I am Nothing, without God Blog

9/21/2018 0 Comments

Genesis 29-31

First thing I noticed in these chapters is that Jacob never seemed or prayed to God for direction on any matter. In chapter 31, it says the Lord spoke to him and told him what to do. Jacob had God's favor in the 20 years before that but things were I believe more difficult and he had to work much harder than he probably would have if he had been seeking God more. I am not saying life is super easy if you do seek God for direction. there will still be challenges and such. but I have found the more I seek God the better things are. Yes there are struggles but you can have peace during them that God is working it out.
It's ironic that Jacob who deceived his dad into giving him the first born blessing, now gets deceived by his uncle to take the first born daughter.
This multiple wives situation is yet another example of why God said one man and one woman for marriage. The house was divided with hatred and envy. Despite that God did bless both sides with kids. In His timing, He even takes Rachaels's barren womb and opens it to give her a son, Joesph.
Another way you can see how God's favor was on Jacob was that even though Laban tried to cheat him into not getting any of the flocks of livestock God blessed Jacob with the strongest of the flocks. I would like to not that Jacob thought he was causing it to happen by laying out the bark but in reality it was God. How many times do we try to take credit for what God has done in our lives? But when things don't go right we are quick to blame the devil for it. We need to be more thankful to God and what He does for us!

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9/17/2018 0 Comments

Genesis 26-28

In chapter 26, God promises Isaac the same thing he promised his father Abraham. The Lord would bless him, multiply his offspring, and that all nations all be blessed by on in his offspring. This was foretelling of Jesus again.
Isaac like his father lacked faith that God would keep him safe because of his wife's beauty and told the same lie his dad did claiming his wife was his sister. This time however no one tried to take his wife before they were found out at least.
God blessed Isaac so much that the Philistine king asked him to leave his land. After a while though the king realized how blessed Isaac was becoming that he wanted to make a treaty with him. He probably feared Isaac could come take his stuff if God was for it.
I noticed this trend of God blessing His people abundantly and the Bible basically says cause they had His favor/love. What I don't get is people nowadays bashing men and women of God for being blessed abundantly with money and such. Clearly time and time again God prospered those faithful to Him. Yes some may abuse the system but that doesn't mean everyone does. Be grateful for what you have yourself. Don't be envious or jealous either. You don't know all the circumstances for their life or your own even. But God does and trust in Him to provide for all your needs. In the end, no one is taking any of the material things with them when they die.
In chapter 27, Rebekah has Jacob deceive Isaac in order for him to get the blessing that Esau was supposed to get. In the blessing it says, "Be lord over your brothers." which is a way of fulfillment to what God told Rebekah while she was pregnant, "the older shall serve the younger." God knew what was going to happen and even though He doesn't like deceit this just shows God can use anything and turn it to work for His good.
Jacob in chapter 28 while fleeing his brother's wrath/going to find a wife, he has an encounter with God in a dream. During the encounter God confirms the pass of the promise He made to Abraham and then Issac to Jacob. When Jacob awoke he was amazed by what happened and builds a pillar instead of an altar like the people of the past. In combination with the fact he puts a condition of what God has to do for him in order for the Lord to be his God shows he didn't have the trust/faith in God like his father and grandfather did.
Chapter 28 ends with Jacob saying, "And of all you give me I will give a full tenth to you." This is the second mention of a "tithe", but if you noticed just like the first time it was something the person was felt lead to do. They weren't told or forced. They gave freely and with a grateful heart! God doesn't need it but He does use it to bless you and others.

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9/12/2018 0 Comments

Genesis 20-22

Chapter 20 again shows Abraham's lack of faith in God to protect him by having Sarah say she is his sister, which was a half truth but still wrong. Especially, since he had a promise from God she was going to get pregnant soon and have his son. God had to step in again to fix the mess Abraham had made.
Abraham is the first prophet mentioned in the Bible and it says how he could pray/intercede on one's behalf.
Ishmael mocked Isaac when he was a toddler. Sarah saw it and wasn't happy at all about it. Sarah wanted him and his mother casted out, Abraham was sad about it, but God told him to do as Sarah asked. He did this because the promise of the savior was to be through the offspring of the child God had promised not the one that Abram and Sarai tried to fulfill it with originally. Also as mentioned in the New Testament the offspring needed to come from the free woman not the slave woman.
God didn't turn his back on Ishmael and his mother though. He kept His promise to her to protect them and make him a great nation. God never leaves or forsakes us just because things might not be how you thought or things are rough, God has you and a good plan for you.
Chapter 22 talks about God testing Abraham by telling him to sacrifice Isaac. I think the story really shows how Abraham has grown in his faith/trust in the Lord. As shown in previous chapters Abraham's faith wavered when his life was possibly on the line, yet here he doesn't waver. Some may say well it was the son's life not his own but as a parent there is this built in instinct to protect your child. Verse 8, "Abraham said, 'God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering' " Abraham was speaking out his faith that God would provide, which He did and always will do.

