Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Genesis, Chapters 32-34 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Genesis 32: 22-28: … [Jacob Becomes Israel] … 22 That night [as Jacob was waiting in fear for the arrival of his brother Esau, whom he assumed hated him] Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and A MAN wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When THE MAN saw that He could not overpower him, He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with THE MAN. 26 Then THE MAN said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 THE MAN asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then THE MAN said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
My Journal for Today: There is much which could be discussed in the chapters which I was led to read today in Chapters 32-34 of Genesis in my chronological reading plan. However, the section in Chapter 32, which I’ve copied above (i.e., Verses 22-30), has always spoken to me personally.
First of all, we remember that God’s providence had allowed for Jacob’s name to be “Jacob,” which means schemer or conniver; and here, at this moment in Jacob’s life (in Chapter 32 of Genesis) we read of Jacob fearing for his and his family’s life as Esau approached them with 400 men. And here was Jacob, again coming up with a bribing/conniving scheme to appease the anger he assumed Esau would have for having stolen Esau’s birthright. And in the midst of all this intrigue, comes “A Man” Who wrestles with Jacob; and Jacob stays in this battle, somehow knowing that he is wrestling with God Himself.
Most Bible scholars interpret that this very special “Wrestler” was a Theophany, .. a human, pre-incarnate appearance of The Messiah, to man – in this case, Jacob, whom God knew was more than the scheming conniver who had “wrestled” the birthright away from Esau by conning his father, Isaac. And so, after their wrestling match, The Lord, helped Jacob to be transformed … from one who would selfishly think of himself to one who would struggle with God for God’s purpose and direction in life. And to characterize this transformation, seeing that Jacob was serious about wanting God’s blessing, God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel,” which, in Hebrew, means, “one who struggles with God.” And what more perfect name could have been given to the man whose bones would later be carried out of Egypt to the promised land by God’s chosen people, as the nation “Israel,” was freed from captivity. And we know how much “Israel” then struggled with God and still does even these millennia later; and so, the name God gave ISRAEL was perfect to describe His child Jacob and His later children, the Hebrew nation, Israel.
But my personal application comes from this focus passage today because I was also one who wrestled with God for many years of my life, denying who I really was and rejecting God’s desire to transform me into a man who could follow Him and glorify Him as my Lord. And all those years my name was “William,” which has a Germanic background meaning, “helmeted warrior.” And in my youth I had become a warrior for selfishness. But in my middle years, as was Jacob when he wrestled with God, I had a breakdown wrestling match with God, Who used a rather bizarre set of circumstances, as He did with Jacob and much later, the Apostle Paul, to knock me off my high horse and to give me sight from my spiritual blindness, allowing me to see God for Whom He is, … my LORD and Savior.
No, I didn’t wrestle with the Angel of the Lord; but I had a personal, spiritual battle which allowed me to take off the helmet of selfishness in my life and put on a new helmet of salvation so that my name WILLIAM could take on a new character name which honored God rather than dishonored Him. I was transformed (and am still being transformed) from a warrior for Satan into a warrior for The Savior.
So, I identify strongly with what Jacob and what he went through to become “Israel;” and if you are one who struggles to follow God, sometimes having to struggle with self and a Savior Who wants to transform you into His image, stick in there. Keeping fighting the good fight, knowing that the struggle against selfishness and the battle for God’s blessing of righteousness is worth it. God wants us to struggle against self and to surrender to His transforming grace, even if we become wounded, as did Jacob. Any struggle which moves us into a surrendered discipleship role to our Lord and Savior, Jesus, is well worth the wrestling match.
So, as I often symbolize this struggle, let me put this here - <’KOKO>< - which means, “Keep On Keeping On in Christ.” Keep wrestling for God’s blessing, my friend!
My Prayer Today: … Lord, I know I often struggle to gain Your grace; and forgive me if my struggle against my selfishness dishonors You; but I will keep fighting self to be like You; and I pray your blessings upon my struggles. Amen
Showing posts with label Jacob. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jacob. Show all posts
Monday, January 23, 2012
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
2010 – June 09 – Dysfunctional Gloating
Blogger’s Note: WARNING! If you have strong socio-political opinions/feelings that the USA should not be supporting Israel as stanchly as they have in the past, I do hope you read the blog God led me to study, read, and journal today. However, my warning is that you may not agree with the strong and opinionated stance I have taken in my writings, which I believe were led by God’s truth from the book of Obadiah, from which I was led to read this morning. But with this in mind, I do hope you’ll read – and maybe comment on what we can all glean from the “minor” Prophet Obadiah, writing some 700-800 years before Christ.
