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29 “They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.”

 Genesis 37:28

 What a paltry sum of money for such a precious human being. Joseph was young and unpopular and unknown but God already had a plan in place where He would raise Joseph up to save nations and many people. Joseph’s brother hated him because he was favoured by their father and also by God. Joseph saw his greatness in dreams and that aggravated his brothers even more. They planned to kill him but he was saved by the greed of Judah and that they could get money for the sale of their brother as a slave. This was God’s hand that led Joseph to Egypt were God was going to do great things in his young life.

 There are dreadful and tragic things that can happen in our life but how good it is to know as the people of God that His sovereign hand is still on us even through dire troubles hit our life. Joseph must have been so frightened and yet his faith in God remained true and strong. We must ground ourselves in the truth of God if we are to survive life and what it brings to us. We must face everything in the confidence that God knows what He is doing even if we do not understand. This story resonates with the price paid for our Saviour Jesus as His betrayer sold Him over to His enemies. God brings great things out of great evil and through the treachery of one man He saved a whole myriad of people who would believe in Him.

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.”

 Genesis 50:20

28 “Let’s arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went.” 

 Genesis 35:3

 God instructed Jacob to make his home in Bethel, which was a monument to the grace and faithfulness of the Lord to him. Jacob was obedient and told his whole household and taught them to obey the Lord. So should be the tenor of our homes, that our children and all who are with us, should honour the Lord and stay under His safe keeping.

 Jacob’s home was not ordinary, and neither should ours be. He made it the center of thanksgiving and the place of prayer and devotion to the Lord. He taught his wives and all their servants to serve the Lord, and he brought up his children to know God even in the home they lived in. His children saw his faith up close and knew God was personal.

 This should also be our witness to our family and all who know us. We should be following our Lord Jesus in holy living and in humble obedience to the Lord. Do our children see Christ in us? Are we attractive to the seeking heart for God?

 Let us arise and make the Lord our truth from now on. Let us purpose ourselves to be faithful to God and follow in all His footsteps.

“let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.”

 Hebrews 10:23

Our God will hold us fast even as we follow Him.

27 “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

 Genesis 32:28

 May we wrestle with the truths of God and prevail in obedience to them. It seems that God changes the names of His servants to serve Him in holiness and love. Paul had a name change, Daniel had a name change, Peter also and many others. God is the God who changes us and designates our way and all that happens to us. He is the God who loves and who overrules in all our situations and calls us friends. We are so unworthy and yet He takes care of everything about us and makes us the people He intends us to be and not our own imaginings.

 Are we overcomers with God as Jacob was?

 Jacob wrestled with the reality of God all night and would not give up until God blessed Him. We also must strive with God and live for Him right to the end of the road.

 God is no respecter of persons and will not deviate from His designs for us. We bow our knees to Him and hold to His promises, reminding ourselves, and Him, of them that we might be overcomers too.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

 Romans 8:37-39

 God will keep us right until the end of the our life and honour us.

 

26 “Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.”

 Genesis 32:24

 Surely Jacob wrestled with the very Son of God all night until the day break. He would not give up until he had received the blessing. How earnest are we to know God and to receive the outworking of the holy Spirit in our lives? Do we spend time alone with Him every day wrestling in prayer until the Lord should answer?

 Jacob was wise and would not give up on God no matter what it cost him. When we draw near to God each day, are we determined to know Him better or are we just going through the motions? Jacob was alone and separated out for God and so should we be. We should desire Him each day more than our necessary food. The Word of God is so precious, and we should value it as it teaches us to know our God and stay right with Him.

 We must stay close to the Lord and He will bless us. Those who are His own should love Him above all and be daily exercised to know Him more. We can never know all about God, but we can enter into deep fellowship with Him and be obedient in all things.

“that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

 1 John 1:3

 This is the inner desire of every saint of God that we should know Him experimentally in our lives and know His presence with us.

 

25 “I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses,”

 Genesis 32:10

 Jacob lived in fear of his brother and on his return to the land of promise he petitions the Lord to protect him and all his family which he brought with him. He recognizes who God is and that the promise that has been made is valid. He recognizes his own inadequacy to keep himself and therefore reminds God of the promise made to him when he worked for his uncle Laban.

 Jacob accurately recognizes his position before God that he is unworthy and so very undeserving of the mercy of the Lord. This should also be our position as we come before God with our petitions. We cannot come lightly and thoughtlessly, but in remembrance of who God is and what he requires of us. We come in deep repentance and faith to remind Him of His eternal promises that keep us safe and cover all our sin.

 Even if we have been a Christian for a long time, we come constantly in a state of repentance and faith, for we must always recognize our position before a holy God. This God is full of mercy and lovingkindness and will freely forgive all who repent.

“The Lord appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.”

 Jeremiah 31:3

 Let us lay hold of this lovingkindness and magnify our God.

 

24 “… Mizpah, for he said, “the Lord watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another…”

Genesis 31:49

 How sweet it is when we live at peace with those around us. We may have many differences but we hold to the promise of friendship and peace that causes us to live peaceably.

