BSF Genesis Study 2012-2013 – Page 4

BSF Genesis: Week 24, Day 4

Questions:

9.
His penchant for deception. His predisposition to use deceit, financial strength, or other cunning to take advantage of a situation

10.
punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds, he struggled with God, he wept and begged for his favor

11.
The angel of the Lord, Jesus. Face of God

12.
Man cannot force God to do anything. Anything any man receives is a gift from the Almighty. Jacob refused to let go showing a tenacity to cling to the Lord. The greater blesses the lesser, not the other way around.

13.
We too rely on our own wit and cunning. We believe that we can buy our way out of wrongs. We confess our weaknesses but do not reject the things that make us weak

My Daily Journal:

What do we cling to?

The story of Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord is one with many facets. Jacob is not chastised for wrestling with the Lord, but through his own strength he is unable to win, either over God or man. In wrestling strength comes from the legs and hips. Wrestlers, like most athletes, spend a lot of time physically developing “the core”, the mid body strength that transfers out. In Jacob’s wrestling, one touch showed the weakness of his own core of relying on his own strength. All he could do was hold on, cling to his opponent.

Did Jacob win? Did he force the angel to do anything? Given what he seeks, the answer is obvious. A blessing is always and only transferred from the greater to the lesser. Giving something back to someone that already belongs to them in not a blessing. Nor can a blessing be bought or forced. Receiving something unmerited is the definition of a blessing.

But, to cling to one thing, we have to let go of other things. To cling to the Angel of the Lord, forced Jacob to not cling to himself. To cling to God means to let go of our own desires to be in control.

BSF Genesis: Week 24, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

14.
a.
Bowed down 7 times

b.
They wept. Called him “my lord” “For to see your face is like seeing the face of God”

c.
He seemed to place a longing for family that was greater than the anger he held.

15.
No. He should have done as God commanded in Gen 31:3, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”Back to Bethel where God told him he would live in Gen 28:13

My Daily Journal:

I was struck by the lesson that humility and love go hand in hand. Jacob had spent his youth conniving to get the upper hand on his brother. He clung to his heal at birth, he bought his birthright, he stole his blessing from his father. He always wanted to be over his brother, dominating in authority. But to receive the love of his brother and overcome the hatred and anger Jacob had pushed into his brothers heart, could not be received through strength or cunning. To receive love requires humility.

BSF Genesis: Week 23, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

11.
a.
God said

b.
20 years, Gen 31:38

12.
a.
7 God has not allowed him to harm me, 9 God given them to me, 11 vision in dream, 42 God rebuked you,

b.
Jacob and Isaac both justified action because of their fear, both formed a covenant with the one they had feared. Jesus on the other hand, when faced with swords and clubs, was not afraid. He did not lie out of fear, but told the truth daily

c.
5, God with me, 7 protected me, 9 provided for me, 11 in dream, 12 restored from wrong, 13 remembered vow from Bethel, 16 wives who honored, 24 warned Laban, 42 God provided, 50 witness, 53 judge

13.
a.
He sought to live in honesty and peace. He formed a covenant with the one he ran from to not do him any harm

b.
vs 55, Laban kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them and left. Through God there was the ability to find peace and reconciliation even for one who had repeatedly done wrong. through which both parties were blessed and moved on.

My Daily Journal:

There will come a time when each of us faces the reality that Laban faced in verse 43. “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne?”

We go through life accumulating possessions. This is mine, that is mine, all of this belongs to me.

But, as Laban learned, it doesn’t. We are caretakers. We are servants. We are stewards. Everything on this earth belongs to the one who created it. He is eternal we are temporal.

But, like Laban, we deceive ourselves far more than anyone else deceives us. He calls Jacob the deceiver because he left without notice, but was he really being truthful that he would have thrown a big party send off to all of these things that he considered his own. Who is truly deceiving whom?

But faced with the truth of God, we too will recognize all that we have accumulated is not really ours.

