Yes. It’s Thursday. Yesterday was the first day of school and, believe me, my brain was pretty much dead from prepping for the day and then meeting students. Wow! I love my job, but that first day wears me out! It was a great day, though, and I felt God in it. Can’t wait to see what He is going to do with my middle schoolers this year!!!
If you’re new around here, it’s been a while since we talked about Word Wednesday. We are reading through Genesis one chapter at a time this year. We’re up to chapter 26. Read through and drop into the comments below to talk about what spoke to you out of the chapter! Ready?
Genesis 26: 7 (GW)–When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
I’m not so sure about you, but doesn’t that sound a whole lot like Isaac’s daddy in Genesis 20:2? I do believe that particular lie originated with him when he told the (half truth… or quarter truth? Either way, all lie.) that Sarah was his sister. A king’s entire household suffered for that lie.
Isn’t it interesting. Isaac wasn’t even around then, yet he repeated his father’s exact sin. I believe in genetic issues that pass down through the generations, things like your doctor always asks you about: heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. I also believe there are spiritual “genetics” that flow right down. You’ve likely seen it, maybe even in your own family. Addiction. Divorce. Fear. Stop and look at it and you’ll see… we do pass a heritage on to our children, sometimes even before they are born.
That would be scary… except for grace. We can’t break the cycle, but He can. Yes, it can take work on our part, things He asks of us to get us free, but it is possible. So possible. And from one who has been set free from things in my family line and from things I brought upon myself, I can tell you, it’s true. Jesus is my deliverer. And yours.
I told someone the other day that all of my favorite verses deal with Jesus as my deliverer. That’s what He is to me. I look at my “old life” and I see where He’s made amazing, incredible changes in me. It’s the kind of freedom that makes you laugh uncontrollably because the joy is so complete. If you don’t know that kind of freedom, I beg you to look to Him. To find someone to guide you to Him. To show you how amazing He is. Because, more than anything, He wants you free.
Bonus note, I’ve been reading Jeremiah. After God tells them all of the punishment they will endure, He goes on and on about how much delight and joy He will take in restoring them, how He can’t wait to bring them back and bless them all over again. And He’s saying all of that before the punishment even starts. How awesome is a God like that?!? He wants to bless us. Looks FORWARD to blessing us. How can you not love that?
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
One of the things I do love in this section is that God didn’t punish the people of the town for the lie that Isaac told. God kept the men in the town from Rebekah. I think it’s cool the way that God stepped in and kept a dumb situation from getting really bad.
The other thing I love about the bible and I’ve mentioned it in the past is that these are real people who do really dumb things. You almost can’t make some of this stuff up. It’s like watching a bad movie. You see that no good can come from what a character is about to do, yet they do it anyway. I love that God keeps things real and shows us that we are all flawed, we all make mistakes, we all sin, and we can all be delivered (to use your word for this one).
Jodie says
And some of them, it’s like they never learn. Abraham lied about Sarah TWICE! God gives us examples of people like us, and I’m so glad. My favorite is that he calls David a man after his own heart, even after David committed adultery, had a man murdered, and had about a billion wives and concubines. Yet God saw him through the eyes of grace. Wow. Wow. Wow.