Category: Devotions

WEDNESDAY June 4^th

 

Genesis 37:2-4

 

‘These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colours. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.’

 

As we move forward, I want to draw another picture from these verses, for we see that the special gift of a multi-coloured coat caused Joseph’s brothers to hate him. They were his kinsmen, his family, they lived together, had grown up together and even worked together as they tended the flock in the pastures. But the gift of a coat brought division, disharmony and as we will see it led the brothers to deception.

 

This is what it is like for some who have become Christians, the moment that they have put their faith in Jesus and been clothed with the robe of righteousness, it has led to difficulties in the family home.

 

It may have happened to you as it did with me when I entered the workplace, the fact that I was a child of God, clothed in the robe of righteousness caused some of my colleagues as soon as they found out that I was a Christian to choose to dislike me.

 

And we see it happening all around us that those who are fellow kinsmen, turn against those who are Christians and sadly we see this increasing in the world today as the Church of Jesus Christ is being persecuted, those who make up the Church are being persecuted, even incarcerated and killed because they have come to faith, been loved by the heavenly Father and clothed in robes of righteousness.

 

It is a long time since I drew our attention to the persecuted Church in the devotions, so spend a little time today to pray for the persecuted Church and should you be one of those who are the only Christian in your family, pray that God will help you to remain faithful and to be such a witness that the other family members will see the difference that Jesus has made in your life. If you are being ridiculed in school, college, university or in the workplace, keep hanging on and trusting, for the scripture says that ‘Blessed are you those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’, Matthew 5:10.

TUESDAY June 3^rd

 

Genesis 37:2-4

 

‘These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colours. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.’

 

The second thing that we see in these first few verses concerning Joseph and his family is that their dad, who was Jacob had a favourite! There were twelve sons altogether, and today we would almost call them a dysfunctional family, for the twelve sons came from 4 different women, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph whose mother was Rachel was the favourite son.

 

We used the word ‘principles’ yesterday, today from this account I want to use the word ‘partiality’, Jacob showed partiality to Joseph, he loved him more than any of the other sons and he gave to him a special gift, a robe of many colours.

 

Now, we are all the sons and daughters of God, and it is because of our coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been adopted into his family, (Romans 8:15) and I want to say that God does not so partiality to any single one of us, he loves us all equally, he cares for us all equally, he provides for us all equally, he watches over us all equally and he gives out of his storehouse to us all equally. And we could make an even longer list than what I have just done. He does not love me more than he loves you and he doesn’t love you more than he loves me.

 

But then we could come back with a question, then if God does not show partiality how come from among these twelve boys, did God single Joseph out and he becomes the subject of the next 15 chapters in Genesis. The answer is simple, and it introduces another word beginning with P and it is the word ‘plan’. God does not show partiality and if you want some further proof, God has given every one of us a special coat, it is called a robe of righteousness! But more specifically God also has a unique plan for each one of us. He loves us the same, but he has a special plan, a special purpose for you and it is different to his plan or purpose for me, even though currently it has caused our paths to cross as we fellowship together at Emmanuel.

MONDAY June 2^nd

 

Genesis 37:2-4

 

‘These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colours. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.’

 

As we come back to the devotions today, I have also moved on quite a few chapters, from Abraham to Joseph.

 

We will consider Joseph over a few devotions, obviously because there are agricultural and horticultural references in his story, (he was a shepherd) but I won’t always refer to these things because I think at this point there are many things we can learn from his life.

 

We meet Joseph first in Genesis 35:24 as one of the sons of Jacob and Rachel, by the time we get to our verse for today he is seventeen years old, and along with his brothers he is pasturing the flock.

 

Joseph and his brothers were shepherds, but they didn’t get on too well together, maybe from verse 2 we would call him a tell-tale as he gave their father a bad report about the brothers! But perhaps, in fact we should look at this way that already there is evidence that Joseph was a young man with good principles!

 

And can I say especially to any of the younger ones who read these devotions, that you must never feel embarrassed, nor ever feel ashamed of firstly, your Christian testimony and secondly of your godly principles. When the morals you have been taught and learned about from your Christian parents, the pastor, the Church and the word of God are different to what you see in the lives of your unbelieving peers or what you witness with whatever you watch in films or on TV, don’t compromise, don’t put yourself into situations where you fudge the boundaries just to fit in. God has set moral boundaries because he wants the best for us as his children. He wants us to be faithful in the way that we pursue life and how we live so that we bring honour and glory to his name.

FRIDAY May 23^rd

 

Genesis 19:26

‘But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.’

