Genesis 23:1-24:51, Matthew 8:1-17, Psalms 9:13-20, Proverbs 3:1-6
Today is the 10th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today. And well, this is the 10th day of the year. So, 10 days equals a week and a half. So, that’s where we are in the year even as we approach the end of the week, the first full week of this year. So, we have indeed begun our voyage and we are sailing straight out into the deep, and probably by now we can see that the Bible hot to say that’s very, very, very poignant to the lives that we’re living right now. And, so, let’s continue that voyage. Today, we’re going to say goodbye to somebody that…that we’ve gotten to know a little bit and we’re gonna see ourselves beginning in the Old Testament to shift into a new generation. So, we’ve been reading from the New International Version this week and we’ll do that today. Genesis chapter 23 verse 1 through 24 verse 51.
Commentary:
Okay. So, a couple things just to point out today and consider as we prepare to go into our first weekend of the year.
So, let’s go to the book of Genesis. We said goodbye to Sarai, who’s name had become Sarah, who was, you know, when we got into the meat of the story, she was already kind of an elderly woman who then gave birth to a son of promise whose name is Isaac. And this is where we kind of begin to shift into the next generation. So, Abraham sends a trusted servant to go find a wife for this son of promise, Isaac. And, so, he sends the servant back to his own family because this is a child that…like there’s a huge promise over this and we will see how that story begins to play out as we continue it tomorrow. But Sarah, she dies. And, so, Abraham…Abraham is…he’s a foreigner so he’s not a landowner. He has plenty of…of material goods. He’s wealthy, but he’s not a landowner and he needs some land now to establish a burial ground. And this is kind of the first owned land by Abraham who’s received this promise in this land of promise, and it actually has some significance, some significance that we’re not going to really understand until we get a little bit further in the story, but let’s just remember where this burial cave is. It is near Hebron according to the Bible and it is the cave of Machpelah according to the Bible and it is in the Valley of Eshkol according to the Bible. We’re gonna see this place again in the Bible, but I should point out that this place still does exist until today. It’s called the tomb of the patriarchs at this point and it’s a kind of enclosed by…by a large structure that was built in the Herodian era. And, so, we’ve just basically buried Sarah. She’s the first person to be buried in this cave, but she’s certainly not going to be the last. And Abraham himself will eventually be buried in this cave. And, so, it’s the tomb of the patriarchs and it’s a bit of a contentious well-regarded place because of where it’s situated and what it represents. Obviously, the tomb of Abraham has significance for Jewish people and Christian believers as well as those who practice Islam. So, it is that one of the holiest pilgrimage sites in the world until today.
Then we move into the book of Proverbs and now Proverbs is almost pleading with us and simply reaching out her hand to say, “I have everything that you are struggling to figure out. I have everything you need, and I have everything you want. So, you can struggle, you can grasp and thrash and connive and deceive and manipulate. You can withhold information, you can curate, you can…you can make something false look true and even fool yourself. And you can think that you’ve accumulated all the things that you want and you’re surrounded by all this life and lifestyle that you think you deserve or that you think that you’re after and it won’t be what you’re looking for and it will collapse on you. And in some cases great will be that thunder or you can listen to me and I will just give you what you need to know to navigate this life. And none of the things you’re trying to hold onto or achieve our grasp will be able to enslave you because you will be wise.” So, I just want to give voice once again to what wisdom was speaking to us from the Scriptures. Let’s listen to these words again, because we’re only like a week and a half into the year and this is what we need to know to navigate the rest of the year. So, this is wisdom speaking, “do not forget my teaching. Keep my commands in your heart”, right? So, this is as deep as it goes if you’re gonna keep something in your heart. “But if you do”, She says, “if you keep them in your heart, they’ll prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you.” Okay, love and faithfulness. “bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man”. Very different than a curated respect that we try to make in our lives that is ultimately propped up and false. This is…what wisdom is speaking to us is something that is a real and true. And She goes on to say what many of us may have memorized but all of us need to take to heart. This is something to put in our hearts as wisdom was suggesting. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”, right? Don’t lean on what you think you know. You do not know all that you think you know. “In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.” So, I…again…I mean…well the question is, is that what you’re looking for because this is where the Bible is headed, So, we’re like a week and a half in and we’ve set sail and you’re like, you know, “this is not what I’m looking for. I was hoping for, you know, better ways to manipulate people and get things that I wanted.” Then this is not the right ship. But if you’ve been on a windy path that has taken you…taken you through territory that you never wanted to experience and you’re trying to find some sort of illuminated path that will lead you to somewhere that makes sense in life, here it is. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.”
Prayer:
Father, as we prepare to move ourselves into the end of a week and as we look back over just the first bit of time that we’ve had in the Scriptures this year, it's…ahh…yeah…we can already see where this is going and we want it because for the first time it feels like we might be able to go somewhere. And now we’re realizing that where we’re going is going to required trust and not understanding. And now we have pause because that can bring us a great amount of fear because You are simply exposing our need to be in control and our awareness that we must trust in You with all of our hearts if we want a straight path before us. So, come Holy Spirit into that as we meditate upon that and consider that during the events of today and in the days ahead. Come Jesus we pray. In Your mighty name, we ask. 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.