parklinscomb

Wow, so your back again! Awesome!

Yesterday Joseph saw his brothers again for the first time in 20 years. Twenty years of wondering why they hated him that much, what kind of men they had turned out to be, how Joseph’s little brother might have fared among the older brothers, how his father must have taken the news of his “death”. Can you imagine?

And it was interesting, wasn’t it, how their guilt had persisted all those years, how they blamed and recriminated one another about it after 20 years. Guilt is a powerful thing. We do all manner of things to get rid of it: we deny it, we try to ignore it (it might just go away), we seek psychological help, we drink or drug ourselves into oblivion, we try to justify ourselves, we rationalize, etc. We do everything but confess, make amends, and seek forgiveness. There’s something to learn here.

But today’s reading is about the brothers’ second trip to Egypt for food — a trip they must make with Benjamin. Jacob was very uncomfortable with this trip; he didn’t want Benjamin to go. I wonder: did he suspected something of the other sons, or was he just was pessimistic about how losing the most precious things to him? When the brothers arrive in Egypt, Zaphenath-paneah (Joseph) sets a banquet for them and places them “suspiciously” in order of age and birthright. He took the opportunity to get to know them better (43:34), and then sent them away with grain in their sacks the next day — with a little surprise in Benjamin’s sack.

After the brothers had journeyed a short distance Joseph’s servants caught up with them and arrested them for “stealing” Zaphenath-paneah’s personal silver cup. The older brothers were stunned and thrown into great grief, because they had solemnly vowed to bring back Benjamin to their aged father. When they returned back to Zaphenath-paneah’s (Joseph’s) palace, the brothers told him the whole sad story of how affected their aged father was by Joseph’s “death” and how the blow of Benjamin’s imprisonment would surely kill him.

Zaphenath-paneah (Joseph) could hold the truth back no more (45:1) and he clears the room (possibly to spare his brothers from the embarrassment and shame of knowing the truth about the brothers’ vicious behavior toward Joseph), and reveals himself — Zaphenath-paneah became Joseph again! It had to have been a shock to the brothers — more than a shock, they had to have been terrified. But Joseph encourages them to come closer and puts the proper perspective on things for everyone — God had meant it for good.

Let me make just a couple of observations from today’s text (there are many to make, but I’ll just take on a couple). First, some may wonder why Joseph seemed to have been playing games with his brothers. He had them at a disadvantage; he knew them, they didn’t know him. He understood Hebrew, so their private communications between themselves weren’t all that private. Why did Joseph wait so long to tell them who he was? I rather suspect that it was not because he wanted to play with them vengefully, but rather that he wanted to see what sort of men they had become, if they had any remorse over what had happened, and, of course, he wanted to see his full brother Benjamin quite desperately. What he had discovered is that they had felt deep remorse, that they had become better men, and that his brother Benjamin and father Jacob were alright. Joseph was being wise not just being a wise guy — he shows good judgment, compassion, and mature insight.

Speaking of the mature insight, that special insight was that God had allowed all this to happen in order to preserve the whole family through a terrible famine.

“”Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.” Genesis 45:5-8, NAS95.

This insight and realization was probably a light-bulb going off in Joseph’s head at the time; however, when you look at the scope of Joseph’s life, he always seemed to have something extra in his attitude. He appears to be an individual who always had a sense of God’s purpose in his life — even if he didn’t know what it was, even when things really stunk, even when everything seemed to be going in the wrong (the really wrong) direction.

Wouldn’t we all be better off by being faithful in this way; keeping this sort of attitude in life? Some would call this just optimism, and there is certainly an element of optimism in this attitude, but it is more. It is knowing that God has something great planned for our lives and all we have to do is do the right thing. And by “doing the right thing,” I’m not talking about whether or not we turn left or right at the next corner, or marry this person as opposed to that one. Sometimes people get all “wound around the axle” (as the saying goes) about such details. If such details are important to the final outcome, God will take care of them — they are beyond our ability to see or know about. No — by “doing right” I’m talking about doing the moral good, obeying the command of God, taking the step of faith that God is placing in front of you, serving generously, loving our neighbors, growing in our faith, etc. If we’ll do that, we have a promise: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28, NAS95.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

I really love the story of Joseph. It grows and matures with Joseph, while keeping a wonderful thread of iron-clad faithfulness through both times of “feast and famine” (the pun is entirely intended) and crowned ultimately with reconciliation and forgiveness.

