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by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Genesis 43-45
Is he playing with them or is he testing them? I think a little of both.
In either case, Joseph really has his brothers squirming, doesn’t he? He keeps putting money in the bags of the brothers, then his silver cup, causing great fear to come upon them. But it becomes more than he can stand.
As Joseph reveals his true identity, you can almost feel the astonishment of his brothers – and of the Egyptians who are serving in the house.
So what started out as the most devastating circumstances for Joseph, and his father, turn out gloriously. The Pharoah hears of it and showers the family with gifts. The best land in Egypt will be theirs, if they move over. He also provides carts to bring the entourage, ten donkeys loaded with the best goods of Egypt, and ten donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and food for his father’s journey.
Talk about “paid moving expenses!” This Pharoah obviously loves Joseph! (more…)
![Read The Bible Through, Day 18]()
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Genesis 33-35
Throughout God’s dealings with His covenant people, we see flip-flopping extremes. From time to time, the people are setting up altars and showing themselves honorable, and the next thing we know, there’s violence and bloodshed.
These chapters certainly exemplify this trend. Jacob, very concerned about his reconnection with Esau, plans his approach very carefully. When things go well, he builds an altar to God as thanksgiving.
Next thing you know, Jacob’s daughter gets raped, and two of his sons trick the local clan into weakening themselves through circumcision, so they can slaughter every male. Not exactly the best way to win friends in the new territory.
Back to God. As Jacob approaches Bethel, where he had wrestled with the angel, he encounters God again – with another promise that God will continue to bless him and his lineage.
We have a long suffering Heavenly Father. As we proceed through these chapters, there will be times when we can’t imagine how God could bless such a raucous bunch of people.
Then we realize that He is dealing with us in this day and age. He blesses us – many times in spite of ourselves. He picks us up, dusts us off, and tells us to go again, and try to do better next time.
Matthew 11
I think there is a powerful lesson in the first part of chapter 11. John the Baptist had baptised Jesus and recognized Him as the Lamb of God. But now, as John is in prison, he begins to doubt.
That’s the way we can be sometimes. We may hear God’s voice so clearly giving us direction. We know that we know that He has spoken to us. Then when circumstances arise which look differently, we need more confirmation. We begin to doubt.
So John sends to Jesus a question. “Are you the One or do we look for another?”
Notice how Jesus answers. He could have easily said, “Yes. I am the One.” But he doesn’t do that. Instead He answers with scripture.
He says “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raise, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” All of these are prophecies which appeared in Isaiah when he was speaking of the Messiah to come. (Is. 29:18; 35:5,6; 61:1; and 8:14) Jesus knows that John the Baptist is familiar with the prophecy. He is saying, “Yes, John. All of these prophecies are being fulfilled.”
I use this same principle when I am asking the Lord for confirmation. I ask for scripture. It’s amazing how much faith is generated when He answers with the Word.
Verses 28-30 are some of my favorite verses. Jesus speaks of His yoke, which is not burdensome.
When we are yoked to Jesus, He is the load-puller. We are just along for the ride, so to speak. He is the One with the power and strength.
There have been times during my walk with the Lord when extremely troublesome issues have come up. During those times, I have seen myself gathering the problem into a net – much like a fisherman’s net and handing it to the Lord.
Every time I hand it to Him, an unspeakable peace comes upon me – even when a storm is raging around. He will then give direction – say this; do that. I am working with Him, but Jesus is the burden-bearer. I am yoked to Him, and He is carrying the load.
Blessings and be sure to let Him carry your load!
Suellen Estes
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Genesis 19-21
Chapter 19 opens with God’s judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember in the last chapter God had promised Abraham that if He could find 10 men who were righteous he wouldn’t destroy the cities. But He couldn’t find 10 righteous.
Two angels, which obviously looked like humans, came to visit Lot. All the men of the city gathered around the house and demanded that Lot send these two men out so that they could rape them. They didn’t know who they were dealing with.
Lot and his family were asked to leave, and the cities were destroyed.
When you read these early stories of the Bible, Satan was not mentioned. It might appear that everything was done on a human level. However that’s not the case.
From the beginning there was a war going on in the earth to capture the hearts of men. Satan was always trying to destroy God’s creation. God was working His plan to preserve it. From time to time, Satan would gain such a stronghold that the entire earth was in danger, so God would intervene to protect His creation from destruction.
