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Jacob's Dream and Flight from Esau

Overview:  The conflict that began in their mother's womb carries over into the adult lives of Esau and Jacob.  After following Rebekah's plan to trick Isaac into giving him he patriarchal blessing, Jacob flees to Haran for safety.  En route, he receives assurance from God in a dream that he is indeed the heir to the covenant promises.  After twenty years in Haran learning painful lessons from his uncle Laban, Jacob returns to Caanaan with his livestock, servants and family--the nucleus from which God will fashion a new nation:  Israel.

Your Daily Walk:  The first important experience of a new Hebrew baby was recieving a name.  Often the name given would describe the parents' hope for the child or picture the child's personality.  So an infant would tend to live up to his name!  You are a child of God bear the name Christian.  And that raises a penetrating question:  Are you living up to your name?  Talk to your heavenly Father about it right now.  If you are willing to be a Christian today in more than name alone, tell him so!

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Isaac's Family and Fortune

Overview:  Isaac's family, though presented only briefly in the book of Genesis, is immensely significant.  Born to Isaac are twin sons who would rather be the fathers of twin nations:  Jacob (Israel) and Esau (Edom).  Isaac repeats one of his father's most memorable mistakes (26:6-16), but in spite of his failures, he hears the reassuring promise from God:  "For to you are your descendants I will... confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham" (26:3).

Your Daily Walk:  Take a piece of paper and list everything you know about the life of Isaac.  Then compare it with the following.  Isaac was Abraham's son, Rebekah's husband, and Jacob and Esau's father.  He imitated his father and got tricked by his son.  He dug a few wells and fathered a set of twins.  In short, he generally did what God told him to do without much failure.  How would you like you epitaph to read:  "He generally did what God told him to do"?  There's not a lot of glamour in quiet faithfulness, but as far as God is concerned, it's more important than just about anything else.  Maybe that's one reason Isaac gets equal billing with his father and son every time God identifies himself as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."  Has the Lord assigned you a supporting role that escapes the notice of the crowd?  Not everyone can function without applause, but apparently God knows that you can by his grace.  Thank God right now for the privilege of serving in the "Isaac Brigade," and ask him for that same steadfastness of spirit that produced God's commendation for Isaac!

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Isaac--God's Promise in Flesh and Blood

Overview:  Today's reading describes the birth and early years of Isaac, the long-awaited son God had promised Abraham.  After many years of learning to walk by faith, Abraham and Sarah experience the greatest joy of their lives:  the miraculous birth of a son and heir and the one through whom God would form a great nation!  The stage is set for Abraham's severest test--the command to sacrifice his treasured son as a burnt offering to God.  Drawing upon a faith in God that has grown with the years, Abraham obeys, thereby learning another lesson about God's faithfulness.  Sarah, who sees her son reach manhood, does not live to see him marry.

Your Daily Walk:  "There is no such thing as an accident, only incidents in the perfect will of God."  That's not just a blid maxim.  It was spoken by a father whose teenage daughter had just undergone brain surgery after a car and bus collision.  He meant that both the type and the timing of "accidents" are under God's wise control.  It is no coincidence that chapter 22, the offering of Isaac, begins with these words:  "Some time later God tested Abraham."  Why did God choose to test Abraham at this point in time?  Abraham had endured many faith-stretching lessons, which are recorded in chapters 12-21.  Only after these lessons did God put Abraham through the extreme test with Isaac.  Are you learning the lessons today that will help you handle the tests God has for you tomorrow?  Think of one faith-stretching situation you are facing today.  How might God use it to prepare you for tomorrow?  Pause and ask him to make you teachable in today's tests so you'll be prepared for the bigger ones tomorrow.

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God's Judgment on Sodom

Overview:  Three heavenly messengers arrive with both good news and bad news for Abraham's family.  The good news:  Abraham and Sarah's long-awaited dream is about to come true!  They will soon experience the joys of parenthood.  The bad news:  Sodom and Gomorah will soon experience the full fury of God's judgment for their grievous sins.  In response to Abraham's intercession, God spares Lot's family during Sodom's destruction, though their grudging departure reflects their lukewarm spiritual condition.

Your Daily Walk:  One day a man named Lot sat down at his desk, pulled out a sheet of paper, and wrote accross the top:  "Goals for My Life."  Then he began to compile the goals that would shape the direction of his life: (1) To lose all sense of moral values.  (2)  To forfeit all spiritual authority in my home.  (3)  To exert no infulence for good in my community.  (4)  To lose everyone and everything dear to me.  Ridiculous, you say?  Then consider this:  Lot set no such goals, yet he accomplished everything on that list!  Those unwritten goals simply became the consequences of his worldy choices.  Lot had no spiritauly goals in his life, but you should.  Written goals help prevent the kind of purposeless drift that set Lot up for disaster.  What do you want to accomplish specifically this year in the areas of Scripture memorization... time in God's Word.... Reading good Christian books... sharing your faith?  Write them down; hang them up; pray them through; and with God's help watch them happen!

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We will be having a weekly review. There will be look back, look up, and look ahead sections.

Look Back: Congratulations! You've taken an exciting step in your spiritual walk through God's word. Already you've read about God's masterful creation of the universe, the first sin and it's spread throughout humanity, Noah and his ark, the tower of Babel and the scattering of the nations and God's promise to Abraham to make him a farther of a nation special to him.

But now let's pause and refresh ourselves as we walk through the pages of scripture. About every seventh day you'll have the opportunity to catch up on your reading from the week if you need to. But more than that, you'll have a change to Look Back at what you've been reading, Look up at God and consider what he wants to say to you through his word, and Look Ahead at what's to come.

Don't hurry through these seventh-day devotionals. Instead, take the opportunity to rest in God's presents because you're not just reading the Bible this year- you're beginning a walk with God himself... a walk that will last forever!

Look up: Believe what you hear on the radio, and you might conclude that "God is watching us from a distance." Believe what you read in the book of Genesis, and you'll most certainly conclude that "God is close by, and he takes personal interest in my life." And you'll be right!!

After all, look at the divine fingerprints clearly visible on the lives of Adam (who walked with God in the cool of the evening), Noah (who rode above the floodwaters in an ark built with the aid of a blueprint from heaven- and notice in Gen. 7:16 who shut the door!), and Abram (selected by God to be he father of nations and the channel of blessing to the entire world). Not the picture of a distant, detached deity, but the portrait of a powerful yet personal God of creation, who not only made you but wants to guide and provide for you each day of your life!