Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 22

Jan22

Day 22. Reading in Genesis 30 – 31. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. What stood out to you in today’s reading?

 

Genesis 30.

.What a household Jacob has established. I thought his boyhood home had been rocked with deception and intrigue, but now he’s living in the middle of jealousy, strife, and backroom deals for his affection and expertise in animal husbandry.  Does anyone love Jacob for his own sake?

After a hard day’s work, imagine being confronted by your wife’s words, “Give me children, or I shall die!” Jacob’s reply was harsh. “Gee, Rachel, am I God?  HE made you barren. It’s not like I haven’t tried!”  So Rachel resorted to that “surrogate mother custom” and sent Jacob to bed with her maid. Jacob performs, and Bilhah conceives a son. Rachel has a lot of catching up to do, so she gives Jacob to Bilhah again, and another son is born.  

First wife, Leah, feels neglected now, so she ups the ante and gives HER maid to Jacob twice, and she chalks up two more sons.  Her oldest son, Reuben, finds some “mandrakes” in the field and brings them to his mother. Now, even Jacob’s children conspire to help their mothers get him. (Mandrakes are not male ducks but fruit from a plant that was superstitiously viewed as an aphrodisiac or maybe even a fertility narcotic.)

I can imagine Leah waving the small orange fruit in front of Rachel. “Hey, sis.  Look what I have. Too bad YOU can’t give him children.”  Rachel probably seethes. Then she trades Jacob that night for the mandrakes.  So, when Jacob arrives home, the lottery has already been selected, and he goes to Room A.  And wow!! Leah has two more sons and a daughter (seven kids in all). 

Then the ever-wise God (not the mandrakes) opened Rachel’s womb and she had a son (a VERY favored son) named Joseph. To Jacob, who considered Rachel his first wife, Joseph was his “first-born son, the birthright baby.” (We’ll see how that plays out later.)

You would think Rachel would finally be content, but the first words out of her mouth after naming Joseph were, “May the LORD add to me another son!“

Jacob is now tired of working for Laban and making him a rich man.  He wants to build his own household. He now has 12 kids, and he’s looking towards “going home.” But Laban sees how Jacob truly prospered him like NONE of his own children have done, and doesn’t want to let him go.  A bargain is struck for Jacob to work a little while longer (6 years!!) and build his own flock.

Here’s how it will go.  Jacob will take all the speckled, spotted, and black sheep and goats, and Laban will keep the white ones.  That way, everyone will see which ones are his when the flocks come together to graze.  

Laban agrees but immediately (and secretly) sends his sons to take all the spotted and black animals out and hide them in a pasture 3-days journey away.  WILL THE DECEPTION NEVER END? 

But God sees, and he prospers Jacob. Suddenly, nearly all the new lambs and kids are speckled, spotted, or black. (Ok, there is the business with the rams seeing stripped bark on branches, but GOD orchestrates the new life in the flocks.)  And Jacob increased enormously, not only in flocks, but in servants, camels, and donkeys as he sells the fleece and meat. 

Genesis 30.

Time to go. (God tells him.)

Jacob calls his wives out to the field so they can talk privately.  Get your stuff together, we are leaving.  Your father has cheated me long enough, and God is calling me to return to my land.  The wives agree and pack up all their clothes, the baby and children’s things, some food, cooking utensils, etc., etc.  Rachel also slips in her father’s household idols. (Oh, dear!)

And so, while Laban is away shearing his white sheep with his sons, Jacob tricks him one last time. He sneaks away with his wives, servants, and animals, getting a 3-day head start.  Laban learns of it and is furious, so he gathers all his kinsmen to pursue Jacob. It takes him a week to catch up. By then, Jacob is in the hill country of Gilead. They can look over the Jordan River valley to the promised land, his home.  

Before Laban can do anything foolish, God comes to him in a dream. “Be careful NOT to say anything to Jacob, whether good or bad.” God forbids him to use anything to either woo or force him to go back, effectually tying Laban’s hands. 

Laban: “What have you done that you have TRICKED ME and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword?  Why did you flee secretly and TRICK ME, and did not tell me, so that I might have … sent you away with mirth and songs?  And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? You have done foolishly!  It is in my power to harm you…..  But… the God of your father spoke to me last night telling me to ‘be careful.'”  

You can see Laban gather himself and step back from his threatening position.

“You have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house.  But…… why did you steal my gods?”

Huh? Jacob doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “Hey, search everywhere. Anyone with whom you find your gods shall NOT LIVE.”  (OH, JACOB!!)

Laban searches everywhere, even in his daughters’ tents.  Rachel hides the idols under the camel’s saddle and sits on top. “Don’t be angry, Dad. But I’m having my period, and I can’t get up.”  Embarrassed, Laban doesn’t insist.

Jacob and Laban stay up all night, hashing out their differences and grievances. They come to an uneasy truce (Laban probably felt God’s hand pressing on his shoulder.)  At dawn, they build a pillar of stones and “shake hands.”  And probably repeat the deadly vow (not blessing) together.

“The LORD watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight.”  “God is a witness between you and me.”  “I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me to do harm.”  “The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us.”

A  sacrifice sealed the pact.

Early the next day Laban and his men departed after kissing his daughters and grandchildren goodbye. 

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(And yes, Someone does love Jacob for his own sake. In the next chapter, the angels of God meet him. Later that night he will wrestle with One of them and be renamed “Champion of God.” There will be more deceit in his life, but for now, he’s back where God wants him.)

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 21

Jan21

Day 21. Reading in Genesis 27 – 29. 

What stood out to you in today’s reading? (See my own confession at the end.)

 

Genesis 27.

Jacob has already tricked the (double portion) “birthright” from his brother. Today, he tricks his father into giving him the blessing as well.

The “blessing” is more of a spiritual grace. It’s like passing down the promises God gave to Abraham about dominance, descendants, land, and the Promised One to come.

When Rebekah was carrying the boys in her womb, God had prophesied that the older of the twins would serve the younger. Still, Jacob had tricked his brother into giving him the birthright. And today, he and his mother will trick Isaac into giving him the blessing.  THERE WAS NO NEED TO TRICK!  It was God’s plan.

