New Name (Gen. 35:18b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04-27-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  New Name 

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 35:18b

 

            Message of the verse:  “that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.”

 

Jacob renamed other things in his life, and so after Rachel died he renamed his son Benjamin, or “son of my right hand.”  I have to revisit what has been written about in the last two SD’s, and that is could Rachel’s death been the result of her sin of lying to her father.  When I looked up the name that she gave to her son, Benoni, it can mean son of my sin or son of my iniquity, as the work is translated 47 time in the King James Version as opposed to only once where the word is translated sorrow.  I am back to not being certain as to whether or not it was Rachel’s sin that had anything to do with her death.

 

Dr. Wiersbe brings up another point about these two names and that is they could describe the two aspects of the Lord’s ministry, sorrow and glory.  Luke writes in his Gospel a quotation of Christ in 24:26 which could support this:  “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Peter also gives support to this in 1 Peter 5:1, “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at these two names in relationship with Christ’s ministry, I can see that this has happened to many believers in their lives as the suffered from different things in their lives which gave sorrow to them and then God transformed that sorrow into glory, His glory, later on in their lives.  In John 16 Jesus gives an example of this by stating that He will turn sorrow into joy. Joh 16:21  "Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.

Joh 16:22  "Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

 

The Word of God has been challenging and refreshing to me as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  As I look at the situation that the Lord has allowed us to be in I see at this present time that there is much sorrow, as there is with the situation also with our investment with Andrew, and my prayer and hope is that God will turn all of this into glory as only He can do.

 

Memory verse for the week:  2 Chronicles 14:11 (NLT) “Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God, "O LORD, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!"

The Death of Rachel (Gen. 35:18a-19)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04-26-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  Death of Rachel

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                  Reference:  Genesis 35:18a-19

 

            Message of the verses:  “18 It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

           

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that one statement and one act did not necessarily mean that that was the reason for the death of Rachel.  I believe that in yesterday’s SD I pointed out that it was very possible that Rachel died because she had not owned up to stealing her father’s idols and that Jacob said that if anyone had them they would die.  Now Dr. Wiersbe does not support this idea that was actually learned from one of the historical novels that I have been reading, of which have a great deal of truth in them.

 

            At any rate Rachel does die giving birth to Jacob’s 12th son and now Jacob will be the one who names the child, or renames him as will be seen in the next exciting issue of my Spiritual Diaries.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  I guess the conclusion to this is that I don’t know whether or not Rachel died because of her sin of lying or if it was in God’s plans that she would die at this time.  I think that there are times when people do die because of lying as seen in Acts chapter five, but the bottom line is what is going on in the heart of the person is how I see it, for if a person would die for lying none of us would have a chance, and the human race would never have gotten this far.  The good news is that the Lord Jesus Christ died for all of my sins and loves me enough to bring trials into my life in order for me to become more conformed to Him.

 

The Word of God has been challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust in the Lord alone for the victory over this trial that He has seen fit to send into our lives.  To trust the Lord with all of my heart, and not lean on my own understanding, but in all of my way acknowledge Him, and then He has promised to direct my path.  I want to lean on God’s promises and not ask why as to why these trials have come my way.

 

Memory verses for the week:  “Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God, ‘O LORD, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!’”  2Chronicles 14:11

 

Birth of Benjamin (Gen. 35:16-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04-25-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  Birth of Benjamin

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                   Reference:  Genesis 35:16-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “16 Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe labor.  17 When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, ‘Do not fear, for now you have another son.’”

           

            Rachel asked for another son when Joseph was born and now she will have another son, but she will not survive the birth of her second son.  I want to go back a few chapters to when Laban had chased down Jacob and his family.  Before leaving Rachel had stolen her father’s idols, but when Laban accused Jacob of stealing those idols Jacob made a rash statement that anyone who had stolen those idols would die.  Later on when revival came into the camp of Jacob he burned all of the idols that he had found and I believe that he knew at that time that Rachel was the one who stole them.  The reason for revisiting this story at this time is it could be that because of Jacob’s rash remarks that he lost his wife.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is not good to make rash statements for any reason, for when I do this, and I do it far too often, I do it out of pride, whereas I should always be humble.  Why should I always be humble?  God gave me everything by His grace and mercy, so therefore I have nothing to be bragging about except of course to the things that God has given to me.  Paul said something similar in his writings.

