When God spoke most of the universe into place, it took five days (See here and here for more details). It was an abundance of creation: light and darkness, the sun, moon, and stars, the boundaries of land and ocean, the flourishing of plant life, the birds winged in flight, the flashing of the fish in the sea…
Read MoreLet’s think for a minute about what God did when He created the first humans. There are very few things that truly deserve to be called marvelous, but this is one of them. It is worth going over and repeating in our minds.
Read MoreAccording to Scripture, every aspect of our universe came bounding out of the perfect will of God in an outpouring of energy, beauty, and the substantial, concrete things that make up our Reality.
Read MoreAll was not well in the world. The members of the human race were living in malice, greed, and violence towards one another. The people that were meant to live in perfect peace in a glorious garden had disintegrated into a society of terrors.
Read MoreGod did a remarkable thing. He promised He would never bring another worldwide flood. He said, “You can trust that I will never do this again.” He made a special covenant, or promise, with Noah and his sons.
Read MoreGod saw all that was happening with the people he created. He watched as they moved eastward, and he watched as they boasted and built their mighty tower. And then God came down. Imagine this! The Almighty Lord reigns in glory on his exalted throne in Heaven.
Read MoreAbram had moved out in faith because of the promises of God. The LORD told him to leave his country and his father's household and go to an entirely new land. God was going to raise up so many descendants for him that they would become an entire nation.
Read MoreYears of joy went by for Abraham and Sarah. Isaac learned to crawl and toddle around on his little feet. When he was two or three, they weaned him from his mother.
Read MoreIn the early days of Isaac and Rebekah’s marriage, long before they had their twin boys, they went through many trials and struggles. At one point, a great famine came upon the land. It grew more and more difficult to find enough to eat.
Read MoreIsaac and Rebekah lived in Abimelech’s land for quite some time, and everyone believed that they were sister and brother. It was quite a charade. But then one day, King Abimelech looked out a window of his royal palace, and he saw Isaac caressing Rebekah with the kind of tender affection that belongs only between a husband and wife!
Read MoreIsaac was getting older. His eyes were becoming so weak that he was almost blind. He was a hundred, and his aging heart and limbs could not move about as they used to. He feared that the time of his death was coming. Before he was gone, he was determined to speak a blessing to Esau, his firstborn son.
Read MoreWhat a sad and distorted picture of a family. Isaac, Esau, Rebekah, and Jacob each worked out of their own selfish ambition, competing over the powerful and potent blessing of the firstborn son. What great blessings and harmony they could have shared together if they had all submitted to the will of their faithful God.
Read MoreEsau was a bitter man. He had been foolish enough to let his brother trick him out of his birthright, and now Jacob had taken his father’s blessing, too. In his seething anger, he began to plot and scheme. As soon as Isaac died, he would get his revenge.
Read MoreJacob continued on his journey. His trek led him away from the Land of Promise where his family faithfully waited on the LORD. He was heading back to the region that Abraham, his great and honorable grandfather, had left over a hundred years before when he was called by God into the wilderness.
Read MoreThe LORD looked on Leah and saw that she was not loved by her husband. To make things even worse, she had to watch his tender ways with her sister. How his eyes lit up whenever Rachel came near! How he treated her with the deference of masculine passion!
Read MoreIn those early days of his marriages, Jacob’s family had grown to eleven boys and a girl! For fourteen years, he worked as the chief shepherd for Laban so that he could marry Rachel and Leah. He had worked very hard, often in harsh weather and for long hours.
Read MoreJacob had escaped from his uncle with all of his wives and children, their servants, flocks, and tents. Ten days into their journey back to the Promised Land, Laban and the men of his household caught up with them.
Read MoreAs Jacob and his family left the land of Laban behind, they were headed towards something that could become an even bigger problem. Twenty years before, Jacob fled his family. He had tricked his brother and father and taken the birthright and the blessing of the firstborn, and then he had to leave.
Read MoreThe sunrise came and a new morning began. The conniving sneak was transformed. In the past, Jacob had showed some glimpses of faith. Unlike Esau, he had not married Canaanite women. He truly believed in God’s promise that the land of Canaan would one day belong to the descendants of Abraham.
Read MoreJacob and his clan settled on land that he had purchased near the town of Shechem. They could see its buildings off in the distance from their home. This was the place that Abraham had built his first altar in the Promised Land.
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