Abraham had a dysfunctional family. This daily devotional looks at how, from him to Isaac to Jacob, things went from bad to worse.
I’ve told you that Pastor Steve and I are doing a read-the-Bible-through program together. Here are some more of comments I’ve posted on what I’ve read.
Judging Others
“Abraham said, ‘I did it because I thought, “There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife”’” (Gen. 20: 11 ESV)
I guess Abraham didn’t learn the first time. He did it again. He said that Sarah was his sister, not his wife.
Instead of fearing for his life this time, Abraham said that he was afraid Abimelech didn’t reverence God. That wasn’t totally true.
We might think that Abimlelech was not a believer. We can’t make that assumption.
Even if Abimlelech didn’t acknowledge God as Sovereign Lord, he listened to Him when he came to him in the dream. He did what God said.
Oh, yes. Abimelech defended himself, but he immediately returned Sarah to Abraham. Plus, God recognized his intentions.
We can’t judge someone else’s relationship with God. We don’t know their hearts or intentions.
We can only make sure we have a right relationship with Him.
Father God. Abimlelech had integrity. We pray that we do, too. Help us to focus on our relationships with You rather than judging others. Amen.
Individual Promises from God
“The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised” (Gen. 21:1 ESV)
It might be easy for us to say that God doesn’t promise us specific things. Oh, we get the promises for everyone, but us individually? Not so much.
How many times on the big individual promises does God give us the year before it is fulfilled? A year ago when God said, “I want you to be a preacher’s wife,” and I said, “I’ll give You time if You want to rethink that.”
God was giving me a minute to wrap my head around that. That was permissible as long as I went forward in belief.
On the other hand, God was also working things out so it would happen. I didn’t know of any single preachers on my radar. Plus, we had this little thing where we kind of thought I might be dying.
But God visited me and did exactly what He promised.
We have to grab onto God’s promises with belief and obedience. He is faithful.
Father God. You promise us good for our lives. More, You promise us good for Your kingdom. Help us grab onto them.
Taking Care of Non-Believeers
“And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is’” (Gen. 21:17 ESV)
God knew how much trouble Ishmael’s descendants were going to cause Isaac’s descendants. Yet, He came to him where he was and saved him.
We hear all the time that God will come to us where we are in our sin to save us. That is a good outcome. He is more concerned about our spiritual condition than our physical condition.
But God is in control of everything — even those who do not follow Him. He uses them to get believers where they need to be.
God will meet them where they are and get them where they need to be.
Father God. You are in control of everything. You do not shy away from us because we are not where You need us. You meet us and bring us to where we need to be. We pray that You are bringing us closer to You.
Answering Our Prayers
“Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder” (Gen. 24:15 ESV)
Abraham’s most trusted servant picked up his belief in God. We assume this is Eliezer, the servant who would inherit if Abraham didn’t get an heir.
But here Eliezer is, not only working to get that heir, but also praying about it.
Eliezer had to be sincere in his prayers, or God wouldn’t have answered before he got the words out. God will not answer our prayers if we do not have a relationship with Him.
Some would argue that God was answering Abraham’s prayers. Yes, He was.
The one who is doing the praying needs to be obedient. Our prayers aren’t answered because we are obedient. Because we are obedient and remove the obstacles of sin, our prayers can be answered.
Eliezer had to have the faith to remove the obstacles of sin in his prayer life. We do, too.
Just as God was waiting to answer Eliezer and Abraham’s prayer, He wants to rush in and answer ours.
God, may we always be obedient to You so that Your Will can be done. Amen.
Lying to Ourselves #1
“Esau said, ‘Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.’ …” (Gen. 27: 36 ESV)
Now, wait a second. Jacob didn’t cheat Esau out of his birthright. No, Jacob was the second born kid, so he shouldn’t have had it.
But Esau sold it to Jacob. “Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright now.’ Esau said, ‘I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?’ Jacob said, ‘Swear to me now.’ So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob” (Gen. 25: 31-33 ESV).
