Tag: genesis

The Power of a Blessing (Genesis 27:30-46)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Isaac Blesses Jacob, by Yoram Raanan

After Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and just as Jacob left his father Isaac, his brother Esau came back from his hunt. He too made some delicious food, brought it to his father, and said, “Let my father sit up and eat from his son’s game so that you may bless me.”

His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

And he said, “I’m your son, your oldest son, Esau.”

Isaac was so shocked that he trembled violently. He said, “Who was the hunter just here with game? He brought me food, and I ate all of it before you came. I blessed him, and he will stay blessed!”

When Esau heard what his father said, he let out a loud agonizing cry and wept bitterly. He said to his father, “Bless me! Me too, my father!”

Isaac said, “Your brother has already come deceitfully and has taken your blessing.”

Esau said, “Isn’t this why he’s called Jacob? He’s taken me twice now: he took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing.” He continued, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

Isaac replied to Esau, “I’ve already made him more powerful than you, and I’ve made all of his brothers his servants. I’ve made him strong with grain and wine. What can I do for you, my son?”

Esau said to his father, “Do you really have only one blessing, Father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly.

His father Isaac responded and said to him,

“Now, you will make a home
    far away from the olive groves of the earth,
        far away from the showers of the sky above.
You will live by your sword;
        you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,
        you will tear away his harness
        from your neck.”

Esau was furious at Jacob because his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, When the period of mourning for the death of my father is over, I will kill my brother.

Rebekah was told what her older son Esau was planning, so she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Esau your brother is planning revenge. He plans to kill you. So now, my son, listen to me: Get up and escape to my brother Laban in Haran. Live with him for a short while until your brother’s rage subsides, until your brother’s anger at you goes away and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I suffer the loss of both of you on one day?”

Rebekah then said to Isaac, “I really loathe these Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women, like the women of this land, why should I go on living?” (Common English Bible)

Jacob and Esau

The twins Esau and Jacob are the very definition of sibling rivalry. Even at their birth, they jostled and positioned for their entry into the world. Although brothers, they were different from one another in every way. As their aged father, Isaac, was near the end of his days, he was looking to pass on a family blessing to Esau, the firstborn. And that’s where things got dicey.

Jacob, always the trickster, was still playing out the rivalry. When his brother Esau was out hunting and preparing to receive his father’s blessing, Jacob posed as his brother and deceitfully gained the blessing of Isaac.

Both Isaac and Esau were shocked to discover what happened. Esau’s response was one of grief, disappointment, bitterness, with tears and weeping. Despite Esau not being known for his sensitivity to God or family before this event, we can certainly feel his cry: “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!”

The Blessing

As a Pastor and a Chaplain who works with a variety of people, I have heard many times over the lament of individuals without a blessing from their father. As people created in the image and likeness of God, we were meant to be blessed – to have a loving and enduring stamp of approval from both our heavenly Father and our earthly fathers.

And when an earthly father, or father figure, either cannot or will not extend a vital blessing to children, it is a terrible wound – like an invisible open putrid abscess which continually leaves the person emotionally and spiritually sick.

Blessing is needed. Without blessing we flounder in the world, struggling to see hope, wondering if we are loved, and lacking confidence in our faith. To be blessed is to receive a beautiful gift.

The term “blessing” in Scripture is a powerful communication of God’s presence and approval.

So, when humans bless one another, we offer commitments of love and connection. We provide powerful words of encouragement and picture a special future for those we are close to.

None of this is optional. To bless others is the way of building up one another and fortifying each other for the rigors of this world. When blessing is withheld, and even worse, when it is replaced with cursing, then individuals are left untethered, bereft of support to face stressful situations. Like a ship adrift without any power or wind, so the person trying to live in this world without blessing is dead in the water.

Jesus Blesses

Where there is no blessing, like Esau, revenge fills our hearts. But Jesus clearly understood the need and the power of blessing, and he was not deterred in deliberately offering it:

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16, NIV)

I wonder how this simple encounter affected the lives of those children on that day in which Jesus blessed them. I am curious in what ways they grew-up and how Christ’s blessing shaped their lives. Because that is what blessing does: it forms us into the kind of people we were meant to be.

So, receive today this blessing from Holy Scripture:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen. (Numbers 6:24-26)

The Connection of Faith, Obedience, and Blessing (Genesis 22:15-18)

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

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Faith

The biblical character of Abraham is synonymous with faith. And for good reason.

God had told Abraham that he would have a son with his wife Sarah. This was especially unusual because the couple were well advanced in age, and Sarah was incapable of having children. Infertility is not just a modern problem; it has always existed. 

Yet, despite all the contrary evidence of age and ability, Abraham believed God. Years later, and with a mix of patience and impatience from the would-be parents, the promise from God was realized.  Abraham and Sarah had a son, Isaac.

