Today's Reading
Today, Genesis stirs so many thoughts and emotions in me. Take a moment if you can and put yourself inside Joseph. What do you think he is experiencing? Do the same with his brothers.
Notice that their father didn't let the brothers take Benjamin to Egypt until Judah offered his own life in exchange. He had refused to accept the offer of Reuben to give up two of his sons. Judah, the direct ancestor of Jesus, showed us a picture of salvation. It is not by our own works, but because God offered Himself, through Jesus, as our substitute.
Matthew once again reminds us that the Bible contains some stories that are beautiful and some that are grotesque. What do you think of this passage?
Psalms today shows us that we tend to view God through the lenses of our own strengths/weaknesses. How do you see Him?
Wisdom, according to Proverbs, is the path to effective living. Dear God, please help me live according to wisdom!
How are you doing? Please share your thoughts about what you are reading.
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The reading in Psalms today has a special meaning for me. Several lines of that passage are underlined in my Bible because of a time that I walked through . . . crawled through . . . was pulled through. God did reach down from on high and He took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters of despair and hopelessness. He continually rescues me from the root of bitterness that threatens to grow and choke out the joy of my salvation. He was my support and He keeps my lamp burning. He turns my darkness into light and helps me advance against a troop and scale that seemingly insurmountable wall of unforgiveness. He is my shield - I need to daily take refuge in Him. It is He who arms me with strength and "enables me to stand on the heights." I give Him the glory!
ReplyDeleteWow Ranelle... that's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIf I were Joseph, I'd be heart broken. He must have been torn between holding resentment and forgiving them beacause he still loved them and probably wanted to see his father. If I were his brothers I'd be frigtened and confused.
In Matthew....glad I don't live in those days! These days people don't react so harshly. Then again.... watching the news people do a lot of horrible things in anger or jealous rage.
In response to your question from Psalms... I see God as my loving Father who is always there to comfort me, love me, protect me, discipline me and reward me. He is always there to listen to me. He may not always give me exactly what I want, when I want it, but gives me what I need when he decides it's time.
Because he loves me so much, he needs my love and wants me to spend time with him. I'm working on the time issue. I'm so thankful to have such a loving God.
In Matthew, I like the net and fish parable.
ReplyDeleteFish,like many other animals, react to certain situations the same way, time after time. When fish are trapped, or feel trapped, they swim up or rise from where they are and head toward the surface. In many cases they look up and head straight up to the sky and the heavens.
During my commercial fishing days, we designed traps and nets that actually had pockets that floated higher than the rest of the net. This pocket stored fish as they headed upward toward the sky.
As I think about it, we are like fish. When we feel trapped and have no where else to go, we look up toward the heavens, searching for escape and rescue.
See you tomorrow...
Ranelle, I have heard quite a bit of your story and still find myself touched each time you share what a passage has meant to you in the darkest times.
ReplyDeleteSandy, thank you for sharing faithfully. I echo your thoughts about Joseph's brothers.
Brian, what great insight from your fisherman days. Thank you!