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Isaac was also deceptive, trying to sneak around his wife by telling Esau to bring him a delicious wild-caught feast. But he was not only blind, he must have been hard of hearing too. His whispered request to Esau was louder than he realized. Rebekah heard his plans and made some of her own, convincing her favorite son it was necessary to deceive his father. They got to work killing, skinning, cooking, and sewing. 

I can understand their deceiving Isaac with the food (older folks lose some of their sense of taste. Add some more wild herbs, and you’re good.) The same goes for smelling the scent of the outdoors on clothes, but his sense of touch?  Surely, the thick hairs on Esau’s arms and neck were softer than a kid goat’s would be!!!

Nevertheless, even with Isaac’s doubt and questions, his growling stomach won.  The mother-son duo did the deed. Later, satisfied and perhaps feeling sleepy, Isaac gave the paternal blessing to Jacob, his second son, the deceiving grabber. 

Almost like a melodrama, Esau arrives and cooks up a rabbit or deer in his own tent.  “Here, Dad, is the hearty, meaty, chunky herby stew you wanted.

Huh?  Who are you?

Esau, your son, with your food.

I already ate it!

What???  GRRRRrrrr. THAT CHEATING BROTHER OF MINE STOLE MY BLESSING!

“Yes,” said Isaac softly. “And he shall be blessed.” Did Dad, at that moment, realize the truth he spoke. That God HAD CHOSEN Jacob to carry the family blessing?  In pity, he gave Esau a watered-down blessing of leanness, violence, servitude, and eventual freedom. 

Fists clenched and gritting his teeth, Esau vowed to kill Jacob as soon as his father died.

Again, Rebekah overheard this vow, and fearing for Jacob’s life, she contrived to send him away to “get a wife from my family.”  Defeated and tricked again, blind and hard of hearing, Isaac agreed.  (Perhaps he soothed himself remembering the beautiful young wife he had gotten from there years before.)

Jacob is sent away. Rebekah never again sees her favorite son but has to deal with Esau and his horrible wives for the rest of her life. She dies before Jacob returns.

Genesis 28.

God is gracious to Jacob, meeting him along the way, giving him a vision of a ladder to heaven, and personally giving Jacob the Abrahamic covenant.

“I am the LORD, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, east, north, and south, and IN YOU and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And I am with you and will keep you and bring you back to this land.”

Despite all the unnecessary deception and conniving, God blessed Jacob….as He had prophesied.

Jacob doesn’t quite get the magnitude of this.  “Okay,” he says. “IF God will be with me, and keep me, and give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and bring me back here… THEN the LORD shall be my God.” And as a sort of “PS” he says, “And of all that you give me, I will give You a full tenth.”

Genesis 29.

Oh boy, does Jacob get a taste of the deception he’s played on Esau and their father! Yes, he arrives at his family’s land. Yes, he meets the gorgeous Rachel at the well (like Rebekah, his mother), and yes, he falls madly in love with her at first sight.  Yes, her even wilier brother, Laban, agrees that he can marry the her IF he’ll work for him for …. oh, say, seven years.

All’s good. Right? After all, he doesn’t have camel-loads of a dowery.

But the deceiver is deceived. (How does it feel?) He works hard and doesn’t mind. He’s in love. His wedding night comes, but instead of Rachel, her older sister is substituted.  (In the dark – like Isaac had been – Leah probably felt and smelled the same as Rachel. He enjoyed her like he dreamed.)  Then the dawn comes – like it did with Isaac when Esau came with his stew. This was NOT who Jacob thought!!!

He’s furious but stuck. (Like Isaac was with giving the blessing to another son.)  He fulfills a week of nuptial duty with Leah and then gets Rachel.  But…. he has to work ANOTHER SEVEN YEARS.

(Oh, but it’s not over yet, Jacob, my boy!)

Jacob doesn’t know it now (and perhaps never), but God has chosen Leah for the line of the Promised One to come.  Her fourth son, Judah, is the son of promise, through whom the Lion of Judah will come. 

  • How I see myself in these chapters. After all, my name is the female version of Jacob, the grabber, the deceiver. I’ve connived to get what I wanted by despicable means. I’ve hurt others in the process. I’ve thought that “I” needed to get what I wanted SOONER that it came. I’ve gone ahead of God’s will and way.  AND YET, STILL, God has blessed me, taken care of me, and given me what He promised.  
  • I hope that, UNLIKE Jacob, I’ve learned my lesson and can pray Proverbs 3:5-7. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do NOT lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. Be not wise in your own eyes; but fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.”
  • And Psalm 37:4-7. “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for Him.”

 

 

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 19 & 20 — PART TWO

Jan20

Days 19 & 20. Reading in Genesis 25-26. (Posted on Monday)

I accidentally posted Day 19 yesterday, so today will be part TWO of my usually combined weekend posts, Day 20.

 

Genesis 25.

After his wife Sarah died, Abraham took another wife named Keturah. She had six sons. But regardless of these boys and Ishmael, Abraham made it quite clear that it was Isaac, whom Sarah bore, who was the son of his inheritance, receiving not only his own things but all the promises of God for blessing, descendants, land, and ultimately the One who would bless all peoples, the Messiah.

Abraham died at age 175. (This is actually 15 years after Isaac and Rebekah had their twin boys, Esau and Jacob. So they were able to know and learn from their grandfather.)  Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham in the cave of Machpelah with his wife, Sarah. Ishmael returned to Arabia, and God blessed Isaac, who settled further south to the well of Beer-lahairoi (where God first met the runaway, Hagar).

Backtracking a little, the story of Isaac and Rebekah continues. Like Sarah, Rebekah was barren. Isaac prayed for her, and 20 years later the LORD granted his prayer. She conceived twins, and even pre-birth they seemed to be warring inside her.  SHE prayed to the LORD about it and He told her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

Eventually, she gave birth. The firstborn was red and hairy, and they named him Esau (meaning red). Second to be born was a boy with his hand clinging to the heel of Esau. They named him Jacob, meaning “grabber.”  (He’s going to grab more than just Esau’s heel!)

