tSoGS - Exodus 19:1-20:21

Exodus 19:1-20:21

This is a long passage to read, but I really encourage you to read it FIRST so I can focus on just a few points.

Two months removed from slavery and God offers these homeless people the opportunity to become his treasure . . .

"Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’

Slaves to become a kingdom of priests! a holy nation!

And this part of the story points to something very key to OUR IDENTITY that can be easily missed. While God makes it clear that only Moses is allowed to "see" God, everyone was to hear God speak to Moses. The passage is slightly confusing because at one point, the text says everyone can ascend the mountain at the ram horn's blast, but later God tells Moses not to let the people break the boundaries. Still, the invitation to hear God is never rescinded.

Since ALL the people are to be priests, God instructs them through Moses to purify and consecrate themselves for this momentous event.

The ram's horn blows and the people gather at the foot of the mountain. Moses goes up. God tells him to tell the people not to come up (come on God, I just got up here and now you want me to go back down? - they know better). But he goes down and brings Aaron his brother up.

Then God gave THE PEOPLE the big ten - rules for life - rules for a holy nation and a royal priesthood.  (Do you know all ten? - you should!)

Everybody heard God recite the Ten Commandments.

Then the tone changes . . .

"When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear.

And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”

I don't want you to miss this. God was offering this entire group of people the opportunity to be his priests, to hear and listen to God. God was offering relationship to every former slave.

But the people said - Moses you be the intermediary. You speak for God. We don't want the job. God scares us. Moses, you be the priest.

And it's still like that. Do you want direct access to God or would you rather have God speak through a pastor or priest?

I want you to realize that God is offering you the priesthood - the relationship. And I don't have to (don't want to) be your intermediary. My call from God is to reconnect you to your priestly status. The ram's horn is blowing. Are you listening? Don't be afraid. God is your liberator, your rescuer, your deliverer.

Let's go up the mountain together. This is your story. . .

"But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

“Once you had no identity as a people;

now you are God’s people.

Once you received no mercy;
now you have received God’s mercy.” - 1 Peter 2:9-10

Do you realize what God is offering you?  If not, let's talk about it.

tSoGS - Exodus 14:5-31

Exodus 14:5-31

The great scene.  Even after Pharaoh watched the entire nation's first born eliminated, and was brought to his knees by God, after he relented and let the Hebrew slaves go, he changes his mind. Mighty Egypt cannot be one-upped by a bunch of slaves.  Leading his army after the Hebrews camped in the most un-strategic of locations - beside a body of water that left no escape route - the Red Sea (or Reed Sea?).

The Israelites who walked through the streets of Egypt with raised fists, just as quickly start whining that it would have been better to be slaves in Egypt than die in the wilderness.

God's chosen people.

Patient God tells Moses to use that great miracle staff as a sea divider.  He holds it up and the sea parts and God's people cross through dry land.  When they get across, the waters close back in on Pharaoh's pursuing army - the last might of a nation destroyed.  All kinds of documentaries talk about how Moses created such a feat.  Fun stuff.  But not sure how it adds or subtracts from the story.

Our story.

Do you claim this story as yours?  Tony shared about how that Jewish Passover meal was given new meaning by Jesus  and given to all of us.  Our weekly meal is a reminder of God's liberation.  Our baptism liturgy reminds us that we too have passed through the waters - from slavery (in sin) to freedom (in Christ.)

God liberates. God rescues. God delivers.  And this story is our story.  He knocks down the proud and the powerful and lifts up the weak and the humble.  This story is our story.

Moses is looking pretty good for 80  . . .

tSoGS Exodus 11:1-12:42

The Passover.

The end. The beginning.

Exodus 11:1-12:42

We have come half way around the circle. Adam and Eve have fallen, Noah saved a remnant. Abraham and his line held firm to the faith until Israel's children are born. Four hundred thirty years of slavery. The Israelite Nation grows so large the Egyptians fear them.
Out of that Fear, Pharaoh tries to thin the Jews; he kills all the male children. It is unspeakable, but he is Pharaoh. He is the Law. The Jews weep for justice; they cry out for mercy.

