One Year Bible, January 12

GENESIS 26:17-27:46
Isaac lived in relative peace among the Philistines, who were a hostile people. One of the things the Philistines did was to stuff Abraham's wells after he died.  That act is a declaration of war.  What they stuffed them with was dead animal flesh, dust and various debris so no one could get the water out.  But Isaac never had a problem finding water.  The Philistine king asked Isaac to put some distance between himself and the other Philistines to prevent crowding and unpleasantness.  As Isaac moved from one well to another, he would clean them out, only to have some Philistines come along and take them back.  Finally, in weariness, Isaac went all the way to Beer-sheba.  There he dug his own well (rather than clean out another one that Abraham had dug), which he was able to keep. 

By the way, water is a Bible symbol for the Word of God.  We dig until we hit water, but can only hang onto what we get ourselves.

Then we have the story of how Jacob not only got Esau's birthright, but now he got the Blessing too, and along with that came the inheritance.  Remember, the birthright was the responsibility of preparing for the Blessing and the inheritance.  It didn't carry a lot of pluses, and was a lot of hard work and repenting, submitting, working thru issues.  But it is a privileged position because it puts you right next to the Father, who trains you himself. 

The Blessing is the empowerment.  The father, Isaac, is old, blind, and ignored the word from God that the elder would serve the younger.  So Jacob, whose name means "schemer, trickster, deceiver" - deceived Isaac into thinking he was Esau, and thus got Esau's Blessing.  It was a BIG DEAL, because it made Esau cry, and vs. 41 says that when he was finished grieving over Isaac, he was going to kill Esau.  You see again that coveteousness leads to murder. 

Jacob's mother overheard Esau plotting, and she sent Jacob away to live with her brother Laban, back in Haran.  One of the reasons she gave Isaac was that Esau and his Hittite wives were driving her crazy, and if Jacob married Hittites too, her life wouldn't be worth living.  It does hurt when our children marry outside the "tribe" (church).

RESPONSE:   I am blessed when I hear preaching, but especially when I really "hear" it and it's mine.  My ears are like wells that need to be dug out from time-to-time - getting the dead flesh out with praise and thanksgiving.  Then I'm ready to drink.  Could that be why we usually have a time of worship before the sermon?  Duh!

MATTHEW 9:1-17
Chapter 9 continues with the manifestation of Jesus' authority, which here is demonstrated in forgiving sin and healing a paralytic.  Then, while he ate at Matthew's house (a tax collector, which made Matthew a collaborator with the occupying Romans) - and He ate with Matthew's sinner-friends at that - the Pharisees looked down their noses at Him for associating with such riff-raff.  Jesus' comment was that these were the very people who needed Him!  He quoted Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice".  Be kind above what people think is necessary,  instead of doing "religious" service.  Help someone in trouble instead of waving a picket-sign! 

I love the example Jesus gave about His "new thing" - He wasn't here to restore the old religious system, but to initiate the Kingdom of God, remember.  These religious people, who were trying to preserve the status quo, were trying to put the "new wine" into their old wineskins.  When the wineskin burst, they lost the wineskin and the wine.  Now they had nothing and didn't know it. They became "empty suits".  We must repent (change our minds) in order to give God a new wineskin to put the new wine into.  Repent a lot as God shows you the new wine.  The new wine offered in this passage is that Jesus forgives sin and sinners and expects us to do the same.   He prefers mercy to sacrifice. 

RESPONSE:  I am relieved that it's okay to be kind to people who aren't like me.  I remember when church-people were told not to associate with "sinners" - people outside the church.  My problem with that was that the nicest people were usually outside the church.  However, I came to be afraid of associating with outsiders, thinking that somehow I would be tainted or somehow affected negatively by them.  That doesn't give the Gospel much credit for having the power to protect us, does it?  I want to be known as "the friend of sinners" (Mt 11:19). 

PSALM 10:16-18
"The Lord is King for ever and ever."  Don't you love it?  I use that verse when I need to reassure my heart that it is good to trust Him.  He is King - not just now, but forever!  Not even "the nations" have more power than God.  The "man of the earth" may be a bullying tyrant, may be a deceiver and oppressor, but he is still that: "of the earth" and will return to dust.  The God of heaven and earth will deal with him. 

PROVERBS 3:9-10
Do you tithe?  Or at least give offerings?  Or do you "tip" God?  When we don't give, we document our ingratitude.  I want the "new wine" already spoken of.  I want to be useful and effective to God and I know I have to have the new wine to do that.  Here Proverbs says we will have more than we can use when we give.  The filled barns means to be "richly satisfied".  Yowza!  That's me.  When we give, it does not impoverish us or take anything away, but it is an expression of strength, power and sufficiency.  When I have confidence in His goodness it keeps me from "looking out for myself."

RESPONSE:  I am "richly satisfied", and I have been through stuff and can testify that God is enough.  It seems that whenever I give something, whether it be a cooked meal, money, or some kind of service, I end up with more, not less.  And I don't mean just spiritually, either.  Although that's important.  We "honor the Lord" when we give.  Another form of worship.