Study from God’s Word… Obadiah [only one Chapter to read] … Passage for Reflection: Obadiah 1: 12… NIV 12 You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.
My Journal for Today: Obadiah; … who’s he? Well, a little study this morning yields only a little light on this man. Apparently his name means “servant of God;” and this book, which has been included in Hebrew and Christian Scripture, indicates that Obadiah was a Prophet from God. And apparently there are two possible time periods to which this book might be attributed. One is during the reign of Jehoram in the southern kingdom of Judah (from 853 – 841 BC), during the times I was writing about yesterday when the northern Hebrew tribes in Israel had separated from the southern tribes in Judah; and they were being harassed and affronted by the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who lived in the hill country above Judah; and the Edomites did all they could to have Judah brought down.
But this Prophet might also, according to some scholars, have been writing a retrospective about the time of Jeremiah (sometime between 627 – 586 BC), the latter being the year Nebuchadnezzar took Judah into captivity). At any rate, reading through Obadiah today has some scary here-and-now overtones, … at least for me. In this book we read of God’s Prophet railing against a people, the Edomites, who were haughty enough to think that they could eradicate God’s chosen people from the face of the earth. And these descendants of Esau, carried out all kinds of plots [in various eras of history as mentioned above], thinking that they deserved to take back God’s birthright which had been foolishly lost by Esau to Jacob. And I’m sure you know that the descendants of Esau, the Arabs, still today aspire to eradicate the descendants of Jacob.
I’ll not go that much into this history; but when I read the one-chapter book of Obadiah today, it’s almost like I’m reading of some modern-day prophet of God publishing a blog warning Iran and their haughty President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is also a descendant of Esau. Because today we see Iran, who has a haughty hatred of Israel; and we read of Ahmadinejad declaring, openly and definantly, that Israel and all the Jews should be wiped from the face of the earth. And the modern day Iranians, who are descendants of the Edomites, to which Obadiah refers, are, like their ancestors, doing all they can to bring down the descendants of Jacob.
But I believe the prophesy of Obadiah is clear; and whether it was applied to the land of Judah in the two periods of history mentioned above or God’s prophetic words are applied to Iran today, any country who plots to destroy God’s chosen nation, Israel, and especially those who boast of doing such, will be ultimately laid low and will have called down God’s wrath on themselves.
Go ahead, … you go back and read beyond the one verse of warning in today’s highlighted passage. In fact, read the entire little book of Obadiah [it’s really short!]; and see if you don’t see a warning against any haughty people who might try to eradicate, or even plot against, Israel. My friends, this warning would apply to any people or nation, especially any who would become an ally of the modern day Edomites. And in today’s headlines, this observer sees America, the press and our government, undermining our former alliance with Israel, which plays into the hands of Iranian and Palestinian demands and their desires to war against Israel.
Our President says he is a “christian.” He has stated that he believes in the veracity of the Bible. But as he backs away from our strong historical alliance with Israel – God’s chosen, one can’t help but read the USA into the words of Obadiah and perhaps see God’s wrath being unleashed against any/all who would play into the ploys of those who still – even centuries after Jacob took the birthright and blessing from Esau – desire to obliterate the covenant God has made with His people. … Scary stuff – at least to this observer!!!
My Prayer for Today: Lord have mercy on the remnant who still believes that we must support Your chosen peoples. Help our leaders to clearly see that we cannot back away from our support of Israel. Amen
Study from God’s Word… Obadiah [only one Chapter to read] … Passage for Reflection: Obadiah 1: 12… NIV 12 You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.
