THE WALK

As we end in this journey with the Patriarchs, we will finish with Joseph.  Again, Joseph is not considered a Patriarch, but his story gives way to the nation of Israel and the story of Moses. The familiarity with God’s covenant is typically associated with the covenant made with Moses called the Mosaic covenant. Within this covenant, we have the ten commandments which are the most well-known of God’s commands.  

But the story of Joseph is the bridge which connects the placement of the Israelites in the land of Egypt.  It answers the question of how they got there.

So, who is Joseph and why is his story so significant in the carrying of this covenant made to his great grandfather, Abraham?

We often associate the story of Joseph with a beautifully made coat. He was given this coat by his father, Jacob because he was his father’s favorite.  Jealousy broke out amongst his ten brothers causing Joseph to end up in a well and ultimately in the land of Egypt as a slave. Because he was good at his job, he ended up being Pharoah’s top servant.

Through all the twists and turns of this story, his brothers who had sold him into slavery were then reconciled with their brother Joseph therefore allowing them to move to the land of Egypt. Joseph’s father, Jacob also came to Egypt and died while living close to his children including Joseph.

We have learned that the covenant of the land of Canaan was first given to Abraham, then to Isaac and now Jacob. Because of famine and family turmoil, Jacob can no longer reside in Canaan. Because of this, is the covenant still promised? Or is it no longer a part of this story?

Upon Jacob’s death bed, he speaks to each of his twelve sons telling them what will transpire in their lives once he is gone. As he was speaking to Joseph, he told him of the dream he had years ago as he was escaping his brother Esau. In this dream, God spoke to Jacob saying…

‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’ Genesis 48:4 NIV

Then Jacob tells his son Joseph the same…

“I am about to die, but God will be with you^[a] and take you back to the land of your fathers.” Genesis 48:22 NIV

Joseph, too, will return to the land of promise.

In a previous scripture, Jacob said,

“but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.” Genesis 37:30 NIV

Jacob will return to the land of promise.

It was never God’s intention for His promise to be fulfilled in the land of Egypt. At the beginning of this journey with the Patriarchs, God promised to Abraham that the land of Canaan was the land that held the promise of a nation. It was from the seed of Abraham and Sarah that God would bring forth this nation created to worship Him. But with every twist and turn of this story, with the defiance and disobedience of God’s children, with every entrance and exit into the land of Canaan, God always brought His people home. This land represented God’s presence, His sovereignty, and His grace.

These people chosen by God, the Israelites, will all some day return to the promised land.

Do you see the incredible sovereignty of God in these stories? When God has a plan, NOTHING will stop it! Not sin, not disobedience, not deception, not even famine.

God desired to create a nation of people who would love and worship Him. Not because God is an arrogant God and needs praise, but because God is a loving God longing to have fellowship and relationship with us. He provided a land for His people where they could gather and seek Him. This was His desire.

As Joseph was dying, he said to his brothers…

“I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” ²⁵ And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” Genesis 50:24, 25 NIV

But this story didn’t end with the death of Joseph and his body buried in the land of Egypt. This story goes all the way back to prophecy from God in a dream to Abraham. Do you remember this?

“Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions….In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, ….” Genesis 15:13-16 NIV

Do you recognize this story? God told Abraham about Moses.

When Joseph brought his family to Egypt because of the famine, this was the beginning of the growth of the Israelite nation. When his father, Jacob, moved his family to Egypt to be with Joseph, there were 70 Israelites in all. Seventy of God’s promised people. As history continues, the growth of the promised nation of Israel grew within their imprisonment in Egypt. As the leadership of Pharoah changed, so did the status of the Israelites in Egypt. They went from the treasured people in Joseph’s life, to the enslaved people in Moses’ time some four hundred years later. The nation of Israel grew from seventy to over a million people while enslaved in the land of Egypt.  

But God’s promise was to always bring His people home.