A heartsick mother performs a desperate act. She puts an infant in a reed basket, places a blanket over him. She mutters a prayer through her tears and pushes him out into the water. Eighty years later that boy from the river walked into Pharaoh's palace and announced it was time for Gods people to go home.

What ensued was war with God. Pharaoh digs in and endures nine plagues, until we reach the final act. God has had enough, Listen to Gods final warning: “… a loud wail will rise throughout the land of Egypt, a wail like no one has heard before or will ever hear again…

But first he must save His own. And that brings us to Exodus 12, Passover.

Select an animal, He Said, with no defects - perfect.

"Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses…"

Each Jewish house was marked in the blood of an innocent that night, while the world came crashing down on the Egyptians. That morning, the Jews left Egypt, loaded with the wealth of their captors, following God into who know what (sound familiar?). They were headed for the Promised Land.

This story is a crucial story of the Jewish faith, and Passover remains the most important holiday for them. God gave them specific instructions to remember that day:

"Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. Then your children will ask, 'What does this ceremony mean?' And you will reply, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt.

The story is also pivotal in our understanding of the language and symbolism of the Death of Christ. The "Last Supper" was the Passover meal eaten to fulfill this command, it is where (by tradition) the youngest person in the room (probably John that night) would ask that question: "What does this mean?” Jesus (as the most senior) would have repeated the story of the Passover for them all. This happened at every Passover meal throughout Israel.

It is at that point, we believe, that he picked up a cup, and a loaf of bread and asked us all to remember the sacrifice he would make, as the next passover lamb. His blood, shed for the sins of the world, to set a whole nation free.

It was and is a new beginning, God has given us another peek at the story.

Things to think about.

We speak of Jesus as the Lamb of God, John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5: 7-8, 1 Peter 1: 18-25, Rev 5:6 & 12. How has reading this story in this light helped you understand who Jesus is?

Has God ever delivered you from the Egyptians? Do you make it a point to remember that event and share it with your children? Should you?

tSoGS - Exodus 2:1-25 Reflection

Exodus 2:1-25

This is one of the stories that does make it onto the Sunday school flannel graph!  Moses in the bullrushes.  But it too has a sinister undertone. The Pharaohs forget about Joseph's rescue. The Hebrews become slaves. Firstborn sons are to be killed - genocide to keep the population in check.  But one first born child is laid in a water-tight basket and set afloat in the reeds of the Nile.

You might want to watch the movie - The Prince of Egypt with your children (hey it's a good adult movie too). Here's the introductory clip - pretty powerful . . .



Moses, son of Hebrew parents grows up in Egyptian royalty, but he never forgets who he is and later, defending his people, he murders an Egyptian.  When Pharaoh finds out, Moses becomes a fugitive and flees to Midian.  Another roller coaster ride of a life.  Slave marked for death.  Rescued and adopted into Egyptian royalty.  Murderer fugitive marked for death.  Lowly shepherd.  Married and living a simple life.

But back in Egypt, God hears the cries of his people. . . .

Maybe this summer, rather than taking a paperback novel to the beach, buy a paperback Bible and read these great stories of Joseph and Moses and others.  It's good reading - really.

tSoGS - Genesis 46:1-4, 28:34 Reflection

Genesis 46:1-4, 28-34

I hope you'll go back a read the chapters we skipped. Chapters that tell the story of Joseph reconciling with his brothers. Of Jacob discovering that his son is indeed alive, but not before he thought his second favorite son, Benjamin, was lost to Him. The dreams that started the whole jealous feud come true. Joseph has power unimaginable and after testing his brothers forgives them - AND recognizes God's grace in his slavery and delivery as necessary to keep his family alive.

