You are worthy to be loved, accepted, and valued simply because God created you perfectly. Unfortunately, in our world, we typically assign worth by arbitrary, unfair, and constantly shifting standards of physical attractiveness, and in so doing, we set the stage for untold misery for those who don’t measure up. But even if others don’t recognize you as an amazing creation of the Almighty, never forget that God sees you as something special.

The Journey // Focus: Genesis 29:16, 30-32

Now Laban had two daughters [that Jacob married]; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel… Jacob’s love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah… When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”

You are worthy to be loved, accepted, and valued simply because God created you perfectly. Even if others don’t recognize that, never forget that God sees you as something special.

Unfortunately, in our world, we typically assign loveliness by arbitrary, unfair, and constantly shifting standards of attractiveness—and rarely are those internal qualities—and in so doing, we set the stage for untold misery for those who don’t measure up. And holidays like Valentine’s Day can exacerbate the feelings for those who receive no “Happy Vallentine’s, will you be mine?” card

In the Bible story found in Genesis 29, Jacob desires to marry the beautiful Rachel but is duped into marrying her not-so-attractive older sister Leah. (Genesis 29:16-23) Unfortunately for Leah, she wasn’t Jacob’s type. Genesis 29:17 tells us, “Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form and beautiful.” In Hebrew, that’s a polite way of saying Leah was ugly. Likely that is not news to her. She is fully aware of how people perceive her, and to add insult to injury, her little sister, Rachel, is absolutely beautiful.

Imagine the comparisons Leah lived her entire life—sometimes openly, sometimes in the not-so-subtle whispers and stares of others, including her family. Every day, Leah faced the pain of rejection that not having the right looks brings because, in truth, she—and every woman—wants to be told she is beautiful and desirable.

Picture her fear of going to bed with Jacob that night, knowing that the truth will be exposed in the first light of day. She will wake up yet again unwanted, unnoticed, unloved—again coming in second—because, as C.S. Lewis wrote, “in the morning it’s always Leah.”

Imagine that sinking feeling when she hears her new husband yelling at her father for foisting on him the ugly one—the one he didn’t want. And in her mind, her worthlessness is once again validated that the only way she will find love and get married is through pretense or a payoff.

But by hook or by crook she has gained a husband, and now she must command his affection. So in vain, Leah begins a creative attempt to capture Jacob’s heart—bearing babies. In Genesis 29:31-30:24, we become witness to a baby race: over the next 20 years, these two wives and their two concubines try to outdo each other to get the upper hand with Jacob by bearing 12 sons.

But for Leah, no matter how many babies are born, nothing changes—still no flowers, no candy, and no affection. With each new child, “in the morning, it’s still Leah.” Notice Leah’s diminishing expectations with each successive birth. In 29:32, when Reuben was born, there are still high hopes, “Now my husband will love me.” Thinking she can lure Jacob’s love, she names the baby Rueben, which means “a son.” After all, what husband wouldn’t love a wife who could give him a son? But those longings for a sizzling, romantic relationship become simply a fleeting hope for some expression of affection in Genesis 29:34 when her third son, Levi, is born: “This time my husband will become attached [attracted] to me.” Finally, many years later, in Genesis 30:20, when she bears her sixth and last son, Zebulun, Leah says, “Now will my husband dwell with me because I have given him six sons” By this time, she’d be satisfied with just a token—that Jacob would just spend more time with her.

Understandably, she’s looking to Jacob to meet a need that God had planted in her heart by design. But because of sin, the sad fact is, no other person will ever fully meet that need. Jacob can’t for Leah, and no one—husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend will do it for you. Only when we allow God to fill us will our deepest longing for belonging be met.

Leah began to get that along the way. When Judah was born in Genesis 29:35, she says, “Now will I praise the Lord.” The sad reality was, this relationship between Leah and Jacob never sizzled. But something did begin to happen in Leah’s character to win Jacob over. As you get to the end of this saga in Genesis 49:29-31, we find Jacob is an old widower. He has outlived both Leah and Rachel. His last recorded request is to be buried next to Leah. At death, Jacob made his last pledge of love to weak-eyed Leah, not the beautiful Rachel. In the end, Leah’s character, not her curves, won Jacob’s respect—and his heart.