We have all done wrongs in our lives. We have wronged and hurt others and strained and broken relationships over time. The final verses of this chapter provide hope for peace. When Laban did recognize that what he thought he owned, was not truly his, he did a wise thing: he sought to make a covenant of peace. The greatest benefit that he received from that covenant wasn’t the lack of hostility or monetary gain, but it is what we see in verse 55. He gained the opportunity to kiss his grandchildren and his daughters and to bestow his blessing on each of them. These daughters, who earlier in this same chapters felt like they were foreigners to their father, objects that he had sold for personal gain and then squandered that profit, these daughters now bring their children to him, kiss him and kneel before him to receive his blessing.

BSF Genesis: Week 23, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures:

Questions:

8.
a.
He worked for him for 7 years before marriage and then had 12 children after that, completing at least another 7 years (likely more). During this time Laban prospered, his livestock grew and prospered

b.
Jacob honored Laban, he didn’t cheat, he didn’t run off. He worked hard and brought the blessings that God gave him to his workplace. Thus, the glory of the outcome went to God

c.
Col 3:18 – Whatever you do, do it dilligently as for the Lord because it is He who you serve not men

9.
a.
self-centered

b.
He changed the field after the deal was made. He removed all of the spotted and speckled animals and moved them 3 days journey away. After all these years, Jacob started with nothing.

10.
a.
Running a business, writing and teaching, story-telling

b.
By ensuring God is glorified in all that I do, that there is recognition that all work I do is for God

My Daily Journal:

God is not the God of church, he is the God of everything. But so many don’t recognize that. You can’t talk about God at work. You need to cover up and hide your faith to not offend others. Etc., Etc.

But that is not what we see with Jacob. Jacob lived his life and worked for the glory of God. He saw all that he received not something he had earned, although he worked very hard, but as blessings bestowed by the Lord.

I had the opportunity to attend a dinner earlier this week where the speaker was Bobby Albert, Chairman of Albert Companies, Inc. Mr. Albert presented about faith in the workplace and one of his points was very fitting in the discussion of Jacob and Laban. He said, we would rather be a Values-Driven company that provides results than a Results-Driven company that provides value.

What drives your workplace behavior and decision making. Do you have fears of loss that cause you to lie (like we have seen time and again with Abraham and Isaac)? Or do you have the strength to do what is right and God honoring even when faced with hardship and adversity. Do you treat others, with whom you work, with respect as brothers and sisters in Christ or do you take the profit of their labor and treat them as servants?

What drives your decision making, a focus on results or a focus on values?

BSF Genesis: Week 23, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

6.
a.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Isaachar, Zebulun, (Dinah), Joseph, Benjamin

b.
God’s love for us is not based on anything we do or earn, but it is an outpouring from him. When we model love differently, we do not follow the example of the creator

c.
Each time she bore a son she praised God for his comfort in what was really paining her heart. We need to do so joyfully.

7.
a.
Her husband’s love and to not live in the shadow of her younger sister. I think so because she was buried in the tomb of the patriarchs, with her husband, and her family

b.
Jesus was born through the tribe of Judah, Leah’s 4th son

c.
God is a long term thinker and giver. We grow impatient in a few minutes or hours, God looks to eternity

My Daily Journal:

I found the change in Leah’s naming of her sons to be very interesting. Leah saw each of her sons as a gift from God. She praised him and honored him for who he was and for giving her these gifts. But we see the way she planned to use those gifts change with each child.

The gift of Reuben was like a bargaining chip to gain the love of her husband. The gift of Simeon and Levi were the same. Surely my husband will love me now.

These gifts were like many of us see good deeds today. Surely this buys me favor with others. Surely this will enable me to deserve what I desire and don’t have today.

But then, with Judah, something changes. The gift of the child is no longer something thought of as a tool or token to gain the loving relationship of a distant human. Everything in the naming of Judah had to do with the relationship between Leah and God. “This time I will praise the Lord.”