 

The Word of God has been convicting to my heart as I read and studied His Word this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to rely upon the Lord to give Sandy and I strength and grace to handle the trials that He has brought into our lives, and to continue to seek contentment, and to continue to ask the Lord to direct my paths.

 

While doing my devotions yesterday morning it seemed that the Lord spoke to me through His Word and I want to put these verses down this morning so I am sure to remember them.  “11 Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God, ‘O LORD, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!’”

 

           

God Appears to Jacob (Gen. 35:9-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DAIRY FOR 04-23-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  God appears to Jacob

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                      Reference:  Genesis 35:9-15

 

            Message f the verses:  “9  Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.  10  God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name." Thus He called him Israel.  11  God also said to him, "I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you.  12  "The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you."  13  Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.  14  Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.  15  So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.”

           

            As I read this section it all sounds so familiar to me, as if it had happened before, and that is because it had happened before in different periods of Jacobs life, but now it all comes together, and Jacob becomes Israel now not only in name but in action.  Israel means, “God prevails,” and Israel was not only Jacob’s new name given to him by God, but it would be the name of the nation that would come forth from Jacob, and it is what the nation is called today that survives in the Middle-East today as a promise from the Lord. 

           

            Dr. Wiersbe speaks about the drink offering that Jacob poured out that is described in this section as really an offering of one’s self given completely to the Lord.  “It was a symbol of dedication, the worshiper’s life poured out for the Lord.” 

           

            God also reaffirms His promises to Jacob in this section, which He had given to him on different occasions.  Jacob is now back in Bethel, where he had first had the dream and poured oil upon the rock that he has slept on after leaving his parents home, and now he can go on with his new life with a new name and a new purpose.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings.  This is a quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s book and it applies here in this section of Scripture, and it also applies in my life too, as the Lord has been doing a work in my life that will make my life more pleasing to Him as long as I listen to His voice and obey Him with all of my heart.

 

The Word of God has been convicting, challenging and refreshing to my heart as I read and studied it this morning. 

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to see my wife and I through these very challenging days, to learn contentment through these difficult situations, and to seek the Lord to direct my path as the Proverbs say.

 

 

 

Supplement to today’s SD:  This comes from yesterday’s Sunday school lesson.

 

What one must do to involve change in life. 

 

1. Prayer  Philippians 1:9-11  “9 ¶  And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10  so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; 11  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
2. Focus on the Lord:  1Corthians 10:14  “14  Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”  It is good to remember that an idol is ANYTHING that takes the place of God, and hinders one’s worship of God.  This is how the Greek dictionary describes the word flee:  a.) to flee away, seek safety by flight

b.) metaph. to flee (to shun or avoid by flight) something abhorrent, esp. vices

c.) to be saved by flight, to escape safely out of danger

d.) poetically, to flee away, vanish”  The tense of the verb is prolonged activity so it does not just mean to flee once but to continue to flee.

3.  Study the Word

4.  Practice

 

 

Jacob Worships God (Gen. 35:6-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04-20-2020

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Jacob Worshipped God

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Genesis 35:6-8

 

            Message of the verses:  “6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.  7 He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.  8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth.”

           

            God fulfills His promise to Jacob in bringing him back to Bethel, even though Jacob had to go through some hard times because of disobedience.  God will always fulfill the promises that He gives to believers, and I suppose non-believers too, as He has promised His wrath to fall on them and someday it will do just that.  It looks like the first thing that Jacob did was to build an altar there to worship the Lord and also to change the name to El-bethel, which means “the God of Bethel,” where Bethel meant “the house of God.” 

