Father, You are good. You are Holy, righteous, and true – and You are my God! Your WORD is eternal, bringing life and health and peace to all who hear and believe. For those who have never heard, I pray they will hear and believe even today! For those who have heard BUT NEVER BELIEVED, I pray You will melt their hearts of stone – that they might believe and be saved. For those without a messenger will You open their eyes to Your creation – for Your Word makes clear that everything You’ve made displays Your invisible qualities – Your eternal power and divine nature – so that NO ONE has an excuse for not knowing You. Raise up messengers to go in Jesus’ Name and translators to translate in Word or print and supporters who will send and pray. All of this to Your eternal glory and the salvation of the lost. – … Father, for those who have both heard and believed but have turned away to the right or to the left and find themselves wandering in a wilderness, stuck in a pit, swallowed up by the world’s ways, or bound again by a yoke of slavery – will you please open the eyes and ears of their hearts Lord – to hear You, the One who is their faithful Shepherd, who has left the 99 to find them. Help them to reach out for Your rod and staff and to walk free of their chains and all that binds them and keeps them from You. – Again, all of this for Your eternal glory and the redemption of Your people. Amen in Jesus’ Name and Power!
I hope you have loved our journey through Genesis with Jacob and Joseph as much as I have. My prayer is you are walking away from it with new mentors of the faith and insight and motivation to choose God instead of the world. While we had many many focus verses and wonderful passages of history and instruction along the way may we be quick to remember the study memory verse as our greatest motivation –
When we are intent on loving God, what the world has to offer us will be less and less appealing. - Me from the Insideout
Instead of writing out a review of where we’ve been and what we’ve hopefully seen and learned I have decided to wrap-up the study with this link someone shared with me half way through the study. Sometimes seeing something portrayed on the screen can be a wonderful tool for our memory. (this video does not belong to me, it has been borrowed and shared from Youtube.com)
If you do not know the God of Jacob and Joseph or if you have questions about how to know and trust Him please message me, I’d love to chat with you about the greatest love and relationship you will ever know. Check it out for yourself at the links below –
13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth. ... 21 By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped as he leaned on his staff. NLT
OBSERVATION:
Today’s Focus Verse(s): Hebrews 11:13 and 21
The author of Hebrews writes of those who not only lived by faith but “died in faith without ever receiving the things promised.” Consider Jacob, who was told that he would become a great nation, but at a time very near his death he still had not seen this come to pass. Yet, like his fathers before him – he still believes and prepares for death by passing the blessing on to the generations coming behind him. The author of Hebrews makes it clear that the faith of God’s people was always looking forward to what they could not see but chose to trust was coming. This is the faith we are meant to have, which is why the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about walking by faith and not by sight.
For we walk by faith and not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
THE GENESIS SAGA:
Jacob had lived in Egypt for seventeen years now and was 147 years old. Scripture says, “The time for Israel to die …” After securing Joseph’s promise to bury him – not in Egypt – but in his own burial place the time came when Jacob told Joseph that his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, would be like his own. Shortly after this, he pronounced a blessing on the boys. However, even though Joseph took great care to place the boys in a position that would have ensured Jacob’s blessing on the older – he looked up to find that for some reason Jacob had crossed his hands and had pronounced the blessing belonging to the oldest son, Manasseh, on Ephraim. Jacob let Joseph know it wasn’t a mistake that the younger would be greater, but assured him that the boys would both become great nations.
2 During the night God spoke to him in a vision. “Jacob! Jacob!” he called.
“Here I am,” Jacob replied.
3 “I am God, the God of your father,” the voice said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make your family into a great nation. 4 I will go with you down to Egypt, and I will bring you back again. You will die in Egypt, but Joseph will be with you to close your eyes.” NLT
OBSERVATION:
THE GENESIS SAGA: Jacob Goes to Egypt
God had endeared Joseph to those he had served, as well as those he served with through the years as the second in command to Pharaoh. So, when word reached Pharaoh and his servants that Joseph’s brothers had arrived they were pleased. Pharaoh made great gestures of caring for Joseph’s family and making them at home in Egypt. The brothers left shortly after they had learned of Joseph’s identity and began the journey to bring Jacob to be reunited and live with Joseph, where they would be spared from the remaining years of famine – and where we will see that God continues to carry out His plan to make Jacob into a great nation.