From the promise given to Abraham, passed to Isaac, continued with Jacob, and now orchestrated through Moses bringing the Israelites out of the land of captivity, we can clearly see the sovereignty of God. In the book of Exodus, we read the well-known story of God bringing the Israelite nation through the Red Sea and then eventually back to the land of Canaan, the promised land that was flowing with milk and honey.  As these people crossed into the land of promise, they were reminded of the promises God made to their forefathers, the Patriarchs of their faith. They had come full circle starting in the land of promise within the life of Abraham and returning to the promised land within the life of Moses.

Why is this important? Why did I take you on this journey?

When we look at this story in its entirety, we are reminded of the sovereignty of God and His promises. Each step of this journey leads us to one thing…the promise that He fulfilled in the journey of the Israelites. But this journey was not over even after the nation of Israel reached the land of promise. The ultimate finishing of the promise is Jesus Christ, the promise of a Savior. If we can believe in God’s sovereignty of the Promised Land, we can believe in His sovereignty of His Promised Son. It is within His sovereignty that we can breathe in life and salvation!

Finishing the story of Joseph and the fulfillment that he too would return home to the land of Canaan; Moses gathered Joseph’s bones…

“Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” Exodus 13:19 NIV

There is no place like home!

We are coming to the end of our Patriarch road. We have looked at the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and finishing today with Jacob. But I like to add one more simply because it continues the beautiful picture of how this promise or covenant of God continued.  In my final posts, I will introduce you to Joseph.  Even though Joseph would not be defined as a Patriarch per se, (he did not play the role of a “ruling father”) he became the critical part of this story allowing the Israelites into Egypt setting them up for one of the greatest stories in the Old Testament…the parting of the Sea.

In the last blog, we saw how Jacob used deception and lies to get what he wanted from his father then the deception and lies turned on him by his father-in-law.

As this story continues, Jacob remained in the region of Harran for many years obeying his father-in-law, marrying sisters, having children, and raising livestock. But he got tired of living under someone else’s roof and finally parted ways from Harran. Back to Canaan he went, but not without battle.

He left…his father-in-law chased. You can read this story for yourself in Genesis chapter 31. But today, I am going to tell you Jacob’s story of redemption.

Let’s go back to Genesis 28 where Jacob’s life began to soften towards God. Do you remember Jacob’s dream? In his sleep, God spoke, …

“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac…I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.” Genesis 28:13-15 NIV

Jacob had run from the lies he incurred on his father, Isaac and from the death threat of his brother Esau. As he ran, he ran right into God.

This is so true for our lives. As believers we can run. We can run all we want. But as we run, God in His sovereignty, changes the trajectory of the path making sure we run straight into Him!

As Jacob ran from his situation, he fell asleep. When he awoke, he pursued the list of “IFs”. If you do this God or do that God, then I will believe.  In other words, Jacob was not going to trust God until God showed up. 

Do we shame Jacob for this? Yes, possibly. But if we shame him, we then need to shame ourselves.  Our faith in God is so often anchored in what God does and not who He is. But that’s okay. God knows that and God handle any disbelief that we have in Him.  He just wants us to have a relationship with Him therefore orchestrating life situations for us to run right into Him. Keep running…your journey is not over yet!

After Jacob posed his list of “IFs” for God, God said “game on.” So, throughout the years Jacob spent away from his home in Canaan, God continued to work in his life softening his heart.

Look at Genesis Chapter 32.  This is Jacob’s redemption story, and it is totally wrapped up in him reconciling his relationship with Esau.

When Jacob crossed the boundary line into Canaan, he knew there was something he needed to do before he could go all the way home.  He needed to meet his brother. This was more than a physical meeting of embrace, but a meeting of the hearts.

On his journey, he sent his servants ahead of him to meet with Esau. Jacob knew that Esau’s last words to him were “I am going to kill you.” So, for fear of his own life and the lives of his wives and children, Jacob sent his servants to test the waters a bit. Smart man!

This is the message he sent…

“Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.”

There is no way Jacob deserved this favor and he knew it. But he pleaded for the favor of Esau because the favor of his brother meant redemption. I am going to guess that for Jacob if Esau received him, then God would too. This was important!

