Category Archives: Genesis

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I Am Response-Able

#NotAVictim

In an age of victimization, blame-shifting and irresponsibility, we cannot escape the fact that God created us as responsible beings. We are accountable for saying “no” to sin. To those who would surrender to the power of sin, God says, “you must subdue it and be its master.”

The Journey // Focus: Genesis 4:6-7

“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

I am grateful that God has made me responsible, that is, response-able. In an age of victimization, blame-shifting and irresponsibility, we cannot escape the fact that God created us as responsible beings. We are accountable!

That is really good news, as disappointing as it might seem to some, because sin wants to have dominion over me—that has always been and will always be the case. And it will continually dominate me if I accept that I am simply sin’s hapless victim, unable to overcome it. But God wants me to subdue it, to master it. And I can. I can because God has commanded me to “subdue it and be its master.”

God has gifted me with freedom of choice…one of the most powerful forces in the universe. I can choose my response in any given set of circumstances. Sin doesn’t control me; I do. I am the one who gives sin power over my actions. Likewise, I can tap into divine power within me to subdue sin when I submit to God’s will.

Thank God for his grace, “that has appeared, offering salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:11-13)

I have within me the power of no—I can say no to sin when it comes knocking at my door! The Apostle Paul put it powerfully in Romans 6:

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace…But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…And now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:14, 17-18, 22-23)

Thank God, I am not a slave to my sin! In fact, according to the God who created me, I can enslave it and be its master.

Going Deeper: What is your familiar sin? Have a talk with it today; serve notice. There’s a new sheriff in town. You have been commissioned by God to master it and empowered by the Holy Spirit to kick its hiney back into the sin-bin!

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Not In Part But The Whole

God's Merciful Covering for Our Sinful Choices

God forgives us when he doesn’t have to, when we don’t deserve it, and with foreknowledge that he’ll have to freely pardon our sin again and again and again to get us into his heaven. If for no other reason today, you and I should be thankful for a merciful God who goes out of his way to forgive.

The Journey // Focus: Genesis 3:21

“And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.”

Adam and Eve sinned—and as the Bible tells us, “the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23a) It was a stiff penalty, but if God was to be a just God, somebody had to die. And somebody did! In this case, as a remarkable foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for the sin of the world, an animal was slain and its hide used to cover the sin-exposed human couple. Thus we are introduced to a God who is not only just, but whose mercy saves us from his justice: “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.” (Romans 6:23b)

How loving, merciful and full of grace the Creator was—and still is—not to completely do away with his prized creation, man, because of his willful sin, to begin again with a newly created man. If God dealt with our sin as we deserve, who of us would stand a chance? (see Psalm 130:3) Perhaps no other writer captured the lovingkindness that emanates from the core of the Creator’s character as poignantly as the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote in Lamentations 3:22-23,

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Rather than judging us as we deserve, God covers our sin through the promised Redeemer (v. 15) who bore the punishment of our sin with his life, a redemptive reality foreshadowed by the covering of the original couple with skins of a sacrificed animal (v. 21).

Thank God for his mercies, given by his grace afresh and anew each day. “My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!” (Horatio Spafford)

Going Deeper: God forgave you when he didn’t have to, when you didn’t deserve it, and with the full foreknowledge that he will have to do it again and again and again to get you into his heaven. If for no other reason today, you should thank God for his mercy—that he doesn’t give you what you really deserve. Me, too!

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Every Breath You Take

Don't Waste A One

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 2020, who will have graciously, 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.

The Journey // Focus: 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.”

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 breathe praise the Lord!

Going Deeper: 23,040 breaths today—23,040 reasons for gratitude. How many offerings of praise can you offer up to the Breath of Life Giver over the next twenty-four hours?

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God Did It!

All You Need To Know About Anything

All I need to know about anything and everything I learn in Genesis 1, which is simply 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!

The Journey // Focus: 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 in the New Testament, 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)

Going Deeper: What do we learn from Genesis 1? Simply this: God did it. He started it all from nothing, he is shepherding what he started, and he will bring it to the completion he desires—he will finish it in fine fashion. That includes his work in your life, too. Take a moment to offer your gratitude for the Author and Finisher of your faith.

