Weak People & Frail Times...

We instinctively assume that it’s the strong that bolsters the weak. Similarly we assume that it’s the days of overflow that buoy's the days of challenge. However, in God’s economy that doesn’t seem to be precisely true.
“Moses answered God, Look – the Israelites won’t even listen to me. How do you expect Pharaoh to? And besides, I stutter”. ~Ex. 6:12
Moses leadership had just taken a credibility hit. He told the Hebrews God had sent him to rescue them. But instead they were beaten for laziness. Pharaoh was angry at them and they were angry at Moses. Moses too was frustrated that his meeting with Pharaoh didn’t go better. Moses went to his tent in total despair. But God spoke again to Moses and reassured him that all was on track and that he was indeed the man to lead them out. So Moses stepped out of his tent to encourage the Hebrew leaders. But they wouldn’t even listen to him. They were too despondent from their latest beating to even hear Moses words. They walked away on Him. If Moses was low before, he was doubly depressed now. It was then Moses uttered the words above. All he could see was weakness. The Hebrew people…weak. Moses performance to date…weak. His stuttering problem made him appear…weak. In his wildest dreams he couldn’t see why this proposal should continue. But it did continue. In fact, it succeeded & succeeded huge. Within 30 days they would be a free people. God just loves to create stories starring WEAK PEOPLE AND FRAIL TIMES. ~verlon

Twist On The God-Trail...

Following Christ provides the most interesting experiences of our lives. Some have held their Christianity as a back-burner thing, and forever miss the twists and turns as Christ’s will works His likeness ever deeper into their lives. But others have made the ways of Christ first and foremost in their days. In so doing, they’ve walked the path to freedom numerous times and they’ve learned some surprising things. For instance when we follow Christ to new heights, things tend to get worse before they get better.
“Moses went back to God and said, My master, why are you treating this people so badly? From the moment I came to speak in your name, things have only gotten worse for this people. And rescue? Does this look like rescue to you?” ~Ex. 5:22-23
Moses was following God’s instructions to the tee. He went to the Hebrew leaders and told them of God’s rescue plans, just like God told him to say it. He then asked Pharaoh to take the people out to the wilderness to worship God for three days, just like God instructed. I don’t know what Moses was expecting Pharaoh to say, but he didn’t take it well. Instead he yelled at the task-masters to beat the Hebrew slaves cruelly and double their work. The foreman came to Moses angry and cursed him for making trouble for them. The above verse was Moses lament to God. This was before he’d learned the lesson that the path to freedom usually gets worse at first, then rescue. Have you learned that common TWIST ON THE GOD-TRAIL? ~verlon

What's God Asking From You?...

We have great capacity to generate doubts. Doubt occurs when we see that our resources are less than the need. But anything God would ever ask us to do is reliant on resources beyond what we can see, so we doubt. I don’t think God is too frustrated with us, but He does need us to get it worked out in our heads so we will trust Him to step in when our resources run out. Here’s how the doubt to trust journey played out for Mo...
“Moses objected, they won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. So God said, what’s that in your hand? A staff, Moses said. Throw it on the ground. He threw it. It became a snake.” ~Exodus 4:1-3
Moses was only a shell of his former polished self. When he ran from Pharaoh all those years ago, he left behind the strong and educated and confident man and adopted the image of a drop-out on the run. Going from a ‘ruler in waiting’ to a ‘shepherd’ really affected him. He actually developed a stutter. So you can see why he was full of objections all these years later when being called back into nation-leading. He had a litany of them. I only listed a couple above. The surrounding verses have him going on and on with one doubt after another. It was then God turned Mo’s rod into a snake. In that moment he got quite a lesson, that his resources weren’t what was going to make all this happen. God was bringing the big game. God just needed a few things from Mo, like his walking stick for starters. Wow! So WHAT’S GOD ASKING FROM YOU? ~verlon

The God Who Sends...

