it out on River girders.
3-4 Who can climb Mount God?
    Who can scale the holy north-face?
Only the clean-handed,
    only the pure-hearted;
Men who won’t cheat,
    women who won’t seduce.
5-6 God is at their side;
    with God’s help they make it.
This, Jacob, is what happens
    to God-seekers, God-questers.

For Reflection

When we have confidence in our Creator and trust in God's promise of a fulfilling human existence, we begin to yearn for the physical and spiritual freedom that comes from one's commitment to the Holy Spirit.  It is then that we will experience the contentment and joy that God has intended.

Pray

Pray so that you can be a God Seeker, a God Quester.

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God Blesses Ishmael

God Blesses and Recreates

A Troubled Birth

Genesis 21:8-13; 25: 17-18 The Message 8 The baby grew and was weaned. Abraham threw a big party on the day Isaac was weaned. 9-10 One day Sarah saw the son that Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, poking fun at her son Isaac. She told Abraham, “Get rid of this slave woman and her son. No child of this slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!” 11-13 The matter gave great pain to Abraham—after all, Ishmael was his son. But God spoke to Abraham, “Don’t feel bad about the boy and your maid. Do whatever Sarah tells you. Your descendants will come through Isaac. Regarding your maid’s son, be assured that I’ll also develop a great nation from him—he’s your son, too. 17-18 Ishmael lived 137 years. When he breathed his last and died, he was buried with his family. His children settled down all the way from Havilah near Egypt eastward to Shur in the direction of Assyria. The Ishmaelites didn’t get along with any of their kin.

For Reflection

Abraham, a man of God, was a fair man. He understood what ignoring Ishmael would do to his son. In spite of his wife's advice, Abraham followed God.

Pray

Pray so that you will have the confidence in God's plan to defy advice to the contrary.

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Differences Settled Peacefully

God Blesses and Recreates

A Troubled Birth

Genesis 26:28-33 The Message (MSG)

28-29 They said, “We’ve realized that God is on your side. We’d like to make a deal between us—a covenant that we maintain friendly relations. We haven’t bothered you in the past; we treated you kindly and let you leave us in peace. So—God’s blessing be with you!”
30-31 Isaac laid out a feast and they ate and drank together. Early in the morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac said good-bye and they parted as friends.
32-33 Later that same day, Isaac’s servants came to him with news about the well they had been digging, “We’ve struck water!” Isaac named the well Sheba (Oath), and that’s the name of the city, Beersheba (Oath-Well), to this day.

For Reflection

Many recognized Isaac's humble response to what most other people of the time should be the subject of revenge as a work of God in Isaac. Yes, Isaac suffered for his trust in God but his response to suffering spoke volumes about his God. Isaac's non-violent response lead to lasting peace.

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to be a beacon for God's path to lasting peace.


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