We left poor Joseph who had suffered a considerable fall from the great heights of being the “little prince” of a wealthy, nomadic herdsman family. He had been sold as a slave, had made a little progress as a slave until his master’s wife lied about him, and then had been thrown in jail. Through all of this, however, we find a common thread of Joseph’s faithfulness and good stewardship — which was in turn blessed by God. Even in jail Joseph’s good stewardship was noticed and rewarded (at least, as much as you can be rewarded in jail); he was given charge over some high-profile prisoners from Pharaoh’s court, the king’s baker and cupbearer.

One night both the baker and the cupbearer had dreams that troubled them. Ordinarily they’d probably consult a dream interpreter (common enough in ancient Egypt), but prison had sort of a short supply men with such skills. Joseph invited them to share the dreams and tells them that with God’s help he could possibly interpret them for them. The cupbearer’s dream, Joseph said, meant that he would be restored to service to the king in 3 days. The baker, encouraged by the favorable interpretation of the cupbearer’s dream, tells Joseph his dream, too. Sadly, his dream meant that he would be executed in 3 days. When the dreams came to pass just as Joseph had interpreted, Joseph asked a favor of the cupbearer: remember me to the king.

However, the cupbearer did forget about Joseph for about 2 years. You have to imagine that Joseph was feeling pretty abandoned by this time. But just at this point God intervened; He gave Pharaoh a pair of dreams that none of his wise men could interpret. It is then that the cupbearer remembers Joseph to the king. After being cleaned up enough to see the king, Joseph hears and interprets the two dreams of 7 fat cattle/ears of grain being consumed by 7 lean cattle / ears of grain without getting fatter themselves — 7 years of bumper crops followed by 7 years of severe famine. And, oh by the way, Joseph interjects, be sure you get someone wise and prudent to tax the years of plenty in preparation for the years of famine. It ought to be noted here, that Joseph doesn’t take the credit for the interpretation here or earlier — he gives the credit to God. Here is an important principle in accepting praise or honor — the praise and honor always really belongs to God, who gives the talents and skills and opportunities.

Who else should or could do such a job as Joseph had proposed than Joseph the interpreter. Pharaoh  chooses to make Joseph the new “grain czar” with the level in his court of grand vizier or prime minister — second in command in all of Egypt. He was given a wife of a high ranking priest and Joseph started a family — giving his sons names that reflected both his years of suffering but also his gratitude for recovery.

Just as God had revealed the years of plenty, it happened just that way, and Joseph faithfully collected surplus grain for Pharaoh. When the years of famine hit, then, Egypt was the only country in the region that had anything to eat. In short order people, including Jacob and his family, started running out of food and turning to Egypt for help.

When Joseph’s brothers turn up looking for food, it had to have been quite a shock to Joseph. He recognized them, but they didn’t recognize him. He asked about their family — the only news he had had about his father and brother for about 20 years! And on the surface of it, it seems like Joseph is “playing games” with his brothers by not revealing to them at first who he really was, but after twenty years, I think we have to give Joseph a little lee way to handle the chaos of emotions that had to have been playing around in his head; and it was probably only prudent to play his cards close to the vest, until he got a sense of what kind of men they had become in those 20 years.

What to learn here? Do what’s right, when you are the little prince. Do what’s right when you fall from the heights unjustly. Do what’s right, when you become a slave. Do what’s right, when they lie about you. Do what’s right, when you’re back on top again. No matter the circumstances, do what’s right. It’s easy to write; it’s easy to agree with; but it’s much harder to actually do. Too often, when we’re on top, we’re hardly thinking about God at all. And too often, when we’re scraping bottom, we’re kicking dirt about “the injustice of it all”!

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

So glad you decided to join me again — which more importantly means that you’re still reading your Bible. Yea!! Even if the main narrative is pretty murderous, causing Jacob and company to get out of Dodge — again.

Jacob has developed a pattern here of having to run from trouble. It’s not directly his fault this time, however. Indirectly. What kids see patterned for them by parents and other adults, children will follow. Jacob has a little con-man in him that he quite likely demonstrated in the details of his life that we don’t find recorded in Scripture. Laban, clearly, was a man who didn’t mind a little sharp-dealing, trying to gain an advantage on others. And when Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is violated by the prince of Shechem, named Shechem; Levi and Simeon took an interestingly devious path to justice.