It’s easy to get carried away with the thought that we are in charge of our life. The fact that we live in America is a constant reminder of our individual freedom. Added to that is how the routines of our day reinforce that we are our own boss. We get up each morning, think through what we need to do that day, and with no further accountability we charge into our schedules doing exactly what we want. Is there a place where God could ever interrupt our plans to have us fulfill some of His plans?
“I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land. It’s time for you to go back. I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the people of Israel, out of Egypt.” ~Exodus 3:8,10
Though Moses had a university education in ‘nation-ruling’, circumstances turned sour for him. That was years ago. Now he tended sheep, and had been doing so for many years. The routines of his new life had now been well established, well until the bush thing happened. On that ‘bush’ day God spoke to Moses. The above verse was the summation of that conversation. Lets look at Moses’ experience that day; God showed up in a weird way(burning bush), interrupted Moses’ routine(watching sheep), and called him to lead Israel out of Egypt. This is an amazing story, but it’s not out of character for God to do this. He is God. He is the creator. He has redemption plans in play. He is still THE GOD WHO SENDS! ~verlon

An Inward Burning Vision...

Vision is a many splendored thing. It is the ability to see something in the imagination that isn’t occurring in the real world yet. It comes in all forms. In this way man has built everything that has been built and advanced in every way that we’ve advanced. God loves to enter the lives of men via visions…
“When she couldn’t hide him any longer she got a little basket boat made of papyrus, waterproofed it with tar and pitch, and placed the child in it. then she set it afloat in the reeds at the edge of the Nile.” ~Exodus 2:3
This is such an unexpected time for God to enter a story via a vision. The Egyptian soldiers were under orders to kill all the male newborns in the Hebrew camp. This young mother grieved at what was about to befall her. But she began to imagine a little boat floating in the reeds with her baby in it. So she went to work and meticulously made such a boat out of a large basket so it would float just as she envisioned it. She didn’t know what would happen, she was only following the picture in her imagination. She didn’t know that God was going to use her vision to orchestrate some divine events. She didn’t know that Pharaoh’s daughter would find him. She didn’t know that she would be able to nurse her own baby for pay. She didn’t know that God needed her son to be educated in nation-ruling so he could rescue the Hebrew people one day. She just acted on AN INWARD BURNING VISION and hoped for the best. Can you do that? ~verlon

Increase...

The people of God are a very resilient people. It has been proven in history that we can handle all kinds of troubles and yet maintain our stride. This legacy is seeded very deep in our history.
“The people continued to increase in number – a very strong people.” ~Exodus 1:20
Years after Joseph’s generation died the children of Israel were thriving in the land of Egypt. They were building their families and increasing their herds at a rate far faster than their hosts. In fact, it became alarming to the Egyptians to see such blessing on these outsiders. So they devised a plot to make slaves out of Israel and treat them harshly, thinking it would slow down their energy to increase their families and build their herds. But nothing changed. Then the Egyptians plotted to kill all the male children during childbirth. The above verse is written after that second diabolical plot failed. The Israelites kept increasing. Through history ‘increase favor’ has resided with the people of God. It is referred to by some as ‘redemptive lift’. There is one suppressive story in history that much can be learned. In Russia in 1918, the communists made it illegal for the Christians to serve the poor, take care of the widows, or provide for orphans as they had done for centuries. Within 70 years, the Christian church in Russia became irrelevant and non-existent. This suppression effort worked because Lenin cut our life-line. Our strength is in our serve. Providing ‘redemptive lift’ for others is what creates INCREASE for us. ~verlon

Those Same Plans...

God’s will continues to be a mystery to us for several reasons. His desire that we follow His plans closely is a challenge to our self-will. And then the kinds of paths He chooses are a challenge to our intellect. He so loves the humble paths. Then of course the way He communicates with us is so varied that it forever challenges us to deepen our listening ear. But there is perhaps another part of God’s will that is most challenging of all…
“Then the brothers went in person to him, threw themselves on the ground before him and said, we’ll be your slaves. Joseph replied, don’t be afraid. Don’t you see you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now – life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear.” ~Gen. 50:18-20
After their fathers death, the brothers got to talking and suspecting that Joseph would now retaliate for what they had done to him. After all, retaliation is the human way. Well at least it was their way. They were so fearful they offered themselves as slaves to Joseph to appease him. But as amazing as it sounds, Joseph didn’t need appeasing. Rather he had divine insight. He could see that God’s hand had puppeted the events of his life, even his brothers cruelty. This is a very challenging truth to be grasped about God’s will; Can we willingly accept seasons when evil intentions are pressed against us, because we trust that our God is re-wiring THOSE SAME PLANS to bless us? ~verlon

The Heritage of Strength...