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Waiting Time Is Not Wasted Time

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

While you may be languishing away in your prison of undesirable circumstances, God is above it all and he clearly sees the road ahead of you. Embrace that time between the frustrating and the fruitful, your period of waiting, not as a waste of time, not as prison time, but as God time.

Going Deep // Focus: Genesis 40:23

Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.

Twenty years in prison. Two decades. 7,300 days of mistreatment (see Psalm 105:18) for doing nothing wrong whatsoever. One-third of the years typically allotted to a man, the prime years of his life, wasted in a dank, fetid Egyptian prison. But were those years really wasted? Bible commentator, Warren Wiersbe, notes,

More than one servant of God has regretted rushing ahead of God’s schedule and trying to get to the throne too soon. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say, “It’s tragic when a person succeeds before he is ready for it.” It’s through faith and patience that we inherit the promises (Heb. 6:12; see 10:36), and the best way to learn patience is through tribulation (Rom. 5:3-4). “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4 nkjv). God often removes our crutches so we’ll learn to walk by faith and trust Him alone. (Wiersbe, BE Bible Study Series)

God took away Joseph’s crutches and replaced them with the characteristic he would later need to run the greatest empire in the world of that day, Egypt, through what he learned during those twenty-years in jail: he endured injustice—what truly great rulers must know to fairly govern their subjects; he developed discernment—he learned how to properly interpret dreams; he grew in trust—what the Lord’s servants must have to be greatly used in carrying out his eternal plans. The two decades of waiting on God were not wasted.

As you read the prison portion of Joseph’s story, you can’t help but be impressed with this young man’s deep and abiding trust in the goodness and sovereignty of God. Joseph believed in the core of his being that God was in control, and that God was fundamentally good, and those beliefs became settled law for Joseph. Neither his current circumstances nor his emotions at the moment would trump the fact that his life was in God’s hands. So when Joseph’s ticket out of prison, the cupbearer, forgot about him and when Joseph languished for another two years in a squalid jail, Joseph trusted.

I would like to think that’s how I would react to the disappointing and hurtful things that will get thrown at me in life. I’m guessing you would like to think that about yourself, too. The “Joseph way” is certainly the heroic way to do life—and one that must be so pleasing to the Father who takes such delight in our trust.

But to live life like Joseph, you have to understand that there are two views of the road ahead. The first view is the human perspective. That is where you simply and only see what is right in front of you—which means that sometimes all you see are bumps, barriers and beat downs. Obviously, it is quite normal to look at the world from such a point of view; you are human, after all. But if that is the only view you have, you will be prone to discouragement, enslaved to the emotional ups and downs that come from being slapped around by life, and view the unwanted circumstances that envelop you as a waste of time.

What you really need to have in order to live the “Joseph way” is an eternal perspective. That is the other view, and it is a grand one! The “Joseph way” of viewing life comes only by way of fundamental trust in the care and competence of your Heavenly Father. It understands that while you may be languishing away in your prison of unexpected and undesirable circumstances, God is above it all and he clearly sees the road ahead of you. Furthermore, this view embraces the time between the frustrating and the fruitful, the period of waiting, not as a waste of time, not as prison time, but as God time.

If you can’t learn to enfold your human perspective into that kind divine perspective of ruthless trust in the God who is in control of all things and works all things to his glory and your good, get ready for a frustrating stay in Pharaoh’s prison. If you can order your life by the “Joseph way”, everything that comes your way—especially the bad stuff—becomes fodder for the God who takes what was meant as harm and turns it to good. (Genesis 50:20)

If you are a God-follower, never forget this: Waiting on God is never time wasted.

Going Deeper With God: From the bottom of your heart, as sincerely as you know how, keep saying, “thank you, God” in the midst of your waiting. Practice gratitude until it becomes the natural response to life—giving thanks in everything, for this is the will of God.

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Useful Idiots

Reflect:
Genesis 45:5, NLT

“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, that’s what I would call Joseph’s brothers.

Twenty-two 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, guilt and shame of what they had done. (Genesis 44:16) Finally, as 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.

In all of life’s circumstances, big and small, good and bad, God is inexorably bringing the currents of your 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-two 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. His 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.

