this week's parsha is:
Genesis 32:4-36:43
Hosea 11:7-12:12
Obadiah 1:1-21
Hebrews 11:11-11:20
Matthew 26:36-26:46
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. -Hebrews 11:13-16
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Genesis 32
Jacob Wrestles with God
Have you ever wrestled with things in your life that cause tension, anxiety or fear? Jacob had been a true son of his father Issac and Rebecka. He had not only sinned in fulfillment of his name which meant deciever at this point but he had also been deceived and held as a indentured servant to his Uncle Laban. Now that he has obeyed God and moved forward to the land he has inherited.
Jacobs has developed a heart and relationship with God but it doesn't keep him from being afraid. He has surrendered much of his life and faith over to God. He has developed a heart that is able to have a deep understanding of Esau and is wise enough to know that Essu would be less likely to forgive because he did not know God nor did God know Esau.
Can you think of a time when you were headed towards the path God had placed you on only to find danger awaiting you or standing in the way like a giant.
What are the giants in your life?
I believe that this was that moment for Jacob. Although he had wronged his brother and his brother had sought to hurt him. Some how the time that passed allowed the Spirit of God to work in accordance with His will.
This story reminds me that we are often tempted to place ourselves up as an idol. We love ourselves more than we love God. Our doubts yeild to fear and our fears leads us to try to control a situation that only God can control. Jacob had followed God but when it was time to face his fears. He began to lean on his own devices rather than walk in faith with the LORD. Jacob was injured in the process but he was also blessed by struggle.
Is there somewhere in our life that we are wrestling with God? If you are, try to rest in his care instead and let him to do battle for you. If you are struggling, just know that there is blessing awaiting you on the other side.
Genesis 33
Jacob meets Esau
Jacob is truely repentent of what he has done in the past. Esau seems to have forgiven him because he too has been blessed despite the deceptions of Jacob.
God has answered Jacob's prayers without Jacob's participation or belief in the whole outcome. Thank God for being faithful even when we aren't.
All blessings are gifts from the Lord. They all belong to him and he showers us with those blessings even when we don't deserve them. Great is the love of our sweet Father and God. Amen
Genesis 34
Dinah and the Shechemites
I heard a story the other day about a girl in the Middle East (can't recall the country). She was raped and because she was not escorted by a male relative. She received further punishment by the legal system of her country.
This makes me wonder about Dinah. Was she a young willful child determined to do things her way like so many children today? like some many adults today (some of us never really grow up)?
I look around me today and see so many young women today. Acting out for love. They are willing to sacrifice everything they have (ie, life, future, healthy marriage, respect) because they so desire to be accepted or loved.
How inocent was Dinah really? Had she decided to find a place of acceptance in the world around her rather than in the love of her family and fathers protection.
Jacob probably wasn't the best father for her either. Dinah was the daughter of Leah. A wife whom he didn't prize as a gift of God. Jacob sinned against his family in his treatment of his family too. What was his role in this event? Did his denial of love to Leah and Dinah lead Dinah to look for love somewhere other than home? I think the fact that Leah's brothers took action without the assistance of Jacob speaks loudly of the disrespect that had been planted in their hearts by Jacobs actions.
Our children need to know that they are safe and that they are loved no matter what mistakes they make. Fathers are very important in this role. Too many of our men, have believed the lies of our culture that they are easily replaced. This just isn't true! Our children need fathers, our confindence as children is built in their loving protection.
Hosea 11:7-12:2
This seems to be a poetic point. God is Father. He loves his people and children and even when we give Him cause for wrath. He remains faithful to his promise to us. He may punish us like the child of a father but he will not destroy us in anger. His heart has compassion on us because he is tender towards us.
Obadiah
This passage calls us to reflection and repentance. God's judgement is upon each of us.
God is Love.
Jesus was God's son. Love begot Love. If we are made children of God thru the blood of Christ. Shouldn't we reflect love as well.
Faith and Love are verbs. They require action not simply thought.
Esau's family should have come to the aid to Jacob's family. Instead they took pleasure in their strife and difficulty. They contributed to the pain and suffering of thier own family.
Hebrews 11
"and so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.................He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
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As I look outside today, the weather is dreary, cold and wet. We are gathered with family and many of us are ill fighting off colds. This just a few days after celebratiing a day of Thanksgiving.
It is amazing how the days change for the worse and the better at times. Sometimes the blessings in our lives last for so long we never think about the chance that it could all come to an end very quickly and suddenly.