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9/10/2018 0 Comments

Genesis 16-19

Chapter 16 starts off with Sarai and Abram(since he did agree to it) trying to fulfill God's promise on their own in their timing not God's. Basically like so many of us they got impatient and didn't have complete faith in God. For me personally I think that maybe the is one of the most difficult things is waiting on God's timing, even thought I know His plans always workout much better than my own.
Hagar, Sarai's servant shouldn't have looked down on Sarai just because she got pregnant. She took an already touchy situation and made it worse. She should have b been grateful for the privilege to have the opportunity to have a child.
Drama from taking on a second wife here and they complications from it , is why God wanted marriage between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24) There are other instances in the old testament that a man has more than one wife and almost always there are issues because of it.
God being a merciful God takes the mess they made and make the best of of it. Verse 16:13, "...'You are a God of seeing,' for she said, 'Truly see I have seen him who looks after me.'" Just like with Hagar God is watching over you! He see what's going on and has plans to make it better. Remember Jeremiah 29:11 " For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
Chapter 17 at ninety nine years old God changes Abram's name to Abraham to confirm the promos He gave him years prior that he would be the father of a multitude of nations. As the sign of this covenant every male had to be circumcised in other to be part of the blessings. It wasn't just Abraham's blood family but everyone in the household.
Some could take the next part of Abraham and Sarah having a child past the time of the natural bing able to have kids as God showing off. But when God does things like this it is more about making people truly understand how powerful God is and how much we really need Him.
I feel like there maybe some significance that God tells Abraham and Sarah that Issac will be born in one year, right before He has Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed.
Abraham I am sure is trying to save Lot but he also wanted to save everyone because if it was just about Lot he could have just asked God to spare Lot's family. God was will to spare the city even if they only found 10 righteous. God really doesn't want anyone to perish which is why He gives warning and is what we perceive at times as being slow to act, but 2 Peter 3:9 shows the reality that God is just being patient with us.

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9/7/2018 0 Comments

Genesis 12-15

The start of chapel 12 is God telling Abram the call on his life. That God is going to bless him to make a great nation and even more importantly 12:3 "...in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." God referring to Jesus Christ, Savior of the earth.
Abram went to Canaan just as God tells him, but when a famine comes he goes to Egypt. I read nothing that says God told him to. Abram also fears for his life and tells his wife to lie about who she really is. To me it seems Abram wasn't in God's will for his life and wasn't remembering what God promised him. How often do we do that also? We get caught up in the moment/situation and forget about the big picture. God keeps His promise even when it's us that cause our own mistakes. 12:3 "...him who dishonors you I will curse..." God curses the Pharaoh so he gives Abram his wife back. God protects and loves us no matter what.
Chapter 13 shares how God had blessed Abram's family so much the land where they were couldn't sustain all of it and strife was happening. To stop the strife they had to split ways. Strife isn't something you want in your life cause it's not healthy and if you are experiencing that with a person or people it's best to just split ways sometimes.
Lot picked what he believed to be the "best". Downfall to that was he settled to close to Sodom which, verse 13 says, "Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord." This probably contributed to him getting captured in the next chapter.
In chapter 14, after Abram gets Lot back he meets up with the king of Salem (the study notes says that it's possibly a shortened version of "Jerusalem") Melchizedek who was also a priest of God Most High. Verse 20, "And Abram gave him a tenth of everything." While giving had been mentioned before this is the first mention of a tithe.
Chapter 15 Abram questions God on what reward he will get due to the fact he was still childless. God tells him he will have his own son and his descendants will be as many as the stars in the sky. Verse 6, "Ad he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness." This verse is quoted four times in the new testament. Faith is so important! It was Abram's faith in God that made him righteous not any deed/work!

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9/5/2018 0 Comments

Genesis 11

Genesis 11 starts out with the story of the tower of Babel. It shows what man can do when united. The problem is that they were doing it for themselves and getting prideful about it. The other issue was that they were limiting themselves to one location. Continuing on that path wouldn't lead anywhere good. They wouldn't have acknowledged the fact they needed a Savior or populated the earth.
God isn't and wasn't against unity. Look in later scriptures and you will see repeatedly where it talks about how He wants us to be united. United in love for one another, working on spreading His love and good news, so none should perish. He saw the big picture and they were caught up in the moment.
The second half of the chapter goes through the descendants. This shows after the flood people didn't live as long and as the genealogy continues it decreases even more.

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9/3/2018 0 Comments

Genesis 8 & 9

Genesis 8 ends with verse 22 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." This verse stuck out to me today. "While the earth remains" clearly God is hinting to the fact that one day the earth will cease to exist. This assumption is confirmed in Revelation 21:1 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more." God knows all and I believe He gives us little breadcrumbs/hints of what to come to direct and prepare us for what is ahead.
Genesis 9:3-4 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood." After the flood God gives us permission to become omnivores. I have seen many times where people will quote Genesis 1:29 "And God said, "Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food." and say that God only wants us to live on a plant diet. that eating meat is bad for us. Clearly that is not the truth. This is why reading the scriptures yourself is so important. People tend to take a verse here and there and act like that's all there is but it's simply not the truth. Or they take the verse completely out of context. One can't simply look at one verse alone and truly see the whole picture. That's like looking at one pixel in a photo and declaring you know what it's a photo of. You could make a guess and there would be a small chance of being correct. Sometimes even when you can see the entire photo there is a chance of you not knowing what it really is a photo of but your chances get much higher.

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Stephanie

This is my online journal of my observations and thoughts I have while reading thru my ESV Study Bible.

I have started at the beginning in Genesis and going to work my way through to Revelation.

If you have questions or want to discuss anything feel free to leave a comment or send me a message.

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Genesis 29-31

Genesis 26-28

Genesis 20-22

Genesis 16-19

Genesis 12-15

Genesis 11

Genesis 8 & 9

Stephanie

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