God is Almighty, Creator of all things, and a God of Love. He could have left man, including you and me, to have eternal death because of man’s sin. But His love continued to work His plan so that Jesus could eventually come into the earth and deliver us from ourselves.
Abraham, Abraham, you did it again! This is the second time Old Abe let his wife go into a harem to save his own skin. Not very chivalrous. We don’t hear much about Sarah’s faith in these chapters, but I’m sure she was praying. (I Peter 3:5 says that she was submissive to Abraham, but her hope was in God. So she must have been praying). Anyway, God once again supernaturally worked her release from the king.
Then Isaac was finally born. After all those years, when it was totally impossible for Sarah and Abraham to have a child, it happened.
Doesn’t that stimulate your faith? Are there things which God promised you years ago?Things which haven’t happened yet and seem impossible? Don’t stop believing!!
Matthew 8:1-17
Jesus shows us that healing is truly part of His plan of salvation.
When the leper comes and says, “Lord, if you are willing, make me clean.” Jesus quickly responds, “I am willing.” and the leper is made clean. And he continues to heal the centurion’s servant and Peter’s mother.
Then many are brought to Him and he heals them all.
As we are going through the four gospel books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), I want you to notice something with me. I know of no time when Jesus refused to heal people. Everyone who came to Him for healing received it. In verse 16 we just read that when people brought all of their sick, He healed them all.
You might say, well why then today are not all healed?
I can’t speak for everyone, but I can for myself. I know that there have been times in my walk with God when my faith has been high, and I have experienced noteworthy, quick healings. And there have been times when my faith was compromised, and I didn’t.
Our society is so intellect-conscious, we want to reason everything out. We want to look around and develop our doctrine from what we see. If we see a wonderful Christian who meets an early death from disease, then we want to believe that was God’s plan.
I personally want to develop a faith which is beyond reason and “looking around.” I want to look at God’s Word and let that be my light. If my life is not measuring up to what I see in the Word, then I want to be corrected – not try to correct the Word.
I’ve tried to be an intellectual (in my early adult years) and I’ve tried to be a believer. I’ve found that being a believer is better!
So I salute the believer in all of us!
Blessings,
Suellen
PS Bird photography is by Mickey Estes http://www.mickeyestes.com
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Genesis 16-18
Uh-oh!! There’s about to be trouble in Canaan!
Abram acted just like we do sometimes. Have you ever had a promise from God and then tried to “force it to happen” by your own planning? I have. And it doesn’t work that way. When God says he is going to do something, He is perfectly capable of bringing it to pass.
Abram knew that God had said he was going to have an heir, but he thought that Sarai couldn’t conceive. So he took his wife’s advice and decided to have a son by her maid, Hagar. Big mistake. That’s not what God meant.
So Abram had Ishmael and created contention between Sarai and Hagar. God still protected Hagar and her son. Then He said something which may seem strange, but if you think about it, you will recognize that spirit in the middle east today. God said that Ishmael will be a “wild man; his hand shall be against every man and every man’s hand against him.”(Gen. 16:12). Think about that.
Another 13 years went by, and Abram was 99 years old. Once again, God appears to Abram and offers a covenant. If Abram will walk with God and continue to be faithful, there will be great blessings upon him. He will have many descendants – and His covenant will continue throughout Abram’s lineage.
Then God up’s the ante. He says for Abram to circumcise himself, his children, and every male of his household as a sign of the covenant. So God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “Father of Many Nations.” And He changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, which means “Beautiful Princess.”
As this special covenant continues to develop, God finds it necessary to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Their evil had increased to epic proportions. (In all of these dealings, remember that God’s intentions were not to destroy, but to save his righteous people. The influence of evil can destroy the world, so God judged them for the sake of His people.
Since He is in covenant with Abraham, God tells him His plan. Then Abraham tries to intercede for the city where his nephew Lot lives. He says, “Would you destroy it if you find fifty righteous?” God says, “No.” Then Abraham continues to wind down to 10. And God said He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if He found 10 righteous people.
Think what a close walk Abraham had with God. It had been 25 years since God had called him to leave his homeland. There had been promises many times, and the covenant had been developing over the years. Abraham wasn’t perfect (no man is), but to the best of his ability, he remained faithful to God and their relationship increased as time went on.