Our Focus Passage: Verses 2-4
Needless to say Jacob was shocked to learn that Joseph was still alive but Scripture says that “he was revived in spirit.” Jacob soon began his journey to see his beloved son. Along the way, God calls to Jacob and when Jacob answers, “Here I am”, God responds with confirmation that he is not to be afraid to go down to Egypt for it is all part of His plan and the place where God would make him into a great nation, as He had promised. He assured Jacob that He would go with him to Egypt and one day bring him back from there.
Other Notable Observations:
They settled in the “land of Goshen”. Including the two sons born to Joseph there were 70 members in the household of Jacob in Egypt.
Joseph and Jacob reunited with much weeping.
Jacob was content to die now that he had seen Joseph’s face again.
APPLICATION: HOW THEN SHOULD WE LIVE?
When God calls, our answer should be, as Jacob’s was, “Here I am“. We don’t have to be afraid when He calls us to do something, even if it seems too. hard or unpleasant or takes us aways from all that we have known, because we know that God has equipped us for whatever He calls us to do (2 Peter 1:3-4), is working the details out according to His perfect will and timing, and will be with us wherever we go. It is crucial that we believe these truths, for the “Hear I am” answer depends on it. As is evident in the Scriptures, and what we have likely seen in our own lives or the lives of others – what God has started He will finish, we must believe this and act accordingly.
PRAYER: RESPOSE TO GOD’S WORD.
Father, how good it is to see Your works! How pleasing it is to watch Your plans unfold and to be reminded that we don’t have to be afraid to follow where You lead us or to end up in an unwanted position because of someone else’s actions or our bad choices – For You are in complete and perfect control. May we live and walk by this TRUTH — Trusting, obeying, following, and unafraid because You are with us and Your presence is our peace. All of this because of and in Jesus’ name I pray – Amen –
YOUR TURN:PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
What promises of God can you cling to today?
Can you be confident that He will keep His promises? Why or why not?
God – My Father – YOU ARE GOOD! How sweet it is to wake to the knowledge of You … to the nearness of You … To the HOPE of all You have promised … and To KNOW that I AM YOURS!
This! Yes, THIS is LIFE and BREATH and JOY and PEACE and STRENGTH for each new day! – me, from the inside-out
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Galatians 6:7-9
Observation:
The sequence of events…
Jacob dupes Esau, deceives his father, and because his life is in danger he leaves home to find a wife among his mother’s people. On the way he has an encounter with God in a dream – which leads him to both worship and commit himself to God, following the encounter he finds his mother’s brother,Laban… falls in love with Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel … offers to work for Laban for seven years in order to marry her … works the seven years – but wakes up the morning after the wedding only to find out he had married her sister, Leah. Apparently, Laban had done to Jacob what Jacob had done to his brother and father. [Of course now we have an ‘elephant in the room’ – because the question begs to be asked, how in the world do you not know which sister you married until the morning after? While the answer isn’t given in Scripture the possibilities could be anything from “too much wine for Jacob, elaborate veils, cultural modesty, or Jacob’s wedding night nervousness caused him to miss this key fact, but we don’t really know1“.]
Just as Jacob’s deceitfulness had lasting consequences on his father, mother, and brother – as well as untold others – so it was with Laban’s trickery. The trick not only affected Jacob but Rachel and Leah and generations to come.
The Lesson
As we learn from Paul in Galatians 6:6-10, God’s grace does not negate the consequences of our choices and actions.
Application: How Then Should We Live?
According to the passage in Galatians, where Paul warns, “a person will reap what he sows”, and in light of Jacob’s experience, both as the one who deceived and the one who was deceived it is clear by God’s Word that we are to be careful with our choices – neither deceiving nor allowing ourselves to be deceived. This being true we must walk by the Spirit and not the flesh, and we would be wise to remember that while we may not aways see that what we do matters – it does. Therefore we must keep living in a way that agrees with our profession of faith. Or as Paul said to Timothy,
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
1 Timothy 6:12 ESV
Prayer: Response to God’s Word
Father – discipline is never easy and Your discipline is even harder to bear – in part because of the consequences we face but also because it grieves my spirit to know I’ve disappointed You. Thank You for the reminder to make good choices, to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh, and to consciously live in a way that reflects my profession of faith. – In His Name and Power – AMEN!