My Journal for Today: Obadiah; … who’s he? Well, a little study this morning yields only a little light on this man. Apparently his name means “servant of God;” and this book, which has been included in Hebrew and Christian Scripture, indicates that Obadiah was a Prophet from God. And apparently there are two possible time periods to which this book might be attributed. One is during the reign of Jehoram in the southern kingdom of Judah (from 853 – 841 BC), during the times I was writing about yesterday when the northern Hebrew tribes in Israel had separated from the southern tribes in Judah; and they were being harassed and affronted by the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who lived in the hill country above Judah; and the Edomites did all they could to have Judah brought down.
But this Prophet might also, according to some scholars, have been writing a retrospective about the time of Jeremiah (sometime between 627 – 586 BC), the latter being the year Nebuchadnezzar took Judah into captivity). At any rate, reading through Obadiah today has some scary here-and-now overtones, … at least for me. In this book we read of God’s Prophet railing against a people, the Edomites, who were haughty enough to think that they could eradicate God’s chosen people from the face of the earth. And these descendants of Esau, carried out all kinds of plots [in various eras of history as mentioned above], thinking that they deserved to take back God’s birthright which had been foolishly lost by Esau to Jacob. And I’m sure you know that the descendants of Esau, the Arabs, still today aspire to eradicate the descendants of Jacob.
I’ll not go that much into this history; but when I read the one-chapter book of Obadiah today, it’s almost like I’m reading of some modern-day prophet of God publishing a blog warning Iran and their haughty President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is also a descendant of Esau. Because today we see Iran, who has a haughty hatred of Israel; and we read of Ahmadinejad declaring, openly and definantly, that Israel and all the Jews should be wiped from the face of the earth. And the modern day Iranians, who are descendants of the Edomites, to which Obadiah refers, are, like their ancestors, doing all they can to bring down the descendants of Jacob.
But I believe the prophesy of Obadiah is clear; and whether it was applied to the land of Judah in the two periods of history mentioned above or God’s prophetic words are applied to Iran today, any country who plots to destroy God’s chosen nation, Israel, and especially those who boast of doing such, will be ultimately laid low and will have called down God’s wrath on themselves.
Go ahead, … you go back and read beyond the one verse of warning in today’s highlighted passage. In fact, read the entire little book of Obadiah [it’s really short!]; and see if you don’t see a warning against any haughty people who might try to eradicate, or even plot against, Israel. My friends, this warning would apply to any people or nation, especially any who would become an ally of the modern day Edomites. And in today’s headlines, this observer sees America, the press and our government, undermining our former alliance with Israel, which plays into the hands of Iranian and Palestinian demands and their desires to war against Israel.
Our President says he is a “christian.” He has stated that he believes in the veracity of the Bible. But as he backs away from our strong historical alliance with Israel – God’s chosen, one can’t help but read the USA into the words of Obadiah and perhaps see God’s wrath being unleashed against any/all who would play into the ploys of those who still – even centuries after Jacob took the birthright and blessing from Esau – desire to obliterate the covenant God has made with His people. … Scary stuff – at least to this observer!!!
My Prayer for Today: Lord have mercy on the remnant who still believes that we must support Your chosen peoples. Help our leaders to clearly see that we cannot back away from our support of Israel. Amen
Thursday, February 05, 2009
2009 - Day 35 - Final Family Reunion
February 5, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Final Family Reunion
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 28 – 30 … 28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive."
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll is right in his devotional book for today that this short reunion scene, as touching is it is, becomes an apt reminder of the hope we have in Christ and our readiness to be with Him for eternity. In verse 30 of Gen. 46, Jacob, after holding his long lost son, Joseph, and after weeping and laughing with him, declared that he, Jacob, was ready to die.
What is not said in this passage is that Jacob could be ready to die only if his hope and faith were placed in The Messiah to come. “Israel” (i.e., Jacob) expressed his readiness to die because of Joseph being there to hold; and that’s a very human emotion. Maybe you have very deep emotions when you think of dear ones who are no longer with you in this life; and you know that the only way you’ll see them again will be in heaven.
But that latter reunion will never take place in the future unless your loved one was given over in faith to Christ sometime in the past before he or she died; and you are in Christ now. Perhaps you reckon that you’ll never see your loved one because you know, in your heart of hearts, he or she never accepted Christ as Savior/Lord during that dear one’s life. Perhaps you know that your departed loved one was a Christian and you now have doubts about your salvation. If this is the case, the most important question of your life now is …, “Will you be reunited in heaven with any Christians from your past who’ve gone on to be with the Lord?”
