Today's Reading
Today, Genesis begins with tribal conflict and shows how a covenant changes the situation. The covenant meal was in important part of the process. It indicated a brotherhood between the former enemies.
The second part of our Genesis passage is about another meal. It's also about deception and family rivalry. It was always God's plan that His people come through Jacob. Do you think He needed the deception that occurred in order to accomplish that plan?
Matthew includes several great stories of Jesus' life and ministry. Which one speaks most to you? Why? What questions arise from them?
Psalms promises that God knows the hopes of the helpless. That promise often ministers to me because I know what it feels like to be helpless to change some things. How about you?
It's as if this Proverbs passage were written specifically for our culture. In good times and hard times, God tells us to honor Him first with our finances and He will care for us.
I hope you will keep us up today with your thoughts, comments and questions.
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"For I have come to call not those who THINK they are righteous, but those who KNOW they are sinners.”
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm in the Word every day and I'm feeling close to the Lord, I have to be ever so careful that my thoughts don't turn that corner and I start thinking I'm righteous. It's a quick corner and one that comes up when least expected.
In Genesis - No, God didn't need Rebecca's deception to assure Jacob's birth right, any more than did He need Sarah's "help" to produce the promised heir for Abraham. It seems we are always guilty of trying to assist the Lord to accomplish His perfect will. I know I am often afflicted with that "need". How vain is that?
ReplyDeleteMatthew: The utter and complete faith of not only the paralytic, but of his friends who presented him to Jesus also. I marvel that we today don't have the child-like faith of those who lived in Jesus' day.
Great comment, Ranelle. If you had taught it to Randen's preschool class with the emphasis you just put into writing, he would tell it to everyone he sees! I echo your thoughts and become ever more aware at how I can do the right things with stinky motives. God, please forgive and help me!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing something from your heart about what the passage spoke to you, Linda. Your comments, like Ranelle's, are those that bring conviction to the hearts of the rest of us.
Ranelle, I completely agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI thought Proverbs 3:9 was a great reminder. It can be so tempting to give God our "leftovers".