Your Turn:
What’s your take away from today’s reading?
Have you experienced times when God has clearly disciplined you?
May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! 4 May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.” Genesis 28:3-4 NLT
Observation:
Jacob had tricked Esau, his brother, out of his birthright and deceived his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing that rightfully belonged to Esau, as the firstborn. which eventually led to the Covenant blessing that we find in chapter 28 and verse 4. In my human understanding I am blown away by Isaac’s prayer of blessing on his son even after all Jacob had done. In spite of the trickery, manipulation, and deception Isaac blessed Jacob with all of “the wealth and political power” that was his to give1 and ultimately he prayed for God to bless Jacob with the descendants and the land that had been promised to Abraham.1
Jacob will leave Isaac’s household with both Isaac’s blessing for wealth and political power and the covenant blessing of God with Abraham for multitudes of offspring and possession of the land.
1 Bibleref.com commentary on Genesis 28:4
In this ‘covenant blessing, Isaac acknowledges that God is in control. He recognizes God’s promises that Abraham’s descendants would be vast and acknowledges Jacob will be the one to possess the land promised to God’s people.
He prayed words that spoke of trusting God to be in control. Regardless of the way things appeared, Isaac trusted God to keep His promise. He kept his eyes on God and did not lose sight of the covenant He had made with Abraham.
Application: How Then Should We Live?
Trust God It’s not always easy, some might say it’s one of the most difficult parts of the Christian life – but it is none-the-less the example Scripture gives us – trust God, don’t lose sight of His promises. Trust Him even when things appear to have worked out wrong, trust Him when you’ve been wronged, and trust Him when you can’t see any hope that His promises will come true. In other words, when life and people disappoint us – we should still trust God.
I believe the key to trusting God is to keep our eyes on Him. The prophet Isaiah said, God would keep in perfect peace those who trust in Him, those who fix their thoughts on Him. In the New Testament, after giving instructions to not worry about anything but to pray about everything, Paul encouraged the believers to fix their thoughts on God – to think – not about things that had them worried or upset, but rather to think about things that are true and honorable, and right and pure, lovely and admirable, or excellent and worthy of praise. When these are the thoughts we dwell on, regardless of our circumstances, not only will we know God’s peace but our prayers will undoubtedly be less frantic and more like the Covenant blessing that Isaac was able to pray over his son. A prayer of hope and faith in His God and in the promise He had made of future blessing – even though his son’s actions had changed the expected path of God’s promise to Abraham.
Prayer: Response to God’s Word
Father, thank You for the reminder of Your complete control but even more how we are to respond in the midst of what doesn’t go the way we thought it was supposed to. Help me to keep my eyes on You and Your promises – and to pray accordingly. – Yes and amen!
Your Turn:
What’s your take away from today’s reading?
Do you believe God will provide for you without your help?
In what ways do you depend on your own strengths or cleverness instead of depending on God?
Do Not Love This World
15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 1 John 2:15-17
Observation:
Sight, sound, touch, hearing … our senses are catalyst for desires. From things we need to things we enjoy to things we’ve never tried but know someone else enjoys – from the time of the garden – our desires have been an issue. John’s warning about these desires is simple – they are not from God but from the world. He also reminds his readers that the world will one day come to an end while God’s kingdom and all who choose His will over the world’s- will live forever.
Seems like an easy choice, right? So why is it that, like Eve, we see something and it looks pleasing to the eye so we ignore what we know to be the right choice and go for the desirable? We all know the eyes aren’t the only culprits, all of the senses we have get involved and pull our attention in all sorts of directions that ultimately lead to desires and choices that may not line up with God’s will. Oh that we would consider John’s warning and check our desire against His Word before we take a bite of what the world is offering, which in Esau’s case was food versus his birthright.
He was famished, and most likely depleted of strength and energy to make the right choice or to care about anything other than his hunger. This is obvious by his reaction to Jacob’s proposition of the bowl of stew for Esau’s birthright. Esau certainly wasn’t about to die – he simply valued and desired the appetite of his flesh more than his birthright as Isaac’s oldest son.