Shechem, after raping Dinah, decided that he wanted to marry her. On the surface of it, it would appear that he only wanted to make things right, but Levi and Simeon took the rape and probably the offer of marriage as an insult to the whole family and probably a really bad idea for their sister. So, they plotted to exact their revenge on not only Shechem the prince, but Shechem the town. They ostensibly accepted Shechem’s proposal of marriage for their sister on the condition that Shechem the man and the town would all circumcise themselves. Shechem the prince talked the entire town into submitting to this procedure on the premise that it would be a economicly advantageous move for them all. Three days after their circumcision, however, Levi and Simeon attacked and killed all the men of the town, while they were in pain and unable to defend themselves.

Although they had been able to avenge themselves of the violation of their sister and the insult to their family, they had made themselves odious to the area towns and villages — it was time to get out of Dodge again. The lying and scheming that seems to have dogged the family from Abraham’s time had reared it’s ugly head again and gone one step farther to viciousness and made it impossible for Jacob and the family to stay in the region.

Be careful what vices you allow yourself, parents and grandparents. Little eyes and ears are taking it all in and you have no idea how your little vice might reappear in their lives — maybe in not so little ways. Everyone, of course, is responsible for their own behavior in the end, but we all know how much our parents and significant family members mean to us and our behavior, attitudes, and general directions.

Have a great day. And see you again tomorrow, Lord willing.

OK, I just about froze my fingers off this morning shoveling snow before church. Guess I lost the snow shoveling lottery. Man, was it ever cold this morning — although the weather man says it’s going to be even colder tomorrow morning. Good day for a day off, I think. 🙂

But there’s no day off for a daily Bible reader; the challenges to discipleship never seem to take a day off. So, let’s take a long drink of God’s refreshing, guiding, encouraging word. Today the text is Genesis 31-33.

Jacob can read the handwriting on the wall: his father-in-law (and all his kinsfolk) is becoming jealous of Jacob’s God-provided prosperity. Jacob, in spite of Laban’s best efforts at slanting the economic tables his way, can’t seem to make a bad business decision (God keeps blessing Jacob anyway); and the result has been that Jacob has become richer while Laban has become poorer. So, once again, Jacob needs to “get out of Dodge”. When he tells his wives about his plan to flee, they are in complete agreement, since they resent their brother’s greedy treachery. So they leave Haran without giving notice to anyone, and it’s three days before Laban even finds out.

When Laban does find out, he’s not happy at all, and pursues them; not only because Jacob and company left with so much of what Laban jealousy considered his stuff (family, herds, etc.) but also because they had left with the family ephod, an idol or idols. An ephod usually belonged to the leader of the family and was probably made of silver or gold. It turns out that Rachel took it, possibly because both Rachel and Leah felt like their brother had squandered their dowry and possibly because they wanted to claim the family leadership, since they were now wealthier than he was. Of course, it could also have been left over paganism in Rachel, too; it’s hard to know from the text.

When Laban catches up with Jacob, God warns him against acting against Jacob in any way. So, Laban has to content himself with simply complaining to Jacob about his perceived offenses — and then making a covenant with him.

OK, so, one bullet dodged, but that’s not every bullet coming your way Jacob; you still have Esau to deal with! And it would appear that Jacob was more afraid of Esau than Laban. Jacob gives a great of thought to this and has a rather elaborate plan for dissipating Esau’s anger and trying to protect his family and himself: he sends messengers ahead to Esau, he divides his substantial company of people and herds (hoping that if Esau attacks one, the other will escape), he prays most humbly to God (he’s matured a lot from his earlier days), he sends a series of gifts in front of him to meet the approaching Esau and company, he puts his wives and children in the rear of everything, and in the final stage approaches Esau by bowing toward him seven times. Time and struggle and experience had mellowed the sharp-dealing Jacob into a humble man. The night before he actually saw Esau for the first time in 20 years he spent the night by himself, possibly in prayer but certainly in wrestling — God in the form of a man (a theophany). It was a great enough struggle that Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint, and God renamed Jacob Israel (“he who strives with God”).