Is it any wonder that it was through this son’s descendents that God sent His own son? What gifts from God am I trying to leverage into something I want from someone else instead of appreciating them as gifts from the one who loves me unconditionally and gives me everything?

BSF Genesis: Week 23, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
An act of servantude conducted at the well. A relative of Laban comes for water. In the first, Rebekah served the servant, in this Jacob serves the shepherd

4.
Leah did for sure. Rachel may have as well.

5.
a.
Posing as a substitution through trickery. The one who was lesser favored took something that was meant to be given to the one who was more favored. In this case the first was put before the second, with Jacob and Esau it was the other way

b.
God allows men to sin because of our free will. He uses all, including our sin, for His glory. There are lessons here about honesty, deception, favoritism, following customs, etc. All have moral lessons

c.
Every action and every decision we make reflects not only on who I am, but it also reflects on how people view my family, my church, my father, my grandfather and my God. The gain from a deception cannot outweigh those costs.

d.
Jer 5:1 – find one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth and I will forgive this city. Prov 24:26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips. (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Th 5:26; 1 Pe 5:14 – Greet one another with a holy kiss)

My Daily Journal:

What a good look at these scriptures. This is one of the things that I love most about BSF; when we take a story we have all read and heard hundreds of times and dive deeper into it for the underlying messages and lessons. I had never really thought about whether Leah and Rachel willingly joined in their father’s deception. Nor had I ever questioned why God allowed the deception.

It helped me think about what lessons God is teaching me about me in the wrongs of others. I have worked in a number of different jobs, companies and professions during my life, from sales to service, from development to management, from being an employee to an employer. I’ve seen people cut corners, lie, cheat, violate agreements, steal, pretty much every act of dishonesty I can think of. And, like something that is rotten, the aroma of that act or decision is never limited to the memory or opinion of that single act or decision. It is present in my opinion of that person, their education, their moral views, their religious beliefs, their family. I don’t mean this judgmentally, but truthfully – I have a hard time isolating an act of dishonesty to that single act.

Our churches are full of sinners – that is kind of the idea! So, I’m not trying to say that the argument of some that they can’t go to church because it is just a bunch of judgmental hypocrites holds water. I’m saying that instead of turning our judgment to those others, we should use that knowledge to help guide our own decision making and temptations.

When I am given too much change at the grocery store, instead of pocketing the money and thinking, their mistake, I need to stop and ask myself, am I willing to risk tarnishing the view that people have of my family, my father, my business, my church and my God over a few cents or dollars?

BSF Genesis: Week 22, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

12.
a.
He witnessed the stairway to heaven. He heard the voice of God confer upon him the blessing to Abraham

b.
Christ is the staircase. Christ is the doorway to heaven.

13.
a.
I will give you and your descendant the land on which you are lying… I will bring you back to this land

b.
will be like the dust of the earth, you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south

c.
All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and watch over you wherever you go.

d.
I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised

14.
a.
Surely the Lord is in this place. How awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven

b.
God fulfills all of his promises. He is with us always.

My Daily Journal:

I was so happy that in the children’s program we did homiletics over verses 11-22. There are so many great truths and applications that come out of these verses that we so often miss.

Even the very opening line spoke to me. Verse 11 says, “when he reached a certain place he stopped for the night because the sun had set.” I picture Jacob wandering. He has a place he has left and a place he is going, but his mind would have been miles away. He didn’t leave with a detailed trip itinerary. He didn’t have lodging reservations in places along the way. He just wandered. Where did he stop for the night? A certain place. Why there? Because it was dark. How often am I going through life just like this? I have tasks to do, places to go, a life to live and a God to serve, but my mind is distracted by all of the events that have occurred, by my fears and anxieties, by my regrets and repentance, by my hopes and plans for the future. I’m not living in the moment. Where am I? Just at some certain place.

