Genesis 33

If Jacob was still worried about how Esau would receive him, the way he split up the group clearly shows his preferences. First in the line of fire were the servant wives and their children, then Leah and her children and finally Jacob and Rachel. Yet the precautions were unnecessary as Esau greeted Jacob with a big hug. Whilst time way from each other had caused the one brother to worry over his reception, the other had come to terms with their disagreement and was no longer bitter.

Sometimes, we can worry ourselves silly over things that happen, or that we think are going to happen, and yet God has everything under his control, in His hands. We can spend a lifetime worrying over every single thing that happens to us, worrying about our jobs (or lack of a job), our homes (or lack of a home), our spouses (or lack of a spouse), our children (or lack of children), the world, the man next door, whether it will rain tomorrow or not, anything and everything. But all this ignores God in our lives, ignores the fact that each one of us believers is filled with the Holy Spirit, our comforter and guide, and that Jesus himself told us to cast all our burdens on him for his yoke is light and his burden easy.

I know I for one need to spend more time in prayer, to take all things to God, not just the big ones, or the ones that seem more important or more worrying. God knows our hearts, knows the things that make us smile, the ones that cause us pain, and through him, we can do anything. The arm of the Lord is not too short to deal with my problems, or even the problems in the world. I just need to learn to talk to Him, to take things to Him and to have en ever deepening relationship with him.

Genesis chapter 32

When Jacob last saw Esau, he had just robbed Esau of his father's blessing and was basically running to Laban to get away from Esau and save his skin. Now, many years later, he returns and is very worried about how Esau will treat him. So the first thing he does is pray to God, which kind of makes my cynicism in the last chapter look misplaced!

It is such an example as well, because how often do problems arise in life and we try and sort them out ourselves, without even mentioning them to God, let alone praying about them? And yes, I know God knows about them anyway since He knows everything about us, but that isn't the point. In any relationship there has to be two way conversation for the relationship to work. You can't be married to someone and not talk to them, you can't have children and not speak to them (imagine the chaos if you did that and let the children do what they wanted, when they wanted!!!) and in the same way, you can't have a relationship with God and not pray.

Prayer should be the first thing we do in an situation, not the one thing we do only after we have exhausted all other options and not come up with a solution ourselves. I have a habit of doing this, trying to sort everything out myself, getting all stressed and anxious, feeling like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and that no one else cares or is bothered, when all I have to do is pray, take it to God and ask Him to handle it. I have learnt that God can be trusted, no matter what the problem. I now He always answers my prayers, maybe not the way I want, maybe not at the time I want, but each one is answered, and when I have doubts, I just remember the 1,000 year rule (a 1,000 years is as a day to the Lord and a day is as a 1,000 years therefore if 1 day = 1,000 years, 14.4 minutes = 10 years!) and try to have patience.

Here, Jacob is reminding God is his promises, of how He said that Jacob would have descendants as numerous as the sand, because after all, if Esau killed Jacob, then Jacob would have no more children so would potentially never be the father of many descendants.

Gensis chapter 31

Trust again is the theme here, although I wonder just how much Jacob would have actually trusted God is things weren't getting difficult with Laban. Maybe it is me just being cynical here, but Jacob and Laban were both schemers, always trying to outwit the other, and if everything had been good between them, I just wonder whether Jacob would have upped and left as he did.
Of course, it is easy to sit here and be cynical about someone's motives, to make a judgment based on a few words as, after all, isn't that what we do a lot of the time anyway, judge people base don what they are wearing, what someone has told us, the impression we get? Here I am, questioning Jacob and his obedience to God, his motives, his reasonings, when chances are, he did listen, and he did obey and would have done exactly the same no matter what the situation between him and Laban.

We were hearing in church on Sunday about one man, a successful dairy farmer from a long line of dairy farmers, a dairy farmer who was loud, strong, and a hard worker who had a bit of a reputation in the area. He became a Christian and so did his wife, and one day, he had a prophetic word spoken over him that he was to give up ding what he loved as God has a job for him. So he sold his farm, his hers, his land and waited on God…and waited….and waited…. For three years, three years when the money ran out, he and his wife struggled to make ends meet, they became the laughing stock for having sold such a good farm and all the land and cattle. Instead of being given respect when he walked down the street, people looked at him and thought he was a fool, an idiot. Yet one night, God told him to walk down the main street of the nearest town - it was a one street town and very rough, full of bars and so on. So he did, and he saw the youth, hanging around, getting drunk, using drugs, and so on. He went back home and asked God why he'd had to do that, as he'd seen people no better off then he was (they were considering trying to restart farming at this point, things had got so bad) and God told him that he couldn't be used before now, because he didn't know what it was like to want, to need, and now, he could be used, and he was to go and start a youth ministry.

