God Speaks to Jacob (Gen. 35:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04-11-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  God Spoke to Jacob

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                          Reference:  Genesis 35:1

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.’”

           

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that he believes that Jacob should have gone directly to Bethel, which means “House of God,” when he had left his father-in-law’s land.  Genesis 31:11-13 is where God tells Jacob to leave and go home, “11  "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’  12  "He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.  13  ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’” 

           

            The name of this chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s book is entitled, “You Can Go Home,” and in it he writes that even though Jacob had sinned by staying away from Bethel whenever he first was heading home, it was not to late to obey God and go where He had told him to go.  I believe that Jacob did not go home when he was first told to do so because he was still frightened of Esau, and therefore did not want him to know where he was.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have been seeking to figure out exactly what it is that God would have me to do about taking this job in PA. And after reading the commentary in this section I am not 100% convinced that this is the Lord’s will for me to work here, although it surely could be His will.  I truly enjoy working for HRSG, and like the people that I am working with, especially on this job as many of the people who used to work for the company have come back.  I also truly love this part of the country with it’s mountains and streams and beauty that it offers, yet I do find it somewhat difficult to leave our church even though I find it necessary to stop doing some of the things that I have been doing because it takes to much of my time.  I am to complete the third day of a three day safety school in order to work here and so I am pretty much committed to finish the course.  Sandy and I surely could use the money we will make here, and hopefully will be able to pay a lot of extra on our house as a result of working here.

 

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

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord to get me through this last day of school and to get me home safely as I travel there this evening after the school.  To continue to teach me contentment and to continue to direct my path and to give me the grace to do the Lord’s will in my life.

Vengeance (Gen. 34:25-31)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04-10-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Vengeance

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                 Reference:  Genesis 34:25-31

 

            Message of the verses:  “25  Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male.  26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went forth.  27 Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister.  28 They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; 29 and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses.  30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household."  31 But they said, "Should he treat our sister as a harlot?’”

           

            There are a number of things to point out from this passage:  Jacob was suppose to be in Bethel, and if they were there then probably this would not have happened.  The vengeance that Simeon and Levi gave to these people was too harsh and Jacob would not forget this.  Jacob was more concerned for his safety than he was about what had happened to his daughter and his witness in the land before these heathen people, which is not having his priories in the correct order. When we read in the Scriptures an eye for an eye God is telling us that the punishment should fit the crime, and in this case the punishment certainly did not fit the crime.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am wondering how many times that I have not been in the place of blessing because I had decided not to follow the prompting of God.  As I think of all of the responsibilities that I am leaving at our church to go and do this job this thought has gone through my mind, yet it is very possible that God has provided this job for us in order to help out in our financial problems like He did when He sent us to Aruba to work and to minister.  I would hope that God would give us a place to minister while living here too.

 

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

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord to continue to guide me and to direct my path so that I will be doing the things that He has ordained for me to do before the foundations of the earth were laid, and that the Lord would continue to teach me contentment.

 

 

Deception (Gen. 34:6-24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 04-09-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                                    Focus:  Deception

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 34:6-24

 

            Message of the verse:  “6 Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. 9 “Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 “Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it." 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, "If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. 12 “Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage." 13 But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14 They said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15  "Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised, 16  then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. 17 “But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go."

    18  Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 The young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father. 20  So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21  "These men are friendly with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage, and give our daughters to them. 22 “Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 “Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us." 24 All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.”

           

            It seems to me that there was great deception on both sides for Jacob’s sons knew that after circumcision that these men would be too weak to fight and would be easy prey and these men thought that after the marriage that they could get all of the wealth that this family had.  Jacob seemed to go along with this idea, not knowing what his son’s planed to do, however it would have been better to just battle them after Shechem had done this thing to Jacob’s daughter. 

 

            I have to believe that this was a ploy set up by Satan in order to mix the children of Israel with those heathens in the land, and therefore they would not be able to have the Messiah come through their family.

           

            This is the kind of thing done by these types of people and this is one of the reasons that God was raising up a people who would follow Him, and then to bring the Promised One into the world.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Deception is not something that I should ever do, especially I should not try and do this to God, for that would be impossible to do any way.  I need to be honest in all of my doings and live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

 

The Word of God has been convicting to my heart as I read and studied it this morning, along with being a great challenge to me too.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Today is a day that is nerve wracking to me as I have to go to school in order to be able to work at this mine, a job site that Tim’s company is working on, and so I want to trust the Lord and ask Him to guide me and keep me in His hands as I go to this school.

 

Jacob's Delaying Caused Defilement (Gen. 34:2-5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03-16-2007

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Jacob’s Delaying caused Defilement

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Genesis 34:2-5

 

            Message of the verse:  “2 When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.  3 He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.  4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young girl for a wife."  5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in.”