If you have doubts about that, you cannot go back and justify your lost loved ones in Christ. However, you can KNOW that you will be in heaven with any Christians who’ve gone on before you to heaven. And you can know that - IF - you really believe, acknowledging that you’re a sinner, Christ died for your sins; and - IF - you believe and declare Christ (to anyone) to be your Lord. And - IF - you’ve confessed that from your heart and with your mouth, YOU ARE SAVED! That’s the promise of God’s Word (see it in Romans 10: 9 – 13) And nothing you’ve done in your past or nothing you can do in your future can now separate you from any heavenly reunion you will experience when you die and are reunited with the most important dear One in your life; ... and that, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Since Joseph is a type of Christ in the Bible, imagine, after many years of not seeing Him, when you are translated into Heaven at your death, being able to spiritually embrace Your Lord. But there will be no tears of missing Him from the past. The only spiritual tears you will have, in Heaven, will be those shed out of sheer joy of being in the presence of Yeshua Hamashia, … Jesus, The Messiah.
Oh, how I longingly look forward to that reunion; but, to be honest, I’ve still got a lot of living to do – at least in my own hopeful time-table. But if, in God’s time-table, He would have for me to be with Him tomorrow, or in the next hour for that matter, paraphrasing what old Jacob said, “I am ready to die, because I know my Savior lives!”
How about you? Do you know Christ lives; and that He died for you? If you need to make that clear, for eternity, it would be my eternal privilege to usher you into heaven by hearing your confession and declaration that Christ is Your Savior. Contact me (you probably know my phone/email contacts) and let’s get this settled for eternity. Or get with some other person you know to be a Christian and give them the privilege of embracing a new Christian when you declare to God and to them that you’ve accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. That will be a union here in this life; but it will set up a reunion in the next and for eternity.
Oh, how I pray that we’ll one day embrace in heaven as brothers or sisters in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I long to be You, my Yeshua Hamashia; but as long as You give me life on this side, I will live for Your glory! Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 28 – 30 … 28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive."
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll is right in his devotional book for today that this short reunion scene, as touching is it is, becomes an apt reminder of the hope we have in Christ and our readiness to be with Him for eternity. In verse 30 of Gen. 46, Jacob, after holding his long lost son, Joseph, and after weeping and laughing with him, declared that he, Jacob, was ready to die.
What is not said in this passage is that Jacob could be ready to die only if his hope and faith were placed in The Messiah to come. “Israel” (i.e., Jacob) expressed his readiness to die because of Joseph being there to hold; and that’s a very human emotion. Maybe you have very deep emotions when you think of dear ones who are no longer with you in this life; and you know that the only way you’ll see them again will be in heaven.
But that latter reunion will never take place in the future unless your loved one was given over in faith to Christ sometime in the past before he or she died; and you are in Christ now. Perhaps you reckon that you’ll never see your loved one because you know, in your heart of hearts, he or she never accepted Christ as Savior/Lord during that dear one’s life. Perhaps you know that your departed loved one was a Christian and you now have doubts about your salvation. If this is the case, the most important question of your life now is …, “Will you be reunited in heaven with any Christians from your past who’ve gone on to be with the Lord?”
If you have doubts about that, you cannot go back and justify your lost loved ones in Christ. However, you can KNOW that you will be in heaven with any Christians who’ve gone on before you to heaven. And you can know that - IF - you really believe, acknowledging that you’re a sinner, Christ died for your sins; and - IF - you believe and declare Christ (to anyone) to be your Lord. And - IF - you’ve confessed that from your heart and with your mouth, YOU ARE SAVED! That’s the promise of God’s Word (see it in Romans 10: 9 – 13) And nothing you’ve done in your past or nothing you can do in your future can now separate you from any heavenly reunion you will experience when you die and are reunited with the most important dear One in your life; ... and that, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Since Joseph is a type of Christ in the Bible, imagine, after many years of not seeing Him, when you are translated into Heaven at your death, being able to spiritually embrace Your Lord. But there will be no tears of missing Him from the past. The only spiritual tears you will have, in Heaven, will be those shed out of sheer joy of being in the presence of Yeshua Hamashia, … Jesus, The Messiah.