 

I was looking through the book of Genesis to see where I would next turn to with my theme, and as I read this verse I thought of the phrase ‘animal, vegetable, mineral’ and I thought of the many uses of salt and its usefulness. In the olden days salt was used to preserve meat—and I can see now in my memory the cuts of meat we had hanging at the farm in one of the outbuildings having been preserved in salt until such a time as when we needed it. I remember the day my parents had got themselves a freezer! It was a special day; we could now preserve a lot more home grown produce along with the meat in this big chest freezer which was kept out in the garage. It makes me realise how much we take things for granted today.

 

But it is one thing using salt because of its usefulness, especially on our meat and veg, and even more importantly on our chips! but imagine being turned into a pillar of salt! Who knows, maybe someone eventually sprinkled a little of Lot’s wife on their dinner!

 

The account in scripture to which this verse relates to is a solemn reminder firstly that God will not tolerate sinful immoral behaviour, he has established the boundaries and the guidelines for sexual activity and those who cross them unless they come to repentance will be punished. But secondly it clearly shows that when God has given specific instruction that obedience is the key.

 

But there is a third emphasis that we can apply to ourselves, and it is summed up in the words of a song ‘I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back’. See this was the instruction that God had given to Lot and his wife via the messenger angel, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills lest you be swept away’, (verse 17).

 

We too having been offered such a great redemption, cannot afford to look back, lest we fall again into the lifestyle we have been delivered from, we need to look to the hills, from whence comes our help and as we see in v20 Lot pleaded to be able to get to a city for his safety and we too are on our way to a city, the same city that God had prepared for those who are the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11:16 and for all who since then have come to believing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. ‘For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come’, Hebrews 13:14.

 

Next week I am having a few days holiday so devotions will be back Monday June 2^nd.

THURSDAY May 22^nd

 

We read about the oaks of Mamre again as we move a few chapters on in Genesis, it is in chapter 18:1

 

‘And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day’.

 

I am not going to talk about the trees again, except to say that by the time we get to this verse, God had already reaffirmed his promise to Abraham that he would be the means of blessing to the nations and that Sarah his wife would have a son, (at this point both their names have been changed by God see Genesis 17:5 and 17:15).

 

Now as we come to Genesis 18:1 the oaks of Mamre were going to be the place where God would meet with Abraham and reaffirm to him the promise of a son to Sarah. The narrative continues that as they talked, Sarah was listening at the tent door behind and she laughed to herself, saying that she was worn out, beyond childbearing age and that Abraham was old. But the Lord heard her laugh and asked Abraham why did Sarah laugh and continued with those well-known words ‘Is anything too hard for the LORD?’

 

Is anything too hard for the LORD? Well, Abraham and Sarah were going to find out that no, there wasn’t anything too hard for the Lord for despite all the impossibilities, within twelve months they would have a son whom they would call Isaac, see Genesis 21:1-7.

 

I wonder how often do we limit God though our unbelief. We may not laugh as Sarah did, but we allow doubt to creep into our hearts and our minds, we allow our circumstances to stack up against us, we put ourselves into a place of personal despondency and defeat, while all the while God wants us to come to him, to call out to him, to place our confident trust in him that there is nothing, absolutely nothing too hard for him to do.

 

Now it doesn’t mean that we can use this like a crowbar which we use to force God to act on our behalf or to do things the way in which we want them to be done. It is a means to encourage us to seek God in all things, while at the same time ensuring that we always seek for his will to be done, for after all God knows better than we do. See Isaac was God’s will for Abraham and Sarah, he had promised them an heir, and they needed to trust in God that if it was what he had decreed then despite all the odds stacked against them it would happen.

 

If we had delved further, we would have seen how Abraham had tried to force things to happen by his own means and the result was the birth of Ishmael through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant. But this was not God’s way, and we must always seek to allow God to have his own way and to bring about his will in and for our lives in every way and in his time.

WEDNESDAY May 21^st

 

Genesis 13:18

‘So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.’

 

In case it has slipped your mind, these devotions are being based on scriptures that refer in some way to an agricultural or horticultural theme, hence why the last few days it has been about Abram’s livestock and the oak trees and in this devotion, I have returned to the oak trees.

 

The oak tree is a magnificent tree, they are strong sturdy trees, back when I was growing up on the farm, we had a copse at the top end of the farm that had a lot of oak trees, there were also two of which we could not ignore as they were alongside the lane that we drove along getting to and from the farm. Now, the King James Version doesn’t make any reference to trees, rather it uses the phrase the plain of Moreh or the plain of Mamre, the NIV uses the phrase great tree and great trees.

 

The reference in the ESV makes an alternative reading for the Terabinth tree. In the NIV study bible, a note is added that there was a famous sanctuary located at Shechem and that a large tree was often a conspicuous feature at such holy places.