The truth is, most likely we will never change the way sin-tainted people assign value to us. In the eyes of some, worth may continue to evade us. No matter what, “in the morning we will still be Leah.” But when we make God our primary source of love, acceptance, and affection, he can satisfy those deep longings.

While cultural standards of worth apart from Christ continually change—God’s standards don’t. He always finds you worthy of his love. So, while human love and value are wonderful, make God your first and primary source of significance. If you are looking to find fulfillment in another person, every relationship will be a desperate, never-ending search for another to complete you. Only God should occupy that role—and only he can meet that need!

God loves you! So much so that he sent his Son to die to redeem you, and you are his forever. Now that must mean you are something incredibly special. Never forget that.

“ Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart. —KAHLIL GIBRAN

Give It Some Thought: Good morning, and Happy January 2. If you began the New Year yesterday with a “Through the Bible” reading plan, you likely started at the beginning, Genesis 1. And in this opening chapter, we find all that we really need to know about anything and everything, which is simply yet profoundly this: God did it! In fact, in the Bible’s opening line, the first thing we discover about God is that he is the creator of all, and the second thing we learn is that he hovers over the chaos, bringing order, beauty, and glory from it. And that should be of great comfort as we begin the journey into an uncertain year ahead, for that is God’s ongoing, unstoppable, flawless work in me—and you, too!

Moments With God // Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The first thing we learn about God in reading the Bible is that he is the Creator. The second thing we learn is that he hovers over the chaos and brings order, beauty, and glory from it.

Now the writer of Hebrews tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8). Jesus, who is God, whom John tells us was the agent of creation (John 1:1-4), is still actively creating and ordering in the lives of his followers.

I am grateful that through Jesus, creating and ordering is still God’s activity in my life. He still forms beauty and glory from my unruly, empty, dark, chaotic life. And while it seems that I am a long way from being finished, I am at the present moment his workmanship (Eph 2:10).

Thank God for a Creator who finishes his work, for “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1:6).

Enough said. God did it! God is at work! God will finish it. Cheers to the year ahead!

“ How great peace and quietness would he possess who should cut off all vain anxiety and place all his confidence in God. —THOMAS à KEMPIS

SYNOPSIS: All I need to know about anything and everything I learn in Genesis 1, which is simple yet profoundly this: God did it! In the opening line of the Bible, the first thing I discover about God is that he is the creator of all, and the second thing I learn is that he hovers over the chaos, bringing order, beauty, and glory from it. And that is a great comfort to my soul, for that is his ongoing work in me—and you, too!

Moments With God // Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The first thing we learn about God in reading the Bible is that he is Creator. The second thing we learn is that he hovers over the chaos and brings order, beauty, and glory from it.

Now the writer of Hebrews tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) Jesus, who is God, whom John tells us was the agent of creation (John 1:1-4) is still actively creating and ordering in the lives of his followers.

I am grateful that through Jesus, creating and ordering is still God’s activity in my life. He is still forming beauty and glory out of my unruly, empty, dark chaotic life. And while it seems that I am a long way from being finished, I am at the present moment his workmanship (Ephesians 2:10).

Thank God for a Creator who finishes his work, for “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

“ How great peace and quietness would he possess who should cut off all vain anxiety and place all his confidence in God. —THOMAS à KEMPIS

SYNOPSIS: I take 23,040 breaths each day and will breathe in and breathe out the breath of life 8,409,600 this coming year. God willing, that will be over 8 million gifts of life from my Creator in 2022, who will have graciously and mercifully supplied every single one. If I have no other cause to offer thanks to God this year, I will still have at least 8,409,600 reasons. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

New Beginnings // Claim: Genesis 2:7

Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

If you have begun a “Through the Bible in One Year” program, you likely started in Genesis 1. And in the midst of many extraordinary aspects of the creation account, as you come into chapter 2, you find this amazing verse in Genesis 2:7,

Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

Interestingly, the phrase “breath of life” is used twenty-four times in the Old Testament and it not found in other ancient literary creation accounts. In the Book of Job, this phrase is plainly connected to the Spirit of God:

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (Job 33:4)

Into every human being, God deposits something of Himself. While all living creatures have breath, which gives them life, they do not have the living Spirit of God as do humans. Among other things, this makes human life sacred above all the different life forms. What a special gift: God has implanted His very breath, His Spirit, in you and me.