Esau was a skillful hunter, a man’s man, and his father Isaac loved him best, especially for the wild venison he brought the old man (now in his 70s) to eat.  Jacob was a quiet guy. He liked home and hearth, and probably looking after the farm animals. He learned to cook quite well.  In fact, his lentil stew was so good he could tempt his twin brother into selling him the birthright with it. 

Esau came in one day, “starving,” saw/smelled the stew Jacob was stirring, and craved it.  Wiley Jacob traded that yummy bowl and a slab of fresh-baked bread for the double portion of their father’s inheritance. WHOA!

  • NOTE: The first-born son always got a double portion. When Isaac died, his possessions would be divided into three parts. The oldest boy would get two parts, the younger, only one. Jacob’s bargain changed that.

Genesis 26

Okay, now comes the dumbest thing Isaac ever does.  He had moved his family back to Gerar in Philistine territory, and he – yes, Isaac, not Abraham – told everyone that beautiful Rebekah was his….SISTER!!  WHAT?  She was not even his HALF sister (second cousins at most). This was a flat-out lie.  Why did he do it?  Same as his father. He feared that other men would want her and KILL HIM to get her.  What a bunch of wimps these Hebrew men were!  Ever heard of fighting for your woman?

One day, Abimelech looked out his window and saw Isaac and Rebekah frolicking. (The Hebrew may suggest an intimate relation.)  He called in Isaac, infuriated.  “She is your WIFE!  How could you say she was your sister? What have you done to us? One of us might have slept with her, and YOU would have brought guilt on us all!!“

Abimelech (maybe the same man who had taken Sarah when Abraham was there) proclaimed to all in his kingdom that “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death!”  I’m thinking that Abimelech is a more honorable man than Isaac (or Abe). 

After that, Isaac and the king’s men had more trouble digging wells and falsely claiming them (like with Abraham)  Finally, the king told him to “Go away from us.” 

So Isaac and his family moved up to Beersheba. And there, the LORD appeared to him, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”  

Was this the first time God had appeared to him and gave him the Abrahamic blessing?  Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the LORD.

  • God is so good to His children. Even when we blow it and sin, He is gracious to come to us with fresh blessings. Great is His faithfulness!

And then – wonder of wonders – Abimelech came to Isaac, saying, “We’ve seen how God is blessing you. Let’s get along. (And maybe some of that blessing will fall off on us too).  Let’s live together in harmony.”  So they had a big feast… and they all got along happily ever after.

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When Esau was forty years old (Isaac’s age at marriage), he took two Hittite women to be his wives.  TWO?  “And they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.”

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 19 & 20

Jan19

Days 19 & 20. Reading in Genesis 22-24 and 25-26. (Posted on Monday)

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. Then, share your thoughts in the comments.

 

Genesis 21 (last 14 verses).

After a little battle with King Abimelech about ownership of some wells, he and Abraham come to an understanding, and a deal is made at Beersheba. Abraham planted a tree there as a land marker and worshipped the Lord (as the “Everlasting God.” Then, he and his family (Sarah, Isaac, and all) lived there for a while in the land of the Philistines.

Genesis 22.

Sometime later, God tested Abraham. It was his stiffest test of obedience yet. It was much more difficult than leaving his family, traveling hundreds of miles to a strange land, and then believing God would make of him, an old man with no children, the father of peoples numbering as many as the stars. 

This test was about his most precious possession, Isaac, his son by Sarah, born when he was one hundred years old. God told Abraham to “offer” Isaac as a burnt offering.  Say what????

Early the following morning (with no hesitation), Abraham began to obey.  He took everything necessary, and then he, Isaac, a couple of men, and a donkey carrying supplies traveled for three days towards the mountains. When they got to the place where God showed Abraham (Mt. Moriah), he took the knife and the fire and told Isaac to carry the wood.

(Isaac was a young man, not a little boy, capable of carrying enough wood for a burnt offering. He was maybe about 30 years old.)  The others stayed behind at the camp.

Isaac wasn’t a dummy. He saw all the supplies but not the animal. “Dad, where’s the lamb?”

“Don’t worry, son. God will supply for Himself a lamb.”  (Hebrews 11:17-19 explains Abraham’s great faith. God had said that it was through Isaac that He would make Abraham a great nation. So, “he considered that God was able even to raise him (Isaac) from the dead” if Abraham killed him. Wow.

Abraham built the stone altar, laid out the wood, then tied up Isaac and put him on top of the wood. (Note that Isaac – who could have easily overpowered his elderly father – willingly became the sacrifice.) Abraham raised the knife to slit HIS ONLY SON’S throat.  

“Abraham, Abraham!”

“Here am I.”

“Do not lay your hand on your son, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, YOUR ONLY SON, from Me.”

And, whoa!  Behind Abraham, there appeared a ram caught in the bushes.  Abraham untied Isaac, the young man climbed down, and the ram was sacrificed. 

“On the mount of the LORD, it shall be provided,” Abraham called that place.  And many years later, on that same mountain, the ONLY SON OF GOD, was sacrificed for our salvation. Like Isaac, He went willingly, carrying the “wood” of his own sacrifice.  And yes, God raised Him from the dead as well.

  • I am SO glad that God so loved this world that He gave His ONLY SON, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  THANK YOU, God! Thank You, Jesus!

The group then returned to Beersheba. (It’s a good thing SARAH didn’t know what was happening!!)

Genesis 23.

Several years later, Sarah died. She was 127.  They were living back at Hebron then, and Abraham purchased a field with a cave in it from his friend, Ephron, as a tomb for her (and later, for himself, Isaac and his wife, and Jacob and his wife, Leah).  It was an act of faith. It was Abraham staking a claim on the land God promised to his descendants. 

Genesis 24.

Okay, Isaac is about 40 now; his mom didn’t get to see him married or any of her grandchildren.  Abraham thought it was time to get him a wife.  NOT A CANAANITE woman, that’s for sure. So he sent his trusted servant back to Haran, to his brother’s household, to get a wife for Isaac. 

The godly servant (Eleazar?) went and after praying for a miracle, found Rebekah, the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother. Her brother, Laban, seeing the considerable dowry on the ten camels the servant brought, said she could go.  Rebekah also agreed to go with the servant, and the next day, she and her “nurse” (personal servant) left.  (Wow, she must have been really tired of being a water girl for the household and thought this would be quite an adventure.) 