Ultimately, Esau does forgive and embrace his long estranged brother Jacob and welcomes him home to Canaan, the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Although there are a number of interesting things in these three chapters, I’ll focus my attention on the “wrestling with God” section. Obviously, God could have beaten Jacob in a wrestling match (if He could just touch his hip and dislocate it, what could have done elsewhere?), so what was the purpose of this story and the purpose of letting Jacob win? Hosea helps explain it:

“Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel And there He spoke with us,” Hosea 12:4, NAS95.

The wrestling match, although it was a real event, seems also to be something of a metaphor for prayer and life. Jacob’s spiritual growth had been quite a struggle. He always seemed to have been at odds with others, including sometimes with God Himself. But God had helped him, guided him, blessed him, and protected him all the way through, according to His promise. And Jacob had stuck with the Lord just as he had vowed. Doubtless the wrestling match was a metaphor, then, for the long struggle that Jacob had been for God, and perhaps, also, a foreshadowing of the struggle God would have with Jacob’s children, who would bear his new name, Israel, “he who strives with God”. The key idea here, however, is the perseverance and persistence that would carry the day — in prayer and in life.

Just like in any family, our relationship with the Lord as our Father is sometimes a struggle — for the children and the Father. And like in any family, perseverance is key — for the children and the Father. As humans, we’ll stumble and fall, and God will continue to work with us — as long as we’ll work with Him.

So, the bottom line here? If you’ve been chosen (and we’ll talk about this at another posting) through faith, repentance, confession, and baptism; don’t give up, keep on stroking, be persistent, persevere, repent, try, struggle, try again, pray, pick yourself up, and try again — these are the defining characteristics of faithfulness that matter in the end.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

So, for those of you who know me, you know that I’m part of Gander Brook Christian Camp’s board of directors. Something interesting coming out of a board meeting today is that Gander Brook will be starting the Gander Brook Center for Christian Leadership. It’s a school of sorts that focuses on leadership for the churches of Christ in New England — preachers, elders, deacons, informal leaders, and those who aspire to leadership. If you live in New England, look for more information soon.

But back to our main purpose here, the reading of and thinking about God’s word. Today’s reading is about Jacob, his fleeing from his brother Esau, and his new life in Haran. What can we learn here? I’ll make just one observation tonight.

Making deals with God? Jacob was an inveterate wheeler dealer. As he receives a revelation and promise from God, he tries to cinch up an insurance deal from God. Notice all the “if” statements — if You’ll do this and that, THEN you’ll be my God. Doubtless Jacob was feeling pretty insecure as he left home for someplace hundreds of miles away he had only heard of. He knew nothing of what the future held and was groping for any shred of hope or advantage. His faith and trust was certainly not that of his grandfather’s, Abraham. God honors Jacob’s “deal” — actually, God is the one who initiates it in the Bethel vision with the ladder up to Heaven — but God puts up with Jacob’s faith immaturity.

Do we try to make “Let’s Make a Deal” with God sometimes. Maybe not consciously, but maybe we back into it. When God doesn’t do X, Y, or Z for us, we can “lose” our faith, we can slink off in a spiritual pout and stop going to church, stop praying, stop reading the Bible, etc. My observation about “atheists” is that more often than not they’re really not so much atheists as they are disappointed believers, angry at God because God didn’t — something. Who are we hurting? God — or ourselves? Can we really manipulate God?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Glad you’ve joined me again. I hope you’re starting to see more and more the benefit of these times you’ve set aside for reading and thinking everyday. The pay back is a growing knowledge and, even better, a growing wisdom. Someone I read once compared reading God’s word without meditating on it afterward to bulimia, eating, but then not digesting (because you cause yourself to throw up). The nutrition is in the digestion, not in merely eating.

Today we’re reading about Abraham’s second family, Isaac’s twin sons and their conflict, Isaac’s conflict with local residents, and finally Jacob’s theft of the blessing of the firstborn. Because it’s been a day spent in preparation for a Gander Brook Christian Camp board meeting tomorrow and clearing my drive and walk ways of snow, I’ll confine my remarks today to the story of Jacob’s stealing of his brother’s birthright. I think, of all the stories in this section of Genesis, it has the most practical and important message for the average disciple — not to sell out cheap.