I am convinced that most Christians don’t realize the strength that resides in them. We have spent so much time looking to our personalities, knowledge and learned skill’s that we vaguely realize there is another source of strength altogether…
“You’re a lion’s cub, Judah, home fresh from the kill, my son. Look at him, crouching like a lion, king of beasts; who dares mess with him? The scepter shall not leave Judah; he’ll keep a firm grip on the command staff until the ultimate ruler comes…” ~ Gen. 49:9-10
Jacob was now seemingly hours from his death. He called together all 12 of his sons to give them their final blessing. Looking back at Jacob’s words from what actually happened in their lives I would have to say this was more prophecy than blessing. His words came true with amazing accuracy in all of their futures. I take special interest in the blessing he gave to his 4th son, Judah. He spoke into him a strength that was comparable to a lion. He pressed the blessing further by saying that Judah’s kind of strength would be a dominant strength, the kind no one could overcome. He then gave the first prophecy’s about Christ by saying an ‘ultimate ruler’ would come from Judah. Other scripture picked up on this title and referred to the Lord as, ‘Lion of Judah’(Hos. 5:14; Rev. 5:5). Here’s my grand point; when we invite Jesus to live in lives, we are inviting His ‘lion-like’ nature to actually reside in our very person. That’s a huge source of inner power! Think of THE HERITAGE OF STRENGTH that is ours to express! ~verlon

The Shepherd Relationship...

True spirituality is rather humbling. It actually degrades our self-dependence with every step we take toward Christ. We are all on a journey to becoming more dependant upon Him. Some truly struggle with Christianity for this very reason. But our Lord isn’t referred to as ‘Shepherd’ for nothing…
“The God who has been my shepherd all my lifelong to this very day, the Angel who delivered me from every evil, bless the boys.” ~Gen. 48:15
This was Jacob’s words of blessings to his grandsons. Jacob, the aged patriarch of the family was only days from dying. So Joseph brought his boys to be blessed by their grandfather before his death. The words of Jacob’s blessing over the boys captures something very great that he’d learned in his sojourn with God. The all important lesson he’d embraced and wanted to pass along was that God had been a ‘shepherd’ to him. That was the meaningful legacy he wanted to pass on to the next generations. As my father was nearing the end of his days I started to hear his summations too. I heard it again in the words of Melodee’s aging father two weeks ago. Fathers feel a need to ‘break it down’, to separate out the truly important things from the fray, and press them into the hearts of their children before they depart the earth. This was Jacob’s version of that. Can we hear the importance in his voice and embrace his final message? Can we enter into THE SHEPHERD RELATIONSHIP with Christ? ~verlon

In A Famine With Plenty...

We fear hard times. When our job isn’t going well we visualize losing it and our life going completely down the drain within days. When things get tight financially we visualize not being able to make some payments and feel the shame of having it taken away. In the great depression the unemployment rate was 18%. Most economists rate today’s unemployment at 17%, only 1% lower. Does this seem as bad as what you envisioned the ‘great depression’ to be? I know today's crisis is not a perfect comparison, but here’s my point; fear-oriented visions are far worse than the actual events…if they even happen.
“Joseph took good care of them – his father and brothers and all his father’s family, right down to the smallest baby. He made sure they had plenty of everything.” ~Gen. 47:12
This was one of the great famines of all times. And yet the family of Jacob was being taken care of in a most unlikely way. They didn’t plan for a famine with sustained savings…but God did. They didn’t lay aside great rainy day funds…but they ended up in the land of Goshen being taken care of from the Pharaoh’s own bounty. Wow, now that’s a creative provision. Some add guilt to their financial stress for not making a better plan. But better plans are not always possible. The wise learn to make peace with their challenges from a different angle than guilt. Here’s the truth beneath all other truths; God is still the great provider who loves us! And under His care it’s more likely than not that we will find ourselves IN A FAMINE WITH PLENTY. ~verlon

Listening For Action...

