GENESIS 31
In this chapter, Jacob complains that Laban has changed his wages ten times. "However," Jacob said, "God has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young." (vs 7-8)
GENESIS 29
When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb,
but Rachel was barren." (vs 31)
I suppose there could be many ways to interpret such a verse. We could feel sorry for Rachel. Why should she be barren? It’s not her fault that Jacob was so in love with her. Then again, it’s not Leah’s fault that her father tricked Jacob into marrying her either.
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How should we understand such a verse? Was God trying to punish Rachel because she was loved? Some people might try to pass this off as the writer’s interpretation of why Leah had so many babies and Rachel had so few. In a culture where the god was seen as responsible for everything, they reason, if a woman was barren, it had to be seen as God’s doing.
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Regardless of the interpretation, though, I love how the writer of Genesis places God squarely in line with loving the unloved. He has a tender spot for the neglected. He has sympathy for the brokenhearted. And I love the idea that God comforted Leah all He could by blessing her with children... and male children to boot!
One of my favorite songs is a ballad by Wayne Watson called, "Friend of a Wounded Heart." Whenever we’re lonely or feel beaten down, neglected, or unloved, we should remember that our God has "been there, done that." He knows what it means to be cast aside. He knows what it means to be ignored. And there is a special place in His heart for anyone who has ever been unloved.
GENESIS 28
There is something so interesting in this chapter, and it is the comparison between God’s promises and our promises.
As Jacob is journeying to find a wife, God renews His promise to make a great nation from Jacob’s descendants. He says, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
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Crouching tiger
waits to
kill
or be killed.
Hidden dragon,
that serpent
of old.
Septolet: A poem consisting of seven lines containing fourteen words with a break in between the two parts. Both parts deal with the same thought and create a picture.
GENESIS 26
Ever since Adam and Eve chose to believe the serpent at the tree, relations between human beings have been ruled by fear. This chapter is a great example. Isaac takes his family down to Gerar, and Abimelech is still the king (as he was in Abraham’s time). And, continuing the time-honored family tradition of dishonesty, Isaac told the same lie about Rebekah that his father had told about Sarah—and for exactly the same reason. He was afraid.
GENESIS 25
Stories like this one fascinate me. In Genesis 25:23, the Lord informs Rebekah that the older of her two sons would "serve the younger." Of course, this wasn’t the normal course of events in Rebekah’s culture. The firstborn son was the heir to everything, the one responsible to carry on the family. Thus, it was customary for all the younger children to "serve" the oldest.
GENESIS 24
I have become totally addicted to the GPS in my car. Especially on long trips when I’m going someplace I haven’t been before, I love to turn on the GPS and... relax. I don’t have to worry about looking for the right highway. I don’t have to worry about missing a turn. All I have to do is listen for the voice with the British accent that says, "After two miles, take the exit right..." And if I take a wrong turn, no problem! In no time, that little British person who lives inside my GPS will get me straightened out and headed the right way.
GENESIS 23
As I was reading this chapter, it dawned on me that the first part of Canaan that Abraham possessed with a burial plot. That seems rather odd, doesn't it, given what God said in Genesis 15:18-21? "On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.'"
GENESIS 22
This is one of the chapters in the Bible that most of us are very familiar with. A lot of questions swirl around this story: Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? And why in the world would Abraham do it, even without asking a single question? Regardless of the possible answers to these questions, I think this chapter tells us something very important about God that is easy to overlook: He knows what’s in the heart, and He knows how to reveal it.
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As soon as eyes were opened, there was shame,
And fig's-leaf clothing could not quell the fear.
In bushes, hiding, fear gave way to blame
That promised to unravel all things dear.
To lose our paradise would be our gain,
Since sin destroys if it is left unchecked.
But we could not perceive the gift in pain:
God drove us out in order to protect,
While promising we'd one day see that Tree
Within a heav'nly garden where we'd thrive.
And this, his brilliant plan to make us free:
Another firstborn Adam would arrive
To fight the snake—to love, to bleed, to cry,
So we could be reclaimed and never die.
Sonnet: A poem consisting of 14 lines with a particular rhyming scheme.
GENESIS 20
Abraham, friend and prophet of God, was apparently a slow learner. It hadn’t been that long since he and Sarah lived in Egypt, and here he is, once again, telling the same lies to Abimelech, king of Gerar!
I was genuinely puzzled by this chapter of the Bible. I mean, Abraham already went through this in Egypt with Pharaoh. He told the lie about Sarah because he was afraid of what would happen to him, and it ended up looking like God dealt more severely with Pharaoh instead of dealing with Abraham, who told the lies in the first place.
GENESIS 19
Ah, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah... the wicked cities Abraham lobbied for. We don’t know how many people were living in the cities, but we do know that—at the very least—not even ten of them were "righteous." In the end, only three were found to be "righteous." Almost four, but Lot’s wife didn’t quite make it. Her obsession for everything she was leaving behind cost her her life.
GENESIS 17
There are so many things I could write about God from this chapter of Genesis, but I’ve just got to write about God’s sense of humor. Are you sometimes lulled into thinking that God is a stern, distant Deity who frowns over you as you trudge through life? Even if you picture Him as one who wants to have a relationship with you, are you tempted to think that He is more like a harsh, exacting parent who keeps a watchful eye on His children, lest He see any hint of indiscretion?
GENESIS 16
At the beginning of today's blog, I just need to say that things always go badly when we try to fulfill God’s promises for Him! I think this might be why God doesn’t fill me in on anything that’s happening in my life until it happens...because He knows that if I knew about anything ahead of time, my inner Abraham would probably rise up in me, and I’d try to make God's promises come to pass instead of just letting Him do His thing in His time.
GENESIS 15
Genesis 15 begins with the word of the Lord coming to Abram, and the first thing God says is, "Do not be afraid."
If there was a way to sum up in one, short sentence the overarching message of God to humankind in the Bible, it would have to be this: Do not be afraid. It appears over and over and over again in the Scriptures. It is often, quite literally, the first thing out of the mouth of God or His heavenly messengers when they encounter human beings.