 

But I want to take us to another reference to the oak tree in Isaiah 61:1-3:

 

‘The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.’

 

Jesus read these words to announce in the synagogue to those who heard him that they were spoken about him, he had come to proclaim good news to the poor, and those who responded to the good news which is that of the gospel would be released from the domain of darkness into his kingdom which is a kingdom of light and of love and of joy and of praise and all who come to salvation, that is you and I who have believed on Jesus would become oaks of righteousness, planted by the Lord so that we may display his splendour.

 

The oak tree is described as a majestic tree, a strong tree, it is a well rooted tree, and an oak tree will withstand storms that many other trees would not be able to withstand.

 

In Christ we are oaks of righteousness, and we need to ensure that we stand tall,

well rooted by the steams of living water enabling us to withstand the storms that life will throw at us.

 

Psalm 1 says this:

 

‘Blessed is the man . . . (whose) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.’

TUESDAY May 20^th

 

Genesis 12:16, Genesis 13:2, 5-7.

 

‘And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.’

 

‘Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.’

 

‘And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock.’

 

Now, I have said previously that sometimes I let my spiritual imagination run wild, for in doing so I suddenly see something that helps me to bring about a spiritual truth, or to make an illustration from whatever I have been meditating on. And today’s devotion is another of those moments, for what I have done is asked a question of Abram.

 

It is this, ‘Should Abram have taken all he had with him when he set out on his journey of faith?’

 

There is no real answer to the question, for in the instruction that God gave to him, it was to ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house’, nothing about leaving the livestock behind, nor his silver and gold, but go from your kindred may suggest leave the family behind, but more specifically it could have just meant leave the family home and the family culture. Whatever, as I have used the verses above, we will see that taking everything with him became both a blessing and a hindrance. For a start imagine travelling thousands of miles through sometimes desert land with all the livestock! Being a farmer’s son, I would say it would have been a nightmare! I think I would have rather stayed back in Haran, herding a few cattle through a field or two can be bad enough!

 

But first, we see it was a blessing for it was because of his wealth that the Pharoah dealt well with Abram when they had gone down into Egypt. But as they returned to Negeb, the same possessions became a hindrance, for not only had Abram’s livestock multiplied, but so also had the livestock of Lot, Abram’s nephew who had been on the journey with him and whereas they had been a blessing in Egypt, they now became a hindrance, a nuisance, for it caused disharmony in the camp. The land where they had settled in could not support them all, and the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot began to strive with each other. The result being that Abram and Lot went their separate ways, Genesis 13:8-12.

 

I simply want to illustrate it this way, we could say (and this is only a suggestion) that Abram went on the journey with too much baggage. So many of the problems could have been avoided if he had travelled with far less and with fewer passengers, eventually he had to let go.

 

And we are encouraged to make sure that as we make our spiritual journey that we do not carry too much baggage, those things and sometimes it may even be people who we connect with who will hinder us along the way, the Hebrew writer puts it this way, ‘ . . . let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith . . .’

 

Let us ensure that what we do build up, whatever we gain, be it family, friends or possessions, that we use them in ways that will bring glory to God and not allow them to become things that lead us to be distracted on our journey.

MONDAY May 19^th

 

Genesis 12:6

‘Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At the time the Canaanites were in the land’.

 

Well, since we left the story of Noah, a lot has happened. His sons had had their own children and the survivors of the ark, just 8 of them had multiplied into many clans and nations, the story of the tower of Babel has taken place and the genealogies have taken us through to a man called Abram.

 

The verses of Genesis 12:1-3, are some of my favourite verses because they speak of a future hope for mankind, but also because they are a very clear reminder and have always been a challenge in my life for the need to be obedient to the call of God upon our lives. Imagine the instruction given to Abram, to go from your country and your father’s house to a destination that wouldn’t be revealed to him until later, and Abram obeys. Hebrews 11:8 says ‘By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.’

 

He set out, he left the comfortable life that he was enjoying, to go on an adventure with God! Now, he didn’t go alone, he took quite a lot with him, see Genesis 12:5 and as they journeyed, they came to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now this must have been a significant place for it to be so specific, both Shechem and the oak of Moreh, and it was, because this was going to be the land that God was going to give to Abram’s offspring. And so, Abram built an altar there. But the land that was going to be given to Abram’s offspring was far bigger than just Shechem and it was going to contain more than an oak tree for we see later in Exodus 3 that it was going to be a land that was a good land, and a broad land, a land that was flowing with milk and honey.