           

            As written before concerning Jacob’s delaying to go where God had told him to go caused many different painful events to happen and this is another of them described in these verses.  Jacob’s daughter Dinah was rapped by Shechem, however because these people who were living in this land had very low morals, he thought it was okay to do this and then to have his father get the girl for him to marry.  This however was not the way that this should be done, for sex before marriage is not the way to do things for it will only cause much pain, because it is sinful.

           

            Jacob seemed to do the right thing by waiting until his sons got back home from taking care of their animals, for he could do nothing on his own, so waiting was good.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Sex before marriage does cause many problems because God did not design any of us to do this and thus it will cause many problems as I can testify to this truth.  The reason I can testify to this is because it was 39 years ago today that Lynn, my first wife and I were married, and the result of this was having a daughter born to us and latter on a divorce, which caused much pain in my life.

 

The Word of God had been convicting to my heart as I read and studied God’s Word this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Rejoice in the fact that my sins are forgiven and that even though there are problems caused by sin, God does work out everything for good as He has promised.  Continue to be taught contentment from the Lord, continue to trust the Lord to guide my path through life.

 

Jacobs's Delaying has Caused Problems (Gen. 24:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DAIRY FOR 03-14-2007

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Jacob’s Delaying Causes Problems

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 34:1

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.”

           

            As I learned in yesterday’s lesson, Jacob should have never been where he was in Succoth for it was not where the Lord wanted him to go, and so he causes a lot of trouble for his family and for himself.  Dinah, who was Leah’s daughter, decided that she would go out to meet some of the young women of this land, which is not something that she should have been doing since these people worshiped idols and because of that they would not be good company for her.  She was the only girl in this family other than the wives of Jacob, but there must have been other girls around for her to keep company with, perhaps some of Jacob’s servants had girls, but at any rate she should not have gone to visit these girls and the proof of this will be seen as this chapter unwinds, a chapter where the name of the Lord is not mentioned and one can see no godly wisdom in it either.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I should always strive to be in the place where the Lord wants me to be in.  Speaking of this I need to determine if it is the Lord’s will for Sandy and I to go to State College Pa., and work again for Tim sometime after we return from Aruba.  We find ourselves in a position where it would be better for us if we could again pay our house off and therefore put ourselves in a better position, but to be in the Lord’s will for our lives is better than working at a place where He is not leading us to.  I am not saying that this could not be of the Lord, I am just saying I wish to find out.

 

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

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to learn contentment from the Lord, and to continue to seek the Lord to direct my path.

Jacob's Sinful Delaying (Gen. 33:17b-20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03-13-2020

 

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  Jacob’s delaying

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                 Reference:  Genesis 33:17b-20

 

            Message of the verses:  “and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.  18 Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and camped before the city.  19 He bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money.  20 Then he erected there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.”

           

            When God had spoken to Jacob while living at Haran He told him to go back to where he had come from, but as seen in these verses Jacob not only delayed going there, he also bought some property to live in Succoth, thus disobeying God.  Because of this disobedience there would be trouble ahead for Jacob and his family.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would say that it was out of fear that caused Jacob to disobey God, for Jacob still feared his brother Esau, and this could be the reason that he did not want to return to Bethel, the place where he was from near his father.  There are many times when fear can grip me and cause me to disobey God, yet God is the only One whom I should ever fear, and part of that fear of God is for me to obey Him always and trust Him fully.

 

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

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to teach me contentment and to direct my path as I go through life on planet earth each day.

 

Jacob Failed by Promising and not Performing (Gen. 33:12-17a)

 

SPIRITUAL DAIRY FOR 03-01-2007

 

My Worship Time                         Focus:  Jacob Failed by Promising and not Performing

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                  Reference:  Genesis 33:12-17a

 

            Message of the verses:  12  Then Esau said, "Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you."  13  But he said to him, "My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.  14 "Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir."  15 Esau said, "Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." But he said, "What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord."  16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.  17 Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock.”

 

It seems that the only thing that Jacob wanted to do with Esau is to make sure that he would appease him so that he would not bother him while Jacob was living near to him.  Jacob said that he would come later to see Esau, but he now actually leaves in the opposite direction, and probably would never see him aging with the exception of seeing him when their father Isaac died.  Jacob promised Esau that he would come to visit him, but did not perform. 

 

Esau was not the one whom God chose to be in the line of the Messiah, and he and Jacob did not get along when they both lived with their parents, but it seems that in some ways Esau acted more righteous than Jacob, but in the end Jacob would be used of God in a more active way than before as God would continue to work in his life because he was the one God had chosen.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at the life of Jacob there are some things that I do not want to do as he did, yet there are many good characteristics that I can copy into my life, yet these things in this chapter are not  some of them.

 

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

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust my Lord to continue to work in my life to accomplish in me the things that He wants me to accomplish for His honor and Glory, to trust the Lord to keep me from sinning against Him, and to trust the Lord to continue to teach me contentment and to direct my path.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Ec. 1:14  “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”