Do you see yourself in these pages? I hope so.
Matthew 7
Jesus is still introducing this new Kingdom to the people, and boy, does it sound strange to many. Yet they were hanging on every word. There was really something unusual about this Man.
One of the most significant principles of the new Kingdom is that we decide our outcome. “With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”(7:2) There is a law of God which says that we decide “how much we receive back.” My husband calls this the Law of Measure. You want a teaspoonful of love? Give out a teaspoonful. Do you want a truckload? Give a truckload.
This doesn’t necessarily happen the next day, but over a lifetime, you will see patterns. You will see certain people who seem to have great favor. Take a look at what they have given out.
Then Jesus takes this a step further. He says what you continue to seek, you will find. If you continue to ask, seek, and knock for a closer walk with God, it will be given unto you.
Do you want to be really close to God? You will be in the minority. Don’t look for the path everyone is walking down; look for the way God is showing you. If you really want a close walk, you can’t just let the crowd persuade you, you have to have your own conviction about your life. It may seem hard sometimes, but the reward is tremendous!
When my son was a little boy, he had a t- shirt which I loved. On the front were some colorful fish swimming upward. And on the back it said, “Any Dead Fish Can Float Down Stream. Go Against The Flow.” Sometimes we do have to do just that if we are to walk closely with God.
The chapter winds up with another admonition. It’s not enough to “hear the word.” We have to “do it.” Many people may listen. They may memorize scripture and be able to recite it on the spot. However, if they are not “doing” what they know, they are not truly disciples of the Lord.
The stakes are high, aren’t they? He is looking for people who are truly His. I want to be in that crowd, and I know that you do too!
Blessings,
Suellen
P.S. This photograph was taken by Mickey Estes Photography http://www.mickeyestes.com
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Today we move into some rich territory. So let’s get started.
Genesis 10-12
Begat, begat, begat. That seems to be the mantra when we take first glance. We must remind ourselves that God is a covenant-keeping God. In the 3rd chapter of Luke, the lineage of Jesus goes all the way back to these times, and you can see who His ancestors were. (When you are praying for your children, this attitude of God should be very comforting. He will pursue your children because of His covenant with you)!
In chapter 11, we see the story of the tower of Babel. These humanists said, “We can build a tower to the sky.” (You see that same spirit today; in fact it’s always been around.)
We need to take note of what God said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.”
He confused their language so that they couldn’t agree on their project. But the concept is true for righteous causes too.
He wants those who are His to agree with each other so that His plans can be accomplished. “And nothing shall be withheld from us.”
Chapter 12 introduces Abram and Sarai. We could write volumes about the father and mother of our faith.
Let’s be sure to think for a moment about the fact that God spoke to this man to leave his family and his country. In those days, travel was very difficult and time consuming. When they left their land, Abraham knew that he would not return there. This was for good. All that was familiar to them would be gone forever.
Even though he was 75 years old, Abram obeyed God and did exactly as he was told. Then God showed him the land of Canaan and said that this land would be given to his descendants. So Abram was doing all of this for his heirs, not even himself.
Would you be that willing and obedient if God spoke to you to do something hard? Think about it.
Matthew 5
This is the first chapter of what is called the Sermon On The Mount. Jesus sits on the side of a mountain, with many people around, and begins to introduce some very new concepts.
It may seem like bits and pieces of information, but there is a theme throughout. Jesus is introducing the multitudes to the Kingdom of God.
There is another Kingdom (I like to think of it as a “parallel universe”). We can choose to live in either one. If you are satisfied with the status quo, you are less likely to want to enter this new kingdom. So those who are poor in spirit, or mourn, or hunger and thirst for righteousness are the ones who will probably make the journey in the spirit.
He goes on to show that the new kingdom is not one of the law, yet the standard is higher. Under the law, you weren’t to commit adultery; under the new kingdom, you weren’t even to lust after someone. Under the law, you weren’t to kill; under the new kingdom, you weren’t even to hate anyone.
The people must have been somewhat confused, because their lives had always been directed by the Law of Moses. But they were hanging on every word. They had never heard anyone speak with such authority. This Man seemed to really know what He was talking about.
So interest was aroused in what would eventually lead to the Holy Spirit coming to live within us.
I like to meditate on these scriptures in the light of what I know now. You might like doing the same.
Blessings for a great day!
Suellen
