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Have you noticed how quickly life can make a U-turn?  Everything seems to be going great when something happens to send your life in a different direction. This happens to all of us; a deal falls through, your marriage turns sour, your child becomes rebellious, or you get a life-threatening medical diagnosis. Such things are hard and test our faith. One of the things I appreciate about the Bible is that it is about real life, real people who struggle with the kinds of problems we can identify with. When […]

The biblical story of Joseph demonstrates God’s foreknowledge of things to come and His providence in moving all events, good and bad, toward fulfilling the promise of a savior. In this series of blogs about God’s promises, we have seen God’s patience and determination with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as He worked through their disobedience, doubts, and dishonesty to keep His plan on track. Joseph, Abraham’s great-great-grandson, is the central figure in the last fourteen chapters of Genesis. How is he related to God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? […]

The dreamer, Joseph, is the next person to play a strategic role in God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what was that promise? Let’s return to Genesis 12, where God chose Abram and called him to leave Haran for the land He would give him and his posterity. Here’s the promise to Abram that his great-great-grandson Joseph will be instrumental in preserving. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; your name will be great and you will be a blessing. I will […]

 This blog is different from any I have sent you. It cannot be read and processed in a couple of minutes. I intend to challenge you to think deeply about the stories we have covered in Genesis and what they tell you about who God is. Genesis has fifty chapters, filled with exciting stories about God’s promise to redeem our fallen world. After finishing chapter thirty-two, we are taking a break to remind ourselves about the central character in all the stories we have considered.  We have examined the roles […]

One, if not the most important, aspect of trusting someone is whether or not they “keep” their word. This is true in personal relationships as well as business dealings. Have you been misled or hurt by someone you trusted to be honest with you? Have you been “scammed” by a company selling a product that did not perform as advertised? This type of thing seems to happen way too often; I’m currently trying to recover money from a vendor that has misled me by promising their product could do something […]

What keeps you awake at night? Some people can’t sleep because of something they said or did that hurt a family member. Others are robbed of needed rest by relentless pain in body or mind. One of the most interesting Old Testament stories is about the night Jacob found sleeping impossible. When we experience a sleepless night, we can usually identify the reason rather quickly. Maybe it was that spicy food we ate or something eating at us, like anger or worry.  What kept Jacob awake all night? You will […]

Have you had an event or circumstance that caused you to face yourself? Perhaps the death of someone close, a health crisis, or a job loss brought you face-to-face with who you are. This is a frightening experience but, if handled well, can lead to forgiveness and a better way of living. This is what God wants for each of us and why He may allow us to face difficulties; He wants us to know who we are and who  He is. An old saying goes like this: “A crisis […]

I know what it’s like to return home after being away for many years. Returning to my home state after being away for thirteen years evoked joy and comfort. Home again! I was coming home to work and live in a place I loved. Mom, Dad, my siblings, and others I had known from childhood were here. While I was able to adjust well to being away, there’s no place like Tennessee to me. It’s home. We continue the interesting story of Jacob in Genesis 31. It’s time for Jacob […]

Jacob has fallen in love with the beautiful Rachel and it appears that God’s promise and plan are coming together without a hitch. As we saw in Genesis 29, Jacob offered to work seven years for Laban in exchange for his younger daughter Rachel. Jacob served Laban for seven years and “They seemed like only a few days to him because of his great love for her.” Genesis 29:20. What a beautiful love story! But as we’ve seen in our journey to this point concerning God’s plan and promise, things don’t always […]

As we left Jacob in last week’s post he had spent several days completing his hurried 450-mile trip from Beersheba to Haran. (Genesis 29:1) Why has he made this long, arduous trip? What happened on the journey that began to make a “changed” man out of him? He left home for two reasons. First, Jacob and his mother, Rebekah, had tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing that rightly belonged to his older brother Esau. They insisted he go quickly to his mother’s brother in Haran to escape the wrath […]