After 25-30 days on a camel, at sunset, they finally arrived way south of Beersheba, where Isaac lived.  He, having finished with the duties of the day, was out in a field, contemplating the beautiful sunset.  Rebekah saw him, dismounted, pulled down her veil, and went to him.  It was love at first sight, and she became his wife. (And Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.)

  • Father, thank you for these examples of faith and patience in trusting You “over the long haul.”  “Increase my faith,” as Your disciples prayed. 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 18

Jan18

Day 18. Reading in Genesis 19 – 21. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. Then, share your thoughts in the comments.

 

Genesis 19.

I wonder if Abraham kept praying for his nephew Lot after plea-bargaining with God for Sodom and then going home.

When the two angels with the Lord at Abraham’s tent went down to Sodom, they found Lot sitting at the gate.  He’d gone from camping “near” Sodom to living “in” the city to now being an important man sitting as a judge “of” the city. 

Lot immediately knew the problem these two handsome angels would face in his wicked, immoral city. He begged them to stay at his house instead of in the town square. (He had to press them hard before they finally agreed.)

After dinner, a loud banging was heard at Lot’s door. The homosexual men of the town “wanted” the two men (angels) who were inside.  They were about to break the door down when Lot went out and offered them his two virgin daughters instead.  In their wicked lust, they refused and began forcing the door. One of the angels blinded the men and pulled Lot inside. BUT STILL, these blind homosexual men struggled to break the door down.

The angels urged Lot, his wife, and two daughters to evacuate the city, saying, “We are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and He’s sent us to destroy it.”

At dawn, the family still refused to go, so the angels grabbed the four of them and brought them outside the city. “Escape for your life! Do not look back or stop anywhere in this valley. Escape to the hills unless you are swept away!!”

Lot dared to argue with them, saying he couldn’t reach the hills (too citified or too out of shape?) and begged to go to the next little town. The angels agreed to spare that city, but Lot had to get there quickly.  They ran (waddled?) toward Zoar, but Lot’s wife turned longingly for one last look at her beloved city.  

At that moment, the LORD rained down sulfur and fire from heaven and overthrew the inhabitants of the cities, all the valley, and all that grew on the ground.  And Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt.

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Abraham awoke to a towering plume of black smoke (as from a furnace) billowing up from the valley. 

Whether Abraham ever saw Lot again, we don’t know. His nephew’s life spiraled down him from there. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. He became a drunkard. His daughters became pregnant through incest with him. Their descendants became the Moabites and Ammonites.  All because of his choice to go to the rich, green, luscious Sodom.

  • Oh, Father, keep me attuned to Your will. Keep me from horrible choices in my life. Thank you for the ones in my past that you’ve forgiven. Help me to remember this story.

Genesis 20.

And lest we think Abraham is immune to temptation, we see him and Sarah journeying southward again. He stops in Gerar, the territory of King Abimelech, a Philistine.

“She’s my sister,” Abraham casually says, even though Sarah might already be carrying the embryo of Isaac in her womb!! 

Abimelech took Sarah as Abraham expected. BUT GOD came to him in a dream. “YOU ARE A DEAD MAN if you touch her. She is another man’s wife!”  God kept him from sinning and the king immediately gave Sarah back to Abraham.

“What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you did this to us?” the king demanded of Abraham.

“I-I did it because I thought you would kill me because of my wife since there is no fear of God here,” Abraham weaseled. “BESIDES, she IS my sister, well, my half-sister.”

Abimelech gives Abraham a lot of stuff, then says to Sarah, “I’ve given your brother a thousand pieces of silver as a sign of YOUR innocence in the eyes of all with you. Before everyone, YOU are vindicated.”

A good thing!  Some might have thought later that Abimelech was the father of Sarah’s baby.  OH, ABRAHAM, HOW YOU MIGHT HAVE MESSED THINGS UP!!!  Praise God for looking out for His stupid children!

  • Yes, yes. I have done some pretty foolish, thoughtless things, too. Thank You, thank You, Father, for protecting me!  You are so good! And I am so undeserving.

Genesis 21.

At last! At last! “Laughter” is born!! 

On the baby’s eighth day, Abraham officially named him Isaac and circumcised him.  And Sarah said (perhaps even sang), “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age.”  Abraham was 100 years old. 

Several years later, at Isaac’s “official” weaning (3 years), Sarah catches Hagar’s son Ishmael LAUGHING at her son. (Ridiculing him)

“Get rid of this slave woman and her son. He will NOT be heir with my son, Isaac,” she demanded of her husband.

Abraham was grieved because he loved Ishmael, too. But God backed Sarah.  And, giving Hagar and the 17-year-old Ishmael food and water, he sent them away.  (What a shock to the former prince, Ishmael.)

God met with Hagar again when they ran out of water. He showed her another well and promised to bless her son into a great nation. Ishmael grew up to be an expert with the bow and arrow. They lived in the wilderness of Paran (Arabia today), and his mom got a wife for him from Egypt. 

(Seventy years later, when Abraham died, Ishmael returned briefly, and the two half-brothers buried their father in a cave near Hebron.  Genesis 25:8-9)

  • And so, from Adam and Eve, through Noah and Shem, and now through Abraham and Isaac, God clears the way and establishes the “seed line” for the promised One who will defeat death and the devil forever.

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 17

Jan17

Day 17. Reading in Genesis 16 – 18. 

I invite you to first read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. Then, share your thoughts in the comments.

Genesis 16.

Ten years in the “promised” land, and Abram still had no offspring. Not ONE of the millions God had promised him had been born. Did he begin to doubt God’s word to him?

The Bible doesn’t say. But his wife, Sarai must have thought so. She tried to hurry things along by offering Abram a way to have that child. It wasn’t God’s way, but it was part of the culture of that day. She gave him Hagar – a slave whom she’d brought back from Egypt in that fiasco – as a surrogate for her. Any child born from Hagar would be theirs according to custom.

It worked. Hagar became pregnant. Hagar also became arrogant, looking down on her elderly mistress. “Ha! You old withered thing, I’m the one who will give the master a child.” 