            The mention of Deborah’s death, who was Jacob’s mothers nurse, is another thing that is covered in these verses.  Jacob never saw his mother after he left his home those many years before when he was fighting with Esau and it is not known when Deborah had come to live with Jacob, but it is a touching part of this story knowing that Jacob must have cared for her in this last part of her life.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Today is surely a day when I need a spiritual lesson, as it is the day when Sandra goes in to have a test, which will determine weather or not she has cancer in her right breast.  As stated before in an earlier SD, this has been a very strange and difficult week for us as many things have happened that normally do not happen.

            Going back to Bethel was for Jacob was going back to his roots in his walk with the Lord, and going back to Bethel was a promise that God had made to him that was now fulfilled.  I see a lot of revival in this chapter, as it seems that Jacob surely finds himself in a great need for revival, and this is true in my life, for it is not the things that God has lead me to do that cause me to walk closely with Him, but it is my day to day life in making an effort to keep in good fellowship with Him that make the things He is leading me to do that much more special.

 

The Word of God has been refreshing to my heart, in a time when I needed refreshment.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To stand on the promises of God and not to try and understand the circumstances that I find myself in at this time of my life.  To trust the Lord with all of my heart knowing that He is the only true God, and that He causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and for those who are called for His purposes.

God Protects Jacob and His Family (Gen. 35:5)

 

Spiritual Diary FOR 04-18-2007

 

My Worship Time                                 Focus:  God’s protection for Jacob and his family

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Genesis 35:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “5  As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.”

           

            These are the Words that God spoke to Jacob in Genesis 28:15  "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes, “When God’s people are doing God’s will in God’s way, they can depend on God protection and provision.” He also writes, “When we fear God we need not fear anyone else.” 

           

            Jacob had every reason to be frightened of the people who were living around him, for after all his family had just killed many people and now they were leaving and going to Bethel, yet this verse says that God put great terror upon these neighboring people and so they did not pursue Jacob and his family.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I see this kind of thing throughout the Scriptures, and what it is that I see is God accomplishing His will by protecting His people who are doing His will, just as Dr. Wiersbe writes.  Before Israel began to invade the land after coming from Egypt and wandering in the wilderness for forty years, the people of that land were very much afraid of them, and it was God who put this fear in them so that He could accomplish His will through Israel.

 

The Word of God has been refreshing to my as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  There has been much going on in our household over these past weeks.  Sandy and I visited Aruba for two weeks and then came home and I went to PA for a safety training class, which was difficult on me due to my IBS.  With great difficulty we decided that it would be best if Sandy went ahead with her foot surgery, and so we began to put things in motion for that, but the phone call came from her female Dr. that it is entirely possible that she has the beginnings of breast cancer and so the surgery had to be canceled and we are to move forward to find out what will happen now.  I can see God moving in all of this, yet it does seem a bit strange in how He is moving, for I am not at all sure the path that He is leading us down, yet I do KNOW for sure that He is in control and will protect us just as He protected Jacob and his family.      

Jacob Instructed His Household (Gen. 35:2-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04-16-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                  Focus: Jacob instructed his household   

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 35:2-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “2  So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; 3 and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone."  4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.”

           

            These verses continue to speak of the new beginning that Jacob was going through after the Lord had spoken to him in verse one where God had told Jacob to go to Bethel.  It seems that Jacob must have realized that he had not obeyed the Lord by going to Bethel as soon as he entered the land after leaving Laban, and he may have realized that the tragedy over Diana would not have happened if he would have obeyed the Lord.

           

            Jacob now gathers his family together and tells them to get rid of all of their idols and to change their clothes after bathing themselves.  This was a sign of a new beginning and by washing themselves it was a sign of cleansing themselves from sin and begin to follow the Lord with all of their hearts.  It is refreshing to see Jacob do these things as he had not done them in the past and not doing them had caused a lot of trouble for his family. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  God is gracious in showing me this section of Scripture at this time of my life, for I too need to stand up to the wrong things that have been both tempting me and on occasion have caused me to fail the Lord.  I need to have some spiritual cleansing and to have a new beginning with the Lord.

 

 

The Word of God has been a great challenge to my heart as well as brought conviction to me as I read and studied God’s Word this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To do as Jacob did in these verses, and that is to bury the idols that I have been following and to spiritual bath in the Word of God and change the way that I have been living.