Esau and Jacob may have been twins, but they could scarcely have been more different. Esau was hairy, a hunter, oriented to the here and now, perhaps a bit naive. Jacob was not-so-hairy, a shepherd, was a man with big plans, and was always scheming it seems to climb to the top. One day as Esau comes in from the hunt empty-handed (some of us can identify) he arrives at Jacob’s campfire just in time for some stew (red stew — chili, perhaps?). After a day of tramping through the countryside without anything to eat, Esau was feeling some serious hunger pangs and so asks his brother for some of the stew Jacob has made. Jacob, in a rather unbrotherly deed, turns the request into a negotiation — I’ll sell you this stew for your birthright. Esau, very immaturely, claims to be dying of hunger without the stew, so he gives Jacob his birthright in exchange for a belly full of red stew. An unbelievably low price for a double-portion of their father’s estate and the leadership privilege over the family after Isaac died. The Scripture says that Esau “despised his birthright.”How foolish!

But wait; it’s an exchange that is repeated again and again in everyday life. Who hasn’t traded something important for something temporary. That was essential trade at our first sin, right? Our soul for — what was it? A lie to get out of trouble? A dirty word to get the approval of peers? The possession of a toy or trinket or candy? A hateful word in revenge for some minor injury? But, of course, it doesn’t stop at youth. I’ve watched husbands trade a wife and family for a few instances of pleasure. I’ve seen good reputations get completely destroyed over a drug or a drink or bribe, or even some embezzled cash. I’ve seen homes that could have been happy and fulfilling go sour and down over selfishness and rebellion. I’ve seen friends, for the applause of “important people”, abandon the truth. Why do we despise our most valuable things? Why do we put bargain prices on the most priceless things we have? Why do we put the greatest value on things that are temporary at best — things about which we will soon enough say, “So what?”

In the 26th chapter, after Jacob had also taken the blessing through deception, the Scriptures say:

“When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, ‘Bless me, even me also, O my father!’ And he said, ‘Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.’ Then he said, ‘Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.’ And he said, ‘Have you not reserved a blessing for me?'” Genesis 27:34-36, NAS95.

How many of us have been right there with Esau and his “exceedingly great and bitter cry”? Where the cry will be most mournful will be on the Last Day, if we’ve traded away our soul’s salvation over something sinful, temporary, empty, and foolish.

I’m glad you stopped in; I hope you got a little bit of something to mull over. See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

I went to visit a friend in Mass General today, so I’m a little tardy with this posting, but I certainly do not want to skip a single day of reading and reflecting on the word.

Talking with my friend about his health (he has cancer and is undergoing treatments), he mentioned that he had had a great deal of time (in isolation because of the treatment) to pray, read the word, and think. He was quite certain that his whole ordeal is God’s classroom for teaching something important to him for life. I’m sure my friend will, too; he’s talking about how this event has changed him and how (for example) he’ll be approaching hospital visits differently himself.

Ahh, if only all of us could learn from our trials! Too often we just fall into self-pity and learn little or nothing. And sometimes, I’ll surmise, that’s the reason that we find ourselves in whole strings of trials — we have learned little or nothing from the trial(s), but God’s trying to get through to us with something important. Why work through trials? I know that in this world there are some things that are best taught through hands-on experience — “book learning” just doesn’t do it justice.

And speaking of trials/tests, Genesis 22 has Abraham’s biggest. Sacrifice your son — your only son — the son you love. Much has been written about this story. Some have wondered if God could have really commanded such a terrible thing. Yeah, I think He could have and did, but I’m also quite sure that He never had any intention of  letting it actually occur (see Jer. 7:31). The command was a test and Abraham passed with flying colors. He demonstrated that he loved God more than anything else, he demonstrated that he had faith that no matter what, God’s promises would stand and everything would work out.

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.” Hebrews 11:17-19, NAS95.

Are you passing your tests? Even if you’re not, are you learning anything? I once had a teacher who said that we would probably never forget answers to the questions we got wrong on a test; I think that’s mostly true — unless they’re life-tests. Sometimes we get those wrong over and over again. Are you learning anything?

Genesis 23 has a great retelling of a typical middle eastern price bargaining session over the price of the field and cave in which to bury Abraham’s family. Archaeologically speaking, the ritual — of offering to buy something for the full price, having the seller offer to give the thing away to honor the buyer, the buyer insisting that he should buy it, the seller indirectly naming his price (“what is 400 shekels between us?”), and the buyer paying the full price — is one more tidbit of proof of the authenticity of the Bible. The ritual really does reflect ancient transactions of the period.