“The child of the promise.” This was Isaac’s moniker – which made the command from God so perplexing: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” (Genesis 22:2) Huh?

I can easily imagine Abraham saying to himself, perhaps not out loud, “What the [insert favorite expletive]!”  But it only seems strange and super-weird to us. We get no reaction from Abraham, no questioning, no talk back. He just goes about the business of saddling up the donkey, chopping some wood for the sacrifice, and takes his only son with him on the journey to the mountain.

While you and I might try and figure out if we really heard God or not, Abraham had a history of talking with God. He knew God’s voice as well as he knew his own.

Abraham was well down the road of relationship with the God he served. We get an insight from the author of Hebrews into Abraham’s thought process, a line of thinking that is consistent with a person who has a regular habit of talking with God:

Abraham had been promised that Isaac, his only son, would continue his family. But when Abraham was tested, he had faith and was willing to sacrifice Isaac, because he was sure that God could raise people to life. This was just like getting Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:17-18, CEV)

Obedience

Abraham did not try and figure out God’s mind. He picked no fights and chose not to debate with God about the contradiction of ethics he was being asked to do.

Abraham simply obeyed. He reasoned that it did not matter if Isaac were killed, because God could raise him from death.

This, of course, is not what happened. It was all a test of faith. Abraham knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is the Lord who provides. After God stepped in and provided a ram for the sacrifice instead of Isaac, Abraham named that place “The Lord Will Provide.” (Genesis 22:14)

You and I most certainly do not always know why we are facing the circumstances we must endure. We are rarely privy to know what in the world God is thinking. Yet, like Abraham, if we have a spiritual history of walking with God and hearing God’s voice, there is no hesitation; we respond with obedience. We are convinced that God will provide. Obedience for the follower of Christ is not a burden; it is a privilege, even when we are being tested beyond our seeming emotional ability to do it.

Blessing

Blessings come through obedience. They are not willy-nilly thrown into a crowd like some cheap stadium trinket between innings of a baseball game. When the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, the connection between obedience and blessing was re-emphasized:

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God…. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. (Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 9, NIV)

Here’s a simple observation about the blessing of Abraham: It took nearly five-hundred years before that blessing was realized. Furthermore, in the Christian tradition, it then took another fifteen-hundred years before the blessing was fulfilled in the person of Jesus.

And, I might add, all the promises of God to the people will be fully consummated at the end of the age when Christ returns. For a contemporary society which prides itself on timeliness, speed, and efficiency, taking the much broader scope of all history might seem unacceptable.

So, we come back around again to trust. Just as Abraham trusted God, even when it seemed like nonsense fraught with major moral implications, so we are to exhibit patient and persevering faith.

Although the scope of history is massively large, the only moment we have is the now. It is now, today, in which we put one foot in front of the other and toddle forward into the next moment – by faith.

We simply obey. Then, we obey again… and, again. It is in these continual small steps of faith and obedience that we discover the blessings of God in the middle of our path.

Sovereign Lord, your ways are sometimes strange. Yet, I know that everything you do is always right, just, and good. It is to your gracious and merciful character that I know you will guide and provide. My allegiance is to you as I anticipate divine blessings in my life through the Name of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Communicate with Clarity and Care (Genesis 35:1-4)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Jacob burying the false gods under the oak by Shechem, by Sébastien Bourdon (1616-1671)

Then God said to Jacob, “Go to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there. I am the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”

So Jacob said to his family and those who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods which you have, wash yourselves until you are ritually clean, and change your clothes. Then let’s go to Bethel. I will make an altar there to God, who answered me when I was troubled and who has been with me wherever I’ve gone.” So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that they had in their possession as well as the earrings that they had on. Jacob buried these things under the oak tree near Shechem. (God’s Word Translation)

Christianity has existed for 2,000 years; Judaism for 4,000 years or more. That’s a long time. On the one hand, this is a tremendous legacy of faith, grounded in several millennia of solid religious tradition. And on the other hand, something existing for so long is bound to accumulate some barnacles that get encrusted on the faith.

And if those barnacles are there for too long, it becomes assumed that they’re just part of the ship of faith. But they’re not; they need to be removed so we can see the real thing and move through life unencumbered and not dragged by extraneous stuff.

The familiar, over time, is taken for granted. And when that happens, we lose sight of what is most important, of what is most needed.

God helped Jacob – the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham – to reconnect with a seminal experience from earlier in his life. That experience was a vison of God, and an assurance that God was with Jacob. He was not alone.

But, years later, after accumulating two wives, twelve sons, and many flocks of sheep and other animals, it was time to move and make a home and an altar elsewhere. Instead of taking the Lord for granted, and forgetting the difficulties of the past, God intervened and called the whole crew to go and live in another place.