Now I don’t know how you react to that, but for me, it causes gratitude for the Creator’s gift of life to well up and overflow from within me. God didn’t have to form man out of the dust of the ground as the highest, most treasured work of creation, but He did. O, how he must love us! And again, I am simply undone with thanks for the amazing gift of life.

Fundamental to a life of gratitude is the recognition that even my very breath is a gift from my Creator.

I take 23,040 breaths each day and will breathe in and breathe out the breath of life 8,409,600 this coming year. If I live to be 80 years of age, I will have taken about 672,768,000 gifts of life from God, who has graciously, mercifully supplied every single one.

If I had no other cause to offer thanks to God today, I would still have 23,040 reasons. Tomorrow is a whole different matter!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Of course, authentic gratitude requires that I demonstrate it in how I live. It is not truly thanksgiving unless it becomes “thanksliving.” I love how Philip James Bailey puts it:

Let each man think himself an act of God,
His mind a thought, his life a breath of God;
And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds,
To show the most of Heaven he hath in him.

That is my glad assignment for this day through every 23,040 breaths that I will take: to show the most of Heaven that I have in me.

I hope you will join me.

“ When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. —MARCUS AURELIUSL

Without forgiveness, there is no future of divine blessing in our lives. Without forgiveness, there is only an endless recycling of resentment, retaliation and alienation. Without forgiveness, our deepest wounds will never heal. “He who cannot forgive another breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself.” (George Herbert)

The Journey // Focus: Genesis 50:19-21

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

The willingness to forgive is the most obvious of Joseph’s virtues, but given what his brothers had done, it is the hardest to relate to on a personal and practical level. How do you forgive those who were supposed to cherish, encourage and protect you, when instead, they betrayed you in the worst possible way? How do you forgive your abuser?

The key to Joseph’s forgiveness was an uncommon understanding and a radical commitment to the sovereignty of God—that God was in control of his life. He believed it was God who had allowed his brothers to sell him into slavery some two decades ago as a part of God’s plan to save their lives. He understood that it was God who had allowed the injustice of Potiphar’s wife as God’s way of arranging a meeting with the cupbearer in prison. He realized why God allowed the cupbearer to then forget about him, leaving him to rot in prison another two years: God’s timing wasn’t right.

Now keep in mind that God didn’t plan that for Joseph, but he planned for it. Big difference!

Joseph chose to interpret all the events of his life—even these incredibly hurtful events—as God’s perfect will for his life. He knew that if God allowed injustice or injury or inaction, it was for a greater purpose. Therefore, letting go of bitterness and offering forgiveness was the only wise thing to do.

That’s tough when we’ve been wounded. The last thing we want to do is forgive. But the only healing salve for the deep emotional wounds that get inflicted from time to time in our lives is forgiveness!

Now some people think forgiving is forgetting. It’s not! It’s precisely because of it, we can’t forget that forgiveness is needed. Some people think forgiveness minimizes the hurt. It doesn’t! It’s precisely because of the intensity of our pain that forgiveness is needed. Some think that forgiveness means forfeiting justice. Not true! It’s precisely, and perhaps most importantly, that because we ourselves deserve God’s judgment, we need to extend forgiveness.

That’s why Paul taught, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13) That’s why Jesus said, “You can’t get forgiveness from God without also forgiving others.” (Matthew 6:15, MSG) Gorge Herbert said, “He who cannot forgive another breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself.”

You see, without forgiveness, there is no future of divine blessing in our lives. Without forgiveness, there is only an endless recycling of resentment, retaliation and alienation. Without forgiveness, our deepest wounds will never heal.

Harry Emerson Fosdick was right when he wrote that not forgiving someone is like “burning down your house to get rid of a rat.”

Maybe you have someone in your life that has hurt you deeply, and you have sworn to never forgive. Joseph would advise you to rethink that position. He would encourage you that with God’s help, you can take a step toward forgiveness, and with that step, take a giant leap toward a destiny of divine blessing.

Forgive! It allows what others meant for evil to be repurposed by God for your good.

“ Only the truly forgiven are truly forgiving. —C.S. LEWIS

God knows the final days—the outcome of human history. And without him, it looks bleak. But it is not without him, in an overarching sense, because he has inserted himself into the center of it as a Deliverer through his Son, Jesus the Messiah, King of kings and rightful ruler of the earth. And at the end of the day, those who belong to God will live under the blessings of God.

