Genesis 30:1-31:16, Matthew 10:1-23, Psalm 12:1-8, Proverbs 3:13-15
Today is the 14th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you on the 14th day of January, that’s the 14th day of our new year. This marks two full weeks that we have been able to live into this new year. And as we complete our reading for today, we’ll complete two weeks every day in the Bible. We are off to a fantastic start. Now when we go to the back of the ship and look back at where we’ve sailed from, we can barely see the land on the horizon. We are getting out into the deep and we will be sailing across this year together. But two weeks in, so much as happened, so much for us to think about, so much for us to allow to be brought up in our lives, as we move through the stories that are found in the Scriptures. And so, it’s great to mark this moment, two weeks, two weeks in, well done. We can do this, we’re gonna do this and it’s gonna be awesome. So, let’s dive in and take the next step forward. We’ve been reading from the New International Version this week, which is still this week, so that’s what will continue to do today. We are still working our way through the book of Genesis; we have found ourselves in the story of Jacob. So, we went through the story of Abraham and Isaac and now Jacob. Who has found himself married to two women who are sisters. One is barren, the other one has had some children, a family is in formation, this family will be the family that we follow through the rest of the Bible. And so, let’s dive in, Genesis chapter 30 verse 1 through 31 verse 16.
Commentary:
Okay so, as we complete our second full week in this year and in the Scriptures together; we continue to see the family drama in Jacob’s life. Jacob has gone from having two wives, who are sisters to now, essentially having four wives, the sisters and their and their attendants. And we’re basically watching a sisterly battle over who has the most children, which is their identity. And this comparison between the two is giving them a perceived value and it and it’s come down to Laban and Jacob and the family itself extended is that this is not going well. Jacob is beginning to build well for himself, and this is creating envy in the larger family. And so, there’s a bunch of drama going on and it’s come to the point where Jacob feels like he has to leave, and he’s tried to leave before but he’s been convinced to stay. But now he feels like he’s being led to leave, he’s got to leave. And so, we end our week by seeing kind of a counsel between the lives and their husband and he’s kinda sharing that they need to go, and they’re telling him we don’t have a reason to stay. So, if God is leading us, let’s go. And we will watch the story unfold, obviously, as we continue forward.
In the book of Matthew today, we saw Jesus, who is the rabbi to these disciples who are following him, we lose that at some point. Like, we know it in the back of our mind, Jesus is a rabbi traveling around the countryside. He’s got disciples who are following Him, but we lose track of what that looks like. There were other rabbis who had other disciples traveling around the countryside, like this is the tradition. A rabbi would call somebody to take their yoke upon them and they would leave everything and follow this rabbi. And then the rabbi would essentially become their 24-hour-a-day teacher like for this season. They would raise them up and…and give them all of the wisdom that they had learned and transfer all that treasure that was in their heart to their disciples, so that their disciple would one day grow up and maybe be released to have a tribe of their own, disciples of their own. Or to go into the world and live what they had learned following the rabbi. So, Jesus is called people to be His disciples, but He hasn’t really gone looking for like qualified Torah, excelling people who look like they will one day grow into being something. He kind of goes out among the ordinary people and invites them to become His disciples. And so, they are following Him around as He’s doing is teaching, they are witnessing what He is doing and everything that He does is essentially a teaching moment for them. They are observing all of it. So, he sends them out on a field trip basically, today. Telling them like look go to the lost sheep of Israel. So, He’s like I’m not sending you into a culture that you do not understand, I am not sending you to people that you do not know. I am sending you to what you do understand and the kind of people that you do know and I want you to take steps of faith. Like don’t take any money, don’t take any supplies, you’re going to go out and you’re gonna learn what it’s like to practice your faith. You’re going to go and learn what it’s like to do what I’m doing. So, we got to see that happen today in the gospel of Matthew.
And then finally, as we end this second week we look into the book of Proverbs, and we need this set of three sentences to sink in. This is also a game changer. Like this, if this can be remembered, if this can be the focus, this changes our lives. Blessed are those, and we want to be that right like, don’t we spend a lot of energy trying to get into the zone of blessing, like we want to be blessed. So, here we go. Blessed are those who find wisdom. Blessed are those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies, nothing you desire can compare with her. It’s the Bible is telling us that wisdom is better than money, wisdom is better than jewelry, wisdom is better than anything that you can desire because the wise person, the person with wisdom knows how to attain and achieve these other things. They…they come to the wise person, a person walking in wisdom. It’s so much like what Jesus is teaching, that things, that life is lived from within, that you can spend your whole life trying to make everything perfect outside of your life, but if you are in turmoil inside, nothing is ever going to feel like it has order or stability. But if you have order and stability in your soul and a profound and utter dependence on God, then we can live at peace, even if there’s chaos all around us. Wisdom works like this. We can spend our whole lives trying to achieve the trinkets that are available, as beautiful and flashy and sparkly as they may be, those things that we achieve will not make us wise people. But wisdom from within shows us how to live in every situation. So, the counsel here is that nothing we desire can compare with wisdom. So, like above all else, wisdom should be the goal. And we certainly become wise from experience, we can certainly become wise from the Scriptures by simply watching the stories unfold in seeing where the roads lead, we also become wise by putting our allegiance and utter dependence in God, the fear of the Lord is the be beginning of wisdom. And we also gain wisdom by stopping our reactions. Like instead of just like, something rubs us the wrong way, and so our immediate reaction is to punch back. Like not even knowing the situation, we will react so much and get ourselves into so much trouble. But wisdom would have a pause, a beat, a moment to check in with ourselves and reflect on what is going on before we make a mess. And so, let’s consider this. This would change how this year shapes up.