The communication from God brought Jacob to a spiritual place of realizing what had happened over the years; slowly and perhaps imperceptibly, the barnacles of idolatry had become encrusted amongst his family. And they were obstacles which needed to be jettisoned before they could move on.

Jacob needed to hear from God. Jacob’s family needed to hear from him. And that communication had to be a helpful way of scraping the barnacles off from decades of misplaced living.

Our world today is marked by unfeeling meanness to strangers, a profound lack of empathy, respect, and basic human kindness toward one another. Individuals, groups, communities, and entire nations don’t know how to talk to each other in a way that is helpful and life-giving.

We need a process which helps us have a way of being with others that is compassionate. It is imperative that we have communication that guides us in both expressing ourselves and listening to others. And that process must focus on what we are observing, feeling, and needing.

It is essential that humanity creates deeper personal relationships and maintains them. If not, we will be overcome by the barnacles of suspicion, hate, distrust of others, as well as distance from God.

Unless we are with each other in helpful ways, we will devolve into judgmental and critical speech directed toward others or even ourselves. Violent words are the main obstacle to having compassion on others.

Comparisons and classifications of people, denial of responsibility for words and behaviors, and making demands, leads to estranged relationships. Instead, we can do better. We can be with one another and talk to each other by communicating observations, feelings, needs, and requests.

Observation

  • Observe, rather than evaluate. Whenever we observe something, and then quickly evaluate it, the other person will tend to hear criticism and resist what we are saying.
  • Be specific, not general. It’s helpful to make a specific observation instead of a general one. For example, God was specific about what Jacob was to do. And Jacob was quite specific about the situation of idolatry and what to do about it before the family could move to Bethel.

Feeling

  • Acknowledge and express your emotion. Clearly and specifically identify and name your emotions because this is the way we connect more easily with others. Jacob told his family of feeling troubled in the past and that God helped him deal with it.
  • Be vulnerable. Expressing our feelings can help resolve conflicts. The old adage is true: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Need

  • What do you need? Take responsibility for your feelings. Connect your feeling with your need. Jacob was devoted to God because his emotions were tethered with how God had met his needs throughout his life.
  • Others do not cause our feelings, and they are not responsible for our emotions. Jacob’s family did exactly what Jacob told them to do – and did not buck him or resist him – mainly because he let them know how he was feeling, and why he was telling them to rid themselves of idols and move on with him to Bethel.
  • Listen to yourself. Judgments of others are projections of our own unmet needs; and conversely, being kind to ourselves, listening to our thoughts, and paying attention to how we carry stress in our bodies, allows us to be helpful to others and present to them in whatever they are going through.
  • We are not responsible for other people’s feelings. We can never meet our own needs by trying to make others feel guilt or shame.

Request

  • Ask for what you need and want. We honor ourselves by making requests in clear, positive, and concrete language of what we really need. The clearer we are about what we want, the more likely it is that we’ll get it.
  • The message we send is not always the message which is received by another. Be clear about the response you want so that there is no confusion about what we truly need.

The objective of communication is not to change people and their behavior in order to get our way. Rather, it is to establish relationships based on honesty and empathy that will eventually fulfill everyone’s needs.

There is a need to express honestly and clearly our observations, feelings, needs, and requests, as well as receive another’s communication with focused attention and empathy.

So then, how we talk to and about God, and how we talk to ourselves, becomes a template for how we talk to others. A lack of clear communication is a surefire way of allowing the barnacles of displeasure and disappointment to attach to our souls.

However, clear communication is life-giving and even lifesaving. It’s worth putting significant effort into it.

Blessed Lord, in your infinite wisdom, you created us with the gift of communication. May we use this gift to foster love, understanding, and unity amongst ourselves and with you.

Guide our hearts to speak words of kindness and encouragement. May our tongues be instruments of love, grace and compassion to those around us.

Open our ears, so that we may truly listen and understand the needs and desires of our fellow humanity. Grant us the patience to hear their stories and the wisdom to respond with love and empathy.

Enlighten our minds to be clear and thoughtful in our affect and speech. As we share our thoughts and ideas, may we be ever mindful of your presence, seeking your holy and good will in all we say and do.

Fill our conversations with honesty and vulnerability. May we find the strength and courage to speak our truth while always remaining respectful and considerate of the feelings of others.

Bind us together in unity and love through our shared communication. May our words build bridges and forge bonds that reflect your divine love and mercy. Amen.

The Plan Comes Together (Genesis 24:10-52)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Rebekah and Abraham’s servant, an engraving by Gustave Dore (1832-1883)

Reading Holy Scripture is important. And the way we read it is significant. For the past several years, I have personally made it a practice to always read from the Bible out loud. There is something deeply powerful and impactful about the experience of reading aloud God’s Word.

