Tag: divine providence

Divine Providence (Genesis 30:37-43)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Jacob with Laban’s flock, by Jusepe de Ribera, 1632

Then Jacob took some fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off strips of bark, making white streaks on them. Then he placed these peeled branches in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, for that was where they mated. And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated those lambs from Laban’s flock. And at mating time he turned the flock to face Laban’s animals that were streaked or black. This is how he built his own flock instead of increasing Laban’s.

Whenever the stronger females were ready to mate, Jacob would place the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of them. Then they would mate in front of the branches. But he didn’t do this with the weaker ones, so the weaker lambs belonged to Laban, and the stronger ones were Jacob’s. As a result, Jacob became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep and goats, female and male servants, and many camels and donkeys. (New Living Translation)

Jacob had been working for his father-in-law Laban for years. During that time, they both contested with each other in a chess match of trying to gain the upper hand. Mostly, Jacob had been outmaneuvered by Laban. But now he achieves a sort of coup de grace, a checkmate.

Having agreed between them that Jacob’s wages would be only the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, as well as every black lamb, Laban proceeded to remove all those animals from his flock and sent them off away from Jacob. This was yet another unfair practice in the chess game of his life.

Even if Jacob wanted to retaliate, he really had no means to do it – which is why Laban kept taking advantage of him. But Laban underestimated who he was playing against and dealing with.

Using an unusual method, something akin to sympathetic magic – a ritual using an object that resembles the sheep over which Jacob sought influence – he systematically grew his own flock of many strong sheep and goats. Jacob then separated these stronger animals from Laban’s flock. In doing this, Jacob became exceedingly wealthy.

It’s an incredible story, almost like achieving the modern day American dream of rags to riches in the face of adversity. Yet, behind all the success of Jacob, we as the readers know that this happens because God is working out divine promises to the family of Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob.

The power, sovereignty, providence, and grace of God stand behind every good thing people have in this life. The Lord is the One who is not flummoxed by the impending moves in the chess game; God has the ability to rearrange the chess board, reorder the future, and make restoration possible.

Although separated by more than three millennia from the family of Jacob, we can relate to the ever-present human condition, the personal struggles of overcoming the past, and the wonderings of what will happen in the future.

In whatever way we want the future to shake-out, it ultimately is in the hands of God. We would like to live in a universally closed system where there is predictability with no trickery, posturing, manipulating, or anxiety about what’s next. Many people long for a life free from an uncertain and shadowy future.

But none of us can have the precise future we may wish for. So, some people despair that we are in a closed system in which nothing can change – that systemic evil, broken institutions, fragmented families, and wounded spirits are just the way it is.

There are lots of folks who continually feel the awkward push and pull of both hope and dread – wanting to believe that things can be better, but having a sinking sense that the other shoe is about to drop.

In truth, we do not live in a closed universal system; history is not yet finalized and the Lord has a few tricks up the divine sleeve. We actually live in an open system, where we can find both surety and hope. The future, although appearing bleak for some, shall be shaped and bent by God according to divine promises and good purposes.

And when we take the time to observe this grand open system, we begin to discern that no scheming of humanity nor any human machinations can do anything more than slightly delay the inevitable Day of the Lord. Justice will have its day, and it’s way on this earth; injustice shall not last forever.

In the meantime, we do the best we can with the resources we have, at this present moment. Today is all we have. God’s gracious provision for this day is enough. Tomorrow has enough worries of its own.

An open system says that there is a spiritual force outside of social interaction. A a closed system says there is no outside force influencing our actions and outcomes.

In a closed system, we have the illusion (and delusion) that control is possible because the number of variables remains static. People in this system long for simplicity and sameness – to be able to predict what will happen next. So, they focus on structures and processes that sustain control over organizations and people.

But in an open system, dynamics from other systems impact us, creating and expanding the number of variables. It’s a complex and fluid situation, but folks learn to focus on influence rather than control, knowing there are forces at play which impact the chessboard. That’s because ultimate control belongs to God; we, as people, are called to self-control.

Almighty God, Creator and Sustainer of all things: You uphold, direct, and govern all creatures, actions and objects, from the least to the greatest. Nothing escapes your sovereign and benevolent rule—not the most powerful institution or ruler imaginable, nor the least significant speck just biding its time. You sustain all things by your powerful word.

Help me to see your hand in my life specifically and in history worldwide. Although there is much that remains a mystery in your providence, there is much that is already revealed. Your providence reveals your infinite wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. To you be all glory and praise, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit are one God, now and forever. Amen.

A Divine Appointment (Genesis 29:1-14)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Jacob and Rachel at the well, by Friedrich Wilhelm Müller (Kirchditmold 1801–1889)

Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?”

“We’re from Harran,” they replied.

He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?”

“Yes, we know him,” they answered.

Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?”

“Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”

“Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

“We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.” (New International Version)

Jacob meets Rachel at the well, by Paolo Fiammingo, c.1585

Jacob was a homebody. Unlike his twin brother Esau, who loved the outdoors and was often away hunting, Jacob preferred to hang around home with his mother – which is probably why Rebekah preferred him over his brother. It’s also why the two of them succeeded in a plan to deceive Isaac and steal the family blessing from Esau.