Seth Godin described this situation in an interview I recently listened to promoting his newest book. He used the analogy of driving a car. We go on autopilot, our brain disengaged from what we are doing, we are aware of our surroundings, but not really aware, we are there, but not fully present. But, when a blow-out tire occurs we are immediately back in the moment, our senses at full alert. We are immediately cognizant of everything in our environment, the cars around us, the feel of the car, the opportunities to get off the road safely, our gauges, sights, smells.

Look at how this occurs with Jacob. Verses 16-17: When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

But here is the interesting thing, to me: Nothing about this place had changed. In the middle of the night it didn’t become a place where the Lord was, it didn’t become the house of God, the gate of heaven wasn’t created in that moment. It wasn’t that God or the angels or the stairs showed up. It was that Jacob woke up to what was already around him. It was that he became aware.

There isn’t something unique about Bethel, that it alone provides a stairway connecting earth and heaven. God is everywhere, angels are with us, the gate of heaven is open and God is speaking to us, but we are asleep and unaware. All of this activity and this glory goes on around us every day and we miss it because we are just wandering, our thoughts adrift in where we have been and where we are going.

How can you and I awaken to the miracles happening around us? How can we become more aware of the fact that God is in this place? Joan Rivers is quoted as saying: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God’s gift, that’s why we call it the present.”

BSF Genesis: Week 22, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

10.
He took Jacob away from Rebekah to the land of her kin, where he lived and worked for 14 years. Jacob lived in fear of returning because of the anger of his brother. He toiled as a servant to earn his wives, even though his father had ample resources to provide sufficient means (as had been the case with Rebekah).

11.
make you fruitful and increase your numbers, community of peoples, give you and descendants the blessing given to Abraham to take possession of the promised land

My Daily Journal:

This may come up in the next couple of weeks’ lessons, but one of the things that struck me was that Jacob left with the blessing and little or nothing else. He was sent back to Rebekah’s family to secure a wife. But unlike the servant that was sent for Isaac, he didn’t go with 10 camels carrying jewelry and riches to bestow on the family or his future bride.

This struck me because it is one of the very difficult parts, in my opinion, of being a good parent. You want to protect and provide for your children, but to mature in their faith it has to be “their faith” not the faith of their parents. Mom and dad had plenty of resources they could have sent with Jacob. Isaac had inherited all the wealth of Abraham in addition to the prosperity God had given him (100 fold yields on crops). But, there came a time for Jacob to leave the tents he had been so content to hang around and he was sent on his way. Evidently, he didn’t even get to take a pillow with him on his travels.

I don’t think this is throwing him into a sink or swim situation. He wasn’t disowned or exiled. But to become the nation he was to become he needed the challenge of making it on his own (with God’s help alone).

BSF Genesis: Week 22, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

6.
a.
heaven’s dew, earth’s richness, abundance of grain and new wine, nations serve you, peoples bow down to you, lord over your brothers, sons of mother bow down to you, those who curse you be cursed, those who bless you be blessed

b.
Nations will serve you, 12:3 bless those who bless you, whoever curses you be cursed

7.
a.
regret is to feel loss or disappointment for an action or event. repent is to accept responsibility and choose to make a change to do differently in the future.

b.
Esau regretted the series of events and cried out. Isaac recognized something as wrong and set about making things right. He did not withdraw his blessing from Jacob, but instead set him on a straight path.

8.
a.
Esau regretted the series of events and cried out. Isaac recognized something as wrong and set about making things right. He did not withdraw his blessing from Jacob, but instead set him on a straight path.

b.
To benefit from God’s blessing requires a willingness to honor that blessing. People want the outcome of blessings, but do not want to bend a knee to the only one in control of providing such.

c.
He did seek to please his father. He demonstrated respect to him and accepted his word as law.

d.
trending in the correct direction. Plenty of potholes and detours along the way, but I think others see and hear my testimony to the Lord.

