GENESIS 19
Genesis 19:15-16 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.
Tough chapter to read. Not one of the prettier stories in the Bible. About as horrific of a tale that you can have. This would be headline news today if something like this were to take place. I honestly just dont get Lot. He frustrates me like few others that I have read about so far. Lot knows that the city he is living in is about to be completely and utterly destroyed...he knows that his time is limited...and we still find him hesitating! I want to just scream at him, "get out! be a man! lead your family out of there! start moving!". But honestly, it made me think about the pleasure (at least for a season) that sin often times is. It has such a firm grasp on us. When I am convicted about something...to be honest...there is far too often a hesitancy in my own life to actually GET OUT...BE A MAN...LEAD MY FAMILY...and START MOVING...convicting...
GENESIS 20
Genesis 20:1-2 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
Oh Abraham, Abraham, Abraham...you just dont seem to learn do you. Once again we find him not relying on God, but reverting back to his old habit of lying. Often times though, when we are put into tough situations, that is when our true colors comes out. I guess my challenge in this passage, is in thinking through what it looks like for me to make sure that when times get rough, I dont depend on old habits and lying...but to God for everything that I need. Everything to Him. No more leftovers or seconds...
GENESIS 21
Genesis 21:14-18 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[c] began to sob.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
I am sorry...I know that this is far more then one verse, but it would lose some of the context to pull out just one verse. As a dad, my heart just breaks as I read this story of a woman who was so distraught and without hope, that she literally left her son under a bush so that she wouldnt have to watch him die. I cant imagine that feeling...I cant imagine the pain, the anguish, the brokenness of that moment. And that is what I love most about God. In those moments, He just shows up. A constant in the midst of chaos and brokenness. He hears the cry of the afflicted and the poor...the outcast and the desolate. And He makes great things. Great is your faithfulness oh Lord!
Matthew 6
Matthew 6:16 When you fast...Matthew 6
Fasting. I love that Jess says "when you fast..." Not "if" or "optional"...but "when". Has me thinking a lot about this lack of practice that I have in my life. I want to change that. I need to change that. It can no longer be ab "if" or "option" but a must. How about you?
So far to date...
Books read: 0
Chapters Read: 27
Verses Read: 720
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