Did Jacob trick Isaac into giving him the blessing? Yes.
But Esau showed by his actions that he did not value anything of God. He didn’t value the family responsibilities inherent in being the firstborn. He didn’t follow God’s directives in taking wives.
So, why didn’t God just make Jacob the firstborn? I don’t know. Maybe it was just because there is sin in the world.
God tells us the way we are to conduct our lives. We need to follow them.
God. Help us to live for You. Amen.
Lying to Ourselves #2
“But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? …” (Gen. 30: 15 ESV)
We feel sorry for Leah, but then we don’t feel sorry for her. Yes, she may have married Jacob first, but Rachel did not take away her husband.
If anything, Leah took away Rachel’s husband. The invitations went out saying Jacob and Rachel, not Jacob and Leah.
Jacob went through the motions with Leah, but the love of his life was Rachel. Always had been. Always would be.
Leah thought giving Jacob kids would make him love her. That didn’t work, either.
Look what Leah said to Jacob. “… ‘You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes’ …” (Gen. 30: 16 ESV).
Talk about dysfunction.
The dysfunction started because Laban wanted things done his way. Things spiraled from there.
We have to step back and let God work His way. That leads to peace.
Father God. May we always do Your Will, even when it is not what we would have initially chose . Amen.
The Progression to Change
“Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, ‘Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.’ And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you’” (Gen. 31:1-3 ESV)
Did you see the progression? The world around us changes, we become discontent, and God changes our mission.
Well, we don’t always go along with God when He says, “This is what I have planned for You.” That is especially true when we love where we are at and who we are with.
Besides, we are a people who just love change — NOT! Sometimes, God has to smack us upside the head to get our attention.
God will start working on us when He wants to change our mission or our mission field. We will start to be dissatisfied with the way things are.
We are called to be content with where God plants us. When that contentment is gone, we need to make sure that it is God shaking up our comfort zone.
God. You have plans for us. We want to work Your plan. Amen.
For the Love of Money
“Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money” (Gen. 31:15 ESV)
From the time Eliezer got to Paddan-aram and determined Rebekah was the one God had for Isaac’s wife, we hear about Laban. We don’t hear anything about Nahor, so we assume that he is either dead or incapacitated.
From the start, we see Laban eying the material possessions that Eliezer gifted to them. It is all about the money.
Now, Rachel and Leah feel like they have been sold and the money frittered away.
We have to take our eyes off this world’s flash and splash and keep them solely focused on God. We need to focus on the eternal.
Father God. We take our eyes off of what this world has to offer. We focus totally on You and Your love for us. Only that will be eternal. Amen.
A Sinful Man of Faith
“I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps” (Gen. 32:10 ESV)
Yes, Jacob was a cheater and liar. We would think that would disqualify him from being a man of faith.
God doesn’t. What made Jacob — and us — God’s people is our acknowledgment that we need God and His saving grace.
We have to admit that we cannot save ourselves. Only belief in Jesus can do that.
The foundation of our belief must be our recognizing God’s love and faithfulness to us.
All we have to do is to submit to Sovereign God. What that means is we follow His laws and commandments.
Father God. We are nothing without You. We cannot save ourselves. Only belief in Jesus’ sacrifice can cleanse us from our sins. Lord, we submit to You and strive to follow Your laws and commandments. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
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Making the Connections
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How Do We Apply This?
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Heading
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The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
If you have not admitted that your relationship is not right with God,
have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
and have not confessed your sins,
please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
Related Links
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
Don’t know what your spiritual gifts are?
Take this Spiritual Gifts Inventory
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Job Duty #1
Be a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12: 1-2)
Job Duty #2
Work Out Our Salvation (Philippians 2: 12)
Job Duty #3
Bring Him Glory (Matthew 5: 16)
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #5
Love People (John 15: 12)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Job Duty #7
Other Duties as Assigned
(Ecclesiastes 3: 1)
It Was Enough
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Keyboard: Chris Vieth
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.