Oh, how I longingly look forward to that reunion; but, to be honest, I’ve still got a lot of living to do – at least in my own hopeful time-table. But if, in God’s time-table, He would have for me to be with Him tomorrow, or in the next hour for that matter, paraphrasing what old Jacob said, “I am ready to die, because I know my Savior lives!”
How about you? Do you know Christ lives; and that He died for you? If you need to make that clear, for eternity, it would be my eternal privilege to usher you into heaven by hearing your confession and declaration that Christ is Your Savior. Contact me (you probably know my phone/email contacts) and let’s get this settled for eternity. Or get with some other person you know to be a Christian and give them the privilege of embracing a new Christian when you declare to God and to them that you’ve accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. That will be a union here in this life; but it will set up a reunion in the next and for eternity.
Oh, how I pray that we’ll one day embrace in heaven as brothers or sisters in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I long to be You, my Yeshua Hamashia; but as long as You give me life on this side, I will live for Your glory! Amen
Thursday, January 22, 2009
2009 - Day 22 - A Horizontal Viewpoint
January 22, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: A Horizontal Viewpoint
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 29 – 38 … 29 Then they [Joseph’s brothers] went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: 30 “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’” 35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” 37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”
My Journal for Today: Among football fans it is said that “… it’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback.” Another pertinent saying might be, “Hindsight is always 20/20.”
I raise these old sayings because, as I read today’s passage, which focuses on old Jacob’s response to the news brought to him by his sons upon returning from Egypt, it would be easy for me to judge the old man saying that he responded with knee jerk fear. Certainly we see this very human viewpoint because the patriarch of this Hebrew family, from the lineage of Abraham, whom God had given His covenant promises, could not seem to see God in the picture of the events which had befallen his family. As Swindoll points out in his devotional for this date, Jacob had only a HORIZONTAL VIEWPOINT on what had transpired.
Upon learning what this “lord of Egypt,” who, of course, was Joseph, had done in keeping his son, Simeon, hostage, Jacob immediately assumed the worst; and seeing things – again, horizontally - from what had happened in the past, he just reacted by thinking that he now had two dead sons. And he horizontally projected that he might lose Benjamin as well if he were to be taken to Egypt. And here we are with 20/20 hindsight … as well as 20/20 foresight, being able to read/know God’s word as to the end of the story. It would be easy for believing Christians to judge Jacob and say, “Oh, you of little faith!”
But in my own rearview mirror, I can think of many times when I was confronted with life challenges and my viewpoint on life was just as horizontal as Jacob’s. Swindoll challenges his readers, “Call to mind your most recent test. Did you rest calmly in Him [i.e., God’s promises, provision, or power]? Or did you push the panic button out of fear?” Though I’m not a betting man, I would wager that most of us would have been no more vertical in our viewpoint than Jacob, taking the very human horizontal view on things as did this Jewish patriarch and reacting with fear and anxiety.
When we’re thrown into the swirl of worldly and personal events, it’s far easier to view things horizontally rather than vertically, trusting God implicitly and His truth from such biblical promises as we should know in Deuteronomy 31: 6, 8 … Isaiah 41: 10 … Romans 8: 28, 31 … Philippians 4: 6-7, 13 … or 2nd Timothy 1: 7. These truths just popped into my head as I was meditating on Jacob’s reaction; and I was convicted to have to say that given what Jacob learned and what he had experienced in life, even knowing and believing the truths of those verses above, I probably would have been a horizontal thinker just like Jacob. I hope that I could know God well enough to respond vertically to His promises rather than horizontally, reacting in fear; but I really don’t know how I would come out on such a test of my faith.
All I can do is continue to grow in my relationship with Christ; and I contend that I’m certainly much more of a vertically oriented Christian now than I was 25 years ago when I first surrendered to Christ. And knowing more and more of my Lord through His word, like those passages I referenced above, I now have more of a personal foundation from which to respond to life vertically rather than to react horizontally as did Jacob. But as it says in 2nd Cor. 13: 5, we need to continually, or at least periodically, test ourselves in the faith to see how vertically our responses to life might be.
