28:9 - Ishmael is trying desperately to please his father, but he has already denied his birthright, lost his blessing and rashly married women his parents didn't approve of...he refused to enter into the will of God as the favored son of his family and it passed him by.
28:12 - I think Jacob gets a glance at the reality of the unseen world that is all around us. He sees angels going back and forth from earth to heaven...sees into the spiritual realm. There is a world and a battle that is raging all around us that we rarely think about...but it is real and souls are being contended for every moment.
28:15 - The covenant of Abraham is confirmed in the life of Jacob. A hugely important moment for Jacob and for the history of God's people. Jacob will become the father of the Israelite nation. Like Abraham before him, he commemorates that moment by making a monument, so he will never forget what God has done for him.
29-30 - These stories just blow my mind! God uses such broken people to bring about His will. We see jealousy, lies, lust, favoritism, hatred, and much much more unfold in this story and we are looking at the foundations of the people of God! God's chosen people! When I stop holding judgement over these people, I start to realize that my life contains a lot of those some kinds of things...and I, unlike them, am a temple of the Holy Spirit of God! I thank the Lord that He is willing to work through my brokenness...and I thank God for the gift of His son, who gives me the chance to appear righteous before God - through none of my own actions, but through his sacrifice!
3 comments:
I like what you said about the stories in 29-30. very uplifting.
I absolutely love 28:16-17
"When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, 'Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.' He was afraid and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.'"
The way Jacob describes waking up after having this God encounter makes me want so much more to be like the men and women of the Bible. To have a life so devoted to God that He actually speaks to you and you can hear His voice. This verse definitely stood out to me more than anything else in this chapter.
Guess who's back...back again...Brando's back, tell a friend.
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