Good communication is a two-way straight street in any relationship. In fact, it’s actually a 4 lane street as 4 different actions must take place. One person speaking clearly, the other person listening intently, then the other person responding clearly, while the first person listens intently. These same activities are needed in our verbal relationship with God too.
“God spoke to Israel in a vision that night, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ ‘Yes? I’m listening’… ‘Don’t be afraid of going down to Egypt’.” ~Gen. 46:2-3
Jacob was understandably concerned. God had made it plain that He was going to give the land of Canaan to Jacob’s family line. And now it seems that everyone is packing up and heading off to a place where they can find food. Jacob needed the same God who showed up in the night and promised Canaan to show up again and assure him that this was OK. Jacob had a history of night visions from the Lord. That’s when he and God seemed to talk the best. And this night was another one of those ‘deep talks’. I take special notice of Jacob’s words, ‘yes…I’m listening’. The word ‘listening’ had a slightly different meaning for Jacob than it does for us. The word ‘listening’ in scripture comes from the same root as ‘obedience’. That is not true in English. For us listening and obeying are two separate actions. But for eastern peoples their version of listening was more intent because an action was always expected to follow. It was all one fluid involvement. I wonder how LISTENING FOR ACTION would affect us? ~verlon

Save Lives...

We ascribe many motivations to God. Some suppose He is deeply interested in holiness. Others have the idea that God shows up when big things need to be done. Still others believe that God intervenes only when He is moved with compassion. I suppose all the above are true to a point, but there seems to be a very basic thing that consistently moves God to action…
“I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t feel badly, don’t blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives.” ~Genesis 45:4-5
Joseph finally revealed himself to his brothers. It was an emotional meeting to be sure. His brothers couldn’t believe that the one they sold as a slave was now one of the most powerful men in Egypt and in control of their futures. There comes a time when we are forced to look behind the veil of the natural world and embrace the fact that God has been at work. And this really hard to do for some. It’s just so unbelievable. When you sell someone into slavery, they just don’t become the 2nd in command in the whole land. You can struggle to line up the ‘cause and effects’ you’ve learned to be normal, but they just won’t line up. That’s God at work again, doing the amazing with the unlikely. There is one overriding activity with which God throws himself into completely. He so loves His creation that He re-arranges the natural events in unnatural ways all for the purpose of SAVING LIVES. Ours and those around us. ~verlon

The Strong God...

What image of God do we hold in our hearts? Do we honestly believe in the ‘strength of God’? It’s perhaps easy for us to toss around the idea of His strength in discussions, but when we are facing a really tough situation, I wonder if we don’t waffle in our confidence of His raw strength…
“If it has to be, it has to be…And may the Strong God give you grace in that man’s eyes…” ~Genesis 43:11,14
The famine got worse and Jacob told his sons to go back to Egypt and buy more grain. The boys reminded him they couldn’t go back unless they had Benjamin with them, that’s what the man in charge insisted upon. This scared Jacob. He already thought he’d lost Joseph and didn’t want to lose another young son. But the threat of starvation drove him to send Benjamin with them. When we view this story we can clearly see God’s plan. Jacob didn’t have that privilege. He didn’t know that Joseph was alive and was the man they were dealing with. He didn’t know God had planted Joseph to sustain them through the draught. He didn’t know they were being included in a huge story of blessing. To him it just felt like potential loss. But he summoned his confidence in the ‘strength of God’ and blessed the day. Wow! This is a great lesson of faith. We too don’t see God hand in our story as it evolves. We too can’t know how we are being written into a story of huge blessing. But can we follow the faith of the fathers and summons our confidence in THE STRONG GOD and bless the day? ~verlon

Remember A Dream...

