The Notes are Good

BSF Genesis: Week 25, Day 2

Question:

3.
No, he saw God at Bethel. He committed to build a house to God there and to return to his father’s household

4.
a.
Dinah did not bring on the danger, but it clearly would have been avoided if they did not live there

b.
To be set apart from the worldly and immoral. To live a life that separates us from sinful things and sinful people

c.
No “sense” of wrongdoing. He did wrong, but didn’t see it that way. He treated her as a possession to be used and acquired

d.
They married. Isaac and Jacob sought their wives from kin, believers. But they also lied out of fear and put their wives at risk. Abraham allowed the mother of his first child to be abused by his wife and sent her out into the wilderness.

5.
intermarry with us, vs 9

My Daily Journal:

There is a very fine line being walked in our questions today regarding Dinah and could things have been avoided. I think it is very important to note that Dinah did not do anything wrong. She was the victim. She was raped.

As a children’s leader I was, at first, very hesitant and concerned about our lesson this week. My inclination was to move through it as quickly as possible. However, this week I had the opportunity to hear Josh McDowell speak. Josh is an amazing evangelist and apologetic who has spread the Word to college campuses for many years. He has written some amazing books including my favorite, More than a Carpenter. But, on this occasion Josh was sharing a movie and discussion about his own childhood which included not only a horribly broken home but also experiencing sexual abuse from the age of 6 to 13. He pointed out that 1 out of 3 children have experienced sexual abuse but we just don’t talk about it.

BSF is not a counseling session or the right venue for disclosure, but we need to be bold in what the bible says and not shy away from teaching the truth as spelled out in the bible. Just like Josh was not to blame for what occurred to him, Dinah is not to blame. This was wrong. This was a sin, whether Shechem, Hamor or her dad or anyone else saw it as such or not. Through all of this story that is the part that troubles me most. We have the accounts of what everyone else was doing but not what was going on with Dinah and the torment that she must have felt. No where does it say she was comforted or cared for through this difficulty, although I trust in God that she was.

We will have women in BSF classes who have experienced rape. We will have men who have forced themselves inappropriately on women and we will have young adults and children who have been or will be involved in inappropriate sexual situations. We don’t need to be graphic, but we need to be clear that this is wrong and if someone is in this situation they need to get with a mature christian and seek help and counseling.

BSF Genesis: Week 24, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

3.
a.
That angel soldiers are camped on the earth . Jacob met with them. Those who would harm Elisha witnessed them

b.
Trust in God, knowing he has set forces of heaven to the ready to battle those who would stand in opposition to Him and His plan

4.
a.
i.
Angels of God met Jacob – “This is the camp of God”

ii.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them

iii.
My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight

iv.
We are competent to judge earthly matters. We will judge angels. How much more the things of this life

v.
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

b.
The protection of the encampment of angels. When I am apart from family I know that God’s army of angels encircles them and protects them from harm

My Daily Journal:

I believe in God. I believe in the bible. I believe in angels.

That may sound silly to say, but I’m amazed sometimes on the cafeteria approach that some christians take to the words in the bible. Accepting this and that because it says so, but not believing other things because, well, just because those don’t choose to. I don’t think that is how it works. The bible is either true or not. I understand some things are stories and parables and illustrations and some things are specifically relevant to specific people and times. Angels don’t fall into either of these categories.

The fact that there is a supernatural spirit world going on all around us is clearly stated throughout scripture. From the fall of man and an angel guarding the entrance to Eden through to the angels in revelation, they permeate the scriptures. Christ reference angels repeatedly.

So, while we some may choose to ignore them or treat them like dolls or decorations, angels with the strength and power to fight God’s battles and protect his believers are a fact. It is a fact that I love and appreciate.

I leave my family each day to go to work. I drop my children off at school and I have a child away at college. My mother lives alone, my sister lives in another town and I have many other friends and family across the country. I am thankful to the police, firemen and soldiers who do their duty to protect not only me, but my loved ones from earthly harm. I am even more grateful for the angelic protectors who stand guard protecting them from things I do not even see or know are present. What a greater risk and duty they perform!

BSF Genesis: Week 24, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

Questions:

5.
a.
Your servant Jacob,… In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups – If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape

b.
He expected Esau to fulfill his promise to kill him for stealing his blessing and conning him into selling his birthright.

6.
He knew he would survive. Instead of prepare defenses or plans of retreat, he sent ahead gifts

7.
200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.

8.
a.
Attributes: Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD,
God’s Word: you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
Confession: 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.
Remembering: I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
Petition: 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau,
Acknowledge Weakness: for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
God’s Promises: 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

b.
We need to start prayer with acknowledgement of who we are praying to and the word and promises that He has given to us

My Daily Journal:

Here are the approximate market price calculations for those who are interested:

200 female goats @ $163 = $32,600
20 male goats @ $177 = $3,540
200 ewes @ $340 = $68,000
20 rams @ $541 = $10,820
30 female camels with their young @ $10,000 = $450,000
40 cows @ $700 = $28,000
10 bulls @ $1700 = $17,000
20 female donkeys @ $1500 = $30,000
10 male donkeys @ $1500 = $15,000

Total: $654,960

While the cost was interesting, what I found even more interesting was that this is the first mention we have of Jacob being generous. Abraham was generous with Lot and with the King of Salem. Isaac was generous with his own life in obedience to his father and his God, but there has been no mention of any generous act by Jacob until this one.

This is not a bribe, Jacob knows he will survive the meeting with his brother. Nor is it purely restitution, for no agreement of the cost of the damages has been reached. This is a gift, an offering, something done with hope of reconciliation but not expectation of payment. This is a demonstration of a generous heart, something valued by God in all his children.

BSF Genesis: Week 24, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

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.”