Genesis 32-34; Luke 10

I spent a lot of years stuck in patterns, rhythms, relationships. When I was finally unstuck, I wondered why I hadn’t chosen freedom sooner. In these verses, I see freedom.

Esau had plenty of reason to be angry. I wouldn’t have blamed him at all. In fact, I’ve often wondered about Esau and how he must have wrestled with his past/family. Jacob knew he wronged his brother. He had good reason to be afraid of seeing him. Jacob sends offerings ahead of himself, a peace offering of sorts.

⁸ Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹ Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.

Genesis 33:8-11, ESV, emphasis added

Esau’s statement, “I have enough, my brother …” this is freedom.

When Jesus sends out the 72, he’s not about making them stay until they’ve convinced everyone. He gives them permission to move on, and not be stuck somewhere. Even their peace will return back to them if they are not received. They don’t have to feel like they’ve failed. They have peace.

⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’

Luke 10:5-11, ESV

It’s interesting to me that a lawyer would ask Jesus these questions. That someone who so deeply valued rules, parameters, and justice would want to know the exact terms to live by. He was stuck in the details.

²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” … ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Luke 10:29, 36-37, ESV, emphasis added

Having been one who has hosted gatherings, I know how easy it is to get stuck in the task and the details that sometimes I miss the point–I miss out on the joy of gathering and spending time together because of distraction (and frustration).

⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, ⁴² but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:40-42, ESV

Thank you, God, for freedom and peace. Thank you for cutting through resentments, performance, and the details we’ve puffed up that somehow make us ineffective, to show us how to live free, to love, to have peace, to be unstuck. Thank you for mercy. Life is so much fuller living unstuck.

Courtney (66books365)

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2 Samuel 10; 2 Corinthians 3; Ezekiel 17; Psalm 60,61

How often do I survey the happenings around me and miss God’s handiwork?

And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.

Ezekiel 17:24 – ESV

Currently, I’m reading the book Bruchko with my kids and chapter 19 highlighted how as the Motilone people embraced Jesus, they cried out to Him with real faith that He would respond miraculously. And, when He did, the miracles did not surprise them, because they expected them.

I find myself often praying with little expectation. Worse than that, when something does “work out” the way I had prayed for, I give mental credit to medicine, hard work, time, people, or coincidence. This chapter in Bruchko, piled on top of all these passages from Scripture are convicting me of my high view of people and my minimizing view of God.

But with Jesus, there can be real change. Not just spiritual change. Not just change by and by. Real change, now, with visible power. He is the source of all change. He is the God of everyday miracles.

Bruchko by Bruce Olson p. 162.

The everyday miracles, the huge, life-changing miracles. All of them, return to Him. He earns our praise all day long with His work in our lives and those around us. I need to remember to return my thanks to Him and acknowledge all that He is doing on a daily basis.

Even in 2 Samuel we see how God orchestrated events to bless Israel, to shape military alliances, and to punish nations that rejected Him.

And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore.

2 Samuel 10:19 ESV

God’s plans prevail in the military exploits of ancient kingdoms and in my daily life as a housewife in modern day America.

• Did I wake up this morning – alive and breathing?
• Do I have friends and family?
• Do I have food – physical and spiritual?
• Did I experience comfort today?
• Have the friends on my prayer list been protected through the ordeal they face?
• Has another friend made it safely home from a recent hospital stay?
• Did I have healing words of encouragement for a desperate text that came my way last week?

Yes, yes, and yes again.

God has been there. Working, responding, often providing before I even knew to ask. It has been all Him. I can take no credit, and have no right to rationalize His supernatural involvement in this world by diminishing the results with “logical” explanations.

⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God . . . Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, . . . And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:4-5, 12, 18 ESV

The result of properly attributing God’s power and presence is increased boldness, hope, and transformation. He hears our prayers and walks closely to those that hope in Him.

Hear my cry, O God,
    listen to my prayer;
² from the end of the earth I call to you
    when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
    that is higher than I,
³ for you have been my refuge,
    a strong tower against the enemy.

Psalm 61:1-3 ESV

Genesis 47; Luke 1:1-38; Job 13; 1 Corinthians 1

One of the first things which Paul addresses in his letters to the Corinthians is the need for humility, he said,

“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to mothering things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1st Corinthians 1: 28-29, ESV).

Paul is instructing the Corinthians to remain humble, because they were chosen from groups that were considered shameful to people who considered themselves strong and wise. I need to remember to remain humble, because without God I would still be stuck within the depths of my sin. Paul continues by saying

“So that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1st Corinthians 1: 31, ESV).

I need to remember that nothing on earth is worthy of boasting about compared to God’s mercy towards me. It is good for me to stay humble at all times and remember what God has done for me. Paul also emphasizes the importance of following God rather than man, he says

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart’” (1st Corinthians 1: 18-19, ESV).

It is good for me to practice humility in the face of what God has done for me, because worldly pride is put to shame by God and his glory. Paul says,

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1st Corinthians 1: 25, ESV).

Dear God, thank you for all that you have done for me. Please help me to have a grateful heart, and please help me to keep my mind and heart on you, and not on the world. In Jesus’s holy name I pray, Amen.

Asher (AsherB)

Genesis 40; Mark 10; Job 6; Romans 10

While Jesus was journeying with his disciples, he was approached by a rich young man claimed to have followed all of God’s commandments and wanting to know the way to eternal life. Jesus told him,

 “’You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ Disheartened by the saying, he [the young man] went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10: 21, ESV).

In the end, it was not the young man’s lust or deceit that prevented him from following Jesus, it was his desire for riches and comfort. Jesus called the young man, and calls me, to sacrifice worldly possessions in pursuit of his service. Jesus wants me to be grateful for what I have and generous with what I have been given. He says,

“’It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God’… ‘Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions , and in the age to come eternal life.’” (Mark 10: 25, 29-30, ESV).

Jesus says that those who retain great riches will have a very hard time getting to heaven but promises that those who do give generously will receive back all that they gave and more in heaven. He wants me to have an attitude of servitude and generosity with my time and possessions.

Dear God, thank you for your holy Word, it helps me to understand your will for my life. Please help me to live my life in servitude to you, and please help me to be generous with what you have given me. In Jesus’s holy name I pray, Amen

Asher (AsherB)

Genesis 11; Matthew 10; Ezra 10; Acts 10

It is easy for me to forget to spread the good news of the gospel, and it is even easier to delay that action because I am scared of what other people might think of me. In Matthew 10: 26-28 Jesus tells his disciples to

“have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10: 26-28 ESV).

Jesus is telling his disciples to not fear the men who might threaten and hurt them when they spread Jesus’s teachings. It is easy for me to worry too much about what other people think and do. Instead, I need to focus on my own walk with God and not worry about someone else’s opinion of me. Jesus further comforts his disciples by reminding them of how much God cares about them. He says

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10: 29-31).

This is a good reminder for when I am feeling down about aspects of my life. It reminds me that God cares about me even when I might not see how. I don’t doubt that it was a great encouragement for the disciples as well!

 

Dear God, please help me to follow You, and please help me to listen when You tell me to spread Your Word, without caring what other people might think of me. I know that Your approval is more important than the approval of anyone else in the whole world. Please help me to remember that. In Jesus’ Holy name, I pray, Amen.

Asher (AsherB)