Has the Lord ever given you a dream? Perhaps it was his voice speaking to you in the night, or during a prayer time, or maybe even as you read scripture or listened to a sermon. What became of that dream? If you’re like most, it probably faded. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a real vision of your future…
“Joseph was running the country, he was the one who gave our rations to all the people. When Joseph’s brothers arrived, they treated him with honor, bowing to him. Joseph recognized them immediately…Joseph, remembering the dreams he had dreamed of them.” ~Genesis 42:6,9
Years earlier Joseph told his brothers of a re-occurring dream he was having. But it enraged his brothers and caused them to sell him into slavery to be rid of him. I am quite sure that many 13 years in prison and enslavement drained this God-vision from him. But now he had been miraculously lifted by God to save the many peoples of the Mediterranean basin from starvation. On this day, he watched a group of shepherds bow before him and request food to keep their family alive. But when they arose, it was his very own brothers that stood before him. The same ones who had sold him into slavery. The same ones he had dreamed about as bowing before him. In that moment he remembered his dream, and in an instant his sordid life made sense. His life was on track with God’s plans after-all. It was all very moving for him. Do you need to REMEMBER A DREAM? ~verlon

Days Of Famine...

DAYS OF FAMINE…There have always been droughts upon the earth. They don’t come in annual rhythms like the seasons, so we tend to be surprised when they show up. But God has ordained the days of famine just as the days of plenty. There are lessons to be learned then!
“Then Egypt’s seven good years came to an end and the seven years of famine arrived, just as Joseph had said. All countries experienced famine, Egypt was the only country that had bread.” ~Gen. 41:53-54
Joseph found himself center stage in one of the world’s worst droughts. And that brings us to the first lesson; God uses people in days of famine that had been set on the shelf previously. Joseph was rushed out of prison, cleaned up and marched right into Pharaoh to interpret his dream. With instant divine wisdom Joseph forecasted the coming drought and what to do about it. And that brings us to the second lesson; God always makes a way for his people to outlast famines. Believe it or not, Egypt was God’s plan to keep the entire Mediterranean basin alive. The Egyptians saw themselves as superior to everyone else in that day. How interesting that God chose them to become the ‘welfare department’ of the region. We must be ready for God to use unexpected people and unusual circumstances to supply our lack. But the greatest surprise was Pharaoh himself. On the basis of a Hebrew prisoners interpretation of a dream, he rewired the entire government of Egypt in a day. Wow! Lesson three; Keep your eyes open because amazing things happen in DAYS OF FAMINE! ~verlon

Forgotten...

How long has it been since you’ve been forgotten? We help someone get a promotion, and they skate on up without even saying thank you. We do something sacrificial for a friend or family member and they just expect it again, never seeming to notice our need. Sound familiar?
“Only remember me when things are going well with you again. Tell Pharaoh about me and get me out of this place. I’ve done nothing to deserve being put in this hole…But the head cupbearer never gave Joseph another thought, he forgot all about him.” ~Gen.40:14,15,23
Joseph was forgotten again. This time in prison. The king got angry at two of his servants and sent them to the jail where Joseph was. As they ate breakfast Joseph noticed they looked shaken. He found out they both had disturbing dreams the night before. Joseph explained that God was great interpreter, and as he listened to their dreams God gave Joseph the meaning. Within three days, exactly what Joseph predicted came true. As one of them was leaving the prison to be restored to the king Joseph uttered what we’ve all uttered, ‘please don’t forget me’. But in all the excitement of getting his position back with the king, the cupbearer did forget. For 2 years he forgot about it. But then Pharaoh had a disturbing dream, and in a day Joseph was needed in a higher place. I do not understand timing, but I have observed that God needs everyone in higher places sooner or later. He simply won’t allow one of His own to remain FORGOTTEN! ~verlon

As It Turns Out...