Are you a Christian with a vertical or a horizontal viewpoint on life? I maintain that if we answer with the latter, we likely don’t know God from His word well enough. So, what must we do to become Christians with a vertical viewpoint on life? Well, we immerse ourselves in God’s word and invest the time to get to know our God intimately; and then, we abide in His truth. Because, to know God deeply is to love God deeply; and to love Him deeply will be to obey Him completely. So, I plan to do all I can daily to saturate my life with God’s word; because it is in God’s truth that I can develop a Godly, vertical viewpoint on life.
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be more like Joseph and less like Jacob. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 29 – 38 … 29 Then they [Joseph’s brothers] went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: 30 “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’” 35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” 37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”
My Journal for Today: Among football fans it is said that “… it’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback.” Another pertinent saying might be, “Hindsight is always 20/20.”
I raise these old sayings because, as I read today’s passage, which focuses on old Jacob’s response to the news brought to him by his sons upon returning from Egypt, it would be easy for me to judge the old man saying that he responded with knee jerk fear. Certainly we see this very human viewpoint because the patriarch of this Hebrew family, from the lineage of Abraham, whom God had given His covenant promises, could not seem to see God in the picture of the events which had befallen his family. As Swindoll points out in his devotional for this date, Jacob had only a HORIZONTAL VIEWPOINT on what had transpired.
Upon learning what this “lord of Egypt,” who, of course, was Joseph, had done in keeping his son, Simeon, hostage, Jacob immediately assumed the worst; and seeing things – again, horizontally - from what had happened in the past, he just reacted by thinking that he now had two dead sons. And he horizontally projected that he might lose Benjamin as well if he were to be taken to Egypt. And here we are with 20/20 hindsight … as well as 20/20 foresight, being able to read/know God’s word as to the end of the story. It would be easy for believing Christians to judge Jacob and say, “Oh, you of little faith!”
But in my own rearview mirror, I can think of many times when I was confronted with life challenges and my viewpoint on life was just as horizontal as Jacob’s. Swindoll challenges his readers, “Call to mind your most recent test. Did you rest calmly in Him [i.e., God’s promises, provision, or power]? Or did you push the panic button out of fear?” Though I’m not a betting man, I would wager that most of us would have been no more vertical in our viewpoint than Jacob, taking the very human horizontal view on things as did this Jewish patriarch and reacting with fear and anxiety.
When we’re thrown into the swirl of worldly and personal events, it’s far easier to view things horizontally rather than vertically, trusting God implicitly and His truth from such biblical promises as we should know in Deuteronomy 31: 6, 8 … Isaiah 41: 10 … Romans 8: 28, 31 … Philippians 4: 6-7, 13 … or 2nd Timothy 1: 7. These truths just popped into my head as I was meditating on Jacob’s reaction; and I was convicted to have to say that given what Jacob learned and what he had experienced in life, even knowing and believing the truths of those verses above, I probably would have been a horizontal thinker just like Jacob. I hope that I could know God well enough to respond vertically to His promises rather than horizontally, reacting in fear; but I really don’t know how I would come out on such a test of my faith.
All I can do is continue to grow in my relationship with Christ; and I contend that I’m certainly much more of a vertically oriented Christian now than I was 25 years ago when I first surrendered to Christ. And knowing more and more of my Lord through His word, like those passages I referenced above, I now have more of a personal foundation from which to respond to life vertically rather than to react horizontally as did Jacob. But as it says in 2nd Cor. 13: 5, we need to continually, or at least periodically, test ourselves in the faith to see how vertically our responses to life might be.
Are you a Christian with a vertical or a horizontal viewpoint on life? I maintain that if we answer with the latter, we likely don’t know God from His word well enough. So, what must we do to become Christians with a vertical viewpoint on life? Well, we immerse ourselves in God’s word and invest the time to get to know our God intimately; and then, we abide in His truth. Because, to know God deeply is to love God deeply; and to love Him deeply will be to obey Him completely. So, I plan to do all I can daily to saturate my life with God’s word; because it is in God’s truth that I can develop a Godly, vertical viewpoint on life.
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be more like Joseph and less like Jacob. Amen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