I also try and read Scripture carefully and slowly. I deliberately make choices about my tone and inflexion, paying attention to which words are emphasized. I try to communicate as best I can the spirit and intent of the words.

I encourage you today to read aloud (and listen to) today’s Old Testament lesson. Take your time. Read it at your own pace. Notice which words you tend to accent, and what the Spirit may be saying to you in the reading…

Soon after that, the servant loaded ten of Abraham’s camels with valuable gifts. Then he set out for the city in northern Syria, where Abraham’s brother Nahor lived.

When he got there, he let the camels rest near the well outside the city. It was late afternoon, the time when the women came out for water. The servant prayed:

You, Lord, are the God my master Abraham worships. Please keep your promise to him and let me find a wife for Isaac today. The young women of the city will soon come to this well for water, and I’ll ask one of them for a drink. If she gives me a drink and then offers to get some water for my camels, I’ll know she is the one you have chosen and that you have kept your promise to my master.

While he was still praying, a beautiful unmarried young woman came by with a water jar on her shoulder. She was Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife Milcah. Rebekah walked past Abraham’s servant, then went over to the well, and filled her water jar. When she started back, Abraham’s servant ran to her and said, “Please let me have a drink of water.”

“I’ll be glad to,” she answered. Then she quickly took the jar from her shoulder and held it while he drank. After he had finished, she said, “Now I’ll give your camels all the water they want.” She quickly poured out water for them, and she kept going back for more, until his camels had drunk all they wanted. Abraham’s servant did not say a word, but he watched everything Rebekah did, because he wanted to know for certain if this was the woman the Lord had chosen.

The servant had brought along an expensive gold ring and two large gold bracelets. When Rebekah had finished bringing the water, he gave her the ring for her nose and the bracelets for her arms. Then he said, “Please tell me who your father is. Does he have room in his house for me and my men to spend the night?”

She answered, “My father is Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milcah. We have a place where you and your men can stay, and we also have enough straw and feed for your camels.”

Then the servant bowed his head and prayed, “I thank you, Lord God of my master Abraham! You have led me to his relatives and kept your promise to him.”

Rebekah ran straight home and told her family everything. Her brother Laban heard her tell what the servant had said, and he saw the ring and the bracelets she was wearing. So Laban ran out to Abraham’s servant, who was standing by his camels at the well. Then Laban said, “The Lord has brought you safely here. Come home with me. There’s no need for you to keep on standing outside. I have a room ready for you in our house, and there’s also a place for your camels.”

Abraham’s servant went home with Laban, where Laban’s servants unloaded his camels and gave them straw and feed. Then they brought water into the house, so Abraham’s servant and his men could wash their feet. After that, they brought in food. But the servant said, “Before I eat, I must tell you why I have come.”

“Go ahead and tell us,” Laban answered.

The servant explained:

I am Abraham’s servant. The Lord has been good to my master and has made him very rich. He has given him many sheep, goats, cattle, camels, and donkeys, as well as a lot of silver and gold, and many slaves. Sarah, my master’s wife, didn’t have any children until she was very old. Then she had a son, and my master has given him everything. I solemnly promised my master that I would do what he said. And he told me, “Don’t choose a wife for my son from the women in this land of Canaan. Instead, go back to the land where I was born and find a wife for my son from among my relatives.”

I asked my master, “What if the young woman refuses to come with me?”

My master answered, “I have always obeyed the Lord, and he will send his angel to help you find my son a wife from among my own relatives. But if they refuse to let her come back with you, then you are freed from your promise.”

When I came to the well today, I silently prayed, “You, Lord, are the God my master Abraham worships, so please lead me to a wife for his son while I am here at the well. When a young woman comes out to get water, I’ll ask her to give me a drink. If she gives me a drink and offers to get some water for my camels, I’ll know she is the one you have chosen.”

Even before I had finished praying, Rebekah came by with a water jar on her shoulder. When she had filled the jar, I asked her for a drink. She quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and said, “Have a drink. Then I’ll get water for your camels.” So I drank, and after that she got some water for my camels. I asked her who her father was, and she answered, “My father is Bethuel the son of Nahor and Milcah.” At once I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms. Then I bowed my head and gave thanks to the God my master Abraham worships. The Lord had led me straight to my master’s relatives, and I had found a wife for his son.

Now please tell me if you are willing to do the right thing for my master. Will you treat him fairly, or do I have to look for another young woman?

Laban and Bethuel answered, “The Lord has done this. We have no choice in the matter. Take Rebekah with you; she can marry your master’s son, just as the Lord has said.” Abraham’s servant bowed down and thanked the Lord. (Contemporary English Version)

How was your experience in reading this story out loud? What did the Spirit bring to you through it? Will you share your experience with us?…