Genesis 24 tells a great story of marriage of Isaac. Abraham sends his chief steward to fetch a bride for his son Isaac. After Abraham provided the steward him with instructions, the steward leaves on his mission and we discover quickly why this man was Abraham’s chief steward: he was a “taking care of business” kind of guy. Give him a job and it’s as good as done. Notice that he takes off immediately after packing everything he thought he’d need. He was a man of faith who sought God’s help. When he sees the sign (getting the water for himself and his camels), he moves to quickly close the deal: refuses to eat at the banquet in his honor until he had made his business known. Once the family’s permission had been procured, he paid the bride price, and he was ready to leave the next morning, even though they wanted him to stay for a few days. But with this man, there was no dilly-dallying.

Don’t you suppose that your boss would want such an employee?

Don’t you suppose that they Lord would want such a disciple?

May God grant us all the wherewithal to pass our life-tests and the intelligence to recognize where we went wrong, when we fail them.

Talk with you tomorrow, Lord willing.

So glad you’re keeping up with this blog and, hopefully, your Bible reading. New habits take a while to carve into our minds; keep at it and before long, you won’t have to make a special effort to remember.

Today we’re reading and thinking about Genesis 19-21. There’s a lot here (no pun intended), but as usual we won’t be able to touch on everything. If you do have a specific question, however, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section. If you have further comments on my comments, don’t hesitate to write ’em — “Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17, NAS95.

One of the first things that we’ll run across in this reading is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are a number of things that impress me in this story: the fact that God really will “pull the trigger” of destruction on the evil, the depth of corruption that mankind can sink to, the mercy of God even in “pulling the trigger” (see the earlier chapter), and the unexpectedness of the destruction. But what impresses me the most right now as I read it is the corruption that changes us gradually. Lot had been living in the region for a number of years and in the city of Sodom itself for a while, and it appears to have changed him and his family. For example,

• Despite the fact that Lot knew that the city was a dangerous place to be (see Gen. 18:2,3), he chose to live there — not a necessity for a nomadic herdsman.
• Note that when the angels were threatened with homosexual rape, he offered his daughters as an alternative.
• Note too that when he was urged by the angels to leave the city or be destroyed with it that he tried to encourage his future sons-in-law to leave with them, but they thought he was joking.
• As they fled, Lot’s wife, so enamored with the city in spite of its sinfulness, couldn’t help but look back (even though they were warned not to) — and was turned into a pillar of salt.
• And finally, consider the incest initiated by Lot’s daughters!

I’m pretty sure Lot’s morals weren’t quite that low to begin with (God considered him righteous enough to save from the destruction). And I’m sure they didn’t change overnight. It had to have been a gradual change, subtly being influenced to tolerate this or get along with that, until the sharply contrasted  borders of right and wrong began to get sort of blurry for him and his family. And our daily exposure to modern culture can have a gradual, subtle effect on us, too.

Have you thought about it much? What was your mindset about homosexual marriage 15 years ago? 25 years ago (if you’re that old)? And now? And what about heterosexual living together without benefit of marriage — tolerable or not? And modesty in women’s apparel — would you have worn some things in your closet 15 years ago? What’s your attitude about alcohol these days, as opposed to a few years ago? And do you now use words that 15 years ago you would consider too vulgar for Christian speech? And what’s considered to be good Christian movie or TV viewing now? Is it really just “growth in our views” or have our standards changed? Have our moral borders moved? Christians of every generation are challenged with the battle of being in the world without becoming part of the world (John 17:14-16). Lot found out the hard way the cost of unnecessarily tolerating corruption and letting it slowly influence and mold him and his family. The influence supposed to be flowing the other way!

But on a different note — and chapter — isn’t it good to know that even Abraham had his nagging issues? He lies again about Sarah. You know, we’d all like to think that our growth in faith will be an upward trend on a graph, but that’s not usually the way things go for most or all of us. Abraham was an example of it. He’d broken away from paganism, had learned about what faith meant, had persevered through 25 years of a promise, but he still faltered now and again, when it came to saving himself from rulers who might like Sarah. Instead of a steady upward trend on the graph, Abraham’s faith does a sine wave! And ours does, too. Now hopefully the sine wave itself is trending upward, but there’s no point in beating ourselves up too much over our spiritual stumbles as we sincerely try to grow.