So he did just that - he asked his church (which was in a very nice area in a really nice town) for the money to rent a building in that rough town (which they gave because they knew him and trusted him) and things took off. The youth started to come to the building, and pretty soon, things were turned around, the local council came and asked him to mentor their youth workers at a very large salary (solving his financial problems!) and then a businessman came from out of the blue asking if he could donate $250,000 for use in the ministry work to be used as he saw fit. The youth in that town are coming to Christ, their lives are being turned around and great things are happening in the area.

All this because one man trusted in God.

And I have learned over the years that God can be trusted too. I may not have the experiences that man had, I may not hear God's voice telling me to go and do this, that or the other, but I get the nudges, the prompts, and every so often, I hear God speaking to me, reassuring me, comforting me. I trust in Him because I know He can be trusted, that when He says He will do something, He does it. I know He answers all my prayers, not necessarily the way I want, I have to say, but I know whatever God does for me, is for me best, because He has a plan for me, a plan for my good not for my harm, and He is with me no matter what I am doing, even though at times, I feel so very alone. Just as He was with Jacob all those years ago, even when Jacob was plotting and scheming, trying to outwit Laban.

So trust in God is a part of what and who I am, just as it became a part of Jacob, and Abraham, and all those others mentioned in Hebrews. Is it part of you?

Genesis chapter 30

The competition between Leah and Rachel, when Jacob becomes a pawn, a trophy between the two of them. I know it was the tradition on those days to have your husband sleep with your servant and then any child would be deemed to be yours, but I really wouldn't want my husband sleeping with any other woman, no matter who she was. Yet here are Leah and Rachel, trading Jacob between them and using their servants to get more children.

It is a case of not having the patience to wait on God, to trust Him to provide. Easier said than done, I now, as I sit here criticising. There are many times when I take matters into my own hands, to do what I think God wants me to without waiting to hear from him. Sometimes, it is better to just sit and wait on God, to spend time quietly in prayer rather than rush into doing something that may well be the right thing, but it might not necessarily be at the right time. I struggle to do this, as I know I have a habit of wanting to be busy, to be doing something, and I have trouble just sitting doing nothing. So this is a real lesson to me to have patience, to wait on God and not to rush in and do what I think is best. After all, God knows the big picture, He can see yesterday, today and tomorrow and He knows the right time and the right action to take.

Genesis chapter 29

Jacob is tricked into marrying Leah rather than Rachel, but is then given Rachel as a wife in return for a further seven years work.

It is ironic that Jacob, who tricked his brother out of his inheritance and blessing, is now in turn tricked himself. He now knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of trickery and he was probably not impressed. Yet Jacob abides by his word, and even though he was tricked, because he loves Rachel so much he agrees to work a further seven years for Laban.

It is hard at times to have patience. We live in a fast paced world where instant gratification is expected and taken for granted. If you want something, you take it, or you buy it, steal it, use your credit card. Instant access to whatever we want. Waiting for something is exceptional these days, and to work for something for seven years, then to be tricked and find out you have to work another seven years unheard of. Jacob does all this without complaining, he doesn't moan and grumble, mutter under his breath about how deceitful some people are, and how he has already worked his fingers to the bone for seven long years so why should he have to work another seven years when he was promised Rachel as his wife. No, Jacob just gets on with life, accepts what Laban is offering, spends a week's honeymoon with Leah and then marries Rachel and works the extra seven years. I don't know as I would have had that much forbearance or patience. I mean, if you had worked long and hard for seven years, would you have just sat there and agreed to work another seven long, hard years when you had been tricked into marrying the wrong sister without bearing a grudge, or harbouring some ill feeling towards Laban?

This all shows the importance of having patience, of trusting in God no matter what and the importance of being honest and truthful in all our dealings, whether it is with God, family, friends or strangers, and in keeping our promises. Not always an easy thing to do in this day and age.

Genesis chapter 28

Esau overhears Rebekah and Isaac discussing Jacob and the Canaanite women and he realises, how upset his parents were at his choice of wives. So to please his parents, he marries one of the daughters of Abrahams's son, Ishmael.

I wonder though, why it took Esau so long to realise this - after all, surely he knew from the things Isaac and Rebekah had said and done over the years that they did not approve of the Canaanites? Maybe he was so enamoured of each of his wives that he married them regardless of what his parents thought. Maybe he was more concerned with his own wants and desires than in respecting his parents wishes and it was not until he actually overheard Rebekah and Isaac talking that he fully appreciated what he had done.

Esau's third marriage is, to me, somewhat like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. After all, Esau could not undo his marriages, the two wives were there living with him and the rest of the family, and now he has a third wife to contend with. But then, don't we all do this? When we do something wrong, we try and put it right in the simplest and quickest way, but this is not necessarily what God would have us do, or at least not in the way we try to do it.