So this is the story of the rescue - Joseph's starving family is rescued with the blessing of the Pharaoh - they move to Egypt. But too close to downtown - shepherds smell - Goshen is close enough.

The reconciliation of Joseph and his brothers contain one of the most powerful lines in all of God's story. Later, when Jacob dies, his brothers are still afraid that Joseph will exact his revenge. They beg for teir lives and then . . . Joseph . . . weeps. We don't know what brings the tears but I would guess that he weeps that his brother's still distrust him and from that must have come a deep sense of loneliness. All Joseph wanted was to be reconciled with his brothers and to live in love and peace. And while he could live with them, he couldn't make them love him. Joseph wept and then offered these words . . .

“Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” - Genesis 50

Another translation reads - "You meant it for evil but God meant it for good."

Do you believe God can work pain and suffering for good? your pain and suffering? your failures?

Are you at bottom right now? Do you trust that God will work it for good?

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28

Hold on. Hold out. Hope is on the way.  God is on the way.  Good will come.

TSoGS Genesis 41:1-57

I was once in a small group where one of the women was struggling with committing her life to Christ. Her hang up was something most of us struggle with AFTER we enter into Gods family. She was afraid that God would call her to something big and important and she was sure that it would be too much. The leader of the group tried to appease her by telling her that God would never ask her to do anything she couldn't do.

It was a good answer right? God never gives you more than you can handle right?

He was completely wrong, just ask Joseph.

Joseph was in Jail for 2 years, probably with not much hope of ever getting out. Pharaoh called Joseph in and says, "My wine taster here says you can help me with a problem." Joseph's response (without really thinking about it)? "Not me man, let me check with God. I'm pretty sure He can."

Next thing he knows he is being asked to manage the economic affairs of the most powerful nation in the world.

Put yourself in Joseph's place. It had to be surreal. Imagine the personalities, the racial differences and the language differences involved just in earning the trust of all the people he would have to work with to pull it off. Imagine trying to convince an entire country to store 20% of every ounce of food for the future. It had to look impossible. I can't even fathom where you would start.

This was God calling him to something big and important and I believe that he thought (at least for a second) that it would be too much for him. At some point Joseph knew he had nothing to do but hold on and let God work.

Isn't that what we are doing here with the vine? Are we doing something big and important that looks impossible?

Isn't it Great!

Things to think about.

What is the most impossible thing you see in your participation in the Vine? Are you letting God work?

We are halfway through Hebrews 11 in our reading in Genesis, about to cross a threshold. Read verse 13. What do you think about it? Would you be content living with the promise but never seeing it?

tSoGS - Genesis 39:1-22 Reflection

Genesis 39:1-22

Joseph has been sold to traders who take him to Egypt and sell him as a slave.  He ends up in the house of Potiphar - captain of Pharoah's guard - like the Secret Service detail assigned to protect the president. (This guy is hobnobbing with the most powerful man on the earth.)  And immediately God turns this bad situation (slavery) to good.  He blesses everything Joseph does then blesses Potiphar when Joseph is promoted to house steward - running everything in Potiphar's household.

Next we discover that Joseph is "hot." He's ripped! And who notices?  Potiphar's wife.  Joseph the slave is being seduced by his master's wife, and probably, by Potiphar's status, "hot" in her own right.  In the face of this pressure, Joseph offers words mature beyond his years. . .

"But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”

A sin against God.  Do you love and honor God so much that your motivation to be good is not fear of punishment, or that you'll get caught, but that you want to please God?  Joseph recognized that his situation was marked by God's blessing and he didn't want to mess with that.  Blessings or curses?   Think back to Adam and Eve faced with their own temptation.  They fail. Joseph passes.  We can see why God was blessing him.

But the story and Joseph's life goes south.  Potiphar's wife tries to trap Joseph. When he flees her advances, she accuses him of rape.  (This story make it into the children's curriculum?).  Potiphar "believes" his wife and Joseph ends up in prison.  I put believes in quotes because some commentators suggest that Joseph had no legal rights as a foreign slave and that Potiphar was showing grace to Joseph by putting him in jail.  He could have been killed.