It’s human nature to fear the unknown. And of course, whenever there is fear there is exaggeration. How many times have you mentally played out a future scenario of things to come, only to get there and find out you were completely wrong? The bad futures we tend to predict for ourselves often turn out to be quite pleasant. Such was the story of Joseph’s enslavement…
“As it turned out, God was with Joseph and things went very well with him.” ~Gen.39:2
If there was ever a story that give hope when things are looking ugly, Joseph’s life would be it. He was attacked by his brothers and sold as a slave. But ‘as it turned out’, he was blessed beyond all expectations and even honored by his master. Then the masters wife accused Joseph of rape and got him thrown in jail. But ‘as it turned out’, the jailer immediately realized God had blessed Joseph and put him in charge of the jail and allowed him many freedoms. Then God gave Joseph the exact interpretation to a dream to one of the king’s servants that was in jail, but when he was released, just as Joseph told him would happen, he forgot about the Hebrew slave. But ‘as it turned out’, Pharaoh himself starting having a reoccurring dream, and at that moment the servant remember about Joseph. In a day he was rushed from prison to become the 2nd in command of all Egypt. The point? God uses tough spots to steer us toward new blessings…AS IT TURNS OUT. ~verlon

Stepping Stones...

Everyone has a future. We all get that. What we struggle with is how we are to get from here to there. If we were able to write the script for our lives, we would work out perfectly formed steps all lined up in sequential order. But God seems to really enjoy using half measures, wrong directions and random chaos to get us into our futures. We see it again in Joseph’s life…
“By that time the Midianite traders were passing by. His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt.” ~Gen.37:28
Joseph had a charmed life. He was the favorite son, had the cushy job and he had big dreams. His brothers hated him for it. To us this could spell only trouble. But to God, whose plans called for Joseph to end up in Egypt, this jealously was an opportunity. Sure enough, one day that jealously spilled over into evil. The brothers saw Joseph coming into the field, and in a moment chaos was afoot. They quickly hatched a plan to get rid of him, ripped off his coat and soaked it in blood to convince their dad of an animal attack, they threw Joseph into a well, they saw traders on their way to Egypt, on the spot they decided to sell him, and they walked away feeling free of their great irritation. It all looks so random, so chaotic, so vile, so out-of-control, doesn’t it. But in all of that jealously, evil action and reaction, God was at work lining up some more of His famous STEPPING STONES. ~verlon

Remember...

Our ideas about God have been formed from scripture and our life experiences. But there is one problem with this…we tend to sanitize certain things in scripture and employ selective memory from our histories. It’s easier to hold to the comfortable memories, and flush the dicey ones. But somehow, we need to develop a iron-grip memory of how God showed up in our worst chapters…
“God spoke to Jacob, ‘go back to Bethel, stay there, and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life…God revealed himself once again to Jacob after he had come back from when he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him.” ~Gen. 35:1,9
It had been some time since that famed mid-night wrestling match between Jacob and God on the river bank. And he was forgetting the ‘wrestle-in-the-dirt’ image of God that was revealed to him. But for some reason it was important to God that Jacob remember that robust, gritty side of the divine. There would be many moments ahead in Jacob’s life that he would need to anticipate that ‘wrestle in the dirt’ kind of God to show up. He dare not sanitize that memory and forget that rugged image. God had revealed that gritty side of Himself for a reason, so Jacob would trust Him with the rugged stuff and be less tempted to pull out his ‘grabber’ nature. Guess what? God want us to hold His ‘rugged’ image closely too. Do you need to REMEMBER the gritty God that showed up in your worst moments? ~verlon

A Generous Welcome...