The Journey // Focus: Genesis 49:1, 10, 28

Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. … “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.” … All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

C.S. Lewis observed, “No doubt all history in the last resort must be held by Christians to be a story with a divine plot.” When you read the final words of Jacob as he prophesies over his sons, you could easily get the sense that he is letting loose with some pent up frustrations that he has held onto over the years. He is finally going after some of their bad behavior with a well deserved but long overdue rebuke:

Reuben: “Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.” (Genesis 49:4)

Simeon and Levi: “Let me not enter their council, for they have killed men in their anger…I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.” (Genesis 49:5-7)

Dan: “Dan will be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward. I look for your deliverance, Lord.” (Genesis 49:17-18)

Wonder what he would have said to them if he were really upset!

But to understand the positive message in what might seem like a prophetic utterance season with the bitter salt of rebuke, one needs to see the overall thrust of what Jacob is seeing. And what Jacob sees is what we have been seeing through the narrative of Genesis: that even with a creation that went off the rails, the Creator was still there—at the start, in the middle, at the finish—steering human history for his sovereign purposes. That is why I chose three specific verses at the beginning of this devotional—verses 1,10, 28—verses from the beginning, the center, and the end of the prophecy.

In Genesis 49:1, we find that Jacob is speaking about what will happen in the days to come. In Genesis 49:10, we see that at the center of this description stands a king, a deliverer who will come from the tribe of Judah—which we now know was the Messiah, Jesus. At the end of the proclamation, in Genesis 49:28, Jacob refers to the blessing that will come upon the twelve tribes of Israel, and by prophetic extension, all of those who are the children of God by grace through faith in his Son.

The point? God knows the final days—the outcome of human history. And without him, it looks bleak. But it is not without him, in an overarching sense, because he has inserted himself into the center of it as a Deliverer through his Son, Jesus the Messiah, King of kings and rightful ruler of the earth. And at the end of the day, those who belong to God will live under the blessings of God. He has positioned himself to bless his people, and that will not be denied. God is steering the ship of history. He is the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, and will bring his plan for the ages to the end that he desires and has foreordained. And since you are “in Christ”, you are tucked away into the fabric of that plan, safe and secure within his competent and caring hands.

Yes, if you are in Christ, your life is in Better Hands.

God has engineered every child with the seeds of greatness—the potential for a life of success, significance and satisfaction. But they need a parent to skillfully unleash that potential—to see it and prophetically speak it into their spirit. Your child needs you to understand God’s thumbprint for their life, then help them to understand what that could mean for them by painting a picture of it. As Larry Crabb said, “A vision we give to others of who and what they could become has power when it echoes what the Spirit has already spoken into their souls.” To speak God’s preferred future into your child’s spirit is to pass on to them the greatest of all blessings, and that will be a gift that will keep on giving through every season of their life.

The Journey // Focus: Genesis 48:14-16

Jacob put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger boy, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, though he was the firstborn. Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac, walked—the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may he bless these boys. May they preserve my name and the names of Abraham and Isaac. And may their descendants multiply greatly throughout the earth.”

If you looked up the words “dysfunction” in the Bible, you would find a footnote that said, “See Jacob’s family.” They brought disharmony, envy, rivalry, promiscuity, violence, estrangement to new heights —and that was on a good day. But over time, through some tough lessons, by making some strategic changes, and with God’s help, they turned a corner toward becoming a family of destiny.

Ultimately, God shaped this family into a nation—Israel, his covenant people. From Israel came the law of Moses, Levitical priesthood, the Davidic kingdom, the Messiah—Jesus Christ, and the Judeo-Christian heritage upon which American society was built. And we see how they began to turn that corner here in Genesis 48.

Jacob, now an old man does something for his children and grandchildren that every child wants and needs: He gave them “the blessing.” What do I mean by “the blessing”? Throughout the Bible, patriarchs of families and fathers would pass on “the blessing” to their children. It was a formal cultural occasion and a significant spiritual marker in the life of that child that shaped the rest of their life, even if it was an adult child when they received it. The father’s blessing would affirm the child’s value and give prophetic direction to their future…an impact that would last for generations.

We don’t do that much in our culture, but in truth, every human longs for both approval and prophetic guidance from their parents. Missing out on it leads us on a lifetime search for it in other ways…most of which are non-productive at best, and are destructive at worst.

