DAY 4
Scripture:
Stay in this land for a while,
and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I
will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father
Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and
will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth
will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of
him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” (Genesis 26:3-5,
NIV)
When the men of that place
asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to
say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on
account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.” (Genesis 26:7 NIV)
Jacob said to Rebekah his
mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. What if
my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a
curse on myself rather than a blessing.” His mother said to him, “My son, let
the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” Isaac asked
his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” “The Lord your God gave me
success,” he replied. (Genesis 27:11-13, 20 NIV)
But when evening came, he took
his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her.
(Genesis 29:23 NIV)
Then she said, “Here is
Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I
too can build a family through her.” So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a
wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son.
(Genesis 30:3-5 NIV)
Observation: In the
verses I have chosen today, I meant to highlight and juxtapose two
things:
One, God's promise and blessing,
Two, Man's failings and sinful nature.
In the first verses we see that God extends his promise and his
blessings to Isaac. He does however point out that he blessed Abraham because
he obeyed and kept to God's word. We know however from our readings so far that
Abraham was no saint, despite having had a deep faith in God. And then we see
that the old adage of "like father, like son" was true even in
Biblical times. Isaac goes and tells exactly the same lies as Abraham did about
his wife being his sister!
From there on these chapters read like a manual in "How to deceive
and cheat your nearest and dearest" (my apologies to Dale Carnegie). We
see brothers and mothers and uncles and wives lying,
cheating, coveting, stealing and making use of elaborate ruses (and using God
to cover it up- chapter 27,v.20). All to get what they want. And all the while
they are supposed to be the lineage of Abraham and Isaac- blessed and protected
under God's covenant. We do however see that despite all these folks'
shenanigans, God's hand is still present.
Application: So how
does this apply to us today? Does this mean that we can simply carry on, on our
merry little sinful way, sure in the knowledge that we are blessed and
protected by God's promises? The answer is a simple no. When God makes promises
of blessing, it is always accompanied by the requirement that we obey His laws
and instructions. Does this mean that we will never fall or act like the folks
we read about today? Once again, no. We should strive to live a life that is
holy and worthy of that which God blesses us with everyday. It is however also
necessary to be aware of our simple human nature. Why? Because we are
going to make mistakes. We are going to do things that are less admirable. But
being aware of these flaws helps us to face them, take responsibility, repent
and not make the same mistakes again. The amazing thing to know in all this, is
that even though we falter, God's hand will be there to catch us and make some
sense of the mess we make. That is grace and true blessing in my opinion.
Prayer: Dear Lord,
thank you for your abundant blessing and grace. Thank you for being present in
our lives, even when we are not living according to your instructions. Help us
to know you in all we do in our daily walk and keep us from wronging others.
Show us the way you want us to live by making your instructions clear in our
daily reading. In your name we pray. Amen
Next reading
Genesis 31-37
Blog link: http://readthebiblein180days.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment