How could this be? After all, Noah was the one who preached for one hundred years to the whole world. Noah was the one who built the ark, and who didn’t complain when he was sealed for 377 days within a floating zoo. Noah was the one who built an altar, who blessed God, who found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
When he was going through challenging times, difficult days, and thundering storms, Noah walked with God. But when things became normal, he became vulnerable. And the same is true with us. It’s when everything is going well, when our vines are growing, when our jobs are going fine, when life is on “automatic pilot” that we are in danger. No longer are we on guard, no longer are we dependent upon the Lord or desperately crying out to Him.
It’s when things are going well that we must be especially careful. When the storms are brewing and when trials are coming, we have a tendency to pray and seek the Lord. But when things are on “automatic pilot,” we, like Noah, often fall into trouble.
Ham saw his father’s nakedness. That’s always the way it is, for whether it’s regarding our birth family or our church family, those closest to us are those who will see our weaknesses. Why Ham talked about his father’s nakedness, I do not know, just as I don’t know why we are so eager to talk about one another’s weaknesses. But this I do know: Shem and Japheth wouldn’t look at their father’s nakedness themselves. Why did they stretch a garment between them? Because they didn’t want anyone outside the tent to look in and see their dad’s nakedness. They didn’t want those outside of the tent to be distracted by their father’s condition.
Folks, people are looking for reasons not to believe our message of hope and salvation. And hearing us talk about each other’s weaknesses gives them reason not to come in and join us.
But not only did Shem and Japheth keep others from viewing their father’s nakedness, they did not look upon it themselves.
Why?
Because even though I know someone may be forgiven, and even though I know sin is common to everyone, looking at someone’s sin or listening to reports of someone’s iniquity taints the way I view him in the future. You see, if you come home from work upset with your boss and you start complaining and exposing his mistakes and weaknesses to your wife, although you end up feeling much better, your wife stores that information away. And the next time she sees your boss, there are daggers in her eyes, and you wonder why she no longer wants to go to the company picnic. So too, if I listen to reports of the sin or iniquity of another, it will taint the way I view that person. Malicious exposure is damaging, destructive, and divisive.
Shouldn’t we talk about problems? If it’s your problem, yes. But if it’s someone else’s problem, someone else’s sin, someone else’s weakness, nakedness, or vulnerability, follow Shem and Japheth’s example: walk in backwards and conceal it from others. Not only will this protect the one who sins, but it will protect you as well, for the person who talks to you about someone else will invariably also talk to someone else about you.
How do I know this?
Because Paul warns, “Take heed that you do not bite and devour one another because you will be consumed one of another." Paul summarizes this by saying, “the entire law is fulfilled in the one word: love” (see Galatians 5:14–15).
When Noah awoke from his drunken state, he knew what Ham had done and cursed Ham’s son. No doubt Ham thought, “I’ve got big shoulders. I can handle the repercussions of my sin.” Unbeknownst to him, however, was the fact that the repercussions didn’t fall on him. They fell upon his son. How bad were the repercussions? The Canaanites were the worst culture in the history of the world. Totally immoral and completely perverted, they were eventually annihilated.
Dad and Mom, if we sin, we must not think we alone will pay the price. Sin doesn’t work that way. The consequences will often come in ways that will break your heart as they relate to your family. The children of parents who expose the weaknesses of bosses and neighbors, of sisters and brothers; the children of parents who are dour and sour and critical grow up unmotivated to go to church, bitter about the things of God, and uninterested in the Bible.
So what are we to do?
We are to say, “I’ve been forgiven of so much that I will not talk about the weakness of my boss, my neighbor, my pastor, the person sitting next to me, my friends, or my enemies. I will not speak or listen to negativity.” Every one of us will fail at some point or another. But if you choose today to be like Shem and Japheth - to cover the nakedness of others - you will likewise be covered when you fail.
Man builds with brick. But because brick is man-made, it cracks and chips easily. That’s why God uses stone.
The massive stones used for the Temple were cut to size in a rock quarry a mile away from the Temple site so that when the stones arrived at the building site, the Bible says the sound of neither hammer nor chisel was heard (1 Kings 6:7). How close did the stones fit? So close that not even a knife could fit between them. There was no need for cement or mortar, for the stones fit perfectly.
God still uses stones to build His Temple. We are living stones being fit together for a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). This means the world is the rock quarry wherein the chipping takes place so that when we get to the true Temple in Heaven, there will not be the sound of a hammer or chisel heard.
Therefore, we should not be surprised when the living stone we’re sitting next to or married to rubs us the wrong way. It’s all part of God’s plan to knock off our rough edges so that when we get to Heaven, we’ll fit together perfectly.
No matter how hard they tried, no matter how sincere their attempts might have been, people could no longer communicate. So they separated into language groups and began to form their own cultures. The good news, however, is that the necessary curse of Genesis 11 was reversed in Acts 2 when one hundred twenty believers in an upper room began to praise God in languages they had never learned, causing the people from Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Egypt, Arabia, Galatia, and from all parts of the world on the streets below to hear the Gospel in their own language.
And now I begin to understand that the only way for people to truly communicate cross-culturally is to be focused on the Cross of Christ and to be empowered by His Spirit, for apart from Christ, all of our efforts at unity are nothing more than slime and chipped brick. Without Christ, we can try to build a foundation of unity; we can have all kinds of rallies and seminars and marches, but there will be no unity apart from the power and person of the Holy Spirit coming upon us. It is only in Christ that there is neither male nor female, bond nor free, Jew nor Gentile (Galatians 3:28). It is only in Jesus that division is obliterated.
God said to Abram, “I’m going to give you a name, make you a nation, and protect you. Those who bless you will be blessed; those who curse you will be cursed.” In other words, you’re going to have primacy, identity, and security.
I find this intriguing because those were the three things man had wanted so desperately at Babel (Genesis 11:4). “Let us build a tower,” said man, “whose top may reach unto heaven (primacy); and let us make us a name (identity), lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (security).
The same is still true. We want something meaningful to do in life - primacy. Or we want to discover who we are - identity. Or we need security relationally or financially. Jesus said, “If you seek first the Kingdom, all these things will be added to you” (see Matthew 6:33).
Abram was fifty years old when he initially heard God’s call. But he didn’t leave Haran until he was seventy-five. Obviously, Abram faltered in his obedience. But guess what? God didn’t give up on Abram. Rather He waited for Abram.
“Lord, why aren’t You directing me?” we cry.
“I already did,” He answers. “Twenty-five years ago, I told you what to do. And I won’t give you more to do until you do what I’ve already told you.”
Many people are confused about God’s will because, like Abram, they’ve delayed doing what He has already asked of them. It might concern intercessory prayer, witnessing, or Bible study. I encourage people to keep journals - to write down things God lays upon their hearts because so often we ask, “What’s going on?” when, if we would just look back at what God had told us previously, we could see the problem.
God wasn’t mad at Abram - and He’s not mad at you. When your kids take their first steps, you don’t yell at them when they fall down. You celebrate their steps rather than berate their stumbling. God is the same way. He knows this is how we learn to walk by faith. Take hope, stumbling saint, Abram was in a twenty-five-year slump, and God didn’t give up on him. God gives us a second chance, and a third, and a ninety-ninth. His mercy is new every morning. His grace is limitless.
When the astronauts went to the moon, they planted a flag. So too, upon entering the Promised Land, Abram leaves a mark. As we will see, wherever Abram goes he leaves two marks: he builds an altar, which shows he’s a worshiper; and he pitches a tent, which shows he’s a pilgrim. Abram never builds a house. Why? Because “he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). He realized that what he really craved was Heaven.
Abram - the father of faith, the friend of God - shows us the real way to live. Wherever you go, build the altar of worship. It will alter who you are, how you feel, and the way you think. Wherever you go, go with a “tent” mentality. We may think we’re looking for a ranch in the country or a house on the lake, a ski boat or a ski cabin, a dream car or a dream date. But what we’re really craving is Heaven. No other city has foundations. Everything else is shaky and wobbly.
Abram pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Hai on the east. Bethel means “house of God.” Hai means “heap” or “dump.” Therefore, Abram had the house of God ahead of him and a dump behind him. That’s basically where you and I live. With Heaven before us, and the world behind us, we’re camped out in the middle, waiting for the culmination.
Throughout Scripture, whenever people go to Egypt, they always go “down to Egypt” because Egypt is a type or symbol of the world. Abram was doing well, but now he falls again because he didn’t remain in the land God showed him. A famine made him think he had to take matters into his own hands - always a dangerous thing to do.
Here’s the father of faith faltering in the arena of faith because man always struggles and stumbles in his area of strength . . .
Righteous Noah fell when he got drunk in his tent (Genesis 9:21).
Moses, the meekest man on the face of the earth, struck his rod against a rock and said, “You rebels, must we fetch water for you?” (see Numbers 20:10).
Unsheathing his sword, Peter was ready to take on a whole army in order to defend Jesus in Gethsemane. Yet, only hours later, he faltered when a young girl asked him, “Aren’t you one of His?” (see Mark 14:67).
The area in which you think you’re strongest is the area you’ll be most vulnerable because you’ll depend on your own strength. At the point you say, “That’s not a problem for me; I’ll never fall there,” watch out because that’s the very area in which you’ll experience difficulty. Where you know you’re weak, you rely on God. So consider yourself weak in all areas, and instead, rely solely on His strength.
There is no record of Abram pitching a tent or building an altar in Egypt. Here, however, we see him return to the place where he had pitched his tent; we see him going to the altar once more.
When you find yourself in Egypt, when you know things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be, what do you do? To the Church of Ephesus - a group of believers who had strayed from their passion for Him - Jesus said, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works . . .” (Revelation 2:5).
Maybe your relationship with the Lord was great five years ago. Maybe things were really happening spiritually four months ago. Jesus’ word to you is the same as it was to the Church of Ephesus. Remember, repent, and repeat: go back and do what you used to do. Perhaps you were enjoying a season of morning devotions. Maybe you were attending mid-week worship services. Maybe you were memorizing Scripture or aggressively sharing your faith. What were you doing when you were on fire, when things were really cooking? Do it again.
Notice how Abram emerged from Egypt a wiser man, for here he shows directness. That is, he goes to Lot and deals with the issue directly. “There’s strife between our herdsmen,” he says, “and the heathen are watching us fighting. It ought not be.” Such is often the case today. Christians fight and bicker while the world watches and wonders. It ought not be.
Notice also Abram’s deference. He doesn’t place blame on Lot. He says, “Let there be no strife between me and thee, between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen.” While he will assume the secondary position when it comes to choosing the land, Abram assumes the primary position when it comes to shouldering responsibility for the problem.
Notice finally Abram’s discernment when he says, “We be brethren.” In other words, “There is more that unites us than divides us. Sure, there are some complications with the cattle and some hassles with the herdsmen, but we’re brothers.”
How we need to realize the truth of this within the Christian community, in our country, and around the world. Because we all embrace the person and work of our Lord Jesus, there is more that unites us than could possibly divide us. If there’s a “Lot” in your life who is causing a lot of problems, follow Abram’s example, and see how peace will follow you.
Contrast the wisdom of Abram with the worldliness of Lot. First, Lot was weak in devotion, for we never read of him building an altar. Like Lot, you may possess a “tent mentality,” knowing you’re headed for Heaven. You may even have a ministry, with herds to tend. But if you’re not an altar builder, you’ll be weak in devotion, which will lead to real problems.
Second, Lot was worldly in desires. He lifted up his eyes, but not high enough. He didn’t lift his eyes to Heaven and say, “Lord, show me the best place for me and my family.” Instead, he lifted up his eyes only high enough to check out the financial possibilities and the greenest pastures. Lot saw a good place to raise cattle, but failed to see that it would be a lousy place to raise kids because he fixed his gaze short of Heaven.
Third, Lot was wrong in decision, as seen in the series of wrong decisions he made based on his own reasoning . . .
In verse 10, he looked toward Sodom.
In verse 12, he pitched his tent toward Sodom.
In chapter 19, he became a leader in Sodom.
Lot left Ur, but he became entrenched in Sodom. A lot of people are like that. They say yes to Heaven, but they never say no to the world. And, like Lot, they end up in a terrible predicament.
From cover to cover, the Bible calls us to set our hearts on things above and not on things of this world (Colossians 3:2). Jesus put it this way: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
How do we practically seek first the Kingdom and set our hearts on Heaven? Jesus told us when He said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). If your treasure is on earth, that’s where your heart will be. So God in His wisdom, kindness, and love for you and me says, “Lay up your treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves don’t break in and steal. Put your treasure in Heaven because, in so doing, your heart will follow” (see Matthew 6:19–21).
If your treasure is in your house, your retirement account, or your Mercedes, that’s where your heart will be. Knowing this, the Lord demands that the first tenth of whatever we make on any given day or in any given week be given to Him in order that our hearts will be set on our Heavenly destination.
Jesus talked more about money than He did about Heaven. He talked more about money than He did about hell. In fact, He talked more about money than He did about Heaven and hell combined. Why? Because He knows it’s a huge issue for you and me, and that it speaks of larger principles. One of the things Jesus said about money was this: “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon [money] of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations” (Luke 16:9).
In other words, the money you have “made friends of,” that you have used rightly, will greet you when you die. Now, the old adage is true: You can’t take it with you. But you can send it ahead. And what you send ahead - through the tithe that God demands, and through the offering which He deserves - will meet you there.
“But I don’t make much money, so there won’t be much to greet me,” you say. Consider this: When Jesus saw a widow giving two mites - less than a penny - He told His disciples that she had given more than they who, out of their abundance, had given much, because she gave all that she had (Mark 12:41–44). Jesus acknowledged just two mites, given by a woman who will receive a “mite-y” big welcome in Heaven!
In Malachi, we see three promises God makes to those who tithe . . .
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. - Malachi 3:10
“I will reward your faith.” Immediately after lending Jesus his fishing boat for use as a floating podium to teach the multitude on the shore, Peter caught so many fish that his net broke (Luke 5:2–7). The little boy who gave his lunch to Jesus was himself filled, along with the rest of the five thousand (John 6:9–12). So too, if you’ve ever given anything to God, you know from experience that it’s impossible to out-give Him.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. - Malachi 3:11
“I will rebuke your foe.” Some people are perpetually plagued with problems. The money they make goes through their pockets; the labor of their hands never comes to fruition. It is especially to them that God says, “If you tithe, I will rebuke the world’s hold on you, which devours your happiness and eats away at your possessions.”
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. - Malachi 3:12
“I will renew your fruit. Put your trust in Me, and I will make you a fruitful land,” declares the Lord. He who tithes will experience renewal and revival.
I would rather teach on any other subject. But the Bible has much to say about tithing because it shows where a person’s heart is. Therefore, I would be shirking my responsibility to declare to you “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) if I were to ignore it. The tithe is the Lord’s. It’s not yours. Whether it’s ten cents or ten thousand dollars, the first tenth is the Lord’s and is to be brought into the storehouse - the place where the Word is proclaimed and worship ascends.
Heaven is right around the bend, gang. And I don’t want a single one of us to regret the stuff we’ve accumulated with God’s tithe or the ways we’ve indulged ourselves with His offerings.
Maybe you have been robbing God (Malachi 3:8). Maybe you have been wasting your time and treasure and talents. The good news is: It’s not too late! Today you can say, “As I race toward Heaven, I understand the wisdom of God’s way, the rightness of His Word. Therefore, I am going to give Him the tithe. And I am going to see, even as He asked me, what He will do in blessing, in rebuking, and in renewing.”
Precious people, you’ll be blessed all of your days if you go God’s way. Begin today, then watch and see what He will do.
That God said, “Fear not” to Abram indicates Abram was fearful. This is not surprising. After his spiritual victory in resisting the material temptation of the riches offered him by the king of Sodom, as well as his military victory in rescuing Lot, Abram hit an emotional slump. This happens. Challenge often follows victory. Think of Jesus. When He was baptized in the Jordan, He heard a voice from Heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Then, the Holy Spirit came upon Him and empowered Him for ministry (Matthew 3:16–17). It was a great day. But immediately following this, He was driven into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan, to wrestle against the Enemy for forty days (Matthew 4). Therefore, don’t be surprised if after you experience victory spiritually, like Abram you face a time of discouragement emotionally.
“Fear not.” This is the first time this glorious command appears in Scripture. But it is certainly not the last . . .
“Fear not,” the angel said to a bunch of frightened shepherds (Luke 2:10).
“Fear not,” Jesus said to a crew of seasick disciples (see Mark 4:40).
“Fear not,” the angel said to a disheartened Paul (Acts 27:24).
“Fear not, little flock,” Jesus says to us (Luke 12:32).
Perhaps it suddenly hit Abram that he and his rag-tag army of servants had made enemies of four powerful kings with four huge armies. “I am your shield,” God told him. “Yes, you came home empty-handed materially, but I am your reward.”
In this, I am reminded that what every person ultimately desires is not something from the Lord, but simply more of the Lord.
“I’m not going to show you the way,” Jesus declared, “I am the Way” (see John 14:6).
“I’m not going to give you bread; I am the Bread” (see John 6:35).
“I’m not going to share with you truth; I am the truth” (see John 14:6).
Those who come to the Lord not looking for something from Him, but simply to cling to Him, find all kinds of blessings in all sorts of areas they never expected. Are you disappointed with God because you asked Him for something you have yet to receive? Maybe it’s because you’re looking for some thing. God loves you too much to toss a boxed little package your way. The issue is bigger; and He wants you to discover today that He will satisfy your need, He will be your reward.
With his naked eye, Abram would have been able to see at most twelve hundred stars. “I’m going to have a family of twelve hundred?” Abram must have thought. But wait. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Abram could see approximately twelve hundred stars. But how many stars are there? Far beyond anything Abram could even begin to ask for or imagine in his wildest dreams.
How many stars are there? Scientists tell us that there are as many stars in the sky as there are grains of sand on the seashores of the world. This should not surprise the student of Scripture, for God made the same correlation when He told Abram that his family would number as the stars and as the sand on the shores (Genesis 22:17).
According to the psalmist, the only other thing as innumerable as the grains of sand are the thoughts of God toward us (Psalm 139:17–18). This fascinates me because the Pentium computer chips made of silicon (sand) perform one trillion calculations per second. Clear back in antiquity, God measured His thoughts with the substance that would come to epitomize our own computer age.
Like the one who said, “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief” (Mark 9:24), Abram says, “I believe, but how will I know the land is mine?”
I would think that at this point, the Lord would tire of Abram. I mean, God had told him He would be his reward, only to have Abram ask what He would give him. The Lord promised Abram a grand family and a glorious land, only to have Abram ask for proof.
In answer to Abram’s request for proof that God would give him an inheritance, God instructs Abram to draw up the equivalent of a modern-day contract. You see, in Abram’s day, when two people entered into a legal agreement, they did so by splitting an animal in two, standing in the midst of the carcass, and clasping each other’s wrist to show that they were deadly serious about keeping their end of the bargain.
If I were God, I’d say, “So long, Abram.” But that’s not what our Father does, and I’m oh, so glad. If God continues to be patient with the struggles and doubts of Abram, one of the giants of the faith who should know better, I know He’ll be patient with me.
Throughout Scripture, birds almost always symbolize evil. The picture here is that while Abram waited for God to meet him, he did his best to keep evil at bay, shooing away the birds of doubt and unbelief. Exhausted by his own efforts, Abram fell asleep. As he slept, God told Abram that, although He would indeed give Abram’s descendants a grand and glorious land, they would first spend four hundred years as slaves in a foreign land, which, of course, was Egypt.
“The Amorites” - a generic term for all of the people living in the land of Canaan - refers to a culture so diseased, defiled, and depraved that it was doomed. Nonetheless, God gave them four hundred years - the period in which the Jews were held captive in Egypt - to repent.
While it may be popular to construct the false image of an angry Old Testament God who needed Jesus to come and calm Him down, nothing could be further from the truth. God waited four hundred years for the Amorites to turn to Him. It would take four centuries before their iniquity demanded that He order their extermination at the hand of Joshua.
The patience of God is incomprehensible. Because God is love, no wonder that the first attribute in Paul’s classic definition of love is patience (1 Corinthians 13:4). God was patient with Abram. He was patient with the Canaanites. And He will be patient with you. If you really grasp this, rather than taking advantage of it, His patience will make you long to please Him all the more.
When Abram awoke, he saw that the meat on either side of him was barbecued. God had been there, not meeting Abram halfway as was the custom, but walking the entire length alone.
This is still the way of God. Oh, we try and chase away the birds of evil which threaten our families and our country. We hold rallies and sign pledges; we make vows and make promises. But, because “in our flesh dwells no good thing” (Romans 7:18), like Abram, we eventually become exhausted in trying.
Although numbering over one million in attendance, a Promise Keepers rally in Washington, D.C., was not the biggest Promise Keepers convention in history. One three times as big took place at the foot of Mount Sinai, when three million people heard the voice of God and witnessed a divine pyrotechnic display that so impressed them, they said, “All the words which the LORD hath said, we will do” (Exodus 24:3). Those in attendance at that first Promise Keepers convention weren’t playing a game. They were sincere. They truly meant to keep the Ten Commandments. After all, they had heard God speak and had seen a mountain quake. But when Moses came down the mountain forty days later, he found them worshiping a golden calf.
Times don’t change. People with sincere hearts say, “We will keep our promises.” The problem with signing contracts, making vows, and keeping promises, however, is that people fail to factor into the equation a huge component: the flesh.
God’s aware of this, gang. That’s why He says, “I will wait until you’re as tired as Abram was. Then I’ll come through on My own. I don’t want you to sign a contract or make a promise. I know what you’re made of. I know your frailty. So I’m not going to meet you halfway. I’m going to do the whole thing.”
The promise had been given. God said to Abram, “You’re going to have a family as numerous as the stars in the heavens.” But time passes, and guess what? Abram starts wondering. Abram is now eighty-six, Sarai seventy-six, and they think, “This is not working.”
Always remember this, saint: When God gives a promise, there is often a gap of time between the giving of the promise and the fulfillment of the promise. In Abram’s case, there was a thirteen-year gap.
Maybe you’ve been waiting on God for the fulfillment of a certain promise. Is His delay due to procrastination on His part? No. Is it due to preoccupation? Is He just too busy? No. God’s delay is due to preparation; He is preparing you in the arena of faith. You see, the gaps between God’s promise and its fulfillment provide opportunities for our muscle of faith to be exercised. Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, if there is no struggle, faith never soars.
This is the first time the phrase, “the angel of the LORD,” appears in Scripture. The word translated as “angel” means “messenger.” Throughout Scripture, angels adamantly refuse to be worshiped. Thus, because this angel of the Lord receives worship, we know He is no ordinary angel. Here, the “angel of the LORD” refers to the second person of the Trinity - Jesus Christ.
How like Jesus to appear not to a man, but to a woman; not to one who sought faith, but to one who was running from the family of faith. After all, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who left the ninety-nine to find the single sheep who had gone astray.
So too, the person who is in the greatest need, the person who feels he’s blown it the worst is the very one in whom the Lord is most interested. It would seem more logical to stay with the ninety-nine. But that’s not the heart of our Shepherd. He goes after the one. He goes after Hagar. He goes after you.
Keep in mind that there are great gaps and spans of time between these appearances of the Lord to Abram. This intrigues me. Abraham is called the friend of God (James 2:23). Why then would God wait fifteen years between conversations? Perhaps you’re wondering the same thing with regard to your own situation. “Why don’t I hear more frequently from the Lord? Why do I go through weeks or months or years when I don’t seem to hear direct words from Him in my spiritual ears?” Keep in mind that Abraham was not only called the friend of God, but he is also referred to as the father of faith (Romans 4:11). Here, God is making a man of faith out of Abram - and he’s making a man or woman of faith out of you. Faith means we walk not by what we see physically, hear audibly, or know intellectually. Faith means we hang on to what God had said previously. We just hang on.
Think back for a moment to a time in the not too distant past when you thought, “This will never work. Everything’s going wrong. I’ll never make it.” Yet, here you are today. Why did God allow those things to happen in that way? To teach you to be a man or woman of faith, to teach you to quietly and confidently believe that God is on the throne, that He is in control, and that all things work together for good.
The Hebrew text makes it clear that this is the passionate cry of a father who says, “I already have a son whom I love deeply. Let him be the one through whom the covenant and blessings come.” In other words, Abraham is saying, “I know I got ahead of You when Ishmael was conceived. I know that was not Your plan. I know I made a mess, but Lord, bless my mess.”
Have you ever done that? Maybe your motives were sincere; maybe your intentions were right. But you didn’t wait on God or talk things over with Him. Instead, you just plunged into that relationship, that job opportunity, or that ministry. And when it turned out to be a mess, you asked God to bless it anyway.
I used to think prayer was giving God orders. “Bless this, bless that, bless the other,” I’d pray, as if I could ring a bell through prayer (the more faith I had, the louder it would ring), and God would grant me my wishes as if He were a genie. I used to think I knew what God should do. Now I know I don’t have a clue. I have found that God gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him. Thus, prayer is not giving God orders. Prayer is simply reporting for duty. Prayer is not “Bless my mess.” It’s “Lord, have Your way.”
The heat of the day in Scripture is often a picture of the hard times that come our way. So often in my walk, I’ve seen the Lord in a fresh way in the heat of the day, in fiery trials. You have too. This is not surprising. After all, it was when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were cast into a fiery furnace that they saw the Lord (Daniel 3:25). Consequently, when I hear about believers who are going through fiery trials and hot times, on one hand my heart goes out to them. But on the other hand, in a sense, I’m envious of them because I know the Lord will make Himself known to them in a special way in the heat of the day.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? We have a tendency to think of God’s ability in relation to degrees of difficulty.
If someone comes to me and says, “I’m struggling with a headache. Would you pray for me?” I say, “Sure.” “Bless Bob, Lord. Take away the tension and allow him to experience a healing touch from Your hand.”
But if someone comes to me saying, “I just came back from the doctor’s office and he told me I have a malignant tumor. Would you pray for me?” I act as if it’s a whole different deal! “Pastors, brothers, gather round,” I say. And I fervently plead with the Lord as though cancer is harder for Him to heal than a headache.
Oh, there’s nothing wrong with praying passionately, but not because there are degrees of difficulty or because we need to get God’s attention emotionally. The prophets of Baal slashed their bodies and cried loudly to get his attention, all to no avail. Elijah, on the other hand, simply prayed two sentences, and through them moved the hand of God (1 Kings 18).
The Lord would give Abraham information and revelation not based upon the accumulation of his knowledge, but upon the communication to his family. “I will give Abraham understanding of what I’m about to do,” said the Lord, “because I know he is a man who will teach his children.”
The same is true today. The revelation God wants to give us concerning what He’s doing, how He’s moving, or where He’s going is not based upon our journal entries or our Bible study notes. It’s based upon whether or not we will share what He tells us with our children.
People often say to me, “If I could go back and do it all over again, I would not go into the profession I’m in presently. I would go into the ministry.” While I have found the ministry to be absolutely delightful and a wonderful calling, the fact is if you have children or grandchildren, you are in the ministry. No clerical collar or pulpit compares to gathering your family around you, giving a simple Bible lesson, singing songs, sharing with each other, and praying together. That is the ministry. And anyone who takes seriously this call will, like Abraham, receive fresh revelation. I know this to be so, for the most wonderful insights and sweetest revelations of God to my heart have not come as I have prepared sermons, but as I have simply shared in worship with my family.
Although three men had appeared to Abraham in chapter 18, only two go to Sodom because the Lord Himself does not enter into the city. Why? Psalm 66 tells us that if we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us. That is, if I am purposely, rebelliously, intentionally, and arrogantly holding on to sin, when I pray, the Lord won’t hear my prayer; He’ll not come into my city; He’ll not enter into my situation.
You see, even though the sin to which I so stubbornly cling was paid for completely on the Cross of Calvary, the Lord loves me so much, He says, “I love you too much to let you go on your merry way, day after day, as though there’s nothing wrong. If I did that, you would continue in that sin, and that sin would destroy you. Consequently, you won’t feel My hand. You won’t sense My presence, not because I’m not with you - for I will never leave you nor forsake you - but because your spirit senses something is not quite right.”
When I feel as though my prayers bounce off the ceiling, it’s not because the Lord is angry with me or mad at me, disappointed in me or turning away from me. Rather, it’s an indication He’s lovingly given, to show me that something’s not right.
The angels went into Sodom, but the Lord did not.
“Wilt Thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham asked the Lord (18:23). The answer, as illustrated here, is “No.” Before judgment could be poured out upon Sodom, before fire and brimstone would come down to destroy Gomorrah, God rescued Lot and those of his house. He rescued the righteous.
Lot righteous? A guy who calls perverted people his brothers? A guy who offers his daughters to a homosexual mob? A guy who lingers when angels tell him to leave? Lot righteous?
Yes. That is what Peter calls him (2 Peter 2:7). How can Lot possibly be considered righteous? It is because righteousness is imputed solely on the basis of simple faith. I am righteous and so are you if you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is who He claimed to be, and have believed in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9–10).
I love this chapter because there are a lot of people I care about deeply who, like Lot, made a profession of faith but ended up in Sodom, not living the way they know they should. If you’re worried about a friend or a family member, take hope. While we don’t want anyone to follow Lot’s example because sin brings all kinds of pain and problems presently, as well as empty-handedness eternally, know this: If that son of yours confesses with his mouth that Jesus is who He claimed to be, and believes in his heart that God has raised Him from the dead, he will be saved.
The Lord communicated through this powerful picture, “I’m going to rescue people you may have thought were hopelessly lost.”
In telling Lot to escape to the mountain, the Lord wanted to turn a city boy into a mountain man. Throughout Scripture, the Lord continually calls His people to the mountains . . .
Through Abraham, who was ready to sacrifice his son in obedience to the Lord’s command, He calls us to Mount Moriah, the mount of devotion.
Through the Israelites, who gathered to receive His commandments, the Lord calls us to Mount Sinai, the mount of instruction.
Through Moses, who viewed the Promised Land, He calls us to Mount Pisgah, the mount of vision.
Through Elijah, whose prayer brought down fire from Heaven, He calls us to Mount Carmel, the mount of passion.
Through Peter, James, and John, who beheld the glory of the Lord, He calls us to Mount Hermon, the mount of transfiguration.
But the most important mountain God calls us to is Mount Calvary, the mount of crucifixion, where He calls us to die to self.
Here is the first time in the Bible where the word “prophet” appears. Now, if there was ever a time God wouldn’t want to introduce Abraham as a prophet, I would think it would be right here. I would think God would be embarrassed by, upset with, and ashamed of Abraham for claiming his wife was his sister. But such is not the case, for God says to Abimelech, “That man who told a lie, who misled you, who jeopardized his wife and your nation - he’s My man; he’s My spokesman; he’s My prophet.”
Romans 11:29 tells us that “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” That means when God gives a spiritual gift, a calling, a ministry to a man, woman, or church, He doesn’t change His mind. He doesn’t take it back. If God has given you a gift, be it ministry, music, prophecy, teaching, or evangelism; or if He’s given you a skill, be it carpentry, mechanics, or athletics, it’s yours to keep.
Perhaps you’ve seen people stumble, fall, or drop the ball, and you wonder how God could still use him, her, or them. The answer is that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Sin will always bring about its own sadness, depression, defeat, and despair, for the way of the transgressor is hard (Proverbs 13:15). The fact remains, however, that because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, God will still use sinners.
I say this because I have found that the thing which hobbles so many people in their service for the Lord is thinking, “God can’t use me. God wouldn’t use me. God won’t use me because I’ve failed so miserably. I’ve botched it so badly.” That’s the voice of the Enemy. The voice of the Lord says, “Because you didn’t earn the gifts I gave you or the calling I sovereignly placed upon you, there’s no way you can lose them.”
If you’ve been on the sidelines because you think you’ve messed up once too often, remember this story and the mercy of our Master, the grace of our God, and the kindness of our King. Truly, there’s no one like Him.
Although Abraham would be used in other arenas and would go on to live a life of blessing before Abimelech, at this point Abraham couldn’t preach to Abimelech because in his eyes he was a liar and a coward. Yet even though Abraham couldn’t preach to or share with Abimelech, he could still pray for him.
So too, because you have fallen short in their eyes or hurt them badly, there are people to whom you may not be able to preach or with whom you may not be able to share. But this story tells me that although I may not be able to preach to them or share with them, I get to effectively bless them through prayer.
When I pray for my enemies, not only does it release blessing upon them, but it keeps me from getting involved in a cycle of bitterness which will only destroy me. You cannot pray a blessing on a person and remain angry with him. It’s impossible. That’s why Jesus said, “Pray for your enemies” (see Matthew 5:44).
I challenge you to pray for the people toward whom you feel bitterness or hostility, for the people you just don’t like. Pray that they’ll be healed, that they’ll prosper, that they’ll do well. God will answer your prayer, and you’ll be blessed in the process.
God made the promise to Abraham, and reiterated it several times, that Ishmael would become a mighty nation. Here Abraham wisely decided not to give God a hand in fulfilling what He had promised. After all, that’s how Ishmael was conceived in the first place.
Consequently, Abraham shows incredible peace. He gives Ishmael and Hagar a bit of water and a bit of bread, in effect saying, “I trust the Lord is going to do what He said, not because of my provision, but because of His promise.”
Mom and Dad, let this be a comfort to you today. The promises of God toward my children are the same as toward yours . . .
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). No matter what desert your child is in, no matter in what dry region he finds himself, even when he is old he won’t depart from the way he’s been trained.
“For I know whom I have believed,” said Paul, “and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him” (2 Timothy 1:12). Have you committed your kids to the Lord? God is able to keep them. This doesn’t mean He’s merely capable. It means He’s committed to keeping that which has been entrusted to Him.
I hate it when I panic. I get worried, I get uptight, and I run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to make something happen. Faith is the opposite of panic. I love it when I’m not panicking, when I’m walking in faith. When I walk in faith, I’m not irritated, anxious, or upset. There’s a peace deep within me and a serenity that overflows from me. I like it when I walk in faith like Abraham.
Abraham said, “Ishmael, Hagar, here’s some water and some bread. God be with you.” He is maturing, this mighty man of God. He is growing, this giant of faith. He’ll miss Ishmael, but he trusts God completely, knowing God will do exactly what He said He would.
And He’ll do the same for you.
Paul calls the story of Ishmael and Hagar an allegory (Galatians 4:24) in which Ishmael is a type of the flesh and Isaac a type of the Spirit. As the story continues, we see Ishmael mocking Isaac - something that happens in each of our hearts constantly.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Galatians 5:17
There’s a constant battle going on, and here’s the question: Who are we going to allow to win? The Bible says the solution is to cast out Ishmael, the flesh.
How do we cast Ishmael out?
By doing what Abraham did: by giving him no provision.
Abraham didn’t give Ishmael a Visa card and a Ford Explorer. He gave him nothing more than prisoner’s rations - a little bread and water. That is why Paul emphatically tells us to “make no provision for the flesh” (see Romans 13:14).
Every fleshly thing I see or hear is a seed planted in the soil of my soul that will come up eventually. Likewise, every godly thing I take in will also come to fruition. Perhaps the best illustration of this is one I shared recently with a group of junior highers . . .
It’s as if there are two dogs inside of you: one black, one white. The white dog is life, the black dog is death. At any given point, you’re feeding one of the dogs - through the type of people with whom you associate, through what you choose to listen to, watch, and take in. If you feed the black dog, he gets bigger and stronger. He bares his fangs and starts ripping on the white dog while the white dog gets smaller and smaller. Once the black dog decimates the white dog, he turns on you and begins to sink his jaws into your innermost being, leaving you wondering why you’re so down, defeated, depressed, and discontent. On the other hand, if you feed the white dog, the spirit, by doing what’s right in God’s sight, the white dog grows bigger and stronger as the black dog grows punier and weaker, until he’s no bigger than a Chihuahua. At any given moment, you’ll feed one of the two dogs. Which will it be?
In Galatians 4, Paul says Ishmael is not only a type of the flesh and Isaac a type of the Spirit, but Hagar is a type of the law and Sarah a type of the new covenant. Hagar represents Mount Sinai, where the law was given. Sarah represents the Heavenly Mount Zion, from whence grace flows.
My natural tendency is to say, “The best way to deal with the flesh is to lay down the law. I’m going to set up rules and regulations to keep my flesh in check.” But whenever I do, I am bound to fail badly because, although the rules and regulations might be wonderful, I cannot keep them. Oh, for a while I might be able to, during which time I’ll say, “What’s wrong with you? Why is your Ishmael running about wildly? Why can’t you deal with the flesh like I have?”
But eventually I will fall under the weight of my own rules, and I will fail miserably. Then I’ll say, “I was doing so well for three days, or three months, or three years, but then I blew it. So why even go to Bible study, why even pray? I’m a failure. The Lord will never use me.”
This is why the law doesn’t work. It makes you either a self-righteous prude or a self-condemned dude. It causes us to say either, “What’s wrong with you?” or “What’s wrong with me?”
So what’s the answer? Do what Abraham did. Send Hagar away and embrace Sarah. Don’t put yourself or others under regulations or rules. Rather, hold fast to the new covenant, and walk in grace.
Who is “the angel of God”? It’s Jesus.
“What’s wrong, Hagar?” asked Jesus, just as centuries later He would ask His disciples, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26). Referring to the Sea of Galilee, He said, “Let us go over to the other side” (Matthew 8:18). He hadn’t said, “Let us sink out in the middle,” or “Let us go down in an attempt.” No, Jesus had given the word to His disciples that they would indeed make it to the other side. So too, Jesus had already told Hagar that Ishmael would be blessed (Genesis 16). Thus, the Lord here lovingly rebukes Hagar, “Didn’t I give you My word, Hagar? Have you already forgotten?”
What Word has God given to us? He’s told us all things work together for good (Romans 8:28), that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), that He will give us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). He’s told us that our sins are forgiven (1 John 1:9), that His love for us is everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3), and that we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). Therefore, “what aileth” us?
As I read this, I was reminded of a journal entry I made recently during an Alaskan cruise on which I was speaking . . .
So many blessings, so many thoughts while cruising these waters of Alaska’s inland passage and seeing the mountains tower above us, the stars shining over us, the unseen but teeming life beneath us. I am deeply impacted. Not only by His majesty, creativity, power, and glory, but especially and surprisingly by His humility; for this majestic, creative-beyond-genius Being tells us that He stretches the heavens out like a curtain (Isaiah 40:22), He sits upon the circle of the earth (Isaiah 40:22), He measures the heavens with the span of His hand (Isaiah 40:12), yet He did not give us the take-your-breath-away data, facts, and figures of the size of other stars, the range of our galaxy, the puniness of our planet in comparison to the billions and trillions of other objects. He simply allows the vastness of space, the mysteries beneath the sea, and the power of the atom that He holds together (Colossians 1:17) to slowly be discovered. As man’s technology and ability increases, he only discovers more wonder. And I wonder at His humility. I would have laid it all out, let it be known what I have done, how great I am, with facts and figures and data. But God allowed Himself to be discovered, uncovered, in due season. And that season will fill all eternity. Real power, true genius, creative ingenuity, spiritual authority, if indeed real, can wait, indeed should wait to be discovered slowly, quietly. For only what is real can dare to wait. And only what is humble will ultimately be exalted.
God is the epitome of humility. Only true greatness can be humble. And that’s what Abraham is showing us as well. He doesn’t try to prove he’s a great guy. He just goes about his work, and after years of observation, Abimelech says, “I can see that God is with you.”
As your margin notes may indicate, Abraham planted a tamarisk tree - and in so doing, he finds a creative, spontaneous, and innovative way of worshiping.
When my son Benjamin was three years old, he came out of his room one day holding a picture attached to a helium balloon.
“What’s that, Benny?” I asked.
“It’s a picture of me and Jesus,” he said, as he went out into the backyard, let his balloon go, and watched as it soared Heavenward.
Such is innovative, creative worship from the heart of one who loves God.
When you love God, it’s not enough just to sing the same songs as everyone else. It’s not enough to go through the motions during worship sessions.
A lover of God finds a way to plant a tree and say, “Lord, this is for You.”
A lover of God finds a way to break the alabaster box and say, “This is my dowry, and I’m giving it to You” (see Mark 14).
A lover of God finds a way to dance in his undergarments before the Lord (2 Samuel 6:14).
A lover of God finds ways of fresh, personal, intimate expressions others may never see.
Sitting only a couple hundred feet above the city of Jerusalem, Mount Moriah is technically only a ridge. But when the Lord said to Abraham, “I want you to take your son, your only son, to Mount Moriah,” father and son set off on the greatest mountain climbing expedition in world history, second only to the one another Father and Son would make to the very same destination centuries later.
Put yourself in Abraham’s sandals and you will see this is an incredible journey, for God had asked him to sacrifice his son - his only son, the promised son, the one of whom he was so proud, the one in whom he saw such potential. How could Abraham have had such a heart to obey such a command? I couldn’t have done it. But Abraham did.
How? The reason Abraham could climb Mount Moriah is the same reason Sir Edmund Hillary could climb Mount Everest. You see, prior to Hillary’s ascent up Mount Everest, he spent five years acclimating his body to the altitude, five years allowing his lungs to expand to deal with the lack of oxygen he would encounter at that height, five years to get in shape, and five years to make preparations and gather gear.
So too, Abraham would climb an infinitely higher mountain because, like Hillary’s team, there had been great preparation.
“It came to pass after these things that God did tempt, or test, Abraham” (22:1). After what things? Fifty-seven years of things . . .
Leaving his home in Ur for a land God would show him was step number one in training for the Moriah moment.
Saying goodbye to his nephew as Lot headed for Sodom was step number two.
Refusing the spoils of battle offered to him by the king of Sodom was step number three.
Obeying God’s command to send his son Ishmael into the desert was step number four.
Nothing in Scripture is accidental or incidental. Thus, when we read, “It came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham,” it means that the testing didn’t take place until after these things - each of which prepared Abraham for this moment.
God will never, ever give you a test He has not thoroughly and painstakingly prepared you to navigate successfully. Never.
We look at Abraham’s Moriah moment and think, I couldn’t do that. And we’re right. We couldn’t, because God hasn’t prepared us for that - yet.
Paul tells us there are three great virtues: faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Abraham’s faith was developed first when God called him out of Ur.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. - Hebrews 11:8
But God didn’t stop there, for He proceeded to build hope into Abraham, as Abraham waited for his promised son . . .
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. - Romans 4:18
Nor did God stop there, for the greatest of these is love. Our text contains the first use of the word love in Scripture. It’s as if God is saying, “Let go of the one you love because of greater love for Me. This is a chance for you to take a quantum leap in growth.”
If you say, “I don’t want faith or hope or love. I want to be frazzled and afraid and frustrated,” don’t go down the path that leads to Moriah, the path that leads you on a journey of trials and testing. But if you want to be entire and complete, lacking nothing, there’s only one way . . .
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. - James 1:2–4
There’s no other way to be complete than to say “okay” to tests, temptations, and trials.
It’s as if God says to Abraham, “I’ve prepared you to do something which may seem unbelievably difficult because I want to show people a picture of My Son. Even though it will be difficult for you, Abraham, your trial will touch multiple millions of people throughout history.”
Gang, your Christian life will change radically when it finally sinks in that God does not exist for you. Most believers go through a chunk of time believing God does indeed exist for them. “Bless my marriage. Bless my house. Bless my job. Give me abundant life. Give me joyful days,” we pray, as if God exists for our pleasure.
With mountains on either side of them, their backs to the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s army barreling down on them, Moses cried to the Lord.
“Know this, Moses,” He answered, “I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his hosts. . . . And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” In other words, “Moses, this isn’t about you or even the people with you. I’ve got work to do. I want to show the Egyptians who I am. To do that, I’m putting you in a tight spot, a tough place. But word will get back to the Egyptians that there is no God like the God of Israel” (see Exodus 14:17–18).
So too, God says to us:
“I’ve got a big job for you - to let people around you know who I am. This means the doctor may say, ‘It’s cancer.’ This means the business may go under. This means the relationship may not work out, that people might see how in your pain, in your difficulty, or in your dilemma I come through not to solve your problem, but to be with you in your problem. I will show Myself in the way that can most effectively reach the people I want to reach through your life. That may mean you go through real problems physically or that things don’t work out in the way you thought they would in your family. It may even mean death. But it’s not about you. I love you deeply, but there’s a bigger thing happening than your comfort.”
Because we exist for God, gang (not the other way around), our part is to say, “However He wants to direct His drama on the stage of my life, be it a comedy or a tragedy, so be it.”
Abraham was the friend of God (James 2:23). Why, then, would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? Friends don’t let friends have Moriah moments - or do they?
Paul put it this way:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. - Philippians 3:10
Most of us long for the power of Jesus’ Resurrection, but know little about the fellowship of His sufferings. Yet the power of His Resurrection doesn’t come without the fellowship of His sufferings.
I love to laugh with people. But the people I’m closest to are not the ones with whom I’ve only laughed. They are also the ones with whom I’ve shed tears. The same is true for you. There’s a closeness that occurs when people navigate deep waters together.
Thus, God the Father says to Abraham, “I want you to experience something of what I will do because when you do, you and I will be bonded together uniquely.”
There they were - walking around in the fiery furnace.
“How many men did we throw in?” asked Nebuchadnezzar.
“Three,” said one of his aides.
“Then how is it that I see four, and the fourth is like the Son of God?” asked Nebuchadnezzar.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego could have come out anytime they wanted. But they didn’t come out until Nebuchadnezzar commanded them to because it was in the fire where they had fellowship with the Lord, a vision of the Lord, and a closeness to the Lord they had never before known (Daniel 3).
You have found this to be true as well. It’s when you’re in the fire of affliction and adversity that you have real communion. Don’t fear, flock. Don’t shy away from the Moriahs that loom over you. God will train you. And when you’re there, He’ll see you through.
Even though he was a giant of a man, the friend of God, the father of faith, we see Abraham was also a man who mourned and wept. This being the first mention of weeping or tears in the Bible, God waits until chapter 23 to introduce this concept. It’s curious to me that there is no record of tears at the fall of man, when the flood came, or when the people were scattered at Babel. The Holy Spirit purposefully waits to record weeping until the time a giant of a spiritual man was separated from a godly woman.
“Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle,” David wrote. “Are they not in Thy book?” (Psalm 56:8). Evidently, God keeps scrapbooks in Heaven. Malachi 3:16 tells us every time one of His children talks to another person about Him, God hearkens to it and writes it in a book. And here, we see Him keeping another book - a book of our tears.
Concerning hard times, God doesn’t say, “Deal with it.” He says, “I understand what you’re going through. It’s precious to Me.”
In Jesus’ day, women wore tear bottles - little vials which fit against their cheek and caught their tears. A very precious possession, a woman would give this bottle of tears to the one she loved most. It could be this practice to which the account of the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her tears refers (Luke 7:38).
Tears are unique. Under a microscope, you’ll see the saline crystals in a tear are shaped in the form of a cross. It’s as if the Lord is saying, “I understand. I know. I wept too” (see John 11:35).
“You’re a mighty prince,” said the children of Heth to Abraham. This intrigues me because although Abraham lived very simply in a tent, he had a huge impact on the heathen. Abraham’s nephew Lot, on the other hand, wanted to be involved in the cultural climate of Sodom. Yet when he tried to correct them, so little did they think of him that the men of Sodom said, “Who are you?” (see Genesis 19:9).
You might hear the saying, “You’re so Heavenly minded, you’re no earthly good.” Abraham proves just the opposite - that you’re no earthly good until you’re Heavenly minded. If you want to make a difference on earth, your focal point, priority, and passion should be that of one who lives for eternity.
Often, people wonder how God will lead them. “How will I know whether to take that job, get involved in this relationship, or take on a new ministry?” they ask.
Here, Abraham’s servant says, “Being in the way, the Lord led me.” I find his phraseology interesting, for centuries later, Jesus would declare, “I am the way” (John 14:6); and the early Church itself was called “the Way” (see Acts 19:23).
If you are walking in the Way, gang, and if you’re obeying Jesus, you will end up at the right spot. You don’t have to waste your time struggling and striving to find God’s will. Simply walk day by day in the Way, and as He did with Abraham’s servant, the Lord will also lead you.
Knowing that his father had sent the servant to find a bride for him, Isaac doesn’t go and look for her himself. According to Jewish tradition, the father would arrange the marriage of his son. Upon agreement of both fathers, the bride and groom-to-be would then be betrothed at a simple ceremony in which cups of wine were exchanged and a dowry was given. Then the son would return to his father’s house to build a dwelling place for his bride either close to or adjoining the house of his father. When the father deemed all had been properly prepared, he would send his son out to call for his bride - and she would run out to join him.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions,” Jesus, our Bridegroom, said. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3).
When will this day be? “No man knows the day or the hour - not even Me,” Jesus answered (see Mark 13:32).
But this much is sure: Like the brides of old, when our Bridegroom calls for us, we will run to meet Him not in the streets, but in the air (1 Thessalonians 4).
Most of us are watching for the Lord. But there is something more important than that. That is, the Lord (as seen in the person of Isaac, being at the well of Lahai-roi, or “The Lord sees”) is watching for us. The Lord longs for us more than we long for Him. Why? Because while we can only speculate concerning the wonderful things God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9), He knows all about them and is eager to share them with us.
I believe the names of the sons born to Abraham and Keturah parallel the prophetic picture of the people of Israel. You see, when the Church is taken up in the rapture, the veil will be lifted from the eyes of the Jewish people, and all of Israel will be saved at the end of the tribulation. Then, she will play a primary role as God rules and reigns from Jerusalem in the Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20). What a glorious time that will be! Nature will be restored to what it was originally meant to be: the mountains shall sing; the trees of the field shall clap their hands; the lion will lie down with the lamb. Not only will nature react, but also a complete disarmament by all nations and people will result in swords being turned into plowshares and spears into pruninghooks (Isaiah 2:4).
But wait. There’s a dark side, as seen in the sons of Keturah. Zimran means “Song.” Jokshan means “Snare.” Medan means “Strife.” Midian means “Contention.” Ishbak means “Man will leave.” Shuah means “From the pit.” What begins with a song ends in the pit.
You see, Scripture tells us man will live to be one thousand years old in the Millennial Kingdom. Consequently, the world’s population will mushroom. At the end of the Millennial Kingdom, multiplied generations that have never known anything but perfect harmony will become bored with peace, love, and prosperity. Thus, perfection will be a snare to them. Strife and contention will follow. Although many of them will want to do their own thing and leave the way of the Lord, they’ll not be able to because righteousness will be enforced in the Millennial Kingdom. But because God will not force His will on anyone, He will allow Satan to be released from the pit for a short season at the end of the millennium. Satan will lead a rebellion before he is cast permanently into the lake of fire, along with those who, bored with perfection, choose to follow him.
Although the names of Abraham and Keturah’s sons paint a prophetic portrait, they also point to a very practical principle. That is, we too live in the age of the Kingdom of God, not where the lion is lying down with the lamb externally, but internally where righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost abound (Romans 14:17). This being the case, like those living in the Millennial Kingdom, we are at risk of taking the righteousness, peace, and joy of the present Kingdom for granted.
Dear brother, precious sister, may we never be those who take lightly the work God has done in our hearts; for if we stop singing the sweet song of salvation, we will become ensnared in strife and contention, and be lured away from the rule of our King by lies from the pit.
Here we see Abraham disposing of his wealth to his son Isaac even as the Father in Heaven gave all things to His Son (John 17).
Because all things will find their ultimate destination in Christ, anything I do that isn’t for Him results in hopelessness, while everything I do for and in Jesus positions me in the center of God’s will.
How does this work practically?
Suppose you are a UPS driver. God’s will for you is that you be a UPS driver for His glory. As you pull up to every stop, pray that God will bless those inside. And suddenly, your job will not be a matter of how many deliveries you can make in a day, but of how many people God can bless through you in a day. Whether you’re a teacher, a realtor, a mechanic, a doctor, or a homemaker, allow God to use you in and through your profession to bring Him glory. To the extent that you do this in any given day is the extent to which you will experience purpose and deep contentment.
“The days of the years” is a Hebrew phrase which speaks of quality of life, which is made up of days - individual, specific days. In his 64,000 days, Abraham, the friend of God, walked with God. The Christian life is not called the Christian leap, the Christian jump, or the Christian bounce. It’s called the Christian walk because it takes place one step and one day at a time.
What am I going to do tomorrow? Will I choose to walk with God, or do I expect somehow to bounce, leap, skip, or hop and end up a spiritual man at age fifty? What I do today will affect how I arrive at the end of my life. One of the greatest misconceptions in spiritual life is that when we’re old, we’ll automatically be spiritual. I need to know God’s Word today. I need to know God’s ways today. If I don’t, the end of my life will find me nothing more than an old fool.
We see Ishmael and Isaac brought together at the death of their father Abraham because true reconciliation can only happen through death.
God reconciled us to Himself through His own death (2 Corinthians 5:18–19). Then, once we were reconciled, He gave us the ministry of reconciliation - to reconcile people to God as we share with them the good news of the Gospel, and also to reconcile people to each other.
So important is reconciliation to Jesus that He said something quite shocking: “If, while you are at the altar worshiping the Lord, you become aware that something is not quite right with someone you know or once knew, leave the altar and reconcile yourself to the one who is offended” (see Matthew 5:23-24).
The Greek word translated “reconcile” is diallasso - a word used by tailors and garment-makers with regard to alteration. Thus, Jesus was saying, “If, at the altar, you realize a relationship doesn’t fit right, get it altered.” In other words, the ill-fitting garment is not to be discarded, taken to Goodwill, or stuffed in the back of the closet and forgotten. “If a relationship isn’t right,” Jesus declared, “I want you to deal with that matter before you continue to worship.”
How will reconciliation happen practically? There’s only one way: someone has to die. If there’s to be reconciliation with your wife, your husband, your daughter-in-law, your boss, your coach, or your neighbor, you have to die.
“I don’t want to die,” we protest. “How come she can’t die? It’s his turn to die. I’m sick and tired of dying. Why does it have to be me?”
I recently met with dear friends. He’s been a pastor for years; she’s a godly woman with a passion for Jesus. But they’re on their way to divorce. And it’s a tragedy. There’s no real issue - just irritations that have grown over the years. Both argued their points, yet as the hours passed, all I could say was, “One of you has to die or there will be no reconciliation.”
Their answer? “Why me? It’s his turn. It’s her turn.”
Many couples drive to church in virtually the same situation. As the husband sits behind the wheel, his words are few, but his thoughts are many. “Why is she so cold?” he wonders. Meanwhile, as she sits on her side of the car, hugging the door handle, she thinks, “Why is he so demanding?”
And the silence is deafening, broken only by the sounds of construction on the wall between them, which is growing higher and higher every day. They come to church and lift their hands in worship, but the Lord would say, “If you’re bringing your gift to the altar and you remember that he or she has something against you, don’t even continue worshiping until you alter the hurtful situation.”
1. Reconciliation delights our Father.
Every parent knows the delight of reconciliation. When I hear one of my kids say to another, “It’s your turn. You go first,” all I can say is, “Glory hallelujah! The age of miracles is not over! These kids are working it out. They’re dying to self. They’re letting the other have their way!”
If you are fortunate enough to have a child who goes out of his way to be a peacemaker, you know the place he has in your heart. So too, any one of us who says, “I’m going to die so that there can be reconciliation,” brings a great deal of joy to the heart of the Father.
2. Reconciliation defeats our foe.
Satan has one tactic he’s used from the very beginning: division. As the worship leader of the angelic chorus, Lucifer persuaded one-third of the angels to see things his way. They joined his rebellion and are now demons, destined for eternal damnation. Because Satan’s strategy remains the same, he who says, “I will die before I allow separation between me and another” deals a deathblow to Satan. The person who binds Satan is not the one who loudly declares, “I bind you, Satan.” The person who binds Satan is the one who dies to self and reconciles with another person. The binding of Satan comes about not through a statement we make verbally, but through a choice we make actively.
3. Reconciliation destroys our flesh.
The reason we’re depressed, the reason for the gnawing ache within us is found in one word: flesh. We think if we could indulge or pamper our flesh, we’d be happier. The opposite, however, is true. Jesus taught that the one who loses his life will find it (Matthew 10:39); that the one who follows Him must deny himself and take up his cross (Matthew 16:24).
The cross you are to bear is not getting the flu or losing your job. It’s not even divorce or death in your family - as tragic as those events are. The cross is not something that comes uninvited. Rather, it’s something we choose to do which causes pain and agony to our flesh. The cross is what Jesus endured when He prayed, “Not My will, but Thine be done.”
“I’m tired of being married to her,” or “I’m tired of my dad treating me this way,” or “I’m tired of my in-laws. Nevertheless, Lord, not my will but Thine be done. And Your will is that there be reconciliation, which means I must die.” That’s the cross.
The Roman soldier knew Jesus had died when he struck a spear in His side and there was no reaction other than the blood and water that flowed forth. So too, when that person with whom you’ve had a hard time pokes you yet again and you don’t respond, you don’t react, and you don’t retaliate, you’ll know you’ve died to your flesh.
Designed to be the most torturous death possible, crucified victims would often hang on a cross for two or three days before they died. Jesus hung on the Cross for six hours. He was in a hurry because He knew the sooner He died and completed the work of redemption, the sooner Easter Sunday would come! What if He had decided to struggle hour after hour, day after day? Easter couldn’t happen until He died. That’s why He said, “If you deny yourself, you’ll have life. But if you seek to hang on to your life, you’ll only prolong your misery.”
Precious people, it’s not that we have to die. It’s that we get to. Will you be the one today who loves God so much that you will delight Him by dying to your rights, your way, your self?
If so, reconciliation is sure to follow as you race toward Resurrection day.
The term “springing water” is correctly rendered “living water” in some translations. “If any man thirst,” Jesus said, “let him come unto Me, and drink, and out of his innermost being shall gush forth torrents of living water. This spake He of the Holy Ghost” (see John 7:37–39). When did Isaac find living water? When he was in the valley. That’s often the way it is. At least it was for me . . .
As a twenty-year-old teaching the book of Jonah at a junior-high retreat, it hit me in the middle of my teaching that I didn’t care at all about the kids sitting before me. It was as if the Lord held up a mirror and I saw the ugliness of my soul. I saw that I wanted to teach, but that I didn’t care about those whom I was teaching. I realized, much to my dismay, that they were just a means for me to do what I wanted to do. Here I was, studying for the ministry, involved in teaching and serving, and yet I knew my heart was calloused and hard. At the end of the weekend, in deep despair, I hopped in my van and drove for a couple of days. I finally pulled into the parking lot of the church I was attending - Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. As I did, I saw a pastor I recognized from the Saturday night concerts there. His name was Tom Stipe.
“You need the Holy Spirit,” he said. He laid hands on me, prayed for me, and something happened. I felt a warm sensation in my inner being, and I began to worship the Lord in a way I had never done before.
That was a huge watershed for me. I understood that, although previously I had the Holy Spirit inside of me, I lacked the overflow of the Spirit through me. And so I say to you, if you are in a valley spiritually, you’re in the perfect place to find the living water because it’s there in the valley where you recognize your own inadequacy. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness - those who realize their need - for they shall be filled” (see Matthew 5:6).
When, like Isaac, you say, “I want to be used to water the flock around me,” be it your family, your friends, your neighbors, or a Sunday school class, the Lord will truly empower you in a fresh and dynamic way (Acts 1:8).
Now that Isaac had found living water in the valley, was everything smooth sailing for him from that point on? No, Esek means “Contention.” It was immediately after Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River - where He was filled with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit - that He was led to the desert to be tempted and challenged by Satan. So too, when we are filled with the living water of the Spirit, we must understand that challenges are sure to follow.
Again, Isaac found water, and again he was challenged - thus the name Sitnah, or “Hated.”
With the exception of Moses, there is not a man in the Old Testament meeker than Isaac. After all, when Ishmael taunted and teased him, did Isaac fight back? No. When his dad laid him on the altar to sacrifice him, did thirty-year-old Isaac try to escape? No. When his father’s servant selected a bride for him, did Isaac question his choice? No. When Abimelech rebuked him, did he rationalize his cowardice? No. When his water rights were challenged, did he stand his ground? No.
“Blessed are the meek,” Jesus said, “for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). And here we see that happening. Isaac is a man of remarkable meekness. And he will indeed inherit earthly blessings.
As I look back, I see my own life as a series of digging wells and moving on, until finally I found my Rehoboth, for Rehoboth means “Room.” Over the years, I’ve watched lots of talented men and women who had an anointing, a calling, and a gifting miss great opportunities because they dug a well and there was strife. When they dug a second one, there was contention. Yet, instead of digging a third well, they gave up, thinking, “What’s the use? I won’t be used. Why go on?” God’s plan is that we keep digging, keep digging, keep digging until we find our Rehoboth, where there’s room.
Every one of you, without exception, has a Rehoboth awaiting you. But the Enemy will try to discourage you through contention and strife. Why does God allow this to happen? Because He has a twofold task: not only to prepare a place for you, but to prepare you for the place. This means you’ll go through some trying times, some stretching points, and some questions, but you must not throw in the towel, or the trowel. You keep digging, move down the road, dig again, move down the road, dig again, and eventually you’ll find your Rehoboth. I promise.
It was clear that Jacob was to be the blessed one (Genesis 25:23). Because Rebekah knew this, when she heard Isaac was about to bless Esau, we see her doing what you and I can fall into oh, so easily: knowing God’s Word and doing God’s work, but not in God’s way. You might have a sincere heart and pure motives in wanting to see God’s work done in the ministry or in your family, but God’s work must be done God’s way. Ask Moses . . .
Wanting to see his Israelite brothers set free from the tyranny of the Egyptians, one day when Moses saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew children, he rescued his Hebrew brother and killed the Egyptian, thinking he would be a hero in the eyes of the Hebrew people. But because God didn’t direct Moses to do this, the end result was the rejection of Moses by the very people he was trying to help (Exodus 2:11–14).
God’s work must be done God’s way. Ask David . . .
He knew the people would be blessed, and the glory of God would be experienced if the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the capital city of Jerusalem. To transport the Ark from where it was, six miles outside of Jerusalem, David built a cart and stationed a man named Uzzah, or “Strong,” upon it. In front of the Ark, leading the way was a man named Ahio, or “Friendly.” It was a great set-up. Mr. Strong controlled the cart; Mr. Friendly led the way. It seemed like such a wonderful way to bring in the glory of God. But you know the story. On the way, the cart hit a rut in the road, and the Ark began to wobble. Thinking he had better give God a hand, Uzzah reached out to stabilize the Ark. But when his hand touched it, God killed him (2 Samuel 6).
Completely disheartened, David pouted for several months. But when he got back in the Word again, he discovered that the Ark of the Covenant was to be carried on the shoulders of priests rather than on a cart. Why? Because carts are nothing more than boards and big wheels, whereas priests are people who praise and pray. All too often, people call board meetings and bring in big wheels to make God’s work happen. But such is the Philistine mentality. God’s way is to work through people who praise and pray.
Although Jacob didn’t sound like Esau, he felt like Esau. Therefore he must be Esau, thought Isaac, trusting his senses rather than the word that he heard.
Joshua made the same mistake when, rather than asking “counsel at the mouth of the LORD” (Joshua 9:14), he decided to sign a peace treaty with the Gibeonites based solely on the fact that he could see that their sandals were worn and that their bread was moldy.
Whenever we make decisions based upon what we feel, what we smell, or what we see rather than upon what we hear in the Word, we will be deceived. If an experience, trend, or phenomenon isn’t seen in the New Testament record of the life of Christ and of His Church, it’s Jacob parading as Esau, and we will be as deceived as Isaac was if we choose to follow our senses rather than the Word.
Abraham sent a servant to find a bride for his son, Isaac. Isaac, however, sent his son Jacob to find his own bride. So too, Paul would write, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).
Your salvation is going to be worked out or exercised a little bit differently than the salvation of the person sitting next to you or of the generation that went before you. Oh, we’re all saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But it’s all going to work out a little bit differently in each of us.
This allows me to give freedom to people whose salvation is being worked out a little differently than mine might be. We can give each other lots of space because, within the parameters of grace and faith, God deals with each of us uniquely.
“God is here, and I didn’t know it.” Why wouldn’t Jacob know this? Because of his circumstances. He knew he was nothing but a conniver, hiding out in a seemingly God-forsaken, rocky region.
That may be your story today. You may feel like you’re stuck in a rocky situation, a rocky marriage, rocky finances, or on a rocky road. But God would say to you today, “I’m with you in this place, even though you may not know it.”
What can separate us from the love of God? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature (Romans 8:38–39). Why? Because there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). There is no separation because there is no condemnation. Why is there no condemnation? Because Jesus Christ - our hero, our Lord - took all of the sin that would separate us from the Father - the sins we committed last year, the sins we’re committing now, and the sins we’ll commit tomorrow - and paid for them all.
If you find yourself in a rocky situation, you have a choice: you can either say, “God is nowhere,” or like Jacob, you can look at your surroundings, add the space of grace, and with new eyes say, “God is now here.”
If your Bible has margin notes, perhaps you see the phrase “went on his journey” rendered as “lifted up his feet.” In Hebrew, the literal idea is that of “happy feet.” In Genesis 28, God appeared to Jacob, reiterating His promise, presence, and plan for Jacob. As a result, as Jacob heads to Padan-aram, he does so with “happy feet.” He does so with enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm, or en theos, simply means “full of God.” An encounter with God - the giver of joy, the source of all true happiness - manifests itself in a changed walk. And such was Jacob’s case.
How I love to be around people who are enthusiastic, who are full of God. Their faces seem to radiate His joy and I find myself more joyful in their presence, able to continue my own journey with “happy feet.”
Maybe you have been looking to your husband, wife, friend, or pastor to meet the barrenness, emptiness, or lack of productivity in your life. “Meet this need,” you cry, “or I’ll die.” But the reality is, they can’t.
When asked who he was, John the Baptist identified himself by who he was not. “I am not the Christ,” he said. “I’m not the answer. I’m not the Savior. I’m not the solution. My whole role is to point to the One who is the Christ” (see John 1:20).
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. - Romans 8:20
For the creature -
You and me
Was made subject to vanity -
Or emptiness
Not willingly -
We don’t want to feel empty
But by reason of Him -
By God’s divine design
Who hath subjected the same in hope -
In order that we would look to Him.
The only way you’ll be truly satisfied is to be extremely close to God, totally dependent on God, and passionately in love with God. Sunday morning Christianity will never fill the hole in your soul. The hunger in your heart can only be filled through intimacy, dependence, and an ever-deepening relationship with the One who created you for His own pleasure (Revelation 4:11).
“Give me children, or else I die. I demand that you give me kids.” Such are the prayers of those who say, “We need to speak the Word and demand from God that we not be barren, but that we be rich, healthy, and successful.”
Wait a minute. When Rachel finally had a son, she named him Joseph. Why? Because Joseph means, “May God add.” In other words, Joseph wasn’t enough. Rachel wanted more.
That’s always the way it is. When you’re looking to something or someone to meet the need of your soul, it’s never enough. And here’s the real irony: as a result of having another son, Rachel did in fact die.
As she was dying in childbirth, what did she say? Not, “Oh, praise God, another son”; not, “Oh Lord, You’re awesome to give this barren woman two children.” No, as she was dying in childbirth, Rachel named her son Ben-oni, or “Son of my sorrow.” The last word on beautiful Rachel’s lips was “sorrow” (Genesis 35:18).
Rachel demanded her way and it killed her.
Why did Rachel’s life end this way? Because she looked to the wrong person and asked in the wrong fashion. So too, a husband, wife, friend, pastor, or parent cannot fill the hole in your soul, because you were created for a deep yet humble relationship with God.
A broken Rachel named her son Ben-oni, “Son of my sorrow.” But a wiser Jacob renamed him Benjamin, “Son of my right hand.” So too, as the Son of Man, Jesus was called the “Man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). But as the Son of God, He sits at the Father’s right hand (Colossians 3:1).
Rachel said, “Give me children, or I die.”
The Father says, “For My children, I will die.”
God says, “I am so in love with you, I’m not demanding something from you, but I’m dying for you. I love you to death. And the sins and mistakes you’ve made so foolishly, I will wash away completely so that you can live with Me eternally.”
As we’ll see in chapter 31, Laban isn’t a believer, yet even he recognizes he has been blessed by God because of Jacob. The number of his herds, flocks, and grandsons had multiplied radically. Everything was going well for Laban. And in a rare moment of honesty, he says to Jacob, “You have brought the Lord’s blessing to my household.”
No wonder Laban wanted Jacob to stay. In addition to being supernaturally blessed, Jacob was industrious - which isn’t surprising since throughout Scripture God often called men who were already hard at work. When they were called to ministry,
Moses was watching his father-in-law’s sheep (Exodus 3:1).
Elisha was plowing behind the oxen (1 Kings 19:19).
Peter was casting his net into the sea (Matthew 4:18).
Matthew was collecting taxes (Matthew 9:9).
“Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” Jesus said, “and ordained you” (John 15:16). We’re all in the ministry, gang. Christians must be, can be, get to be the very best workers in whatever field the Lord places them, for then even the Labans will be drawn to the One we serve.
Many times, we’re in a place where we wonder if God is trying to get us to make a move - geographically, professionally, or in ministry. I believe Jacob’s story provides key clues to this question.
First, notice that the situation around Jacob soured. Jacob could see that Laban was no longer looking kindly upon him. So too, the Lord can speak through our circumstances to begin to nudge those who have eyes to see and ears to hear His leading.
Second, the Word of the Lord within Jacob sweetened. As Jacob’s situation soured, the Word within him stirred. The same thing happens today. When the Lord wants to move us, the Scriptures we read day after day all seem to point in that direction.
While Jacob was right in his assessment of Laban’s deceitful ways, he failed to see the most obvious truth about Laban: that is, Laban was in actuality a full-length mirror, a life-size reflection of his own flawed character.
I have discovered that the flaws and faults I see most clearly in others are my own. The more flawed a person is, the more he will see others’ flaws. Jacob will point out over and over that Laban is a deceiver, because it was Jacob’s own tendency to be a deceiver, a conniver, and a cheater. My prayer is that, before I die, God will deliver me from a Jacob mentality and will work in me the agape love that doesn’t even notice when others do wrong (1 Corinthians 13:5).
Both at the beginning and at the conclusion of his prayer (verse 12), Jacob is insistent in that he says, “Lord, You are the One who told me to go back home. You are the One who promised You would save my life.” In so doing, Jacob takes the promises given to him and lifts them back to the Lord in prayer.
This is a great, great key to praying effectively. “Concerning the work of My hands command ye Me,” the Lord declares (Isaiah 45:11).
“Command Him?” you say. “That sounds an awful lot like the ‘name-it-and-claim-it’ mentality.”
However, contextually you will see God is talking about the promises and prophecies He had already made to the people. Listen to what Jesus would say along the same line: “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). In other words, “If you’re abiding in Me, hanging around Me, and clinging to Me, you can ask anything of Me because within you will be My Word.”
What word? “Exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4).
It has been said that there are between three and five thousand promises given to us in the Word. Therefore, it is as if God says, “I want you to take these exceedingly great and precious promises, and I want you to command Me.”
Too often, we live like spiritual paupers. We don’t see our families, our friends, or our country being blessed. Why? Because we have not asked (James 4:2). It is only as we pray the promises of God that we are able to draw from the inexhaustible resources the Lord has provided. Jacob understood this. That is why he was insistent in prayer.
Why did God wrestle Jacob? Why does He want to wrestle with you and me? For the same reason I used to wrestle with my sons. It’s something called intimacy. God likes to wrestle things through with me and you because He enjoys us. It’s as if He says to us, “Let’s wrestle this thing through hour after hour, day after day, even month after month because not only will you find that I’ll come through eventually, but in the process, we will develop a wonderful intimacy.”
That’s why the original Greek text makes it clear that we are to “keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking” (see Matthew 7:7), for that is how intimacy is developed; that is how prayer is answered.
Wrestling provides unique opportunities for discovery. As you measure your strength against that of your opponent, as you assume various positions and are held in numerous holds, you discover things about yourself and your opponent you couldn’t have known otherwise. So too, God invites us to wrestle with Him in order that we might discover things about Him and ourselves we could learn in no other way. As you wrestle in prayer, you might find that what God gives to you and does for you is entirely different than what you had expected. Jacob asked to be blessed, instead he was broken, but the answer was better, because our Father knows best.
Keep on wrestling, gang. You’ll have intimacy with the Lord. You’ll make discoveries about the Lord. And you’ll be changed radically by the Lord in the very process of praying.
Does this mean the Lord didn’t know with whom He was wrestling? No. The Lord knew Jacob’s name, and now He’s giving Jacob an opportunity to be reminded of it as well. You see, years earlier his dad had asked him, “Who are you?”
“I am Esau,” Jacob had answered (Genesis 27:19).
It’s as if the Lord is saying, “Let’s try it again, Jacob. What is your name?”
Perhaps the great majority of people wish they were someone else. Jacob certainly did. “I want to be firstborn. I want the blessing. I want to be Esau,” he said. So too, you can go through life trying to be someone you’re not. You can copy the way she dresses or the way he talks, but it will lead to nothing but frustration until you have come to the moment when, in total honesty, you say, “I’ve tried to be this guy, tried to do that thing, but now I admit who I am. I’m Jacob.”
No sooner does Jacob confess and come clean regarding his true identity than the Lord changes his name entirely - from Jacob to Israel, from “Heel snatcher” to “Governed by God.”
“When did I prevail?” Jacob must have wondered.
And God would answer, “It was when you were broken, when you were pinned by Me, when you were weeping, but wouldn’t let go of Me, when you said, ‘I can’t go through another day without You,’ that’s when you prevailed.”
And that’s when we’ll prevail as well.
To this day, the Orthodox Jews don’t eat the thigh meat of an animal in honor of their great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Jacob. Thus, down the tunnel of time, Jacob’s descendants commemorate not his cleverness, intelligence, or charisma. They commemorate his pain.
A can-do kind of guy, Jacob was clever, charming, skilled, intelligent - a man any smart CEO would want to hire. God, on the other hand, said, “I have big plans for you, Jacob. You are going to have a huge impact on the history of the world, for from you will come an entire nation. And from that nation will come Messiah. I have big plans for you, but you’re too smart, too self-confident, too clever. Therefore I’m going to break you.”
Dear sister and brother, you must understand that no matter how charming, intelligent, or clever you are, or how good you may be in any given area, your skill is puny, your intelligence is nothing, and your strength is scrawny in comparison to God’s. So God says, “I’m going to allow this pain in your life because then, and only then, will you lean on Me every step of the way, knowing that if you don’t, you’ll fall flat on your face. And as you lean on Me, you’ll draw strength from Me and you’ll be governed by Me instead of trying to make things happen in your own energy.”
“Okay, Lord,” we say. “I understand I have to be broken that I might learn to lean on You. But once I’m broken, can’t You heal me? Once I’ve wrestled with You about a certain issue, can’t You make me like new again?”
I am reminded of the story of another man who was lame . . .
He had laid on the deck of a pool in Jerusalem day after day for thirty-eight years, hoping against hope that somehow, according to tradition, when an angel stirred the waters, he would be the first one in the pool and would be healed. Then, one day a young Rabbi came his way and asked him, “Wilt thou be made whole?”
“I can’t,” he answered, “because I don’t have anyone to help me into the water.”
And then something amazing happened - when the Rabbi told him to take up his bed and walk, the once-lame man was able to do just that.
“Whee!” he said. “I can walk! I can run! I can leap!”
“Hold on,” said some Pharisees who had observed the scene. “It’s the Sabbath day. You’re not supposed to carry your bed on the Sabbath day. Who told you to do this? Who is this One who healed you?”
“Hmm,” said the newly-healed man. “I don’t know. I’m just so happy to be walking. I don’t know who it was” (see John 5:2–13).
That’s the issue, gang. We all would like to be healed, to have the pain go away, to have the hurt be gone. The fact, however, is if that were to happen, like the lame man, we would say, “Whee!” but we wouldn’t know Who. Therefore, the pain stays; the limp continues day after day, year after year, that we might lean on Him, talk to Him, and draw strength and insight from Him, which we would never have received if we were just saying, “Whee!”
Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, the degree to which your kids and grandchildren see you limp through life, leaning on God and drawing from Him strength, character, and depth is the degree to which they will value your legacy. They won’t remember how successful you were in climbing the corporate ladder, how big your bank account was, how skilled you were mechanically, or how gifted you were musically. They will remember what they learned as they watched you limp.
“I know I have to lean on Him,” you might be saying, “but sometimes I lose my way. Sometimes I forget. What do I do then?”
“Do this in remembrance of Me,” Jesus would say to you. “It wasn’t just My hip that was dislocated. My entire body was broken for you.”
Thus, it is at the Cross that I am reminded, in light of what Jesus did for me, that the pain He’s allowing in my life is because He wants my very best. Communion is essential because we can get mixed up; we can get confused by pain and sadness and sorrow. But when we come to the Lord’s Table and are reminded once again of His inexpressible love for us, we gladly exchange the leap of the lame man for the limp of Jacob because it is in limping that we remain close to Him all the days of our lives.
When, at last, Jacob and Esau met again, Esau asked the reason for the gifts Jacob had sent him.
“I sent them to you in order that I might find grace in your sight,” Jacob answered.
And in Jacob we see an illustration of our tendency to think we have to give something to the Lord in order to receive grace from the Lord. Why is it so difficult for us to receive grace graciously? It’s because we’ve been so convinced that “there’s no free lunch.” But guess what? There is a free lunch, and breakfast and dinner too! “Come and dine,” says the Lord (John 21:12). “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat” (Isaiah 55:1).
Now if Esau, who is a type of the flesh, says, “That’s not the way it works,” how much more our Lord, who is the epitome of grace and goodness, would say, “You don’t have to do this, do that, or give up the other before you come into My presence.” “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
If you’re in need today, know this: There’s nothing keeping you from going boldly to the throne and saying, “Father, I’m stuck,” or “Father, I don’t understand,” or “Father, I need help.”
This is the genius of true spirituality, the uniqueness of biblical Christianity. Every other philosophy and religion is based upon responsibility - the responsibility of its adherents to fast, to chant, to give, or to work. Christianity isn’t based on responsibility. It’s based on response - the response to unconditional love, unrestrained mercy, and undeserved grace.
For many years, I thought my salvation was based on my responsibility to pray, my responsibility to tithe, or my responsibility to be at church. But then I began to understand that God blesses, God gives, and God avails Himself not on the basis of what I do or don’t do, but on the basis of what He did in sending His Son to die on the Cross in order to pay the price for my sin. And when that pressure was taken off me, I wanted to study the Word. I wanted to be in church. I wanted to pray, not to earn blessing, but because I had already been so blessed.
Although he had reason to be angry, Esau did not hold a grudge against Jacob. Furthermore, he only accepted Jacob’s gift when pressed. Finally, he offered to accompany Jacob on his way as a means of protection for Jacob and his family. Thus, Esau would be considered refined and polished in our society. Yet the Bible says he was an uncouth man spiritually.
. . . lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. - Hebrews 12:16–17
Esau is a picture of the flesh - a doomed and damned man for whom there was found no place to repent.
“But my unsaved neighbor or co-worker or uncle is so nice, so generous, so kind, so giving” we say. They may be. They may be gems, real diamonds. In comparison, the Christian you’re sitting next to may be a cabbage. But there’s a big difference. A diamond is brilliant, polished, and highly esteemed, but dead. A cabbage is common, lowly, and ugly, but alive.
People get mixed up about this. They say, “I see Christians and they’re rude and mean.” The real issue, however, is this: we may be cabbage heads, but we’re alive.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus. - Ephesians 2:4–6
Diamond-like as we may have been, we were nonetheless dead, but God made us alive. And now, cabbage-like as we may be, we’re nonetheless growing. We’re not what we should be, but we’re not what we used to be, and we’re not what we’re going to be, for when we see Him, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). Oh, glorious day!
With his daughter raped and his sons being mass murderers, Jacob’s family is falling apart (Genesis 34). Therefore, in light of his situation, what God says to Jacob amazes me. He doesn’t say, “Sit down. You’re benched,” or “Back off. You’re done,” or “That’s it. You’re through.” He says, “Arise. Go up,” because our God is a God of unbelievable grace.
Bethel - previously called Luz until the night Jacob had an encounter with God - was the place where Jacob was saved. Now the Lord says, “Go back to the place you met Me.”
How I appreciate our Lord, because that’s what He says to you and me. We tend to think God is mad at us, is angry with us, and has had enough of us. But our brother Paul would come on the scene and say, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds more” (see Romans 5:20).
Jacob and his clan are neck-deep in sin, and yet God says, “Rise up. Let’s get going again. I want to ‘altar’ you once more.”
Evidently, Jacob’s family had added pagan gods and trinkets to the idols Rachel had stolen from her father. Here, Jacob says, “We’re going to Bethel. We’re going to the house of God. So give me all of those earrings and bracelets and stuff you picked up from the heathens.”
Notice God didn’t say to Jacob, “If you deal with the pagan gods in your family, then I might give you a second chance.” No, God simply said, “Rise and let us go to Bethel.”
Perhaps it was because Jacob was so amazed by this that he said, “It’s time to clean up, not so God will call us, but because He has called us.”
That’s what grace does. When I realize how kind and good and benevolent and merciful God is to me day after day after day, it causes me to want to put away my trinkets and toys that are not of Him. Too often, we think, I’ve got to get my life cleaned up and maybe then I can hear God’s voice; maybe then He’ll lead me again. No. God is ready to lead us today right where we are, and because of that we say, “Lord, You’re so good. I don’t want the things of the world anymore.”
In Scripture the tree, of course, speaks of the Cross. In other words, the picture is that Jacob left his sin at Calvary. When Jesus died on the Cross, not only was the penalty of sin paid for completely, but power over sin was provided for fully. So too, this very day you can say, “Lord, truly You are good in allowing me to go to Bethel once more. I’m tired of my sin, and I want my way to be free and unencumbered from the junk that entangles me.”
Practically, how does this happen? You reckon the old man dead. You say, “Lord, on the basis of Your Word, I no longer have to do that, go there, be involved with the other, not because of positive thinking, but because of what You did on Calvary’s tree.” Just as by faith you receive forgiveness, so too, by faith you gain victory.
Thus, I can truly say to that Double Quarter Pounder® with Cheese, “I no longer have to submit to the demand you are placing on me. I reckon the old man dead to that sin.” And I truly, honestly, absolutely, and unequivocally can turn away from that Quarter Pounder® and walk free, if I choose to! If you haven’t spent time in Romans 6 lately, I encourage you to marvel at it and say, “Thank You, Lord, that, because on the Cross You not only removed the penalty of sin but broke the power of sin, I don’t have to give in. I can walk away a free man.”
Gang, I am simple-minded enough to believe this applies to a heroin addict, to a gossiper, to a person who’s hooked on pornography, or to a person with a negative attitude. Whatever the sin might be, its power was shattered on the Cross.
“Give me that stuff,” Jacob said to his family.
“No, it’s too strong. No, it can’t be done. No, it’s too important,” they could have said. Instead, they responded to the command given to them by Jacob, just as you can respond to the Word given to you by the Lord.
Jacob has his problems, indeed. Jacob has all kinds of baggage, without question. But through it all, he’s growing because when he comes to Bethel the second time, he no longer calls it Bethel, “The house of God,” but El Bethel, or “The God of the house of God.” This shows monumental maturity, for Jacob understands that it’s not the house of God that is important, but the God who dwells in it. So too, it’s not church attendance that’s important, but the God whom we meet there. It’s not worship that’s important, but the God whom we worship. It’s not the Bible that’s important, but the God of the Bible. You see, the Word is not an end in itself. The goal of Bible study is not to try and gain more intellectual or theological understanding. It’s much more than that. The Word of God is simply a door I go through many times a day to meet the God of the Word.
“That’s obvious,” you say.
Not always. A lot of people initially delight in church or Bible study or worship, but will eventually lose interest in them because those things are not God. Be like Jacob. Keep your focus on God, and view everything else in light of Him.
To this man who experienced devastation in his family, God said, “Go to Bethel and dwell there. Go to Bethel and stay put.” Bethel literally means “house of God.” Jacob went to Bethel and found refuge and renewal, revival and refreshment, and then he left! Why? Why do people leave Bethel? Why do people leave the house of God? Let me give you the only answer we see in the text: After talking about Jacob’s revival in Bethel in verse 7, verse 8 says, “Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died.” In other words, although he had met God, heard the promises of God, and fellowshipped with God at Bethel, Jacob evidently couldn’t deal with the fact that his nanny was no longer there.
Both Abraham and Jacob would leave the house of God because of changes. Abraham left Bethel because of famine. His grandson left Bethel because of family. Abraham left because things were changing financially. Jacob left because he couldn’t handle it emotionally.
Why did Jacob’s nanny die? Why do things change? Because God is not static. Spiritual life will always be in motion. Therefore, it is the unwise man or the foolish woman who says, “If nanny’s not here anymore, I’m not coming either.” Precious fellow pilgrim, on our spiritual journey, we must build our altar, offer our praise, receive instruction, and remain in Bethel - in the place of fellowship with God.
In the book of Acts, Stephen refers to the text before us, saying that Joseph’s brothers were moved with envy against him (Acts 7:9). Of what were they envious? Joseph’s coat. Although your King James Bible describes this coat as being “of many colours,” a better rendering is that it was a coat of “many pieces,” or literally, a coat of “big sleeves.”
You see, in Joseph’s day most coats were actually vests because most men were workingmen and sleeves would only hinder their movement. However, those who held the position of boss or foreman would be given garments with sleeves. A coat with sleeves was not only a symbol of authority, but it was also a matter of practicality. In those days, before briefcases and hand-held computers, documents, writing instruments, and supplies would be kept in the sleeves secured by drawstrings at the wrists. Consequently, a man on the job site with sleeves was equivalent to a man carrying a briefcase and talking on a cell phone. In other words, the man with sleeves was clearly the boss.
And that’s the issue in the story before us. Joseph’s ten older brothers said, “Hey, what’s the big idea? Why did Dad give the coat with big sleeves to little Joey? Why should he be the boss, the big cheese, the big shot? It’s not right. It’s not fair. It’s not acceptable!” And so envious were they that they threw Joseph in a pit and sold him as a slave.
“Why can’t I be the manager at McDonald’s?” we say. “Why do I have to work the drive-thru year after year?”
“Why can’t I be the boss at the company? I’ve been there longer than he has.”
“How come I didn’t get the contract? My bid was lower; my work is better. I don’t understand.”
In other words, we are prone to say, “I should have the big sleeves.”
Whether it’s on the job, at school, or in church, there will always be opportunity for you and me to say, “How come I’m not noticed or acknowledged, elevated or rewarded?” Yet I believe the real question is: Are you sure you want to be?
We think we know what we want. But the fact is, the coat of big sleeves caused Joseph big headaches. Therefore, it is the wise person who says, “Lord, I think I want that. I think I deserve that. I think I should be that. But, Lord, I understand that inherent in that position there may be headaches, problems, and pressures of which I am completely unaware. So have Your way, and I know it will be best.”
If I were in Joseph’s sandals, would I give myself wholeheartedly, enthusiastically, and energetically to serving an Egyptian taskmaster, or would I say, “Lord, You’ve given me dreams and talents and abilities, but they’re all being wasted because I’m just a slave”? One of the many things that impresses me about Joseph is that he didn’t focus on what he lacked, but instead threw himself into the task at hand.
One Arizona dad, watching the tears on the faces of the boys who were too slow, too small, and too clumsy to get on the roster of one of the five north Phoenix Little League teams, asked if he could form a sixth team from the kids who were cut.
“Sure,” said the officials, “if you’ll coach them and pay for their uniforms.”
So the dad did, naming his team the Phoenix Diamondbacks.
Last Friday, the Phoenix Diamondbacks won their last game by a score of 19–0.
It was the League Championship game.
Some say, “I could have really been used if I had made the team,” or “I’ll really be used as soon as my situation changes.” Others, however, join Joseph in saying, “So what if I’m a slave? It’s a great opportunity to work hard for the glory of God and see what He’ll do.”
Here’s the question: How will I react to difficulty? Will I be like Jacob and say, “All things are working against me” - even though I know in my heart such is not the case? Or will I be like Joseph and say, “Man may have meant this for evil, but God meant it for good” (see Genesis 50:20)?
Unfortunately, all too often, I choose the sniveling of Jacob over the security of Joseph. Why? To elicit sympathy. What is it about our flesh that wants people to think we have it hard? While this may seem an insignificant quirk, in reality, it borders on blasphemy. In getting you to feel sorry for me, I get you to question God’s goodness, provision, and protection in my life. Thus, your pity for me is at God’s expense.
Who will I be? I can be self-indulgent and allow God to be cast in a bad light, even though I know in my heart the promise given to me, the price paid for me, and the peace available within me. I can deny all of this and say, “I want you to feel sorry for me. Listen to my tragedy.”
Or, I can say, “I will not dishonor this good, gracious, loving God, who has been so kind to me, so good to me. He’s my Creator and my Father. Therefore, I will not bring shame to His name in seeking sympathy from anyone.” That is called the fear of the Lord. It’s saying, “Father, I care more about Your reputation than I do about getting sympathy from the congregation. I don’t want them to think questioningly, negatively, or blasphemously of You.”
Where are the men and women who say, “We fear God. We will not snivel. God is good and we know deep within our hearts that He is working all things together for good”?
Here’s the question: In the name of compassion, are you one who constantly weeps with others? Perhaps what we need in the Christian community during this time of self-centered Christianity are men and women who say, “I fear God. So, dear brother, precious sister, even if you don’t understand, even if you think this is cold-hearted or lacking compassion, you know that this difficulty or tragedy will work for good. Stand on that knowledge. Cling to it. I will weep for you if you don’t get it. But I’m not going to weep with you as you question God. He’s too good for that.”
May God give us wisdom. May God give us peace. May God give us understanding. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). I know it. And so do you.
After selling him into slavery, no wonder Joseph’s brothers were afraid when he called for them. “Oh, no!” they said. “He’s calling us to his table because he wants to send us away as prisoners.”
People still have this view of the greater than Joseph, Jesus Christ. People still say, “I’ve blown it so badly; I’ve erred so greatly; I know the Lord will yell at me and imprison me if I even come near His house.”
Not true! Even though these guys had sinned greatly, they will discover incredible grace and unbelievable mercy because Joseph is a picture of Jesus. And where sin abounds, His grace abounds much more (Romans 5:20). When you are aware of your failings, your weaknesses, your inconsistencies, your stubbornness, rebellion, and sin, there’s a tendency to say, “I can’t go to church because I know Jesus is mad at me. If I go, I’ll be bound with rules and regulations; I’ll be sent away to the prison of condemnation.”
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:8–9
Through Isaiah, God says, “When someone offends you, is mean or nasty to you, I know that your ways and your thoughts center on one thing: revenge. But I don’t think like you do. Therefore, I don’t work like you do.”
We need to realize how much different the Lord is from how we are in our fallen condition, in our depraved nature. “God is good,” declares the psalmist (Psalm 73:1). He’s just flat out, plain old good. He looks for ways not to blast, but to bless.
Joseph’s heart was pounding, his stomach was churning, and his eyes were weeping, yet he didn’t reveal himself to his brothers. Why? Because there was still work to do. There was still testing to take place.
So too, Jesus passionately wants to be with you and me, His Bride. But He hasn’t yet come for us because there’s still work to do in us. It is true that Jesus is in Heaven preparing a place for us (John 14:2), but He’s also preparing us for the place. And when we’re ready, He’ll take us Home, either through the rapture or through death. When the time is right, when the work He wants to do has come to completion, He’ll take us Home one way or the other. Therefore, if we’re still here, it means there’s still work to do, not just through us, but in us.
Benjamin was given five times as much food as the others. Why did Joseph do this? I suggest it was in order to observe the reaction of his brothers. When Joseph was given the coat with the big sleeves, what was their response? Envy, jealousy, hostility, and anger. Therefore, Joseph wanted to see if his brothers would deal with Benjamin the same way they had dealt with him years earlier.
So too, the Lord measures the changes that have taken place in my life by how I react to my brothers, not just when they’re hurting, but when they, like Benjamin, succeed. It’s easy to weep with those who weep. It’s harder to rejoice with those who rejoice. If someone undergoes a tragedy, a catastrophe, or a problem, most of us feel a certain amount of sympathy rather easily. But it’s a little tougher for us to rejoice with the one who has everything going his way.
You’ll know a deep work has taken place in your life when you not only weep with those who weep, but rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15), without being jealous or envious, hostile or cynical.
“All men will know you are My disciples,” said Jesus, “by your love one for another” (see John 13:35). And “one another” includes the happy as well as the hurting.
“Don’t be upset with yourselves,” he said to his brothers. “Your selling me into this foreign land as a slave was all part of God’s plan.”
I love these words of Joseph because they express the heart of Jesus. “Father, forgive them,” He prayed from the Cross, “for they don’t know what they’re doing” (see Luke 23:34). Those who crucified Jesus were indeed forgiven. The price was paid. And Peter would go on to declare that it was all part of a divine design, a grand plan, that Jesus would die for the sins of every man (Acts 2:22–24). “I know you are aware of your flaws and failings,” Jesus would say to us, “but don’t be grieved. I’ve forgiven you.”
Christianity is unique in that it is not a matter of us cleaning ourselves up and getting our acts together. It is a matter of constantly rejoicing in the fact that the blood of Jesus cleanses us continually, that our sin is washed away constantly by what He did for us on the Cross of Calvary. Thus, Christianity is celebration of what He’s done, not condemnation for what we have or haven’t done.
“Don’t be angry with yourselves,” Joseph said to his brothers. “God had a plan in all of this.”
And God has a plan in everything you’re involved in as well. That is, to make you appreciate what He’s done for you, not so you can boast in your own righteousness, your own purity, or your own holiness, but to say, “Lord, Your forgiveness and kindness, Your goodness and mercy are awesome.”
The brothers didn’t seem to notice that Benjamin had three hundred more pieces of silver and four more suits than they did. So blown away were they by Joseph’s forgiveness that there was no room for envy or jealousy. I am so looking forward to that time when our greater than Joseph is revealed, when we are living with Jesus, for one of the Heavenly things about Heaven is that everyone will be one thousand percent thrilled for everyone else. Our competition-based society places a high premium on getting ahead. But this is not the way of the Kingdom . . .
When the water stirred, the first one into the pool of Siloam would, according to tradition, be the one who would be healed. So what did Jesus do? He didn’t go to the ones close to the pool. He went to the guy in the back, the one who had been there for thirty-eight years, and took him away from the competitive scene altogether (John 5).
The reason Joseph’s brothers didn’t even notice that Benjamin was three hundred pieces of silver richer and four suits ahead of them was because they had been forgiven, and earthly riches no longer mattered.
Here Joseph says, “I’m giving you everything you need to make the journey from where you are to where I am. Just see to it that you don’t fall out by the way.”
It’s easy to fall out by the way. It’s easy to say, “My body is hurting. My stocks are dropping. My head is spinning. And it’s time to kick back a bit.” But our greater than Joseph would say to us, “Don’t do it. Don’t fall back. Don’t give up.” In this regard, it’s sobering to realize that Jesus told us only one-fourth of the seeds scattered would go on to bear significant fruit . . .
In some people, the seed of the Word falls in soil and springs up quickly. But then comes the heat - tragedies, setbacks, and difficulties - that causes it to shrivel. In others, the cares of this world, the lust for riches, and the desire for other things are like weeds that choke out the Word. In others, the Word doesn’t take root at all. But some falls on soil where its roots grow deep and where it goes on to bring forth much fruit (Matthew 13).
Over the years, I’ve known those whose roots have gone deep into the soil of the Word, whose lives have borne much fruit, who despite setbacks and shortcomings, have not fallen out of the way. May we be those kinds of people.
I admire Jacob here because, although accepting this invitation to live among royalty and to be with his son Joseph again seems like the right thing to do, he stops and offers a sacrifice to God to ensure that what he is doing is truly acceptable in the Lord’s sight.
Appearances can be deceiving. I’m learning that, aren’t you? Jacob stops and says, “I want to make sure I’m going to Egypt with God’s blessing.” Why would he be so reticent? Perhaps it was because his grandfather had also gone down to Egypt in a time of famine, returned with a servant girl named Hagar, and set in motion a series of events for which the Middle East is paying the price to this day.
God says, “Jacob, I want you to go to Egypt. I’m not going to hold something from you that would be good for you. Your son will touch your eyes; you’ll be in fellowship with him once again.”
Romans 12 says this about God’s will: It’s good and acceptable and perfect. So often we think, “I hate the heat and can’t stand snakes. Therefore, I know God will send me as a missionary to Africa.” But that’s not the way the Father works! His will for you is good, acceptable, and perfect. Understand this, precious people: whatever God tells you to do will be good, really good for you.
In a 1998 newspaper article, I read the following . . .
Attending religious services lowers blood pressure more than tuning into religious TV or radio, a new study says. People who attended a religious service once a week and prayed or studied the Bible once a day were 40% less likely to have high blood pressure than those who don’t go to church every week or pray and study the Bible less. “If they relied on TV or radio for their religious service,” said David B. Larson, head of the National Institute for Healthcare Research, “it wasn’t as beneficial. It shows that church attendance is better for your health than even watching religious TV.” The link between religious activity and blood pressure is surprisingly strong. Previous studies show other health benefits from prayer. A 1988 study found that patients who were prayed for needed fewer antibiotics and had fewer complications in surgery. Last year, researchers found monthly church visits improved the mental health of the elderly. And researchers found earlier this year that adults who attend church once a week were more likely to have high levels of an immune system protein associated with age-related diseases. The new findings, part of a National Institute of Health initiative, came from a study of 2,391 people.
I like that! The will of the Father is indeed perfect.
The whole family is saved from the famished condition of where they were previously and has been called to live with Joseph in a land of luxury. I personally believe the Lord wants to save entire families. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul said to the Philippian jailor, “and you will be saved - and your house” (see Acts 16:31). This doesn’t mean the whole family is automatically saved if the parent is a believer. But it does mean that a believing father or mother can expect the Lord to work in the rest of the family as he or she is obedient to the Word.
I’m simple enough to expect that my kids and grandchildren, should the Lord tarry, will travel with me, to be with the greater than Joseph - Jesus Christ - in the mansion He is preparing for us.
This note was left on my windshield yesterday . . .
I was so glad to see your car here, Brother Jon. I have the opportunity to share with you some wonderful news. While visiting my mother a few months ago, I accidentally left a set of tapes at her house. The tapes were of services I had missed from our current Genesis study. Now my mother thought I had left them there with hopes of converting her. But it truly was a mistake. I had really wanted to listen to them myself. But God is so faithful. For whatever reason, Mom started listening to the tapes, and she accepted Jesus as her Savior and is going to be baptized this Sunday in a church in Kennewick, Washington. My mother is saved. She’s saved, she’s saved! God used this chain of events just for her, and I couldn’t be happier.
That’s not coincidence. That’s providence! Grandpa, believe it. Mom, don’t doubt it. Parents, lay hold of it. Believe that the Lord will work in your family.
According to Hebrews 7:7, the greater blesses the lesser. Although Jacob couldn’t hold a candle to Pharaoh politically, financially, or militarily, he was unequivocally the greater spiritually because he was linked to the God of the universe.
The privilege of bestowing blessing - of proclaiming prosperity, happiness, and success - was reserved for patriarchs. Thus, Jacob was perfectly justified in pronouncing blessing, for he was a patriarch. But guess what? It is equally proper for us to pronounce blessing, for it was also a privilege for priests and kings, and according to 1 Peter 2:9, we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.