How? How do you give them the blessing? Here’s what Jacob did—3 things:

First, you bless them by giving them meaningful touch. That is not easy in a culture that’s uneasy with physical contact…even in caring homes where parents, especially dads, tend to quit touching their kids once they reach grade-school. But notice what Jacob did in Genesis 48:10: “So Joseph brought his sons close to Jacob, and his father kissed them and embraced them.” Then, between Genesis 48:10-14, eight times there’s a reference to Jacob physically touching these two boys.

Throughout the Bible, “the blessing” was always accompanied by a meaningful touch. Jesus did this when he took the children in his arms and blessed them. God created us with 5 million touch receptors, and over 1/3 are in our hands. Jesus understood that touch communicates something powerful—that we’re loved and valued. It provides comfort, security, and acceptance.

Second, speak words of encouragement to them. Genesis 48:15 says, “Jacob blessed them and said, ‘May God bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth.”

There’s tremendous power in our words! Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” He may not have realized it, but he was echoing what the Bible teaches: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” (Proverbs 18:21) Words of affirmation are powerful communicators of love, acceptance and appreciation. Without them, kids often grow up looking for it in ways that are unhealthy. But not only does withholding encouraging words hurt, we do even more damage by the negative words we use. Rather than shaping positively, critical, angry, negative words shatter emotionally.

Someone has said that it takes 40 positive affirmations to overcome just one word spoken in a hurtful way. We need to be keenly aware of how powerful our words are, and how powerful the absence of words of blessing can be. The people in your life, especially your children, need to regularly hear words that bless them.

Paul said it this way in Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up, according to their need, that it may benefit those who listen.” You can set the stage for a household of destiny by learning to bless with meaningful touch and encouraging words.

Third, envision a special future for them. You give “the blessing” by helping them to picture an amazing future. We see Jacob doing this in Genesis 48:16,19 “They will be called by the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac…may they greatly increase upon the earth…Manasseh also will develop into a people, and he also will be great. But Ephraim will be even greater and his descendants will enrich nations.” (MSG)

God has engineered every child with the seeds of success—and it’s a parent’s duty to see and prophetically speak that potential into the child’s spirit. Much of what a child needs to reach their potential is an adult who understands God’s thumbprint for them and helps the child understand what that means by picturing it for them. Larry Crabb said, “A vision we give to others of who and what they could become has power when it echoes what the spirit has already spoken into their souls.”

One of the ways you can envision a special future is through word pictures that express high value. Notice Genesis 48:20: “Israel,” he is referring to a time in the future when the nation of Israel, “will use your names to give blessings: May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” (MSG)

A word-picture expresses a child’s God-given worth in a creative & unforgettable way—and often becomes the prophetic momentum for them to become that vision. Do that for your child. Find a common object, one that they value, and use it to paint a word picture of their special value and their special future. Discern God’s thumbprint for their life and prophetically speak that into their spirit and you’ll provide them with a self-renewing blessing. Touch and encourage your kids, and paint for them a picture a special future—that’s the blessings

And what a gift that is!

“ Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to be what they are capable of becoming. —JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

Our assignment as believers is not to needlessly annoy the world, it is rather to leave the thumbprint of divine blessing wherever we go. Wherever we are, whatever we do, with whomever we are doing it, our life is to leave a witness to the grace of God in hopes that some will be left with a compelling call to turn to him, and if not, to leave them with compelling evidence of their rejection of that grace.

The Journey// Focus: Genesis 47:7-10

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?” And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

Jacob blessed Pharoah, who had blessed God’s chosen people.

God’s promise to Abraham is now being fulfilled in the ongoing story of Joseph’s rise from the low ebb of his years in prison to the zenith of political power in Pharaoh’s palace. Through Joseph’s wisdom, clearly a gift from God, all of Egypt has been preserved from famine and Pharaoh has become even more powerful and firmly established in his position. What has happened: God has blessed the earth because of Abraham, and he has blessed those who have blessed the offspring of Abraham. (Genesis 12:1-3)

Nowhere is the divine pronouncement of Abrahamic blessing clearer than here, as the old patriarch, Jacob, is reaching out his hand to bless Pharaoh, who has blessed him. The man who represents the plan of God is offering God’s grace to the man who represents the quintessential enemy of everything God. And that, in a snapshot, pictures the journey of God’s people on Planet Earth.