We can all remember times when we found ourselves in a group of people we didn’t know, and we felt that uneasy feeling that they were all just staring at us. That’s not fun. Some people are very good at melting away the stranger stigma very quickly. But others seem to use that ‘stranger’ feeling to keep distance from others for their personal reasons. They even pull out the ‘stranger’ thing on their friends when they are unhappy with them. Every person in the world shares a need for warm inclusion. Listen to Jacob’s expression of this when he met his brother Esau, whom he’d wronged, for the first time in 20 years…
“Esau said, ‘let me at least lend you some of my men’. ‘There is no need’, said Jacob. ‘Your generous welcome is all I need or want’. So Esau set out that day and made his way back to Seir.” ~Gen. 32:22-24
This captures a very great and deep human need. We all long to see a welcoming expression and feel a warm acceptance from the people around us. Even if we know we don’t deserve it. There have been many studies on this topic in recent decades that reveal it’s impossible for a person to stay emotionally healthy by themselves. The technical term for this is ‘the limbic open-system’. In other words, every system in our body is self-reliant, except our emotional system. God hard-wired us that way at creation. It is what insures the continuance of society. What everyone around you deeply longs for is A GENEROUS WELCOME!…Over and over again. ~verlon

By Yourself...

We all appreciate friends and companions in this life. And while there is great value in having a cadre of support around us, there are some things we must do alone.
“But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions. But Jacob stayed behind by himself." ~Gen. 32:22-24
Jacob was in a sore spot. He had cheated his brother out of the paternal blessing and the birthright, and ran away. That was 20 years ago. And now Jacob is heading back to his home town, with all the wives and children and flocks he’d amassed. It was time to face the brother he had wronged. His servants reported to him that his brother was riding furiously toward him with 400 men and would reach them the next day. Perhaps that would be a great time to be surrounded by some good friends, but Jacob needed something much deeper than humanity could offer. So he left them on one side of the river, and went alone into the night to meet with God. It was an epoch meeting for Jacob, as his cheater nature had to be wrestled away under divine oversight. But by morning, he was a changed man. God even changed his name to mark the new chapter. We have times in our lives too when we need to wrestle away our lesser natures too and replace it with Christ-like-ness. This is not a time for friends, it’s a meeting in the night that you schedule and attend BY YOURSELF. ~verlon

Not Fair...

There are many things about life that aren’t fair. There are many people we encounter that when we need them to watch out for our interest, they just don’t. Tom Peters says, ‘the thing I like about life is it’s so totally absurd’. That makes me laugh. If we don’t laugh at the absurdities, the ‘no-shows’ of people will drive us nuts. Yet in the face of these inequities there is a God that pays attention…
“For 20 years I’ve done this; I slaved away 14 years for your two daughters and another 6 years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless. But God saw the fix I was in…” ~Gen. 31:40-42
In short, Jacob was being treated unfairly by his father-in-law. He could have got all wrapped up in the frustration of it, but he just endured it. In so doing he learned a valuable life lesson. He saw that God was working to bless him even though his father-in-law wasn’t. This a lesson we all need to learn. The people around us might be looking out for their own interests only, but God is faithfully focusing upon our blessing. This might come as a surprise, but you don’t need the blessing of others to walk in warmth and favor. God’s love for you is breathing blessing and favor into you every day. That leaves us with a choice, we can walk quietly in the warmth of God’s favor, or we can become sullen by everything around us that is NOT FAIR. ~verlon

Didn't Know It!

DIDN’T KNOW IT!…The Bible begins with many stories that reveal how present God is in the lives of mankind. I suppose it’s a natural starting point in the book about God to show us how to observe Him in the ebb and flow of our days. Here’s how God first taught Jacob…
“He (Jacob) took one of the stones there, set it under his head and lay down to sleep. And he dreamed. A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it…Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, God is in this place, truly. And I didn’t even know it.” Gen. 28:12,17
I like this story for several reasons. It seems that Jacob really needed to shut off the stimuli of a day’s activity before he could initially observe the presence of God. We too need to learn the value of ‘shutting out the daily noise’. But the thing I like most about Jacob’s story is his admission at the end, that God was present and he didn’t even know it. It’s a great day when we make that first discovery that God is attentive and present far more than we ever realized. After that we start looking for Him more. And to our wondrous surprise, we find Him more. We realize He is doing a great many things in our lives and watching over us morning till night. It’s a comforting discovery. May this be a year where you have many moments where you actually observe the presence of God walking in and through your life, hovering over you like Jacob’s ladder. Fact is, it’s been happening all your life, you just DIDN’T KNOW IT! ~verlon