We all have hopes and dreams. Some of them are fulfilled and some are still before us. Abraham was given a dream and then asked to sacrifice his dreams and future by the very God who had blessed him. The hope of seeing it fulfilled must have felt futile inside him. Why?! Have I done something to offend you?! Abraham had been a bit of a revolutionary in his day and a man of conviction. He was prone to hurt and disappointment but he was also a man of great faith. Faith requires action and testing. This are the things that make us strong and help us to identify those burdens or weaknesses that hold us back from our full potential.
Moses probably wrestled with taking Issac to the alter but he had faith that God would provide according to His Word and that he would fulfill His promise.
God wants us to lay down our dreams and hopes before him. Not because he doesn't want to see them fulfilled but because he wants us to rely on him to see them fulfilled. He wants to give them to us as gifts that we didn't earn. So often we tend to take up control of situations thinking that only "I" can do it the right way. This happens when we are in service to God as well.
Is this a problem, well? Yes and No. No, it is good to love God and want to serve him. However, when we cross the line where the task becomes our master rather than the LORD. We have built an idol. We have placed ourselves on a pedistal or "our creation" as our God. Are we worshiping the creator or creation? Where are the eyes of your heart focused today? Is it on your God or on His promises (the gift)? Which is more valuable?
Matthew 26
The human-like form of God as Jesus is very rich in this portion. Jesus is God. Jesus is Devine. Yet, Jesus is sorrowful. He struggles with the flesh that he is encased with. He looks to God as Father to find a different way.
"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Yet, he is a faithful servant to his Lord until the very end. Taking on the burden placed before him despite the suffering and death that awaited him.
He turns to his disciples for help. Please pray for me!? Yet they fall asleep instead. Jesus was in great distress. Apparently, his followers did not respond to his distress or this too was part of the testing.
When we face trials before us that seem beyond us and our abilities? Do we turn to friends, family, God? Do we always get the answers we want?
Or, do we run away from the task? Do we turn our backs on friends because they have acted selfishly or let us down?
God doesn't promise that our lives will be easy. He doesn't promise a happy ending in this world. We WILL be tested. We WILL be bent. We WILL be shaped and molded. This means we WILL have broken hearts, we WILL have illness, we WILL have suffering. The real issue is how will WE respond in the midst of these trials?
Will we forgive those who have caused us pain like Jesus did when he was suffering and dying on a cross? Can we forgive in the midst of the suffering and find the blessing of God either on our lives or the lives of others through that suffering that makes it a gift to do so.
Sometimes it's not about the obvious.
With the birth of Benjamin I thought of Jesus.
Rachel's naming him "Son of my Sorrows"
reminded me of the "Man of Sorrows" from Isaiah
and both were born either near or in Bethlehem.
Both Rachel and Christ brought new life through death.
What didn't sound to be so great in Jacob's blessing of Benjamin
was actually positive and meant rudely courageous.
And check out what Moses had to say about the tribe of
Benjamin from which came King Saul and the Apostle Paul...
Of Benjamin he said:
“The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him,
Who shelters him all the day long;
And he shall dwell between His shoulders.”
We want desperately want blessing but we scoff at
accountability and wrestle with the divine. Wrestling
is actually okay though - it means we care enough to
still be in the fight. Dealing with what is difficult is
always better than abandoning the cause or deeming
the struggle not worth it. (That is so speaking to me!) God would rather we wrestle with Him than just give
up on the relationship. We may not leave the match unscathed
but we will be better for it. In my footnotes it says, " the limp
symbolizes that character transformation costs God's people in terms
of ego death. I love this verse in Hosea:
What are you waiting for? Return to your God!
Commit yourself in love, in justice!
Wait for your God,
and don't give up on him—ever!
(12:6 MSG)
Obadiah leaves me wanting to cheer. God lets Edom reap what
they have sown and God's people rule the kingdom.
Hebrews: totally convicting! Those great people never even
received the promise before they died and we have it so easy
compared to what it was like for them...
Jesus in the Garden: heartbreaking & three's. We didn't believe He would
be leaving us and we couldn't even stay awake until the end.
3 predictions of his death, 3 times He goes off to pray...and
on the 3rd day....
Thank you Father for your forgiveness, patience,
steadfast love and mercy.
He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit
And his life shall see the light.
“ Behold, God works all these things,
Twice, in fact, three times with a man,
To bring back his soul from the Pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of life.
Job 33:28-30 (How many times? :)
Seeking the vine,
Are you really suggesting that Dinah deserved to be raped? It seems to me that is what you are implying. It doesn't matter how willful someone is, no one deserves that to happen to them.
I think we need to be more thoughtful and careful about what we say and how we say things on this blog.
Lizzy,
I asked a question as to what the culture would have been like at that time. Would her wandering into town alone have been a cultural violation. If so, would she have been putting herself at jepordy out of willfullness.
No one deserves to be raped but the choices we make do have a lot to do with the situations we find ourselves at times.
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