God turns what is meant for evil to your good, extracts glory for himself even in the most impossible circumstances, and no matter what, always, always, always fulfills his sovereign purposes. His is in control!

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 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.

Prayer… Sovereign Lord, today I express my trust that you will use what was hurtful to me for your glory and my good. I will refuse to allow bitterness and unforgiveness to take root in my spirit. Rather, by faith I will choose to see you actively at work in me.

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Sowing, Reaping And Praying For A Crop Failure

Reflect:
Genesis 32:28

Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” … “Everything is against me!” (Genesis 42:28 & 36)

If you’ve been around the Bible much, you know this story well. Joseph’s brothers, out of envy, anger and hatred, sold Joseph into slavery to nomads travelling to Egypt. A decade or two later, unknown to the brothers, Joseph has made an improbable rise to power, and now sits as second in command of the most powerful nation on earth.

Now forced to scrounge for food in Egypt during a severe famine, the tables are turned on the brothers: they stand face-to-face with Joseph, first bowing before him (a fulfillment of Joseph’s dream; the one that originally got him into hot water with the brothers), then begging for food, and ultimately begging for their very lives. And all the time their minds cannot fathom that it is actually Joseph with whom they are pleading.

There are so many things we could say about this chapter and its larger context: Like the sovereignty of God that allowed Joseph’s mistreatment in prior years as the very means to preserve his family down the road. Or how God always squeezes good out of evil for his children. Or how Joseph remains faithful and useful to God even when the evidence suggested that God had abandoned him. Or how Joseph left retribution, revenge and judgment in God’s hands, even when the best of men would have been tempted to exact a pound of flesh from these ornery brothers once Joseph had them dead to rights.

And don’t miss the application in all of those relevant truths: God will do that for you, too, if you will trust him with your life—both in the good times and especially in the bad when the evidence seems contrary to a loving God who is supposed to be in control.

But the one feature of this particular part of the story that intrigues me is the load of guilt this family carried for all those years, obviously paralyzing them with regret, the fear of receiving their just deserts and the onerous sense that they will have to pay an impossible price to make up for their evil actions in the past:

Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” (Genesis 42:26)

Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!” (Genesis 42:36)

Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring Benjamin back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.” (Genesis 42:37)

So what are the take away’s for you and me from the story of these messed up brothers?

First, as it relates to the brothers, no sinful action is worth the temporary satisfaction or pleasure it falsely promises—ever! The guilt, harm and forfeiture of God’s blessings are a horrible crop to reap at some point, either sooner or perhaps later, down the road.

No sinful action is worth the temporary satisfaction or pleasure it falsely promises—ever!

Second, as it relates to Jacob and his lingering dread, no child of God needs to fear a horrible harvest for past sins. God specializes in crop failures. Sure, there are consequences for sin sometimes, but God promises to turn even those to our good if we “have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) As John Newton so profoundly wrote, “We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.”

There are consequences for sin, but God promises to turn even those to our good if we “have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Third, as it relates to Reuben’s assumption that he could assuage divine punishment, no personal sacrifice for sin will be needed for the child of God to cancel his punishment since God sent his very own Son, of whom Joseph was a type, to once and for all pay the price to satisfy God’s righteous wrath rightly directed at our sin. (Hebrews 10:8-14)

I’m so glad to be a follower of Jesus and not a child of Jacob, aren’t you! God’s unlimited, unmerited grace, purchased by Christ’s sacrificial death and glorious resurrection, is a far better way.

Overlay Your Sin With God’s Truth

  • Guilt—Romans 8:1-4
  • Fear—I John 1:9
  • Human effort to appease God—Hebrews 10:8-14

Martin Luther said, “The law works fear and wrath; grace works hope and mercy.” If you are living under a load of guilt and fear, or the sense that somehow you must make it up to God, meditate on and pray these truths back to God:  Guilt—Romans 8:1-4; Fear—I John 1:9, Human effort to appease God—Hebrews 10:8-14. Then allow grace to wash away what doesn’t belong in the Christian’s life.

Prayer… Father, thank you for paying the price for my sin—all of it, past, present and future—through the death of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. I will be eternally grateful!