Daily Thoughts From God's Word

From a couple chapters previous, we read about Esau foolishly selling his birthright.  Now, we read about the trickery and chicanery and flimflam and fraud and deceit and scam and deception (Whew, that was sort of fun writing all that. J) that Jacob pulled and which resulted in Esau selling his birthright.  Jacob and Rebekah, in deceiving Isaac, orchestrated the giving of the father’s blessing to the second born, Jacob, rather than Isaac.  There’s no way we can commend the de

The Bible is full of, though not always conventional, love stories.  The story of Isaac and Rebekah is one.  It’s the story of an arranged marriage – “You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (24:3-4) – which is not all that unusual.  The irregularity of this match lies in the details.  Abraham’s servant came to the lands of Laban where he met Re

I typically find myself, here in Genesis 22, just stopping and wondering with amazement at the story:  God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the son of promise, Abraham sets out to do the deed, and as father raises the knife over his son on the altar, the Lord stops him and says, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (22:12).  “And Abraham lifted up his ey

Abraham and Sarah sure seemed to be slow learners, didn’t they?  They just had a hard time truly believing God.  One year before Isaac’s birth, they continued to doubt, and “The LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (18:13-14).  I think of others:  Elijah who despaired even though God promised to protect him, Jeremiah who questioned even though God had told him he would keep him

Repetition.  What do they say?  Well, from the internet: “Repetition is the key to success.” “Repetition Is the Key to Learning." “Repetition is the Key to Mastery.” “Repetition is the key to deep learning.”   Here in chapter 15, God reaffirms for Abraham his promise.  Abraham and Sarah need that reaffirmation/repetition; they continually doubted God.  “Abram said, ‘O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ 

“Now the LORD said to Abram . . .” (12:1).  The story of redemption continues to unfold, and we know how it proceeds:  the covenant with Abraham passed down through his sons, Joseph, deliverance and the law through Moses, Joshua and the Promised Land, the judges, the kingdoms and the prophets, exile and restoration, and the waiting for Messiah.  It is a glorious story!  And so much time could be spent right here in these chapters along with Abraham.  As I begin to read, this

“These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Sons were born to them after the flood” (10:1), and so, the genealogies of Noah’s descendants begin.  For several generations, things seemed to go well and, then, as the families began to migrate eastward, we read, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (11:4).  “A name for ourselves” . . . seems a bit presumptuous, doesn’t it? 

In the midst of all the evil – “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5) – there was Noah:  “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (6:8) because “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.  Noah walked with God” (6:9).  After the flood, “God blessed Noah and his sons” (9:1).  Of course, Noah was not a perfect man.  After God had delivered him and h

God had approved of Abel’s offering but not of Cain’s.  Cain was not pleased, and “The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted?  And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it’” (4:6-7).  It seems that God wanted Cain to do better; indeed, it seems that Cain still had the possibility of turning, especially with God’s help.  Rather than tur

Genesis 3!  Key to understanding the entire biblical story!  “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say . . . (3:1).  Eve’s sin was doing what God had forbidden.  But that disobedience was occasioned by her believing Satan’s lie that God could not be trusted.  How often is this the case with us!  I remember that Billy Graham, in his sermons, over and over again when referencing Sc

Who can believe it?  It seems only yesterday that we were entering the new millennium and, now, here we are entering the second quarter of the century.  And here we are, again, starting a new year in the book of Genesis.  People love to argue and debate the Genesis creation narrative and what modern science tells us.  All of us can acknowledge a bit of mystery when talking about beginnings.  It’s interesting to me that God did not seek to answer all the questions we might hav

Two “Servant Songs” remain for Isaiah.  In chapter 50, the Servant is described as one who strengthens his people by his faithful teaching and is oppressed by his enemies.  The reader is invited to trust in this servant:  “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God” (50:10).  The last of the Songs further clarifies why the sinner should place his trust in this Servant:  “He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows . .

And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,       to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—        for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,  and my God has become my strength—         he says:         “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel;         I will make you as a light for the nations,         that my salvation may reach to

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold,     my chosen, in whom my soul delights;            I have put my Spirit upon him;     he will bring forth justice to the nations.           He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,     or make it heard in the street;           a bruised reed he will not break,     and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;     he will faithfully bring forth justice.           He will not grow faint or be discouraged     till he has established justic

“A voice cries:       ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.       Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;       the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.        And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,’ for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” (Isaiah 40:3-5).   Messiah!  How do we know this?  To the priests and Levites