Lastly, there’s no big surprise here, since Isaac’s birth is such a familiar story, but God fulfills promises. And although it isn’t a big surprise for many of us, we still need to be reminded about it, because thinking that God’s promises won’t happen is just too easy to do — Satan whispers it in our ear, the waits are sometimes rather long (from a human perspective), and without something tangible to hang on to hope can start to wane. We need the reminders over and over again.

Well, it’s quite the snowy day in New England. For those of you living in the region and unable to get to work, it’s a perfect day for a read of God’s word and a little follow up meditation of it. Let’s dive in to the birth of Ishmael, the covenant of circumcision, and the promise of Laughter — er, Isaac.

Genesis 16 contains the story of Ishmael’s conception and birth — Sarai’s attempt to “help” God out with His promise (did He ask for help?). In a world of polygamy, what Sarai proposed was normal enough — there were contemporary Mesopotamian (Babylon and Assyria) laws and customs that addressed Abram’s and Sarai’s specific childless circumstances. However, once Haggar (Sarai’s female slave) was given to Abram as a wife (concubine), and Haggar conceived, trouble broke out. The younger and more fertile (a really big deal in the ancient world) Haggar began looking down on Sarai. Sarai goes, at first, to Abram to resolve the problem; but Abram “passes the buck” back to Sarai — “She’s your servant, deal with her!” So, Sarai does — harshly. It causes Haggar to run away from home before being comforted and persuaded by God to return back to her mistress and home. But the competition and enmity continue long after this initial incident and “resolution”. With the advantage of  “20/20” hindsight, we can see (and perhaps learn) that the family history might have had a happier outcome, if Abram had resolved this issue himself, as the husband, early on.

Fathers, take note; this isn’t the only time in the Bible that a husband’s or father’s lack of intervention may have ended poorly. Husbands and fathers (men in general) have taken a pretty big hit in societal respect in the last few decades. We’ve gone from “Father Knows Best” to a constant TV diet of  “Father’s a childish idiot”. Of course, there are some men who deserve the rebuke — shame on them; but responsible study after responsible study demonstrate how crucial husbands and fathers are to families and how much the American family is missing as wives, children, and “progressive” social engineers dismiss, discount, and disrespect the man of the house. Healthy families have fathers who take responsibility, have wives who follow their lead, and children who obey them. Too simple a solution or not diverse enough? “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” Luke 7:35, NAS95.

From Genesis 17 onward Abram is known as Abraham. It is Abram’s 99th year and it is the year that the promise is going to materialize, and to mark this momentous, watershed time and covenant, “Exalted Father” became “Father of a Multitude”. Also as a perpetual memory nudge of this covenant, God gave the mark of circumcision. According to Gen. 17:11, it is a “sign of the covenant between Me and you.” Although it is practiced for several reasons today, its religious significance is to remember God’s covenant with Abraham. It is why circumcision was no longer required at the advent of the New Covenant (Heb. 8:13 / Rom. 2:28,29 / Rom. 4:10 / Gal. 5:2 / and more). The new mark of the new covenant is the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13/4:30), received at baptism (Acts 2:38) — just one more reason that baptism really is important.

Lastly, Genesis 18 announces the birth of Laughter, Isaac. In an interesting theophany, God comes to visit Abraham in three angels. As anyone of them spoke the text says that the LORD spoke (the capitalized LORD, indicating the personal name of the only true and living God, YHWH). Is this the first whisper of the “Three in One”?

But as Abraham entertains these special visitors they tell Abraham that he would be a father this same time next year! Through Sarah! As Sarah overhears it, she laughs; but later when confronted with it, she denied it. “Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Genesis 18:14, NAS95. Do we call God’s plans impossible?

Some do. In reference to God’s plan for the family, mentioned above. Some scoff at it as being irreparably outdated and impossible to work. Others scoff at a united church. At the applicability of an ancient text (the Bible) to a modern world. At the possibility that western sexual mores would ever return to a biblical standard. At modern men responding to the “old, old story” of the Gospel. Those who laugh will not be deterred — but they will be surprised.

See you tomorrow — Lord willing.