The servants of Jacob returned with the news that Esau was coming but not alone. He was coming with four hundred of his best soldiers. Yikes!  This is so not turning out how Jacob had hoped.

As the four hundred men approached, Jacob scrambled to save as many of his family as he could, so he divided them into two groups.  If Esau’s men went one way toward one of the families, then the other family would escape in the other direction. At least he could save half of the people he loved.

Jacob cried out to God…

“Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ¹² But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.” Genesis 32:9-12

I am unworthy!

Save me!

Hold onto those phrases for now.

In a great military decision, Jacob sent all the things and people he loved ahead of him to safety. Esau’s men were closing in and Jacob scrambled to save his people.  Once they were safe on the other side of the Jordan River, Jacob crossed back over the river to wait for Esau and his men. He was all alone…just him and God.

When we face fears in our lives, one of the most strategic choices we can make is to get alone…to quiet our souls before God. Take away our weapons, all of those around us who might protect us and make ourselves completely vulnerable to God. It is in the quiet when God speaks.

So, Jacob wrestled. When he was alone and vulnerable, he wrestled. Within the wrestling, his name changed. It changed from Jacob to Israel. In that moment he went from an individual into a nation. The nation that God promised to Abraham…to Isaac… Jacob held within a simple name change. But this was so much more than a name change…this was a life change. When Jacob came out of the tangled mess of wrestling this is what he said…

“I SAW GOD FACE TO FACE…!!!”

Jacob saw that he was unworthy and that he needed to be saved. And in his plea, HE SAW GOD…face to face!

This is EXACTLY where God wants all of us to be before Him…

              Unworthy…

                           In need of His salvation…

                                         Rejoicing to see His face!

It is when we fall into submission to God and when we see His face, our life changes! We become a part of Gods promise…His nation!

The final story of Jacob and Esau…

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and KISSED him. AND THEY WEPT.”  Genesis 33: 4 NIV

When we see God face to face, relationships that we have categorized as impossible become relationships of redemption and reconciliation! But we must meet Jesus first!

I have this redemption story…do you?

The story of Jacob continues with more deception and lies.  But this time, the tables are turned on him.  That never feels good!

Do you remember how Jacob got to the place in the desert in the first place?

Deception and lies took him by the hand and led him there. In the deception to his father, Isaac, Jacob dressed up like his brother Esau and took advantage of his father’s poor eyesight to receive his father’s blessing.  This blessing was to go to the oldest son and since Esau had wiggled his way out of the womb first, this blessing was his. It was also customary that “the blessing” was just that…”the”.  There weren’t many to hand out as a father. There was only one and Jacob used deception and lies to receive what wasn’t his to receive. 

Fast forward a bit…Jacob had traveled from his homeland of Canaan to the land of his grandfather Abraham’s to find a wife.  Well, at least that was his outward excuse.  The truth is he was escaping Esau’s wrath. Wife hunting was just a cover up.  But a wife he did find! Love is always the perfect end of any story, but his story didn’t end.  Waiting for love for him when on and on and on!

As Jacob reached his destination he paused at the well where the livestock was watered daily.  Once all livestock were gathered, the stone was removed. But this day was different.  As Jacob stood at the well, he saw a beautiful lady shepherd approaching with her herd. Being the total gentleman, he removed the stone for her even though it wasn’t time to water all the flock. After the herd had been watered, he questioned her a little more about herself and learned that she was the daughter of his uncle Laban.  His mother, Rebekah, had left this land to marry his father, Isaac. These were his kin, and they had a beautiful daughter, his cousin Rachel.  Don’t get worked up over this folk, because this is what they did in those days…cousins married cousins!

After Jacob had met his kinfolk, he moved in with his uncle working the fields for him. After a month passed by his uncle asked him what wages he could pay for all of his work. This is Jacob’s reply…

“Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes (kind of a funny way to describe her!), but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful (men never change!). Jacob was in love with Rachel (of course he was!) and said, ‘I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.’” Genesis 29:16-18 NIV

Hi ho, hi ho…it’s off to work we go! Jacob set out on a mission to earn the right to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel.