Application: How Then Should We Live?
1 John 2:15-17 is a perfect companion, though an antithesis of sorts, to the example of Esau and Jacob that we find in the Genesis passage. John teaches his readers “[don’t] love the world or the things in the world”. So sure is he of this teaching that He declares the person who loves the world “does not have the love of the Father in Him”. He zeroes in on the “desires of the flesh”, pointing out that “the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions” (NLT). These, John says, are not from the Father. BibleRef.com’s explanation of verse 17 says it best – concluding “John’s condemnation of worldly thinking. John notes that this world is temporary. The world is temporary for each person, since every person dies. The physical earth is also temporary, since God will make a new earth in the end (Revelation 21—22). As a result, the desires of this world are also temporary.” The bottom line to our question of application and how we should live is this, “Believers are to resist evil desires, following the example of Jesus” (Matthew 4:1–11).
My synopsis, Don’t allow ourselves to become so enamored with the desires, the teachings, the thinking, of this world that they overtake us– and change the focus of our faith and what’s important to God, our heavenly Father. Feed the Spiritual-self, actually saturate ourselves with the Word so we don’t fall prey to the desires of the flesh. Finally, value what the Father values so that we do not trade the will of the Father and “a life lived in fellowship with Him”, for the ways and things of the world. To be sure, “doing God’s will cannot save us, — We are saved by Christ’s sacrifice, when we put our – faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8–9). However, a natural outcome of salvation is a desire to do God’s will (Ephesians 2:10). This is a hallmark of the believer, and only the believer will live with God forever. — Doing God’s will or desires is to be the goal of the believer.”1
1quotes from Bibleref.com on 1 John 2:15-17
Having opened their eyes to the wrongness of loving the things of the world John drives the point home by making sure they understand the futility of choosing the world – since “this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever”.
MefromtheNsideout and 1 John 2:17 NLT
Prayer: Response to God’s Word
Father, the world offers us much to love and to choose from – they are readily available and accessible – guard us from temptations of thinking, acting, and talking or living like the world. Help us to be so saturated with Your Word and aware of Your Presence so that we don’t fall prey to the deceivers of this world. – In Jesus’ Name!
Your Turn:
What’s your take away from today’s reading?
What does it mean to choose the things of God?
Can you choose the things of God and the things of the world? Why or why not?
But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1
Observation:
I love that our reading gives us a glimpse of Jacob’s story to go with our key verse. From the brief glimpse we learn not just that Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandson of Abraham, but I love that we also see that Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of Rebekah because she was childless. Not only did God answer Isaac’s prayer but He filled her womb with twins. We will look more at Jacob through the story in Genesis in the coming days but today we find a message delivered to “Jacob” by Isaiah the Prophet.
First let’s establish that Isaiah’s message is from God, then we should clarify who Isaiah is speaking to. While Isaiah references both Jacob and Israel, it is helpful to know that these names are now synonymous. This is because God had renamed Jacob Israel after he overcame his struggle with God (Gen 32:8). At some point the names also became the name of God’s people which can add some confusion when reading through certain passages. Suffice it to say for this passage, Isaiah’s use of the names are both in reference to the people.
A Message of Hope
So, here in Isaiah 43:1, God is delivering a message of hope through Isaiah to His people, the people He had chosen, or as stated here – those He had formed and called by name. A more in-depth reading of Isaiah 43 would reveal that God’s people would be scattered to other nations – thus the message of hope in verse one. God is telling them not to be afraid when troubles come because He would protect them, and as Isaiah goes on to say, God would gather them back together again.
While God sent this message specifically to the Jewish people, we can rest assured that it also applies to us who are believers in Jesus Christ. For according to Galatians 3:6-9, which we will look at on day five of our study, we are the children of Abraham, grafted in through our faith in Christ, (Rom 11:17).
In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” 7The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. 8What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”9So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
Galatians 3:6-9
This is one of my favorite truths of Scripture, as I imagine it brings me the same hope it brought to those in Isaiah’s day, to know that He calls me by name and will protect me, therefore I do not need to be afraid. Such truth and hope speaks peace to the fears, troubles, and concerns of this life.