Talk about a roller coaster ride.  Favorite son sold by jealous brothers.  Sold in a foreign land into slavery but elevated to head steward.  Accused of rape and sent to prison without trial.  Up. Down. Up Down.  For most of us, we might stay down, lose hope.  But . . .

"But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden."

God's plan will not be thwarted. God keeps His promises.  The line to Jesus Christ requires Joseph.  Do you realize that you are part of God's plan?  Do you know he requires you to fulfill His promises?  Life might be difficult for you right now. You've been accussed. You find yourself in "prison." God wants to liberate you.

Note that Joseph's geography went from bad to worse.  But it wasn't about his geography - slave in a foreign land, prisoner in jail, but what changed was Joseph's status within that geography.  He trusted God.


Will you?

TSoGS - Genesis 37:3-36

Jacobs’s sons feud with Joseph.

Another critical opening chapter in the life of the Hebrew nation. Another mess. The son most favored, shares a dream with his family, and in doing so sparks anger and hate. Pride on both sides tears Jacob (Israel’s) family apart.

I love this quote by Thomas Jefferson: “Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.”


Jacob's pride set Joseph up for a childhood of privilege. Joseph's pride widened that chasm and watered the seeds of jealousy. His brothers' pride and pain allowed those seeds of disharmony to grow and flower. And somewhere on the road to Dothan, ten normally civil men plotted the death of their brother. The seeds of pride cost this family dearly.


Today’s reading ends with Jacob mourning the loss of Joseph, and Joseph beginning a new life as a slave in a new country. You can see God's story shaping the events. As we will see later, Joseph had to go to Egypt, he had to save Egypt. God brought about the beginnings of his promise back to Abraham. In Egypt the Jews found a home multiplied and growing until God found a stuttering old man to take His nation out of Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land. But that's later.

Things to think about:
1. Think back on your life. How has God used your pride to shape and prune you.

2. Is there some area where your pride is interfering with your walk with Jesus?

3. Jeremiah 29:11-14: 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. This promise was given to the Hebrews when they were in captivity much later in God's story. How does this help you think about yourself in God's Story?

tSoGS - Genesis 35:1-15

Genesis 35:1-15

This passage is uneventful in relation to much of what we've been reading, but it is not insignificant. It's almost as if Jacob grows up and into the role that God had planned for him when he first vied with Esau for who woul be first born.. Jacob hears God's call to be sent - to Bethel. He tells his family to rid themselves of any pagan idol or jewelry.thing (what took so long?), to purify themselves - set themselves apart for God.

Jacob recognizes God's grace in his life. God is calling Jacob to return to the place where he first encountered God's grace - fleeing Esau, the rock for a pillow, the dream of angels on a stairway to heaven, the altar, the PROMISE OF GOD.

Don't overlook the significance of this! Every so often you should return back to the places where you have set up stones - stones of remembrance - altars that speak of a time when God was very real to you.

Go back to the first mention of Bethel. Genesis 28 . . .

13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

Now you see, perhaps the years have wisened Jacob and he recognizes how God has kept his promise. And Jacob is no longer "the deceiver." He is now Israel - the who strives with God."

Maybe the least "action" of most of your stories, but perhaps the most important of any of the stories about Jacob.

Have you set up stones where God's presence intersected your life? A Sunday in church? the day of your baptism? a retreat? a song? a moment of silence? Go back to those moments and see if God's plan doesn't seem a little clearer, His grace a little more real.

I for one, don't think you are reading this by accident to read this.  Set up some stones.

tSoGS Genesis 33:1-20 Reflection

Genesis 33:1-20

Jacob is limping home - probably thankful that he's a little slower. He's got a new name - Israel - wrestling with God. Amazing that a nation known for it's determined historic faith is called Israel.

Israel is limping home. And he's been sending significant gifts ahead of him to soften up his older brother, Esau.