Sarai complained to Abram, who told her to do what she wanted with her own slave. Hagar is sent away (probably intending that she would die).  A child by Hagar was a mistake, Sarai knew now, but you can’t “get rid of” a conceived baby that easy.

Next is the really unusual part. The two old but faithful servants of God are disobedient and harsh. At this point, Abram doesn’t care about the child he is to have with Hagar, and Sarai definitely hates her. Hagar has been arrogant and mean. (All of them have sinned.) But God intervenes in this mess. He meets Hagar, promises that her son will be fruitful (and a wild-ass of a man who will always be at war with his siblings), and sends her back to Sarai (we assume humble and obedient). Her heart has been changed because she knows God has truly “seen” her. 

Hagar then gives birth to Ishmael, the child of Abram’s fallen flesh, beloved but a thorn in his family’s side forever.

  • I’ve always hated reading this chapter in Genesis. How would I feel giving my husband to a pretty young thing because I was inadequate? (He goes quite willingly too!) And then, seeing that my plan worked, being angry about it, and wanting the results of my sin to disappear! And, on top of it all, having to see my husband love the child more every day. 
  • Yes, I wish this incident had not happened in the Bible. (And so did Sarai, I think.)  But there are lessons to be learned. Don’t run ahead of God, assuming YOU know what is best. Trust Him ALWAYS. Wait for the Lord, and HE will bring it to pass. Don’t try to hide your sin, but repent and confess it.

Genesis 17.

It’s about 13 years later, and Abram FINALLY hears from God again. “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless, that I may make a covenant with you and multiply you.”

And Abram fell on his face.  (In fear, relief, joy, worship?)

God renews His promise of fruitfulness, saying Abram will be the “Father of a multitude of NATIONS.” (That’s what the name ‘Abraham’ means.) He will be VERY fruitful. Kings will come from him. The land will belong to his offspring as an EVERLASTING POSSESSION.

Then, God describes that new covenant.  It was to be God’s covenant evident in their flesh.  Circumcision. EVERY male, 8 days and older, was always to be circumcised as an undeniable, forever sign of their belonging to God.  (Note that Abraham obeyed that very day. EVERY male (himself and Ishmael included) was circumcised.)

Before that, however, God had also said that he AND SARAH (her new name) would have a son, and nations and peoples would come from that boy.  ABRAHAM FELL ON HIS FACE AGAIN AND LAUGHED. (He was 99 then, and Sarah was 90.)

When he finished laughing, Abraham asked God that Ishmael would “walk before God” and be the promised seed. By then, the old man had come to love the young teen. (This is a problem with sinful endeavors! You love them.)

God was firm.  “NO, SARAH, YOUR WIFE will bear you a son.” (“Oh, and by the way, you’re going to call him ‘laughter'”)

I can almost hear God sigh about Abraham’s request.  “But…. I’ve heard you, and I will bless and make Ishmael fruitful. He’ll father twelve princes.  BUT!!!  I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you NEXT YEAR.”

Genesis 18.

God is so kind. Not only has He told Abraham that his wife would become a mom, He and a couple of angels appear to inform HER (among other things) that she will become pregnant at 90.

Abraham recognizes the heavenly visitors and quickly arranges a special meal for them so they will stay awhile. While they were eating, Abraham stands by as an eager butler.  Then God looks up and asks, “Where is Sarah?” (Of course, he knows very well she is just inside the tent, listening at the door.  “Do they like my biscuits? Was the veal prepared to their liking?” 

“I will surely return next year, and Sarah shall have a son,” God says, perhaps a bit louder.  This comment super tickled Sarah’s funny bone, and she laughed out loud. “Me, a woman past menopause, get pregnant?  Hahahaha.”

“Why did Sarah laugh?  Is anything too hard for the LORD? Next year, Sarah WILL have a son,” the LORD repeated.

“I didn’t laugh!” Sarah said.

“Yes, you did.” 

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Next on God’s agenda was Sodom. He’s decided to tell Abraham his plans since he was to become a great nation, and God had chosen him to keep the way of the LORD and do righteousness and justice. God tells him of his plan to destroy that wicked city.

Abraham, thinking immediately of his nephew, Lot, begins to plea-bargain.

“Suppose there are 50 righteous people in that city?”

“I won’t destroy it if there are 50 righteous people there,” God says.

“Suppose there are only 45 righteous?”

“I’ll not destroy it if there are 45.”

“Suppose only 40 are found?”

“Not if there are 40 righteous.” says our merciful God.

“30?”

“I won’t if 30 are found.”

“Um, suppose only 20 are found?”

“Not if there are 20.”

“Oh, Lord, don’t be angry. I’ll speak one last time. Suppose there are only TEN found?”

“For the sake of ten,” the LORD says, “I will not destroy the city.”

Then the Lord went His way, and Abraham returned to his tent. 

 

  • God is so forgiving and merciful. After Sarah and Abraham’s disobedience, He promised them a son of their own. And after both laughed at the idea, God remained true and, in a twist of humor Himself said they were to name the baby “Laughter.”  For Abraham’s sake, He even promised to bless the “child of their fleshly efforts,” Ishmael.   
  • Now, after Abraham’s intense “prayer” for the people of Sodom, God said he would spare the whole city if there were just TEN righteous people found in it.  (Unfortunately, there was ONLY ONE righteous person there.)

 

  • I am so grateful for God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness! I have deserved His wrath and punishment so often, and yet, for His Son’s sake, He has shown grace to me and blessed me.  He frequently even blesses my own fleshly efforts – like this blog.   
  • Like Abraham, am I willing to totally give myself to Him in whatever way He asks, even if it is painful?    And am I as concerned for my unsaved relatives as Abraham was for Lot? Have I dared to intercede for them again and again? Lord, help me.

 

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 16

Jan16

Day 16. Reading in Genesis 12 – 15. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write what was meaningful to you “in the comments.” We can encourage each other in Him.

Genesis 12.

While we’ve been studying Job, Abram and his family have been residing in Haran where Abram’s father, Terah, eventually dies. 