Seven years later this is what Jacob said…

“’Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.’” Genesis 29:21 NIV

Now, who said that scripture wasn’t humorous…and honest! Jacob had saved himself for the woman of his dreams long enough and now it was time!

So, a party was given to celebrate the union of Jacob and Laban’s daughter, Rachel. But they were not united…at least not now!

“But when evening came, he took his daughter LEAH (you know, the one with the weak eyes) and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her.” Genesis 29:23 NIV

Now wait a minute! Jacob had worked hard for Rachel…not Leah! How could Jacob have mistaken Leah for Rachel? Wouldn’t he have known? Not necessarily so. Three things fall into play here…darkness, drinking and sex. It was nighttime, they probably had been drinking a bit and Jacob had waited long enough for sex. A recipe for disaster.  

I can imagine at the celebration that was given that Jacob had danced capturing Rachel within his view throughout the evening. It is now his “love shack” moment. Climbing into his tent, he waits in anticipation.

In the meantime, Laban does the ole switcheroo trading one daughter for the other. I can imagine the look on Rachels face when this happens.  She gets pushed aside knowing that her father is about to perform an act that will infuriate Jacob.  Her dad gave her man away to her own sister. Leah enters the tent to make love to a man that she knows does not want her. Jacob wakes up to a wife he didn’t choose. This is a mess!

Why? Why did Laban do this? His reason…custom! He refused to break the custom that the older daughter married first. Couldn’t he have told that to Jacob to begin with? Did Jacob really think that he would get by without following custom? Jacob obviously had no regard for custom.  He stole his brothers blessing going against custom and he asked to marry out of custom.

But Laban was all about custom. Yet instead of just speaking truth to Jacob, he lied and used deceit to trick Jacob into marrying both of his daughters. Later in the story, Jacob worked seven more years to also take Rachel as his wife.

Seriously Jacob, are you shocked at this trickery? I would have loved to have a momma talk with Jacob.

“Son, have you never heard of the scripture that you reap what you sow?”

Jacob had sowed lies and deceit when he tricked his own father, Isaac in the dark. Do you see the parallels here? Deception and lies beget deception and lies. Jacob lied to get what he wanted, and Laban lied to get rid of what he wanted. These two men were steeped in their deceit.

A want or desire can put blinders on us causing us to do anything we can to receive what we want. Jacob and Laban could write a book on it. They used lies and deceit to achieve their goals. We may not be as far out on the ledge as these guys, but each of us can pinpoint a time when the prize became much more important than the people around us. We have moved and manipulated situations in the “name of Jesus” until we convince ourselves that this is truth. We pay no attention to the collateral damage that happens around us.  We don’t calculate the destruction of relationship. We plow through to obtain what we desire until we can sit pretty on the front row of our churches while the people behind us lick their wounds from the damage we have caused.

Momma was right…honesty IS the best policy! Don’t fool yourself into thinking something is truth just to get what you desire! Because in the end, it is all lies and deceit no matter how you slice it.

When Jacob awoke from his dream, he encounter God. God showed Jacob through this dream that he was chosen to carry on His covenant. Jacob was selected to be the third Patriarch, but he had a choice.

Jacob’s response is interesting…

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’” Genesis 28:16-18 NIV

Let’s break this down.  Jacob first says…

“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it…”

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As the story of Isaac, the second Patriarch, continues, his father Abraham longed for Isaac a wife. Customary in those days was for the wife to be chosen by the parents. Because of this, Abraham was adamant that Isaac’s wife would not come the land of Canaan. He told his servant to go back to the land where Abraham’s was from to find Isaac a wife. The interchange between Abraham and his servant was one of most beautiful portrayals of faith in scripture.  But I will save that story for another day.

Abraham’s servant set out towards the land of Abraham’s place of origin believing that God would show him the perfect wife for Isaac.  And God did!

“Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her…” Genesis 24:66, 67 NIV

If you looked deeper into this story and into this moment, you would see layers of faith and love. Isaac took Rebekah as his wife, a woman he had never met, and loved her to the depths of his being.