When he sees his brother showing up with 400 men, he divides up his family so that some will survive the expected attack. Women and children to the front! Our brave hero puts his least desire-ables up front - first the servants and their children, then Leah and her children and guess who's in the back? Rachel and favorite son Joseph take up the rear! Anyone ever learn about "family systems" in psych or counseling classes? Dysfunction passed from generation to generation. Abraham played it. Isaac and Rebecca played it. Jacob played his favorites too. Did you come from a family that played favorites? Break the cycle.

Jacob is man enough to step out and lead the procession. He bows seven times. Then the miracle. Esau comes running up and hugs and kisses his younger brother. They weep. Two men, twenty years older and wiser, reconcile. It is one of the most beautiful pictures in the Bible. The prodigal son comes home and unlike Jesus' parable, this older brother does the right thing, even though he lost his birthright to the younger. (Don't think listeners of Jesus' parable didn't make the connection.)

Jacob introduces his family and insists that Esau take the animals he sent ahead of himself. This is important because it is part of the reconciliation - Jacob has made restitution and Esau has accepted it. Jacob acknowledges his relief that he was greeted with a smile. But sends Esau away with his men.

Now in Canaan, Jacob sets up "permanent" shelters and in Shechem buys land - putting down roots and laying claim to the land his future generations will possess. He sets up an altar to El - Elohe-Israel - God, the God of Israel - God, the God of the one who wrestled with God.

It's okay to wrestle with God. And when you lose, you win.

Who do you need to reconcile with? What are you willing to do to restore relationship?

Start limping home.

TSoGS - Genesis 32:22-32

Genesis 32:22-32 (read me first!)

God is a peacemaker, the great healer. We know God holds us up when we face trials and when we are wronged and hurt. We sing of Gods amazing grace - of his healing power within our lives. We know his hands can soothe the worst that life has to offer. God loves to restore us.

And sometimes it hurts.

Have you wounded someone like Jacob did - with a lie, or inaction or outright slander – stealing something close to their heart? We all have. It might not be a birthright, but there are other things to take - a childhood, a dream, a job, a reputation, or a friend. We are not perfect people, and imperfect people hurt each other.

The story of Gods story is ultimately about reconciliation. Christ came to reconcile us to God, to pay our ransom. But though his death and resurrection have completed that work, I still believe that God calls us to work with him in bringing peace to the world. He definitely called Jacob.

God asked him to return to the land of his father. Back to where Esau lived. He probably remembered the face of his livid brother and the words shouted in anger and pain. He had been able to avoid him for twenty years, but now it was time.

He was still afraid. In the midst of hearing God's promises he still prayed: "Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. (Genesis 32:11)"

But he went. And it was when the time came to swallow his pride and put himself at the mercy of the person he had wronged, God showed up.

And Jacob struggled.

There are many opinions as to what the struggle meant (Henry) (Wesley), but we know that it was at this point - in the midst of returning home and facing his past - that Jacob finally finds who God wants him to be. He finds his place in God's Story. When the sun rose that morning, the Jacob of old (the deciever) had been renamed Israel (He who struggles with God).

Today is a new day for each of us. Perhaps it is time for you to wrestle with God. He may be asking you to put aside who you are and restore a relationship or heal a wound that you caused. I pray today that the people of the vine become peacemakers, that each of us to seek (even if its just in prayer) those we have hurt and love them in a way that glorifies God.

Perhaps today you can call this place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." (Geneses 42:30)

Things to think about.

1. If there is someone you have wounded? Take this time to pray Ephesians 3:14-21 for them. Replace every "you" with thier name.

2. There are over 400 people in the Harford county detention center. Spend some time in prayer for them. They will be free soon and God may be planning to wrestle with one of them.

3. Read: Matthew 5:23-24. What do you think God is saying?

tSoGS - Genesis 31:1-21 Reflection

Genesis 31:1-21

As the World Turns, season 3, episode 6.