Now the LORD tells Abram to leave Haran and “go to the land I will show you.”  God makes a series of wonderful and fantastic promises to Abram about his descendants and a future “someone” coming from his line Who will “bless all the families of the earth.”  Abram immediately obeys.  He was seventy-five.

Abram took his wife, orphaned nephew, Lot, and all his possessions (people, animals, and stuff) and traveled to Shechem in Canaan. (We will read a lot about Shechem in days to come.)  There, God made another promise to Abram. This land would be God’s gift to his descendants, HIS FAMILY LAND.  Abram responded by building an altar and worshipping God.

From there, Abram continued south to the hill country near Bethel, where he again worshipped God, then moved ever onward toward the Negev (South).  In fact, because of famine, Abram continued south, right out of the promised land, into Egypt, where there was food.  Huh?  (This was going to be a pattern with his family.)

OUTSIDE THE PROMISED LAND, our brave world traveler Abram becomes a quivering leaf.  He’s terrified he will be killed so the Pharoah can take his beautiful Sarai as a royal wife.  “Say you are my sister,” he prompts her, “otherwise I might be killed.” (No concern for her, only for himself.)  She does, and the worst happens. Sarai finds herself among the other women in the Pharaoh’s haram. Seriously??

But God takes care of her and causes PLAGUES on Pharaoh and his household (a little foretaste of what happens when a Pharoah keeps something that belongs to God).  The Egyptian king is rightfully angry at being tricked. “Here, take your wife and go!” He boots them out of Egypt. 

  • While I deride Abram for thinking of himself above his wife, how often have I put MY OWN DESIRES and needs above my husband’s?  More than I can count, I fear. I am selfish.  Oh, Lord, help me to love sacrificially as YOU love me. Help me to trust YOU, as Sarai did.

Genesis 13.

Abram (and all his people and stuff) returned all the way into the promised land to Bethel, where he had last worshipped God before making the trek into Egypt. There, he called on the LORD and worshipped Him.

  • Lord, help me to remember this: When I go off into sin and get caught, help me to look for the place/time where I last had sweet communion with You and go there.

Now Abram had another problem. Between them, he and his nephew had too much stuff. There was not enough land for all the animals to graze. So Abram said they had to move apart. He gave Lot the choice of where he wanted to go. (It was unusual for the older to do this for the younger.) 

Young Lot looked around (and down) and decided that the “hill country” had no excitement and was lacking in “things to do” and the “niceties” of the good life.  The valley, on the other hand, looked lush, advanced, and populated (like Egypt). “Hmm, Uncle Abram, I choose down there.”  And they separated. (And as we’ll see, Lot moved his tent ever closer to the wicked city of Sodom.)

Then, the LORD came to Abram again with an additional promise. “Look in all directions, for all the land you see, I will give to you and your offspring FOREVER.  I will make your offspring as numerous as the dust of the earth.  Get up, walk the length and breadth of “YOUR” land.”

Abram did that and eventually settled by the oaks of a man named Mamre, which is Hebron today.  He built an altar and worshiped God.

  • When I am sorrowful at the loss of someone or something I love, God comes near to assure me of His love and care. And He often fills that void with something unexpected and good…if I will only look around for it (in all directions). Praise YOU, Lord!

Genesis 14.

Aha!!  Next, we read of a battle royale!  Evil against more evil, and the “good” rescues the day. Hooray!

Four strong kings, to whom the five lesser kings served tribute (one of them the king of Sodom. where Lot lived), came to pound the five for NOT paying their due.  The Four conquered all the area around the lush valley, then attacked the Five and defeated them.  They carried all the loot and people as slaves on the journey back to the Old Country.  Lot was among them!

One slave escaped, ran to Abram, and told him about his nephew. Whoa, talk about arousing an angry lion. Abram gathered all the soldiers in his own household (318 men), plus the personal armies of his three neighbors, and took off after the Four kings.  They chased them over 150 miles past Damascus and whomped on them.  Abram and company returned home with all the loot and people in a victory parade.

Bera, the King of Sodom, went out to meet Abram. (He planned to congratulate him and reward him with all the loot. 

BUT NOTICE (I love this!) that crossing Bera’s path and cutting him off was another king who made his way towards Abram. This was the King of Salem (later JeruSALEM), Melchizedek, whose name meant King of Righteousness.  He was both a king and a priest, and before Bera could get to Abram, Melchizedek (who brought bread and wine) blessed God’s man and had “communion” with him.  And Abram gave HIM a tithe of the loot as an offering.  (WHO DOES THIS MYSTERY KING remind you of?) 

Finally, King Bera reaches Abram and tells him to take all the loot as his payment for rescuing his city. Abram looks the king of Sodom right in the eye (having been fortified by the godly priest-king) and says he will not take so much as a shoelace for himself lest the king say HE made Abram rich (instead of the LORD).   He rightfully claims loot for his men and his friends’ men for their good work. 

  • Lord, keep my eyes focused on Heavenly things, and not on things I can gain from the world!

Genesis 15.

In the quiet of post-victory, the word of the LORD comes to Abram again in a vision.  “Fear not, Abram, I AM your shield; your reward shall be very great.”  Instead of getting the paltry reward that the king of Sodom offered, the King of Heaven now comes to Abram and offers HIMSELF.  I am your shield in the battles you fight. I am your ultimate reward. 

It’s interesting that after all this (the battle, victory, meeting with Melchizedek, and being promised great reward from God), Abram remembers that he is childless.  He has no one but his chief servant to leave it all to when he dies.  (True! What good is a vast amount of wealth, if when you die, it all goes to the state.)

See God’s tenderness to Abram.

“Your very own son will be your heir.  Abram, look up to the heavens. See all those stars?  Your offspring – from your very own son – will number MORE than those!”

And Abram believed God’s promise. 

God counted that belief as righteousness. 

  • I was at a wild animal park in Africa one night without electricity. None. There were no clouds, and we were amazed and awe-struck as we looked upward.  The vast clusters of stars we’d only seen in photos were REAL. There were fat ribbons of stars so close together that they blurred into a long “Milky Way” of light.  Bright constellations appeared, individual beacons too!  I will never forget it.  And THIS (perhaps more) is what Abram saw. So many stars!  And he believed that God would make his descendants like this.  WOW. Oh, for this kind of faith!