It is easy to carry on our lives regardless of others, giving no consideration to what they are thinking or feeling, how they are reacting to the things we have done or said. Then when we find out we have hurt them disappointed them to try a quick fix to out things right. But as believers, we have a responsibility here on earth to live our lives as God would have us live them, to be an example of the love of Jesus and to be his disciples. Everything we do is liable to be held up to scrutiny by others when they know we are a Christian. I know my children and husband watch the things I do and say, and they will pull me up if they think I am not behaving as a Christian should - which is both a help and a hindrance! It keeps me on my toes, but means I must always be aware of what I am doing or saying, of how my behaviour will effect others and whether or not I am really displaying the love of Christ when I get cross and crabby or moan and grumble. I'll admit, there are times I would do or say something I shouldn't but the knowledge that my children are watching stops me. Yet I know God is always watching too, whether my children are there or not, but there are times when I ignore God, when I just go ahead and do what I want rather than what I should do but He always gives me a nudge, and brings it to my attention. And I should be giving God the priority here, knowing that He is always there watching me, caring for me, and putting Him first in my life.

Genesis chapter 27

Rebekah overhears what Isaac says to Esau, and takes matters into her own hands. Even though God has said that Jacob will be the leader of his people, she decides to help matters along, and gets Jacob to pretend to be Esau to get the blessing Isaac is going to bestow on Esau. As for Jacob, he is more concerned about getting caught than in the wrongness of the situation in lying to his father and stealing his brother's blessing.


But the same is true of each one of us at times. How often do we do something that is perhaps not quite right, not ethical, maybe not even legal, yet it is a shortcut to get where we want to be or to have what we want? In my line of work , accountancy, there are times when it would be easy to cut corners, to do something that perhaps isn't right, yet I know that my professional reputation is so important, that if clients knew I would bend the rules, put something through as an allowable expense when it is not, then sooner or later, it would all come crumbling down around me. I'm not saying I'm perfect, because I know all too often I lose my temper, get impatient, cross, am lazy, idle at times, and do many other things I know are not right. I know God is working on me, changing me into a better person, even though it must be an uphill struggle for Him at times!


I think what the book of Genesis is teaching me this time around more than anything is trusting in God and getting my heart right with Him. The people I am reading about - Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah and so on - are held up as men and women of faith and yet so often when they had a choice, they made the wrong one, they relied on their own instincts rather than trusting in God. I know I often do the very same thing, but the great comfort is that through the sacrifice of Jesus, I have been put right with God, despite all the times when I make the wrong choice or decision, when I choose to rely on my own abilities, my own resources, rather than trusting in God and leaving things in His hands.

Genesis chapter 26

Two things here struck me.

Firstly, this is about trusting God. The chapter starts off with the Lord telling Isaac to avoid Egypt and go live where He tells him and then He will bless Isaac because Abraham, Isaac's father, obeyed the Lord and kept his commandments. Isaac here followed the example of his father, and he trusted in God. As a result, his crops harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, because God blessed him, even though there was a severe famine.

Secondly, Isaac repeats exactly the same thing that Abraham did - he claims that Rebekah is his sister just as Abraham told others that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. I reckon he learned of this from Abraham, or at least got to know that his father had used this excuse.

There is an advert on the radio here at the moment which talks about how if you cross the road whilst using the mobile phone, if you go through a red light when driving, and other things, then your child will copy you. It is so true. The times I have seen my children do something and I know it is because they have seen me or my husband do the very same thing. To me, this is a warning to try and live my life in such a way that my children will see me do nothing bad, nothing that is wrong. I am very often unsuccessful in this, but I would hate for my behaviour, my actions to cause my children to stumble, to do something they clearly shouldn’t, just because they saw me do it. It is such a responsibility bringing up children and yet such a blessing and a joy. Children follow the example of their parents.

And here, Isaac is following the example of his father, both the good and the bad. Yes, he is showing great faith, but he is also showing that often he relies on his own wits rather than turning to God. That such an example today, as you can clearly see both Abraham and Isaac mess up at times, go their own way and get it wrong yet they are both such men of faith. But their hearts were right with God, and when your heart is right with God, everything else falls into place, no matter how much you may mess up your life.

Where does the time go?

Well, real life in the form of tax returns and accounts took over and then after the tax return filing deadline, I was exhausted! However, I really need to get back into a routine of reading my bible and journalling, so am going to try and catch up with all the posts I should have made since my last one.

I will be posting the rest of my comments on Genesis and Exodus here, and then wait and see how things turn out then.

Back in a bit with chapter 26.