Genesis 26:17-27:46, Matthew 9:1-17, Psalm 10:16-18, Proverbs 3:9-10
Today is the 12th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you today, been just kind of hanging out here with the Global Campfire and it’s a beautiful place, and it’s a beautiful time, as we gather together to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we have now, in the book of Genesis, met Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham has died at 175 years old. And so, his story, although the reverberations of his story continue to echo all the way until now, his earthly story ended. He was buried in the cave of Machpelah, next to his wife Sarah. And so, now we have moved into the…the next generations, Isaac and Rebekah, who have had twin boys, Jacob and Esau. So, we’ve met Jacob, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and we’ll continue the story. Today, Genesis chapter 26 verse 17 through 27 verse 46.
Commentary:
Okay, so we spent our time in Genesis today, learning about Jacob and Esau and watching their…their story and seeing how there would be enmity between the two of them. We’re also seeing that this first family, this origin family, the origin story of the Hebrew people that effect, not only effect, but wrote down the Bible. We’re able to observe that they are fully human people and we’ve been able to observe like some shrewd trickery over the generations. So, we watched Abraham go to Egypt and say that his wife was actually his sister and we saw the commotion that that caused. It ultimately enriched Abraham. We watched Abraham and Sarah go to Harar and to King Abimelech and do the same thing again. Then we saw Isaac be born, the child of promise and after he gets married, they go to King Abimelech and Harar and do the same thing. They end up having kids, Jacob and Esau, and we read the story of the shrewd, cunning goings on, for Jacob to get the birthright and the inheritance, the blessing of his father, which has infuriated Esau. And as we leave the story today, Esau’s planning to just wait it out. His dad, Isaac, is about to die. He’ll wait it out, he’ll mourn and then he will end Jacobs cunning shrewdness toward him, because he will kill Jacob. Their mom, Rebecca learns about the plot, she tells Jacob. You’ve gotta get outta here. I can’t lose everybody, like I can’t lose you both on the same day. You’ve gotta get outta here. You’ve got to go back to my family. And so, that is what Jacob is going to do, go back to her family. He’s going back to the same family that Abraham’s servant had gone to, to find her in the first place. So, she’s sending her son back to the family. And Jacob is about to get a bit of a taste of his own medicine. But even as we watch all of the humanness embedded in all of these stories, we see people who are amazing and also broken, like everybody else, including us. And we are seeing God come to this group of people, and this family and say, I want to bless the whole world through you. Like, if you will trust in what I am laying out before you, if we can be partners in this, if we can make covenantal partners in this, even greater than just in agreement, if we can be like married to each other in this, then you can rest assured that I will be with you, I will watch over you. You will be the conduit through which my plans are revealed and unfold. You will be my hands and feet and my intention isn’t to build a club of people, my intention is to bless the whole world and reveal myself through your testimony. Us, understanding that that’s what we’re reading here, that this origin, the beginning of a story that is the whole Bible long, then when we find all kinds of confusing things, we’re like, why would they do that, or why would God do this, or how, or you know what, what’s going on. We can remember where this all started and what the goal is, to bless the world through God’s people. And then for us to begin to understand that Jew or Gentile, as believers, as followers of Jesus, we are invited into the same collaboration, to be set apart and holy to God, to be in covenant with God, to be deeply intertwined, like a marriage, a commitment to God, walking with God, revealing what God is and what God is like, and blessing the whole world. This is how He reassembles what is broken. And He wants to do it in partnership with us, understanding that that is like one of the big stories of the Bible. We’ll, like, if we can get this kinda clear in our minds as we’re going forward, right here at the beginning, then we will always be rooted to the larger story, that is being told.
Prayer:
And so, Father, we thank You for that. We thank You that You put back together what has been broken. Like, You don’t discard and just dump away. You don’t give up hope, you continue to pursue, and we are all recipients of that grace and mercy and Your pursuit in our lives. Help us to know that this is the posture we are supposed to be living with. That that is how we live outwardly toward others because that is Your heart toward humanity. And You have invited us to be a part of the story of revealing who You are and what You are like. Help us to be aware of that and to take it seriously. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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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.
Prayers and Encouragements:
To be posted 13JAN23.