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God then confirmed His words by a one-sided covenant (promise) to Abram. As the man slept deeply, God (as a light) passed through a series of animals Abram had killed and divided in two.  This symbolized God saying HE would sooner be killed and divided like the animals THAN TO GO BACK ON HIS WORD TO ABRAM. 

God then prophesied about Abram’s descendants spending 400+ years in another land until the time was right. But He would lead them back here, to this land (described in detail), with great possessions WHEN THE TIME WAS RIGHT. 

Abram would himself die in peace at a good old age.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 15

Jan15

Day 15. Reading in Job 40 – 42. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

Job 40.

.This is a terrifying moment for Job.  He’s been calling to God to answer his questions, to come and hear his case, but now it is God asking the questions. And now, God faces Job directly with severity.

“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?  He who argues with God, let him answer.“

Can you see the fear in Job’s eyes as he begins to speak? Perhaps he cleared his throat and swallowed hard.  “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

  • Yes, our God loves us and is patient with His children. But sometimes, I just think I NEED to see Him as the Eternal, Almighty God of the Universe, who holds the whisper of my life in His hands. I need to tremble sometimes. 

Then, beginning again as He did in chapter 38, God speaks out of a whirlwind and tells Job to stand up straight and answer.  He asks Job if he thinks he’s like God, “Have you an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like God?”  I can picture Job, his hand still across his mouth, wide-eyed, shaking his head.

Job 41.

God then showcases two magnificent creatures He’s made, the Behemoth and the Leviathan.  They truly ARE wonders that probably (thankfully) don’t exist today. 

The grass-eating Behemoth, with iron-like legs and cedar-like tail, bones like bronze, must be a dinosaur of some kind, maybe a brontosaurus. (You know, the beasts with long, thin necks chomping on treetops and a massive body with a huge muscular tail.)  It could “swallow” the Jordan River with no problem, God says!!  He also states it was the foremost (biggest) of His works. 

Next, God reminds Job of Leviathan, another of His massive creatures, only this one “plays in the sea.”  With the descriptions, you really must consider it a fire-breathing, scaled sea serpent dragon. Tell me what YOU think.

No fisherman or whaler could harpoon this creature. “His back is made from rows of shields, tightly fit together.” “His “sneezings” flash forth light.”  “Out of its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils come forth smoke as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.”  WOW!

“Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.”  (Arrows, stones, and clubs are like stubble.)  God says there was none like Leviathan on earth, a creature without fear.

SO GLAD these creatures do not exist now, but God must have had fun making them!

Job 42.

Job is genuinely shaken and put in his place, and he voices his contrition. “I know that YOU can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (You are Sovereign.)  “I have uttered what I did not understand.”

  • Job says, “I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my “eyes” see You; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.“
  • God has been so patient with me when I’ve cried out (okay, demanded) answers to my questions, but as I review these scenes in Job, I tremble at my gall.  Wow.  HE IS God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.  How dared I?  I, too, repent and confess my sin.

Job had not sinned in the ways Satan or his “friends” had accused him.  But he HAD sinned in presuming on God, accusing Him of unfairness, and demanding that He come and answer him.  At this realization, Job hated himself and confessed profoundly and honestly.  He had a “broken and contrite heart,” and God will not “despise” these. 

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THEN, GOD TURNS TO Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.  (Ah-oh!)  “My anger burns against you, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

He tells them to take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer up a burnt offering (sin offering) for themselves.  “My servant Job will pray for you. I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly.  You have not spoken of Me what was right.” 

They obeyed, Job prayed, and God accepted Job’s prayer.

  • (Father, please keep me from speaking about You wrongly, here in these studies, or anytime in my life.)

Job never discovers WHY he experienced such suffering, pain, loss, and verbal abuse. He never found out what WE know from the first chapters of how Satan was “allowed” to afflict him for a purpose.  He had held steadfast in his faith in God’s character.  

Now, God restored Job’s fortunes – the ones Satan was allowed to strip from him.  The LORD gave Job twice what he had before in possessions.

All his family came to him again and fellowshipped with him. They (NOW) showed him sympathy and comforted him. And – perhaps out of guilt that they had not supported him before – each gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. (Huh!)

God gave Job twice as many sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys as before.  God blessed Job with his once complaining wife, by giving him SEVEN sons and THREE daughters.  Also, HIGHLY UNUSUAL is the fact that he NAMES his three beautiful daughters – Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch – and gives them each an inheritance along with their brothers. 

Job lived 140 more years and saw his grandchildren and great-grandchildren for four generations.  Then he died, old and full of days.  Did he EVER imagine all this in those weeks of sorrow and pain?

 

It’s a bit of a picture of our devilish struggles on Earth and then our future home and joy in Heaven. 

  • Lord, thank You once again for this study in the Book of Job. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 14

Jan14

Day 14. Reading in Job 38 – 39. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

 

Job 38.

.The LORD answers Job. 

This is both a relief and a fear.  It’s a relief because I’m tired of Job’s pompous friends spouting so-called truths about God and Job when they don’t even know what they are talking about.  I’m not sure they are doing it out of concern for Job, or to make themselves look good.

And it’s a fear because wouldn’t YOU be afraid if God showed up in the middle of a heated conversation/argument you were having with a group of friends?  Even if you had repeatedly asked (demanded?) that God come and answer you, wouldn’t His actual voice scare you to death? Notice that everyone is silent now. 

A mighty whirlwind blows between the men, and Yaweh’s voice speaks. “WHO IS THIS who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”  Gulp!  “Dress for action like a man,” God says to Job. “I will question YOU, and you make it known to ME.” 

Court is in session, and the prosecutor is questioning the man in the witness chair. But the accused has no voice. He cannot answer God’s questions. 

“Where were YOU when I laid the foundation of the earth?”  

“Did you separate the land from the waters and make borders for them? Did you cause the earth to rotate and establish dawn and darkness? Do you know where I keep the snow, the hail, or the rain?  Can you make lightning or ice?  Can you move the constellations around in the night sky? 

“Do you know who has put intelligence in a man’s mind?”

“Did you teach the lion to hunt?  Or the raven?”

Job 39.