 Mizpah signified God’s togetherness amongst people who had been separated. Jacob had lost favour with Laban his uncle and they agreed to favour each other with a convenant of peace. Mizpah was the place where they made that peace and where God would help them to honour their agreement and respect each other.

 In our lives we need the covenant of peace with God before we can really make our peace with others around us. God is the God of peace and the Lord Jesus is called the Prince of peace.

“For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

 Isaiah 9:6

 We must have our account settled with God if we are to find the rest of soul that brings us peace. We must know the reality of sins forgiven if we are to live righteously and honestly before other people and be able to treat them with respect. God is for peace and can bring it to you in your life when you bow your knees to Him.

 

 

23 “I am the God of Bethel..”

 Genesis 31:13

 Firstly the great “I AM” is speaking here, that Lord who dwells in the eternal present and who sits on the throne of all time and eternity. He is the ever present one and inhabits the praises of His people, the saints and the angels. He is the God of Bethel and remains faithful to His people down through all time and history.

 Bethel was the place of the House of God and the location of His dwelling place. There He was with Abraham and also met Jacob there in his vision of the stairway to heaven. It is a place of remembrance and the saints of old lifted their “Ebenezers” there to commemorate the ongoing presence of God and His great faithfulness to them throughout all their days.

“O God of Bethel by who’s hand Thy people still are fed

Who through this weary pilgrimage hast all our fathers led…” (Philip Doddridge 1702)

 God is bound by His own promises to supply all our needs and bring us safely to heaven and home. We all have instances where God has helped us and we can rejoice with the hymnwriter that we are cared for and loved. What a joy it is to belong to Christ and to walk with Him each day. The Scripture is full of promises and these instances where God binds himself to us and ministers to us. Jacob knew the presence of God and His protecting power and commends this God to us the God of Bethel.

 

22 “The angel of God said to me in the dream, “

 Genesis 31:11

 In the Scripture we have evidence of God in the person of Christ appearing to people and giving messages to them. These instances are pre-incarnation appearances of the Lord Jesus and are very precious to us. God did not leave His people without hope but ministered to them in a way they would understand and be able to know that God was with them. It is different for us in our day for we have the presence of Christ always with us in the Holy Word and in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our life.

 These appearances of Christ in dreams are not necessary in our day for we have the whole council of God before us. There are some who are enthralled by the stories of dreams, but have little time for the Holy Word. This ought not to be so. All kinds of subterfuge are used to distract us from reading and meditating on the Word of God and take our attention on to things that are really fleshly. The enemy of our soul is always ready and able to decry the Scripture and keep us away from valuing it. He will downgrade it constantly and keep us dependent on emotion and unsubstantiated dreams and visions.

 God communicated with His people in days past through dreams for they did not have the written word. Today the Word of God has been so downplayed that we again seek dreams and visions. This ought not to be so, for the truth is before us and should be precious to us. Let us meditate day and night on the revealed Word of God and not on fantasies.

 

 

21 “Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them.”

 Genesis 29:9

 How humble was this great mother of the nation of Israel that she kept sheep. She was a shepherdess and full of acts of mercy even to the unknown visitor. She faithfully watered the herds of her father, not knowing that it would lead to great love and blessing for her in her life. She was not proud and puffed up that this lowly job would be below her. She did it joyfully and with no thought of compensation or blessing.

 And yet God blessed her faithfulness and joy as she did His will in her life. Let us also rejoice in the lowly tasks that God assigns for us. There are too many who seek acclaim and want to be recognized as leaders and game-changers. God looks for the lowly and lifts them up in His own time that they be not overly taken up with their own ambitions.

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time…”

 1 Peter 5:6

 Rachel was willing to do the bidding of God and tend sheep and even in that low place was lifted by God into the position of the Mother of Israel. It was there she met true love and found the reason for her life, even in the center of the will of God.

 May this also be our position that we do not manoeuvre ourselves into the place of honour, that we are ultimately cast down from, because of self seeking.

 

 

20 “Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.”

 Genesis 27:38

 Foolish Esau did not regard his birthright and lost it to Jacob’s subterfuge and he also lost the blessing for the future from His father.

 It is so easy to get caught up in the things of this life and forget the spiritual life that we possess as the people of God. We pray for temporal blessings and sideline the things of God. We fail to value the personal closeness of the Lord and the joy of keeping His commandments. The Psalmist rejoiced to know the Lord and follow in all His ways.

“The Lord’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. The Lord’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.”

 Psalm 19:8

 O that we would value the greater things and not fail to think upon our eternal inheritance. We value it above all and daily seek to walk circumspectly in the ways of our glorious God. This is the way to blessing even though our flesh does not agree. We walk in the Spirit of God and not in the folly of our own ideas.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

 Romans 8:1

 Let is keep in tune and in step with the Spirit and not deviate into the realms of evil by following our sinful self. God is our everlasting contentment, and we succumb to all His ways and statutes.