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Did you pass?

I often asked this question of my boys after they had a hard test at school.  Sometimes it wasn’t so much the grade that they received but more if they passed.

 Did you know that God also gives us tests? He will never tempt us, but He will test us.  He tests us to see if we are worthy of His calling.

The story of Abraham and Isaac continues with a test. Taking a stroll up a mountain, they prepared themselves to pass.

“Some time later God TESTED…” Genesis 22:1 NIV

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After the birth of Isaac, there was relational turmoil.  But within that turmoil lies promise.  The covenant given by God to His people provided a bond so strong that nothing could break it. 

We are going to continue in this story and my hopes is to walk you through how this covenant provided promise for us.  We will parallel scripture from the Old Testament and scripture from the New Testament to show the promise of covenant and how it is tied to our current salvation through Christ.

A PARTY FOR ISAAC

A party was given for baby Isaac to celebrate the day that he was weaned from his mother. Weaning from a mother is often thought of as the ending of the nursing period between mother and child.  But the weaning in the Old Testament had more significance.  The significance was the showing of independence of the child.  The time of weaning in the Old Testament times typically ranged from age 3 to 9.  We are not confident of the age of Isaac when he was weaned, but most scholars agree it was around age 3. So little Isaac is growing up and showing great promise as a Patriarch.

PARTY CRASHER

Ishmael crashes the party.  Remember that Ishmael was Abraham’s first born from his slave, Hagar. Ishmael was approximately 13 years old when Isaac was weaned. But Ishmael had a distaste for his little brother. This could be jealousy because he wanted to be Abraham’s only son. Whatever the reason, Ishmael treated Isaac with contempt.

KICKED OUT OF THE PARTY

Because of the way Ismael treated Isaac, he and his mother, Hagar, got kicked out of the party.

“’Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.’’ Genesis 21:10 NIV

There was no way in Sarah’s world that the son born to her husband and slave would get the inheritance. Abraham was an extremely wealthy man so there was a lot to inherit.  But the wealth was not the issue for God. The covenant was the issue.  God never designed nor desired for the covenant for His people to be passed on through Ishmael.

Being distressed as a father and not wanting to lose his son, God comforted Abraham.

“’Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.’” Genesis 21:12, 13 NIV

God promises to take care of Ishmael. If you read the next several verses, you will see how that promise was threatened.  But God kept His promise and did make Ishmael a nation with 12 sons. To this day, the Islamic nation traces their origin back to the son of Abraham, Ishmael. But this promise, this tribe, this nation was not God’s promise to save His creation.  That promise came through the covenant made with Abraham and now with Isaac.

ARE YOU MY MOTHER?

We are going to pause here and take a deeper look into the significance of these two moms. I challenge you to ask yourself which mother you belong to.

Two moms…Hagar and Sarah.

              Two sons…Ishmael and Isaac.

                           Two nations…nation of Ishmael and nation of Isaac.

                                         Two covenants…one of slavery and one of freedom.

Huh? (insert confused look!)

The story of these two moms has a much deeper significance. Follow along with me…

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church of Galatia. The context of this letter was his fight for their faith. They had been a faithful church standing by the apostle Paul in one his greatest struggles of life.  But now their faith was waning. They were feeling pressure from sources to lean back into the structure of the law of Moses rather than the freedom of the covenant of Jesus. Do you see the parallel here?   

So, in Paul’s attempt to pull them back towards the covenant of Jesus, he uses the lives of these two moms, Sarah and Hagar, as his rope of persuasion.

“Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says?” Galations 4:21 NIV

He does not understand why these people who had experienced freedom through Jesus Christ would choose to return to the bondage of the law. In his reasoning, it was a choice to be free or to be enslaved once again. I agree with his confusion of their choice.

Here is his parallel to the two moms…

“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as a result of a divine promise.” Galatians 4:23 NIV

We have two competing influences here…flesh and divine promise. Let me explain.  Or shall I say, let the apostle Paul explain?

Using the story of these two women as a metaphor, he explains how their lives represent the two covenants.  