In Esau’s bitterness over not being blessed by his father, he began laying plans of his own: to kill his brother Jacob in revenge. This came to the attention of Rebekah, who then warned Jacob to flee to her family of origin in Paddan-Aram.

The boy who was attached to his mother and stayed at home, was now a man on the run, in need of a new life. Jacob was alone. One can only imagine the fear and apprehension, the grief and loneliness, of being on his own in a strange place. But God was with him. And the Lord graciously assured Jacob of the divine presence and promises.

Since God was with Jacob and was going to accomplish divine purposes through him, the Lord set up a divine appointment.

Upon arriving at a well, Jacob discovers some shepherds who know his uncle. And then, along comes Rachel with a flock of sheep. God’s providential guidance is evident in leading both Jacob and Rachel to this place and for this time.

Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, was the brother of Laban and the father of Rachel. In the lives of both Rebekah and her son Jacob, Laban ran out to greet and be involved in the divine appointments. (Genesis 24) The narratives differ, however, in that Abraham’s servant had wealth to share in bringing Isaac and Rebekah together; yet Jacob showed up without two pennies to rub together.

And whereas, on both occasions a future bride comes to a well, Rebekah and Rachel differ greatly in their betrothal times. Rebekah’s marriage was quickly arranged; Rachel’s marriage is uncertain and everything is nebulous on how things will shake out with Jacob.

The divine appointment has happened. God’s protection, presence, and guidance are with Jacob. Yet, at this point in the narrative, everything seems up in the air. Will Jacob marry Rachel? Are there going to be numerous descendants? How in the world is Jacob going to return to the land which was promised?

Though this initial foray into the unknown has had a divine stamp on it, Jacob will soon discover that there are many obstacles to negotiate before the promises of God are fulfilled.

And that is the way of us all. Sometimes things come easy and effortless. At other times, it’s a hard slog. In the scope of a life, there are extended seasons of tedious and mundane work – punctuated with times of amazement, even miracle, letting us know there is a God still watching.

You never quite know what’s around the corner of your life – whether good or bad. Yet, the real issue is trust.

The thing about divine appointments is that God is the sovereign ruler of the universe – which means that everything is in the Lord’s hands. All of life, and all events, are providentially bent for divine purposes. Both good and trouble are appointed.

If we believe the Lord is good, right, and just – all the time and that there is never a time when God is bad or capricious – then we are able to accept all circumstances as being from the hand of God. We will trust, even though we don’t know what’s coming next.

The Apostle Paul had it right by saying that “every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” (Romans 8:28, MSG)

What would your life look like by adopting this perspective God and all events you encounter?

Gracious God, you alone know what my real needs are. You love me more than I myself know how to love. Help me to see my real needs which are hidden from me. I am afraid to ask for either a cross or consolation, so I wait on you; my heart is open to you. Visit me and help me for the sake of your great mercy. Strike me and heal me, cast me down and raise me up, according to your good will. I put all my trust in you. Amen.

Genesis 39:1-23 – Lead Us Not into Temptation

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife by Hermine F Schäfer 1964
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife by Hermine F Schäfer, 1964

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So, Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So, the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. (NIV)

We learn a great about both God and Joseph in today’s Old Testament lesson: God is the supreme Sovereign over everything, and his providence is the force behind all of events; and, Joseph is morally conscious of his ethical accountability to the God who is always watching.

From a sheer worldly perspective, Joseph was a failure. Yet, from God’s vantage point Joseph was a resounding success because he was mindful of God despite his circumstances. Joseph was faithful in all his mundane workaday duties, which made him able to handle the advances and temptations of Potiphar’s wife.

The seductions of this life are legion. We are tempted at every turn to compromise our conscience or our convictions to either get ahead in life or avoid some difficulty. It would be easy to rationalize our actions, believing that a brief bedroom rodeo would not hurt anyone.  However, sexual infidelity is the opium of unfaithfulness to God. Cheating is cheating, whether we are caught, or not. Whitewashing the picket fence does not hide anything from God.

Seductions come in all sorts of forms: materialism and the allure of new stuff; preoccupation with comfort and painless experiences; shortcuts to job success and upward mobility; the hoarding and whoring of time; and, much more.

For me, an effective counter practice to the seductions of the world is to reclaim and redeem time through keeping the Daily Office (or the Divine Hours) – set times throughout the day in which I stop what I am doing and take a few minutes for Scripture and prayer. This practice reminds me that my life orbits God and centers in the Lord Jesus, and not the other way around.

Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments. (Psalm 119:164, NKJV)

We succumb to seduction whenever our lives are mismanaged, lacking boundaries, and without effective structure. Discovering a rhythm of daily life that works for you is vital to resisting temptation and realizing spiritual development.

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12, NLT)

May you flourish and thrive with the ethical fruit of righteousness and experience the settled peace of a well-lived life.

Almighty God, blessed Father, Son, and Spirit do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.