As believers, we live in a world of paradox: We are strangers and pilgrims in a foreign land. Earth is not our home; we are heaven-bound. Because earth is currently enemy-occupied territory, and we belong to its rightful owner who is wrestling it back to his control, the world hates us. The god of this world wants to destroy us and eliminate the witness we bear of the Creator who seeks to redeem the world he created. To be clear, the world we live in is no friend of God, which means it is no friend to us. Friendship with this world for the believer, we are told by in James, means to be at odds with God. (James 4:4) We are to be in the world, but not of it, Jesus said. (John 17:16)

Yet we are called to be a blessing to the very world that despises us. We are to bless it, not curse it. We are to serve and strive for justice, and be living proof of a loving God to a lost people. The sense we get from Scripture is that our presence in our particular assigned place on the planet ought to leave a redemptive lift among those with whom we live. They ought to be better off because the people of God were among them. They ought to miss us if we were gone—at least the blessing they received because of our presence.

That is the paradox. We will be a blessing…we will be beaten!

The point being that the reaction we get from the world is not within our purview. How they treat us is above our pay grade. We are simply ambassadors for the true King, representing his interest on the planet he longs to reclaim. Now we can accelerate the world’s hatred by acting foolishly, displaying a “Christianity” that is beyond the bounds of Biblical faith, and being generally annoying believers for no good reason—and there are plenty of Christians who do just that. And the world will hate us.

We don’t need to help them along with that. That will hate us even if we are walking as Jesus walked. Our assignment is not to needlessly annoy, it is rather to leave the thumbprint of divine blessing wherever we go. Wherever we go, whatever we do, with whomever we are doing it, our life is to leave a witness to the grace of God in hopes that some will be left with a compelling call to turn to him, and if not, to leave them with undeniable evidence of their rejection of the grace that was offered.

The question is, are you leaving a fingerprint of blessing where God has assigned you—in your home, school, neighborhood or place of work. I hope so! You are a child of Abraham, living out God’s covenant promise to him to bless the whole earth through his seed. Make sure you are sprouting, and producing the fruit of blessing.

We don’t build altars anymore, rightly so. Under the new covenant, established through Christ’s sacrificial blood, the altar of God is now our heart. Yet there are significant events in our spiritual journey — breakthroughs into the blessings of God so life-altering we label them “defining moments” — that require a memorial of remembrance, or what we might call an “altar.” At times, establishing such a memorial at which we can stop to give praise to God and to remember his covenant is an appropriate thing, perhaps even a needful act of faith. Such an “altar” will serve to remind us of God’s greatness and faithfulness as we journey forward to the next challenge.

The Journey// Focus: Genesis 46:1-4

So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!” Jacob answered, “Here I am,”  God said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”

Good news had flooded Jacob’s old, weary soul, worn thin by years of dashed hopes and dead dreams, like a flowing stream in the parched desert. Joseph, the son he favored, was alive after all these year of thinking he had been killed by a wild animal. And the news of Joseph’s incredible journey from the pit to the palace had revived the old patriarch’s heart:

When his sons told Jacob that Joseph was alive in Egypt, and everything he had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back to Egypt, the Jacob’s spirit revived. And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” (Genesis 45:27-28)

As Jacob began the journey from Canaan to Egypt to see his son and to relocate his clan in the riches of Goshen during the time of famine, one of the first things he did was to build an altar and offer sacrifices to the Sovereign God who had revived his dreams by remembering the covenant the Almighty had sworn to his grandfather Abraham, his father Isaac, and to him. And as he sacrificed, the Lord spoke, calling him by name and recounting the promises of the covenant that he would fulfill as the clan of Israel lived in the land of Egypt.

We don’t build altars much anymore, and rightly so. Under the new covenant, established through the blood of Jesus, the altar of God is now our heart. Yet there are significant events in our spiritual journey, breakthroughs into the blessings of God so important that we would label them “defining moments”, that require an altar. At times, building a memorial at which we can stop to give praise to God and to remember his covenant, is an appropriate thing—perhaps even a needful act of faith. There are times along the way that establishing a memorial of remembrance will serve to remind us of the greatness and faithfulness of God as we journey forward to the next challenge.

These physical symbols that we choose to jog our memory are powerful. Every time we look at that sacred symbol, or touch it and consider what it represents, we call to mind the reality of God’s glorious presence and his unmerited intervention on our behalf.