“The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai (Moses) and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sanai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.” Galatians 4:24-26 NIV

Paul is reminding the church of Galatia who their mother is.

Remember Hagar and Sarah.

•  Hagar was an Egyptian slave. She was the slave of Sarah and Abraham. Her life was spent in bondage to rules and regulations forced on her by those who owned her. She lived under the law and her justification was by the works she performed.
• Sarah was free. She spent her life making her own choices and decisions. She was born of the Spirit of God. She lived under grace and was justified by faith alone in God.

GET RID OF HER

“’Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son. (this is almost a direct quote from the book of Genesis). Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.’” Galatians 4:30, 31 NIV

Remember that this is simply a metaphor given by Paul and no where meant to put Sarah’s value as a person over the value of Hagar. He uses this metaphor to plead with the people for them to choose freedom in Christ over the bondage to the law or works.

So, what does this mean to you and me? A LOT!

Bondage or freedom? Simple choice…obvious choice! I choose…FREEDOM! But do I really?

Every time I listen to my religion over Jesus, I choose bondage.  Bondage is my default choice.  Being raised in a strict religious environment, the bondage to rules is my simple choice.  Bondage allows me to control life around me. It gives me security because it can be written on a piece of paper and checked off as a list. It also provides me the judgement that I have learned to carry so beautifully so I can judge those around me within my bondage.

But when I am free in Jesus, the rules in which bind me get released. I walk in the simplicity of my faith and love for Him. Every choice that I make is sifted through the grace He has given me not through the throne of rules in which I was raised. But sometimes that freedom can be scary. There are no confines or restraints. There is no list of rules in which I can measure my actions. What if I make the wrong choice in my freedom? Wrong choices in freedom requires grace. And grace comes only through the freedom in Christ. When others make choices not to follow those rules, I can see them through the lens of Jesus and His grace.  I can point them to Jesus simply because of His grace.

For so much of us, rules give us a sense of control. We become slave to rules in our lives because it can be measured. They are familiar. They can be written in black and white. We can have pride when we have followed the rules and judge others when they don’t.

But grace…well, that’s different. I can’t see it; I can’t touch it and I can’t measure it.  I walk in grace simply in faith and faith alone.

The church of Galatia was moving back towards the measurement of the law…bondage…slavery because it is what they knew. But Paul pleaded with them to choose Sarah as their mother.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.” Galatians 4:31 NIV

Who do you choose today as your mother? Slave to the law because it is familiar or freedom in Christ because it is grace?

Laughter is used to express various emotions. 

We use the expression…”I laughed to keep from crying” to hide the hurt inside.

Or we laugh when we are nervous calling it a “nervous laugh”.

“I laugh at the face of danger” because for some crazy reason we think we are bigger than danger.

Or we laugh simply because something is funny.

In the case of the birth announcement of the second Patriarch, Isaac there was laughter…laughter of disbelief, disregard, and laughter of hope.

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Everything in life is meant to draw us to God. 

God’s design was for us to have relationship with Him.

That is why He created us.

If we could ever peek behind the scenes in our lives, we would see a web of divine intervention. We often wonder why things happen and see no connection or purpose. But God has purposed things for our lives for His glory.  When His story is threatened, we forget His sovereignty and how He has orchestrated not just the beginning but also the end. Even if we make a choice to momentarily unfollow God, His story is the same. His purpose for our salvation is the same. His longing to fellowship with us is the same.

In the Old Testament, that story is His covenant…the promise to bring His people to Him. We often look at this story as if we can control it.  If we obey, His story will continue.  If we disobey, then we kill His story.  This simply is not true.  Whether we join in the telling of His story or not, His story will be told!

Listen as we continue in His story of the covenant made with His people. This covenant was threatened, but never lost…because this is God’s story!

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There was a haze in the sky as the sun lowered into the horizon. God and Abraham had a moment.

A moment when Abraham’s life changed forever. 

A moment when Abraham saw the vastness of God’s blessings. 

A moment when the sky was painted with stars of God’s nation.

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