God has blessed our hero Jacob with flocks of sheep and goats in a selective breeding program that puts anything we do today to shame. As he watches his uncle's/father-in-law's (Laban's) flocks, Jacob throws stripped/striped branches in their watering trough to cause them to breed and produce speckled animals that Jacob can claim as his own - his wages for watching Laban's flocks.

Of course as Laban and his sons watch their inheritance and wealth disappear there is grumbling so Jacob does what he always does when the heat gets turned up - he plans to run away.

He goes to his two disagreeable sister wives and this is something they agree on - Laban their own father has treated them as outsiders the moment he "sold them" to Jacob and since as women, they get no inheritance, why not skip town? Their father has wasted their bride price, is a cheat and is not to be trusted.

Jacob packs up his family like Robert Irsay leaving Baltimore in the middle of the night and Laban gets no goodbye kisses from the grandkids.

To add insult to injury, Rachel steals her father's household idols (what does this say about where priorities lie and her world view of Jacob's God?) as they skedaddle out of town.

Laban finds out three days later and rounds up a posse to chase them down. He's calling for blood when God says "don't lay a hand on Jacob" in a dream.

So when Laban catches up to the moving vans, he feigns how he has been slighted and rambles on about not getting a chance to throw a proper going-away party. They are now his daughters again. And think about the grandkids!

[This is real soap opera stuff! And imagine the smiles around the campfire as the story gets told and retold.]

Finally to add insult, by the way, where are my gods? [ah to have gods that you can pack up and take with you - Honey, don't forget to pack your god in your suitcase. BUT how many of us pull THE God out of our back pocket only when we need Him?]

Jacob admits he was afraid - that he didn't trust his father-in-law uncle. Honesty. Finally. Then rashly proclaims - "idols? what stinking idols? we don't have your stinking idols, but if we do, you can have the person's head." (oops not knowing Rachel had them.)

So Laban searches everywhere lastly Rachel's tent. And Rachel, God bless her, lies. She sits on the idols (picture that image) then feigns that she is having that "time of the month" so she shouldn't move. Of course Laban cold never imagine his menstruating daughter sitting on his gods and passes.

So now Jacob becomes the emboldened and indignant one - he and his family have been wronged/falsely accused. And to add insult, he ticks off every other infraction of his father-in-law as well as elevate his own integrity in 20 years of working for Laban. (See what happens when you bottle up your feelings for 20 years? - that and the business that God has your back and Laban admits it.) Deceiving Jacob gets some backbone.

And with the air (20 years worth) cleared, Laban and Jacob make peace, set up stones as a reminder of the peace, then have a covenant meal (remember how in the middle east you can't share a meal with an enemy?). They lay out the conditions of the covenant and in the end Laban blesses his daughters and grandkids. They even come to agreement that their great grandfathers worshiped the same God

And they lived happily ever after . . . But wait, Jacob is heading home to face the brother Esau who threatened murder after Jacob stole his birthright. . .

These are the skeletons in our family closet. This is our holy book. This is the story that never gets put on flannel graphs in children's Sunday school (oh the speckled sheep part occasionally, but never the idols part). What was God thinking? What does God think about us? God is so patient.

TSoGS – Genesis 30:14-24

Every time I read in Genesis, I realize that by following Christ I have joined one crazy, messed up family.

But it IS my family. God's family. Made up of his beloved, hurting and hurtful children. It is full of Jacobs, and Leahs and Rachaels, and Zilpas and Bilhahs. Full of children and adults hurt by families that are just as strange and Jacob's.

This passage leads to Joseph, Rachael's first and Jacobs's favorite. It is a transition point because with the birth of Joseph, Jacob decides to go home.

Take this time to consider your family, the brothers and sisters and in this place where God has brought you.

Today is a short day so reread the passage. What sticks out for you?

Questions to think about?

1. Are you feeling barren like Rachael or inadequate like Leah? Can you think of some who may be feeling this way? What can you do to encourage them?