Prayer: Response to God’s Word
Father, what an awesome God you are and have always been and always will be! You love with an everlasting love, grafting us in to Your family so that we can claim Your promises that are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. Thank You that we do not have to be afraid, for we know you are with us and will protect us because You have called us by name – we are Yours! Amen and Amen! In Jesus Name –
Your Turn:
Find a journal and jot down your thoughts/answers. I believe you will find it a great enhancement to the study.
Scripture Reading: Malachi 1:6-8, 3:1, 4:5-6; Matthew 11:14, Luke 1:17; and Isaiah 57:14-19
God Forgives the Repentant14 God says, “Rebuild the road Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity.” 15 The high and lofty one who lives in eternity the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts. 16 For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away—all the souls I have made. 17 I was angry,
so I punished these greedy people. I withdrew from them, but they kept going on their own stubborn way. 18 I have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them.
I will comfort those who mourn, 19 bringing words of praise to their lips. May they have abundant peace, both near and far,” says the Lord, who heals them. Isaiah 57:14-19 NLT
Observation: What’s the Message?
Every day, throughout this study, I have read the verses and looked for ways that they point us to our need for Jesus. Some passages have been more obvious than others but today’s proved to be challenging for me. Here’s where I landed …. Malachi 1:6-8 was a reminder that our sins require a sacrifice acceptable to God, but then it also prompted to praise God that Jesus is forever a perfect sacrifice. This reminded me that The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God will not despise a broken and humbled heart. The other two passages from Malachi as well as the ones from Matthew and Luke seem to point us yet again to John the Baptist and his role as the one who would prepare the way for our Lord.
The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.
Psalm 51:17
It is the passage from Isaiah however, that captured my attention. I confess it grabbed my attention mostly because I couldn’t figure it out and that always bugs me – so I chased down some information on its meaning and was glad I did. From all that I read, my synopsis is – it’s all about Christ making a way for us to have a relationship with God! However, I want to share with you a few bullet points from an article I read that I hope will help you reach the same ‘hallelujah’ I did.
Christ is the one who opens the way for a great returning to God (14)
Christ is the one in whom the “lofty one” – whose name is Holy comes to dwell with the oppressed and lowly (15)
Christ’s death is why God can acquit a guilty people without dropping the charges (16)
It is by Christ’s stripes that we are healed (18)
Everything hoped for in this passage comes to us – even to us Gentiles – in Jesus Christ.
Piper, from whose article I borrowed these points, went on to say, “We can read it as a personal offer of hope to any of us who will accept the healing of humbling and the cure of a crushed spirit.”
Application: How Then Should We Live?
From the inferior sacrifices of Malachi’s day to yet more reminders of John coming to prepare the way we are once again reminded of our need for Jesus. If we do not acknowledge this need daily, in both our hearts and minds, I am convinced that we will live as though we do not need Him.
We must not allow ourselves to live as though we can save ourselves or make ourselves better – we need a savior and that savior cannot be a pastor, a church, a child or spouse or friend, it can not be a job or good works. The only savior able to meet the demands of our Holy God is His Righteous Son, Jesus Christ.
Sin is the key because it is often the stumbling block that keeps us from dealing with the daily reality of our need for Jesus. We convince ourselves the questionable things we think, do, say, or watch really aren’t that bad. We play the grace card sometimes before we’ve even committed the sin – content that He will forgive us – we proceed with the sin. We should not make light of sin or treat it as a mistake – we need to humble ourselves before Him, confess our sin for what it is and deal with the sorrow that contrition brings. Remember, a humble and contrite heart He will not despise and according to this passage in Isaiah it is with the contrite and humble that He lives.
Prayer: Response to God’s Word
Father, how blessed we are that You sent Jesus to open a way to You, to acquit us of our quilt, to come and dwell among us, to heal us by His stripes, and to offer us hope and an eternal future with You. May we daily consider what You have done for us and live accordingly. Guard us from living in ignorance or rebellion – knowing what You’ve done for us but choosing our own way over Yours. Help us to be aware of our sin and may it make us contrite and humble, for it is with a humble and contrite heart You will dwell. To You be the glory, honor, and praise now and forever – Amen!
Me From the Inside Out 