Blogging through the #B90Days: Day 2

Reading through the Bible in 90 Days, with Amy (and 900 other people!!!) from Mom's Toolbox.

Day 2


Reading:  Genesis 17:1 - 28:19


Things that I heard today:


Abraham and Isaac both had their wives pretend to be their sister when dealing with the leaders of foreign countries.  And each time the Lord intervened, and protected their wives.

They trusted God with the really big stuff --  the visions, the becoming a nation and all that, but had a harder time with trusting on the day to day life stuff.
-----
Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah.  The twins were not born until he was 60.  Twenty years of infertility in a culture where a woman's primary role was to provide offspring. Certainly, twenty years does not compare to a near lifetime of barrenness that Sarah had suffered, but it is still a long time to be waiting on the promises that God has spoken.

-----



Scripture(s):


Genesis 27 - all.
(Synopsis:  Jacob gets Esau's blessing through the deception of Rebekah...)



Observations:


Favoritism is not good.

Here are the things that I know.

Rebekah, when praying to the Lord about the twins struggling with each other in utero, was told by the Lord that the older would serve the younger. (Gen 25:23)

Esau was Isaac's favorite, Jacob was Rebekah's favorite.

Jacob extracted the promise of Esau's birthright from him for a bowl of lentil stew.

On Isaac's deathbed,  Rebekah  plots to deceive him into giving the blessing of the firstborn to Jacob.

-----

Questions that this all raises?

So many!

We know that traditionally, the older son gets the bigger blessing.
We also know that God intended for Jacob to become Israel.

Why then, was Jacob not born first?
Why is the deceit, trickery and favoritism necessary?

Perhaps it had nothing to do with order of birth, and simply favoritism was at the root of it all.  Would Isaac have tried to bless Esau even if he had been born second?

Was Rebekah acting out of partiality to Jacob, or trying to ensure that the word she had received from the Lord came to pass?

These are questions that I always think about when I read this passage of Scripture.  I do not expect to know the answers this side of Heaven.

But this I know:  My God is the God of grace. He calls sinners, and tax collectors, and liars and thieves and prostitutes, and changes their lives, and uses them to accomplish His designs.


Application:


God's purposes will be accomplished.  (He will build this church in His OWN time.)
His ways are NOT our ways.  (He will do it HIS way, in His OWN time.)
Our stupidity, and mistakes, and sinfulness might mean He has to get creative, but it will NOT prevent Him from doing His will. ( He is completely in control.)


My God is trustworthy.
I may not understand why things happened the way that they did, but I can be comforted by the lineage of Christ, seeing not a list of people who were paragons in upright living, but ordinary people that are incapable of perfection.

The lessons my heart is hearing today:

 Trust Him above all --- do not try to bring about what I think is His will in my own strength, but let HIM do it in His time, and His way.

Believe Him for the huge things (the call for the church plant), but also the the mundane things (gas money, groceries, furnaces, vehicles).

We have barely scratched the surface of waiting. There are so many examples of God giving a promise, and then years, and year pass before it comes to pass. Give us patience!!




Prayer:


Thank you Lord, that your purposes will be accomplished here on Earth, no matter what we might do in our own efforts and strength.  Thank you for the reminders that You Alone are trustworthy, and for all things.  Give us peace, patience and the grace to wait as you prepare us for what is to come.


Thank you for the immeasurable blessings of our life.
Amen.

Blogging through the #B90Days: Day 1

Reading through the Bible in 90 Days, with 900 other people, at Mom's Toolbox.

On Saturday I finished the incredible journey of Blogging through the Gospels, also with Amy from Mom's Toolbox.  It was an extraordinary, life-changing experience.  Using the SOAP method to find nuggets in God's word each day, things that I knew were intended specifically for me, was just.... truly awesome.

So when I saw her SOAP from the Day 1 reading, it was as if a light bulb had gone off.

You see -- I was so reluctant to leave the SOAP experience behind, that I was going to try to continue through the Epistles in SOAP format, but I was a little concerned about not giving the Bible in 90 Days the time that I really wanted to give it.  So this was the answer to my dilemma. :)

So this morning, when my second alarm (thank goodness for back-ups!) went off at 4AM, I even beat my husband downstairs because I was so eager to get started.  And the alarms are actually for HIM because his summer hours are 5:30 AM - 2 PM, and we live 45 minutes away from his work.  So here I am, in the middle of summer vacation, willingly (and even excitedly) waking up between 3:45 and 4 AM so that I can get my (usually) uninterrupted time in the WORD.

This is a miracle. :)

Now.... there were other choices to be made.
I have very recently just made the switch to NKJV. (My husband is thrilled.)  I had been a long time NIV reader, and then found a great HCSB that I loved.  But more and more, during this Blogging through the Gospels experience, I kept turning to the NKJV.  So, when my brand new Word for Today NKJV Bible arrived on my doorstep last week, I knew that I had some decisions to make.

Last time I read the Bible in 90 Days, I used the YouVersion app on my iPod (and now on my Android).  It was great.  Portable and very convenient.  But this time, since I knew that I wanted to be doing some kind of blogging, and keeping notes along the way, I knew that app might not be the best option.  Highlights don't last beyond the screen that you are on.

And I have the actual Bible in 90 Days book, a gift from my mother, after they had done it the first time.

But.... it is NIV, and I had just made the switch to NKJV.

So, this morning, I went to the index of the official B90Days bible, and marked in my new NKJV Bible where the end of Day One way, and off I went.

(Wow... what a long introduction. You must be bored to tears.)

Anyway.
Here is what I heard today.

Reading: Genesis 1 - Genesis 16

Scripture:  Genesis 12: 1 - 4

1 Now the LORD had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.


Observations:


God spoke.
Abram obeyed.

Application:


God spoke.
Randy and Meredith questioned.
Randy and Meredith asked for confirmation.
The LORD confirmed.
Randy and Meredith took a baby step of faith.
The LORD confirmed.
Rand and Meredith BELIEVED.


It doesn't have the same power as: God spoke. Abram obeyed.

Prayer:


Lord,
Help us to obey by faith.
I do not think that you are upset that we seek confirmation. After all, we know that you are doing something, we just don't know when.

Help us to wait.
Help us to OBEY, without action....
until the obedience you demand REQUIRES action.

We have moved to the land that you have shown us.

And now we wait.

Give us peace and humility in the waiting.
And above all,
Thank you for calling us. Thank you for loving us, and for speaking to us and teaching us.
May we continually seek your Presence.

Amen.