(It’s just a chapter break, but I can imagine a moment or two of silence in the courtroom while Job remains mute. 

Like an attorney, God then presents items to be entered as evidence.  He lists the unique skills and characteristics He has given to various animals; the mountain goat, the wild donkey, the wild ox, the ostrich, the horse, and the hawk. (All are fearfully and wonderfully made and adapted.)

To the Ostrich God has given a tiny brain (she lays her eggs on the open ground, then forgets about them). But He’s given her beautiful feathers and legs swifter than a horse’s (When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and rider.)   Who would have thought to create such a creature?

Could Job ever have created the intelligence, strength, and fierce eye-sight of the hawk or eagle, and trained them where to build their nests so their young would be safe? 

  • I can’t imagine being on the stand in any court, let alone where God is the prosecutor AND judge. I would be scared to speak too.  I am SO thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ is my Advocate, my Defense Attorney. He speaks for me. He intercedes and pleads my case. Though I am guilty, He holds out the evidence of His own blood to show my crimes have been paid for.  My sentence has been served. Oh, Hallelujah!

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 12 & 13

Jan13

Days 12 & 13. Reading in Job 32 – 34 and 35 – 37. (Posted on Monday.)

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what you found meaningful. We can encourage each other.

.Job 32.

There’s a new guy on the block. Elihu has been there the whole time, but as the youngest, he’s kept quiet until now. His views differ from the three “wise” old men who spoke before him.

“I am young in years, and you are aged. Therefore, I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.”  “It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.  Therefore, listen to ME. Let ME also declare my opinion.“

He says he’s about to burst from waiting to answer! “I MUST speak, that I may find relief; I MUST open my lips and answer. I will not use flattery toward ANY person.”

Oh, dear. I’m not sure I want to hear what this young whippersnapper will say.

  • Lord, help me remember that wisdom comes from YOU. You are the only wise God. Help me not to disdain either the aged or the young enthusiast or to center my whole life on the words of one person/group. May I always look to You and your Word with help from the Holy Spirit.

Job 33. 

Right off, Elihu puts Job at ease, identifying with him as one also is “pinched off from the piece of clay.”  He’s human, fallible. He assures Job he has no need to fear him as his words will not be heavy on him. But he tells Job he’s wrong in saying God does not answer him.

Elihu lists two ways that God speaks to man. 1) in dreams or visions, God warns man. 2) in pain, God rebukes man.  Hmmm.

He tells Job that God allows suffering to bring a person to Himself and for spiritual benefit. (This seems true, at least in my own life.) Then Elihu offers Job a chance to speak. If not, Elihu tells Job to listen, “for I will teach you wisdom.”

Job 34.

Elihu then goes on with HIS speech to both Job and the other three men.  He gets a lot correct, but there are some parts he mis-remembers, attributing to Job what his other “comforters” said. (For example, Job said he was sinless, which he did not claim.)  However, Elihu does mention some pretty awesome truths about God in his speech, saying He is just, holy, impartial, and omniscient.

Sadly, Elihu starts to echo the three who went before him, “Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight. I would that Job was tried to the end because he answers like a wicked man. He adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”  (Sigh.)

(Three more chapters of Elihu tomorrow.)

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Job 35.

“Shame on you, Job.” is basically what Elihu says (in his wisdom). He tells Job that it doesn’t matter if he sinned or not because God is ‘too high’ to be affected by them. “If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?”

He tells Job why God does not answer his prayers and questions. It’s because of pride (vs. 35:12), a wrong motive, and he’s not patient enough.  Oh, Elihu, you are not so wise as you say. YOU don’t know much about Job’s condition either. It’s your own “human” understanding. 

  • Lord, I am like Elihu sometimes, if only in my thoughts. I think I can figure out “the mind of God” by my own human reasoning. “SURLY, this must mean that!” I say.  Humble me, Lord. Your ways and thoughts are so much higher than mine.  Teach me not to judge. Teach me to wait. Help me see my own needs.

Job 36.

Now that Elihu has leveled Job to the ground, he presumes to instruct Job about God’s opinion. (“I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.”) He now seems no different from the three older gentlemen before him. THEN he adds the words that make me choke. “For truly, my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.”   What???  Poor Job.

But Elihu does say something new in verse 15. “He (God) delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.” 

  • Suffering, trials, and persecution do make us more open to God’s words. Sometimes, that’s the only time I will listen. A gentle tap on the shoulder will go unnoticed, but a “slap up alongside my head” will get my attention.  Illness, sorrow, or a rebuke from a loved one will undoubtedly send me to prayer and His word. Why is this so? Oh, Lord, soften my heart!

Job 37.

Elihu then “waxes eloquent” about the majesty of God in creation. This is wonderful to read. All creation does reveal God like Psalm 8 says,  “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.” (vss. 1-2)  “When I look at Your heavens the work of Your fingers, the moon, and stars, which You have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (vss.3-4)  

Elihu reminded Job (and us) that all the mighty things God does in the heavens and with weather are for a purpose. “Whether for correction or for His land, or for love, He causes it to happen.” (vs. 13)

  • Wow. I had to stop and think about this. Yes, I believe God is totally sovereign in all things. Yes, there is always a purpose to what He does (His glory and our good, according to Romans 8:28), although, like Job, we may never know (can’t even begin to comprehend) what that is. 
  • Just now (January 2025), I’m thinking of the total disasters that wind and fires have brought to Los Angeles County in the last week.  God is sovereign. This fiery “apocalypse” was NOT out of His control. Many do and will ask, “Why?” (And many will gladly place the “blame” on anyone.) It is a “wake-up” call, whether to the hearts of believers and unbelievers or merely to earthly officials and their responsibilities.
  • Job didn’t know the reason for his suffering (or for his friends’ badgering, for that matter). But we get a glimpse of the purpose in the first chapters. That in Heaven, before the evil one, GOD GETS GLORY for Job’s faith in his suffering. 

Thank you, God, for using Elihu to say this one thing, if nothing else. 

And it’s good that this young, wise “kid” ends his speech by pointing Job (and us) to God and His Majesty because God stands ready to speak in the next four chapters.  ARE WE READY TO HEAR?

 

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