Prayer:
So, Father, we want change. We want things to shape up, that we are at peace inside of our souls trusting You and knowing that each day is an adventure to live. And that, that You are not oblivious, that You are with us always and would never leave us. Father, we are asking for wisdom, we need wisdom, maybe, I mean we have more knowledge than we have ever had in human history, we may need wisdom now more than ever. And how to interpret and walk through all this knowledge that we’ve amassed. We need Your Spirits guidance in our lives and so, we ask as we so often do that, Holy Spirit, You would lead us into all truth and away from that which is false. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Good morning family this is Lilly from Gotco, from California. Being in the season that I am in my life, I am now an Abuelita, which is grandmother in Spanish. So, I am now calling myself Lita Lilly and all the treasures, that that, that that entails. But I heard Annie today. I just wanted to encourage you sweety girl. For being 10 you are so wise. And if you ask for more wisdom, you will be granted that. I am praying with you, with your brother, for your brother and his mental problems. I share in that with you, and that grief and pain. And I just encourage you to just keep trusting in the Lord as you are, and He will give you that peace in your mind and heart. And we’ll be praying for healing for your brother. I’m also praying, I’m calling for Alissa, who’s in the hospital on dialysis and scared because her child, she’s pregnant and has a four-year-old at home. And I just encourage you sweet girl, that when our faith doesn’t feel strong, just keep praying. You know, we’re all here for your, we’re all praying for you. Just being with you sweet girl. God is always faithful, that’s all I’ve known through this journey in my life. Is that He is faithful no matter what. And so, I’m praying for your health and for your little girl to just be given peace. When you talk to her may God just embrace her and give her a strong hug and you too, Annie. I just love you all. Have a great day. Bye Bye.
Good morning family, this is Incognito but not to God. Requesting prayer for myself and for my family. Yesterday, January the 8th I received a call that nobody likes to receive. My nephew was found dead, Sunday morning by his 10-year-old daughter. My eldest sister, that’s my eldest sister’s son, and she lives internationally. So, you can only imagine when she got the call. So, just requesting prayer family. I’m asking God to just give us the wisdom to know how to proceed and to send the comforter. Lord, times like this. A year ago, we lost his brother in a tragic way as well. So, it’s a lot. But I’m gonna praise God anyhow. Thank you, family.
Hi, Daily Audio Bible family, it’s Renzo in Florida. I would just ask for some prayers. I’d been doing good, but I feel like, actually to explain my testimony a little bit, I’ve been clean from pornography for three years now. But, as you know, it’s a battle everyday with my thoughts. So, ask if you guys could just pray for my thought life and that it’s clean and honors God. And just, I keep an eye on where my eyes are at for sure. And I would appreciate that. God bless you. Jesus loves you.
Happy New Year DAB family, this is Mommy’s Little Rock from Arkansas. I just wanted to say, I am so grateful for this app. I’m so grateful for my DAB family. I am so grateful for my cousin, Colet who shared with me, the DAB information years ago and I’ve been following ever since. I just wanna pray for those, and ask for prayer actually for those of us who are still grieving the loss of either a parent, a loved one, family member, spouse, child, sibling, even our fur babies, our animals, our pets. And even loses of jobs and homes. And I just want us to pray for those individuals who are really going through some emotional and mental things right now. Also, just a prayer for my health, my overall health. I’m still recovering from surgery I had in 2021. And just the after effects from it. Sometimes gets me a little down but I’m here, I’m happy and I’m looking forward to this new year. I just ask for all of ya’lls prayers for me and I continue to pray for each and every one of you every single day before I leave to go to work. I appreciate you guys so much. And love Brian and his family, Jill, everyone, for answering the call that God gave over his life and proceeding to create such an awesome, awesome app for us to come together virtually. So, I hope you guys are off to a good new year, Happy New Year. Stay blessed and I love you all. Bye Bye.
Hello. This is Anonymous from North Carolina. Asking for prayer for my husband and myself, our marriage. My estranged husband. I don’t know where to start. What to say. Just please pray for us. We have separated and he has mistreated me, told me he hated me, for now reason, unprovoked. Abandoned me I need him. Took my rings, my wedding rings. Took my money and holding it hostage. Because I won’t sign a separation agreement that has not been fully evaluated and won’t disclose the finances to our attorneys. I’m continuing to pray for him as I pray for everyone else. And I just hope God just touches his heart. He knows what he’s done is wrong. And he’s a man of God. He’s a minister and I just pray that You, touch his heart, Lord. Please pray for me. Pray for me, pray for us.