2. Did God abandon either sister – did He ignore one's prayer over another?


3. Why is it important to see God's family warts and all?
   

tSoGS - Genesis 29:1-30

Genesis 29:1-30

The saga continues.

Our hero, Jacob (Hebrew - heel or deceiver) the birthright stealer, has left town for fear his brother will make real his threat to kill him.

He heads back to his grandfather's and mother's family homestead - Haran where his uncle Laban resides.

Along the way, he camps out at Bethel. Using a rock for a pillow, he has a dream of a ladder extending to heaven, with God at the top. God reiterates the promise made to Jacob's grandfather and father - "You're gonna have a big family, I'm giving you this land, I will protect you, the world will be blessed through you."

This gets us to Chapter 29 - another chapter of drama. Be sure to read it.

Jacob falls in love with Rachel - Laban's daughter - his cousin (don't ask).

He agrees to work for Laban for seven years in order to marry her

"But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days."

That's TRUE LOVE!

On the wedding day (actually night), his wonderfully trustworthy uncle pulls a bait and switch and subs in his older daughter Leah on the wedding bed (no wedding ceremony - the two become one when they consummate their marriage). Now Leah, well she wasn't the cute one - she had no "sparkle in her eye."

So surprise, surprise the next morning. Seven years and no Rachel.

Deceiver Jacob is incensed. Laban blames it on custom - have to marry the older daughter first. "Wait a week, and then you can marry Rachel, but you'll need to work another seven years."

Jacob's in love, what's another seven years? A week later Jacob has another wife and these ominous words . . .

"He (Jacob) loved her (Rachel) much more than Leah."

How do you think this house is gonna function - only in love with one of his two wives.?

And so begins the children "arms" race. The "multitude promise" begins in earnest. God blesses unloved Leah with four boys - Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah. But loved Rachel remains childless.

(So (and this is dicey), even though Jacob doesn't love Leah, he has no trouble being physically intimate with her?)

This (actually these) chapter(s) is good place to reflect on the difference between universal truth and local-cultural custom and truth. In so many ways the world that we are reading about here is foreign to us.

Deceit rewarded. Polygamy normative. Marrying cousins. Working to pay for your wife - she's property.

We have to be careful. Certain sects of Mormons use texts like these to endorse modern polygamy. Slave owners in the 1800s used passages in the Bible to endorse their ownership of slaves. Could we use the call (by God?) to wipe-out the Canaanites to endorse genocide? or war? Should we feel free to use deceit like Laban and Jacob to get what we want? Of course not!

Intuitively, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we end up in a different place and cannot justify this thinking. I suggest that much of what we learn about our ourselves before the fall informs our ethic and ultimately, the revelation of Jesus Christ changes everything. In the OT, it isn't hard to see that as God is seen in greater ways, the ethic changes and finds its fulfillment in Christ.

I know this is a very short answer to a very complicated issue. But I would suggest that each OT (and NT) text needs to be interpreted in the light of what we know about Jesus Christ. The Bible is rooted in history. Cultural ethics are woven into its pages. It will take a community to drill down below the cultural stuff to get to the universal truths that informs what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

tSoGS - Genesis 27:1-40 Reflection

Genesis 27:1-40

Okay, we're starting to pick up steam and skipping chapters now. I really encourage you to go back and read between our readings if you have time (and you do if you turn off the TV!) But let me fill in some of the holes. . . .

Remember Isaac from yesterday? Abraham's (father of multitudes) son through Sarah? The one who almost became a sacrifice due to Abraham's faithfulness?

Well Isaac grows up, marries him a girl from back home - Rebecca. She gets pregnant - they have twins. First out is Esau (red hairy dude) and next is Jacob. (Fast track to that multitudes promise.)

Dysfunction starts right away. Parents play favorites. Isaac is partial to the man's man Esau. Rebecca likes her homeboy Jacob.