9.
They stood against Israel during the Exodus, but fell to David and his armies. During that time every living adult male of Edom was killed, but even at the time of cross and Edomite sentenced Jesus to the cross.

My Daily Journal:

One of the things that caught my eye today was the start of the blessing from Isaac bestowed upon Jacob: “May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness.” Why dew? Not rain, not water, but dew? This thought encouraged me to search for other dew references in the bible (don’t you love online bible references?) Evidently there are 35 times it appears and it is an interesting progression.

This reference in Genesis is the first appearance of the word in the bible. The next time we see it is during the exodus, each day the dew was followed by the presence of manna on the ground which fed the Isrealites (Jacob’s family) for 40 years. Next appearance is in the blessing Moses gave to the tribe of Joseph before Moses’ death. Next God uses dew on fleece in making a covenant with Gideon in Judges. David references the lack of dew when lamenting the death of God’s first appointed King Saul and his son Jonathan. There are references in Psalm and Proverbs equating dew with the abundant provision from heaven. The dew of heaven is a central feature in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar interpreted by Daniel. The last times the word is used in the bible are in the books of the prophets. Micah 5 prophecies the “promised ruler from Bethlehem” and ties the dew from the Lord directly to “the remnant of the house of Jacob”. Then the final time the word appears in the bible is in Zechariah 8:12 – “The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people.”

I love the way God plants these stepping stones for us to follow leading to the redemptive birth of His son, Jesus. A simple word, like dew, something that can be counted on and expected as a daily occurrence, is woven in and through stories starting with a promised inheritance to Jacob and then being brought full circle to the remnant of that house and the promised ruler from Bethlehem who is the vine that yields everlasting fruit.

BSF Genesis: Week 22, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
Isaac wished to bless him as his primary heir. God knew that was not his destiny and saw his heart as being godless.

4.
a.
Jacob took advantage of Esaus’ hunger in trading for his birthright. Isaac sought to give his blessing to Esau in secret. Rebekah conspired with Jacob to deceive his father into giving him the blessing.

b.
Talk together. Pray together. Worship together. Be honest examples of Christ to one another.

5.
a.
Rebekah sought to ensure the fulfillment of the prophecy that God had given her in regard to Jacob and Esau. Isaac sought to reward his first born son whom he loved.

b.
It is not proper to use deception, even if it yields the correct results. The end does not justify the means.

c.
End justifying means is a very common approach today. Doing things for the “good of others” seems to trump doing God’s work. We guilt people into giving or attending church or bible study, tying them down instead of building them up.

My Daily Journal:

Thinking of our “Christian Family” brought a new train of thought to the stories of Isaac, Rebekah and their children. It is convicting how much we still use similar tactics in our churches. While church leaders (pastors, elders, councils, etc.) may not show favoritism to those with hairy arms, favoritism is still an ongoing temptation. Instead of the ones who can provide wild game meat, it may be those who provide the big checks or who have always served in a certain way or the family that makes that really yummy jello with fruit floating in it (can you tell I grew up on Lutheran pot-lucks?).

Also, if we don’t outright deceive each other, what other ways do we try to manipulate others in the church, our christian family? Guilt and gossip are more powerful and harmful tools exercised for “good reasons” in our churches.

It is difficult but important for us to remind ourselves and each other that we don’t need to do any of these things. God did not put his church into our hands so we could improve the income statement at the expense of relationships. Instead we are to focus only on the relationships and trust Him. Zig Ziglar wrote there are 5 reasons people don’t buy from you: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust. I am not suggesting we are called to sell church or bible study to others. But when it comes to missions work and bringing others to a deeper faith, there is really only one of these 5 things that you and I can control: trust. When the Spirit of God has created the desire, the need, the urgency and timing and aligned the resources of heaven and earth to bring someone to consider accepting Christ as their savior, I know I don’t want to be the barrier because they don’t trust me.