God often used symbols in the Old Testament. So to, frequently in the Revelation, symbols are provided to help us grasp the glories of the eternal world where God dwells, physical representations of his invisible and uncontainable presence. These symbols provide a way for God’s people to worshipfully enter into God’s presence without being completely consumed or totally overwhelmed by God’s holiness. In other words, spiritual symbols allow finite people to momentarily grasp the infinite.

Have you ever noticed how small children at an ocean beach will run away from the crashing waves in absolute terror. Why? They are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude and brutal force of something incomprehensible. But later they will dig a hole in the sand and fill it with a bucket of that very same seawater that made up the monstrous wave. Then they will scoop a handful of that water and let it drip through their fingers back into the hole.

What are they doing? They are partaking in the magnificence of the ocean without being overwhelmed by it.

That’s the benefit of a symbol. It allows finite beings to comprehend the infinite—if but for a moment. An altar or remembrance allows you to call to mind the incomprehensible greatness of Almighty God and his covenant faithfulness in the past without being complete undone by it. I am not suggesting that you go crazy with this, that you turn your prayer closet into a holy shrine full of religious artifacts and icons—that can obviously get way out of hand. But sometimes we just need a little help with remembering that since God is covenantally faithful, that what he has done in the past for us, like he did for the saints of old, he will do for us today, and we can count on him to do again and again in the future.

God is faithful. He will fulfill his promises. Always. Do what you need to do to remind yourself of that. Perhaps an altar of remembrance would be the appropriate thing for you to erect.

Joseph’s submission to the sovereignty of God allowed him to see the pain his brothers had inflicted not merely through his own perspective alone, but through a perspective that saw God working through their evil actions. He recognized that in all the circumstances of life, big and small, good and bad, God had been inexorably bringing the currents of his personal history to a providential conclusion. His brothers might have been idiots for selling him into slavery twenty plus years before, but they were useful idiots in the hands of the Providential Ruler of all mankind.

Going Deep // Focus: Genesis 45:5

Don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.

Useful idiots! With all due respect (it’s odd that we use that term when we’re about to disrespect someone), that’s what I would call Joseph’s brothers. Or I could clean it up a bit and call them unwitting but useful instruments in the hands of a sovereign God.

Twenty plus years after they had sold him into slavery, the brothers are now standing before Joseph, and they don’t even recognize him. They have been blinded by two decades of thinking he had long since died, their perspective jaded by the haunting fear, endless guilt and corrosive shame of what they had done. (Genesis 44:16) Finally, when Joseph’s identity is revealed, the brothers expect him to exact revenge, make them pay dearly and do to them what they had done to him.

But Joseph was cut from a different cloth than these lousy brothers. His submission to the sovereignty of God allowed him to see the pain they had inflicted not merely through his own perspective alone, but through a perspective that saw God working through their evil actions. Joseph recognized that in all the circumstances of life, big and small, good and bad, God had been inexorably bringing the currents of his personal history to a providential conclusion.

Joseph’s submission to the sovereignty of God is revealed three times as he discloses himself to his brothers with words to this effect: “Don’t beat yourself up; it was God, not you, who sent me here. You had a plan and God had a plan, and God’s plan trumped yours. You were simply unwitting but useful instruments in his hands.” (Genesis 45:5,7,8). Joseph’s brothers might have been idiots for selling him into slavery twenty plus years before, but they were useful idiots in the hands of the Providential Ruler of all mankind.

The bottom line to Joseph’s story is that God is in control. He turns what is meant for evil to our good, extracts glory for himself even in the most impossible circumstances, and no matter what, always, always, always fulfills his sovereign purposes. He is in control! He is the Sovereign God of the universe, the Providential Ruler over the affairs, big and small, of all mankind, the Incomparable One who works all things for his glory.

And here’s the kicker: He works all things not only for his own glory—but for your good! That’s right—for your good. Now why would the Sovereign, Providential, Incomparable One bother with little old you? Simply because you’ve surrendered your life to him; and when you did that, you, perhaps even unwittingly, signed up to be on his sovereign benefits plan.

So here’s the deal: If you have a few idiots making your life difficult, just remember, in God’s hands they are useful idiots.

“ Faith makes things possible, not easy! —HEBREWS 11