One day, Esau comes home from a hard day of hunting and in a moment of neglect trades his birthright (first born son gets the family blessing and the double share) to metro-sexual Jacob for a bowl of soup.

Now how this story plays out since Isaac didn't agree to this is found in Genesis 27. Read it! It doesn't take a lot of explaining. It's rather sad. The sneaky one gets the prized blessing. The hero is the second born - brains over brawn. And Momma helps Momma's boy in the duplicitous action. Esau skulks away with the consolation blessing.

Fearing that big older hairy brother might come after him, Jacob high tails it out of Dodge in fear for his life.

And from this point forward, God is known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and JACOB not the God of Abraham, Issac, and ESAU.

How's that for perfect biblical heroes? Nobody "cleaned up" the story for later generations. (Which speaks to its authenticity.) Raw deceit wins out.

But just wait, the family dysfunction continues into the next generation. (This is better than any soap opera!)

You'd rather watch Dancing with the Stars than read this?!?

TSoGS - Genesis 22 Reflection

(editor's note - Tony Pitrat has offered to share his gifts with our blog. This is his first entry and . . .wow.)

It had to be hot.

Abraham was an old man, his joints ached and his fingers bled.

That was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.

He searched the hilltop for stones for an altar, carrying stone after stone after stone - piling them higher and higher. Soon he would need wood, lots of it. He had to gather that next. God wanted a sacrifice.

Abraham – a man who had left everything for his God- just heard from Him again. “Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I'll point out to you." (Gen 22:2, MSG).

Abraham took his precious son and walked for three hot, dusty days looking for the place where God would have him kill his son.

Isaac. Abraham waited more than a hundred years for his son. He was his future, Gods special show of favor. God had promised to make him a father to many nations through Isaac.

Now God was asking Abraham to place him on an altar and end that promise.

Abraham had to decide. Is there something bigger going on here? Do I trust God?

The roles we fill in God's story are often times hard, and many times the uncertainty of life is unbearable. In the prologue to one of my favorite books: EPIC, The Story God Is Telling and the Role That Is Yours To Play, John Eldrige talks about how when seek to rationalize the world in terms that put us in the center of the story, we end up exhausted, lost and faithless:

“What is this drama that we’ve been dropped into the middle of? If there is a God, what sort of story is he telling here? At some point we all begin to wonder if Macbeth wasn’t right after all – is life a tale “told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. No wonder we keep losing heart."

Do you think Abraham lost heart on that trip? Did his stomach turn over for three days? Did he weep those nights watching his son drift off to sleep, knowing that every second of sleep was one less they would spend together? Do you think he cried out as Jesus did “Take this cup from me?” (Matt 26:39)

I think he probably did, but this I KNOW: he said: “Yes, Lord, I love you, and I trust you. Take my son.”

I don’t think I could do it.

Abraham was willing to give up Isaac simply because he believed that Gods story demanded it. That act of faith has echoed through history, and began a chapter that has led to this place.

[God] took [Abraham] outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 15:1-6.

This is us, you and me, the product of a faithful man and a faithful God. This is a story of the reconciliation between God and a fallen broken world. Through Abraham came Isaac and then Jacob (father of the 12 tribes of Israel) and from Israel came Jesus. Through Jesus we became part of the story of God. The story of Abraham is one of God’s opening chapters in an unfolding epic story that we do not understand. But Abraham got it. Abraham believed. Abraham knew what Paul was talking about.

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)

I pray that you will see that you are a very important part of God's story; a story that needs your character. Your story is one of the critical pieces of the plot, and it must be written in ink the color of your faith, faith that trusts God to keep His promises, that trusts God to make all things work for good."

What areas of your life have you not given over to God?

What part of your story does God still need to write?

Things to think about:

1. What do you think your part is in God's Story?
2. Do you feel like a footnote sometimes, or maybe comic relief? Why is that?
3. If life was a movie with God as the Hero and you were His trusty sidekick, how would you live differently?