Wherever we go, we hear people mock, dishonor, and trivialize God. But you and I get to be those who say, “The Lord bless you.” We get to be those who speak the Lord’s name upon someone’s life, into someone’s day.
“But I’m old,” you say.
So was Jacob.
“But I’m poor,” you say.
So was he.
“But I’m nothing,” you say.
In the eyes of men, neither was Jacob.
“But I’m not godly,” you say.
Neither was Jacob.
Yet he walked into the palace of Pharaoh and blessed him. And that’s what you can do. It just takes a moment or two, but you can bless people by speaking God’s name in their ear, by adding God’s presence to their day.
As Joseph enters with his sons Ephraim and Manasseh in tow, they who had blessed Jacob in coming are about to be blessed themselves.
Haven’t you discovered that when you share with someone in need, you might set out, saying, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to help, say the right thing, or do enough,” only to find that when you get there, you are the one who is blessed?
Jesus wants us to minister to each other because He taught that whatever measure a man gives out, it will be given back to him (see Matthew 7:2). It’s in giving that we get. It’s in praying for the sick that we become healthier. It’s in cheering the discouraged that our own emotions begin to soar. It’s in explaining truth to others that we begin to see things more clearly.
“The Spirit of God has revealed to me that the younger son will be the greater,” insisted Jacob. “Manasseh will be blessed, too, but there’s a greater plan for Ephraim.”
And that’s exactly what happened. Ephraim became the greater tribe by far. The ten northern tribes of Israel are called Israel, but they’re also referred to as Ephraim because Ephraim was predominant within the ten northern tribes.
Culturally and traditionally, the elder son, the firstborn, was to receive all of the benefits and assume the greater position. Quite often, however, the Lord seems to tweak this . . .
Cain was the firstborn, but it was Abel who was blessed.
Ishmael was the firstborn, but it was Isaac who was blessed.
Esau was the firstborn, but it was Jacob who was blessed.
Reuben was the firstborn, but it was Joseph who was blessed.
Aaron was the firstborn, but it was Moses who was blessed.
Throughout the Word, the Lord often makes the lesser the greater, and uses the younger to rule the older. Why? I think the basic message is simply this: What is coming is always better than what has been. We tend to wax eloquent about the good old days. The Lord, however, says, “The best is yet to come. I’m going to take you from glory to greater glory” (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).
This gives me real hope because I truly believe for our churches, for our families, and for us personally the best is yet to come. It just seems to be the way of the Lord if we choose to believe on Him and walk with Him.
The Bible defines fruit in five specific areas . . .
In Romans 1:13, Paul tells us that the winning of souls is fruit unto God. Did Joseph win souls? Indeed! He saved his whole family from famine and drought. So too, when you share with your family, neighbors, or friends the good news of the Gospel, saving them from the drought in their own souls and from the fires of hell, you bear fruit that pleases God.
Romans 6:22 identifies holiness as fruit. Perhaps best epitomized by his flight from the advances of Potiphar’s wife, Joseph lived a holy life. In fact, he is one of only two major Old Testament characters of whom there is no recorded sin.
Philippians 4:17 identifies tithes and offerings as fruit. Joseph gave more than money in Egypt. He gave his life.
Colossians 1:10 says good works are a fruit unto God. Did Joseph do good works? Yes. He saved an entire nation from starvation by storing up goods to distribute when there was need.
Hebrews 13:15 names praise as fruit. When Joseph came to Pharaoh with the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, he directed all praise to God (Genesis 41:16).
These five areas, so evident in Joseph’s life, are summed up in a sixth New Testament reference to fruit:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. - Galatians 5:22–23
The fruit of the Spirit is love as defined by joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. The fruit of the Spirit is love. That’s why we give of our time and money. That’s why we lift our hands in praise. That’s why we share with others.
With all of these qualities flowing through his life, no wonder Jacob said to Joseph, “You are a fruitful bough.”
“Good for Joseph,” you might be saying. “But why should I be fruitful?”
Because if we don’t satisfy Jesus, not only will we not satisfy anyone else, but we won’t satisfy even ourselves. Listen, gang, if you are not living to please God, then your life will dry up from the roots, from below the surface, from deep within, and you will experience emptiness, frustration, depression, and a lack of satisfaction. Live to please God, on the other hand, and your life will be marked by love.
Like Joseph whose roots went into the well, so too, if the Word abides in you, you’ll bring forth much fruit.
If I went out to my backyard, cut off a limb from the apple tree and said, “I have great news, kids: You no longer need to go outside to pick apples. Here’s a branch we’re going to keep right in the kitchen,” they would wonder about me!
“You can’t cut off a branch and have it bear fruit,” they’d say. “It has to be connected to the tree.”
So too, it’s as if Jesus says, “The sap of the Scriptures must flow from Me to you in order for there to be fruit in your life.”
As I have observed the apple tree in my backyard bring forth apples, never once have I seen the branches connected to the trunk struggling to bear fruit. The branches just hang there. They abide, and the fruit is produced naturally. So too, you might decide to be loving, to do good works, or to praise the Lord in your own energy. And you might be able to fake it for an hour or two, for a day or three, but ultimately you’ll come up empty. The only way to produce genuine fruit morning by morning and day by day is to hang in there, abide in Christ, and allow the Spirit to flow to you and through you. Fruit cannot be faked for very long. You’ve got to have the Word in your life.
Throughout his life, there was no shortage of archers who took potshots at Joseph . . .
He was shot at by his brothers because they were envious.
He was shot at by Potiphar’s wife because he was righteous.
He was shot at by the butler who was thankless.
Joseph’s brothers fired the arrows of envy; Potiphar’s wife, the arrow of fury; and the butler, the arrow of apathy. Wherever Joseph went, there would be those who would view him as a target and let their arrows fly.
But what did Joseph do when he was shot at?
When he came into power, he could have nailed them all. He could have pinned his brothers to the wall, put Mrs. Potiphar in her place, and done in the butler. He had the power, the opportunity, and the legal right, but he didn’t fire back. He didn’t defend himself. His bow abode in strength. His bow remained silent.
Why didn’t Joseph fire back?
According to our text, Joseph’s God kept him from grabbing his bow and letting the arrows fly. Joseph’s God kept Joseph’s hand in His.
I can’t control the tendency to want to defend myself, to retaliate, or to get revenge. When I hear or see things I feel are unfair or untrue, everything within me says, “Fire back. Clear the record. Straighten it out.”
The only way to refrain from this tendency is to say, “Father, I want to stand up for my reputation, my right, my point of view. Restrain me, Lord.”
Why shouldn’t you clear the air and fire back for what you think is right?
Because those who find fault with you, those who come against you, those who shoot at you from a distance are ultimately instruments of God for your growth and for your good. You see, it was his brothers, Potiphar’s wife, and the butler who were used by the Lord to create in Joseph character, strength, and a depth he would not have had if he hadn’t been shot at, or if he had fired back.
The secret of strength is to refrain from using the power you have, to keep from trying to outmaneuver your enemy intellectually or retaliating physically, and to let the Lord fight for you and do a work within you.
Jacob let go of his spirit, and was gathered unto his people. We will all be gathered unto our people. The only question is: Who are your people? Who are the people with whom you’re most comfortable? They’re the ones with whom you’ll spend eternity.
Sometimes people say, “Hell won’t be so bad. At least all my friends will be there.” But nothing could be further from the truth. No one will be playing poker with his buddies and listening to country music in hell. No, hell is completely dark and totally hot. In hell, everyone is isolated.
Why would a loving God send anyone to a place like that?
He doesn’t.
God is Light. Therefore, he who doesn’t want God in his life gets darkness. God is Love. Therefore, he who doesn’t want God in his life gets hate. God is a Father. Therefore, he who doesn’t want God in his life will be an orphan - alone for all eternity. God is the wellspring of joy and source of happiness. Therefore, he who doesn’t want God in his life will experience nothing but drought and depression. The person in hell isn’t there because God wants to torture him. He’s there because he doesn’t want God in his life.
“Please reconsider,” God says. “If you choose to turn your back on Me, I will give you that option. But the only way I’ll let you go is over My dead body, for you’ll have to walk over the body of My Son.”
Joseph cries. The word translated “wept” isn’t the word for sobbing. It’s the word for quiet weeping. Tears just rolled down his cheeks. His brothers didn’t get it. They thought he was holding a grudge against them. They thought he was simply waiting for the right time to pounce on them. They thought he was angry with them, bitter toward them.
So too, we often think of our Lord Jesus as keeping a record of our previous failures; that He must be getting tired of us, exhausted by us. But we are told that, like Joseph, Jesus wept . . .
“If you had only been here, our brother would not have died,” cried Martha and Mary. “We told You he was sick. We sent You word, but You didn’t come. And now he’s dead.” And Jesus wept. He knew what He would do. He knew He would bring Lazarus back to life. So it wasn’t for Lazarus He wept. It was for the unbelief of Martha and Mary (John 11).
Jesus wept a second time when He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I would gather you under My wing and nestle You close to My heart, but you wouldn’t let Me” (see Matthew 23:37).
If you think you’ve botched it so many times that the Lord must be just about ready to throw in the towel with you, you don’t understand the heart of our Lord. It was for the man most in need, upon the man who couldn’t handle things all that well, toward the man with the paralyzed hand that Jesus had compassion (Mark 3:1–5). So too, if you are struggling and are barely able to hold things together, you are the very one for whom Jesus has the most compassion. The person who’s not reaching out, not doing well, unable to handle life is the one for whom Jesus has special affection and on whom He has a laser-like focus.
Each of us is struggling with one thing or another. Thus, Jesus would say to all of us, “No matter how withered it might be, stretch out your hand. Grab hold of Me. Receive from Me that which I long to give you.”
No matter what pit you’ve dug, or what brother you’ve sold, our greater than Joseph has washed away your sin with His own blood.
Thus ends the book of Genesis. The book that began with creation ends with a coffin. The book that began in glory ends in a grave. The book that began with the living God ends with a dead man. The book that began with the brightness of Heaven ends with bones in Egypt.
Why?
It’s the Holy Spirit’s commentary on the condition of man, the repercussions of sin, and the need for a Savior.
Joseph is the most Christlike man in the Bible, and yet we see him in a coffin. Although Satan said otherwise, God had said, “In the day you eat of the forbidden fruit, thou shalt surely die” (see Genesis 2:17). Joseph was a very good man, but the fact is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23; 6:23).
Is there any way out? Is there any hope? Is there any plan?
Yes! We’ll see God’s redemptive plan unfold in Exodus. We’ll not stay in a coffin in Egypt indefinitely, gang. We’re going to Heaven. We’re on our way home!
The book of Exodus is the book of redemption, wherein we see that God’s heart is for us and that He has a plan to set us free. Exodus is a picture book of God’s redemptive character, of His desire to set at liberty those who were enslaved by sin and stuck in a coffin in Egypt.
Between Genesis 50 and Exodus 1 is a time gap of approximately four hundred years, a time gap during which something quite amazing happened. You see, the seventy souls who originally entered the land of Egypt in Genesis 50 numbered approximately three million in Exodus 1. Worried that they would one day be outnumbered, the Egyptians tried to slow down the population growth of God’s people. But, as always, God had a plan even in this.
God allows His people to be afflicted because He knows the same thing my high school football coach knew. Coach Dominguez told us that the only way to increase our strength was to break down our muscles. And he was right. The foundational premise of weight training is that hard exercise allows a muscle to break down, eventually repairing itself stronger than it was before.
The same thing holds true spiritually. Because faith is a muscle that needs to be worked, if I am to grow in depth, in strength, or in maturity, there’s no other way than to go through testing, trial, and affliction. Therefore, when I feel like I’m breaking down, falling apart, or caving in, if I listen, I’ll hear the voice of the ultimate coach, Jesus, saying, “Trust Me. I know what I’m doing. These hard times are necessary to build your strength, to give you victory.”
Midwives were midwives because they were barren. But God blessed these midwives and gave them children of their own.
“Wait a minute,” you protest. “Hadn’t these women lied?”
Yes, but God blessed them anyway. It isn’t that God approves of lying. Rather than focusing on the fault of these women, however, He sees that they feared Him, that they disobeyed Pharaoh and risked their own lives to do what was right in His sight.
God the Father has a way, not only with Egyptian midwives, but with you and me, of finding what is good and celebrating that. Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t focus on our failings and shortcomings, but rather has a way of looking at us and approving the things which are excellent, just as Paul tells us we all should do (Philippians 1:10)? This doesn’t mean God doesn’t convict us of sin and call us to repent and change direction. But it does mean that our God is exceedingly kind. We might judge these women for lying. God, however, declares, “They did something good in My sight and I’m going to honor them.”
Jochebed, Moses’ mother, was a woman of vision, for she saw that her son was “a goodly child.” Not only was she a woman of vision, but she was a woman of the Word, for what else would explain her decision to place her son in the very river in which all other male babies his age were being drowned? My tendency would be to stay as far from the river as possible. But not Jochebed. Why? I suggest it was because she knew the story of another “goodly” man who was saved in a time of destruction and judgment. I suggest it was because she knew the story of Noah. You see, the Hebrew word translated “ark” in verse 3 is used only one other place in all of Scripture: in reference to Noah. Thus, I believe it was not mere coincidence that prodded Jochebed to fashion an ark and to line it with pitch, just as Noah had done (Genesis 6:14).
How I encourage you who are parents to follow the pattern of Jochebed. Ask God to give you a vision for your child. Even if others think he is ordinary or not all that special, in God’s sight that child of yours has a wonderful, huge, important, and unique calling. Ask God to show a portion of it to you. Second, immerse yourself in the Word. Believe in it, act on it in faith, and don’t be surprised if, in so doing, like Jochebed, you raise a hero of the faith.
God blessed Noah, for in building an altar, Noah had blessed God. So too, if you choose to bless the Lord by sacrificing to Him, like Noah, you will be blessed, for God will be a debtor to no man. You will always get back more than you give.
Noah, here, is essentially told to start over. Even as God had initially told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, Noah and his sons and their wives are hearing the same command. This time, however, earth is not paradise, but neither is it perdition. Due to man’s perpetual propensity toward sin, our planet is not what it was in Adam’s day, but neither is it as bad as it could have been.
I say this to remind you that although you may not think your life is going great, it’s going a whole lot better than you deserve. We deserve to be frying in hell. God is so good to us. Anything we have, everything we enjoy is due to His mercy and kindness. We’re headed for Heaven, where all things are right and perfect. Yet even in the meantime, we have so much today for which to be thankful.