 

What if Abram had just settled at Shechem and the oak at Moreh, thinking that that was all there was. But no, he continued to call upon the Lord and to journey on in the purpose of God. He journeyed on verse 9 says still going toward the Negeb.

 

May God cause us to be like Abram, not to settle where we are as if we have reached the place that we think is our final destiny, but always be calling out to the Lord, to be hearing his voice, to be discovering his ongoing will and purpose both for our lives individually and also collectively as a Church so that we can move into the bountiful provision that God has prepared for us. Let’s not settle at an oak tree but move on to the bountiful supply of milk and honey, which we will only reach if we move forward.

 

In the following verses Abram was confronted with challenging times, a famine in the land, which took him down to Egypt, and even as he made his way back to Negeb, he had to fight many battles, both of his own making and as a result of others, but he pursued his journey with God and guess what when we get to Genesis 13:18 we read that he settled at a place called Hebron, and what is more whereas at Moreh there was only an oak tree that is singular, at Hebron it says that he settled by the oaks of Mamre, notice it is plural! He could have settled for the one oak, which I want to consider as symbolic as a blessing, but no, God had more oaks ready for him, more blessings. Let’s move forward from the blessing of the past into the blessings that God has prepared for us in the future.

FRIDAY May 16^th

 

Genesis 9:20

‘Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.’

 

The verses that follow the one I have chosen today continues to make it abundantly clear that despite what had been Noah’s good standing before God and the incredible deliverance that he and his family had known from the devastating flood that sin had not been erased. The inclination of the heart was still leaning the wrong way, and although Noah had built an altar and made a pleasing sacrifice before God, he allowed himself to fall into sin.

 

And we need to keep reminding ourselves that we need to guard our hearts and our minds from those things that would also cause us to fall into sin. We will never reach sinless perfection until we arrive in our eternal home, but it doesn’t mean that we can live as if nothing matters. It does, for as I mentioned a few devotions ago God sees everything, he sees the sin that is obvious, and he also sees the sin that we think we have managed to hide from anyone else. And one day we will have to give an account, especially if we have continued to deliberately sin.

 

But we also have the promise of 1 John that if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. We need to continually and consistently desire to remain walking in the light. The same chapter also continues, ‘If we confess our sins, (and I believe that this also means that after confessing we turn away from it) he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’

 

Now, back to the verse at the beginning ‘Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.’ Noah the boat builder became a gardener / horticulturist, he planted a vineyard. Other than what I assume was necessary to feed the livestock on the ark during the flood and food for Noah’s family, all the rest of the earths vegetation would have been destroyed, but we know that once the flood waters abated, the dove on being sent out from the ark eventually returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf, a sign that the vegetation was springing back into life. So, the vine would also have sprung back into life and is this not a wonderful picture (you can see that I allow my imagination to run riot when I do the devotion) of the One who is the true vine, he was taken, he was made sin for us, he bore the punishment for that sin and he died, he was buried but three days later he sprung into life again. And God as the husbandman has planted a vineyard, and from the true vine has sprung many branches which are you and I as we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Noah’s efforts produced bad fruit, I don’t mean the grapes, but the fruit from his behaviour, and as we are connected to the true vine, we are encouraged to make sure that we produce fruit that is good, our lives showing to others that we are joined to the true vine. Just a sentence from Colossians 1:10 ‘. . . so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. . .’

THURSDAY May 15^th

 

Genesis 8:22

‘While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.’

 

I couldn’t move on from the flood account without looking at this verse, for it clearly show to us that God is in control over all that he has created. The flood was an obvious indication that God is in control regarding mankind, although man thinks he oversees his own destiny, he couldn’t be more mistaken. In just ten generations man was so utterly depraved, with the intentions of his heart being continually evil and so God stepped in. I mentioned while speaking on a Sunday evening recently about reset moments and this is one of them. Sadly, we will see how it was not very long before the sinful intentions became apparent again, but a part of this reset was the establishing of what we call the four seasons to allow the cycle of life to continue. And God has been continually faithful, despite the ongoing depravity of mankind.

 

It is summed up in the words of the well-known hymn that itself draws from Lamentation 3:22 ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness’. The hymn says:

 

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

 

And because of his mercy and love God set a bow in the cloud as a sign of a covenant between himself and the earth. The covenant was that he would never again send a flood to destroy all flesh.

 

But this doesn’t mean that God will not deal with sin nor the sinner! No, instead he sent his Son into this world to give the opportunity to all men and women to come to a place of repentance, to turn from their sin to serve the true and living God and since the day of the flood, and ongoing especially since the time when Christ died and rose again, God is acting with patience not willing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. But the day of God’s amazing grace will one day end and this will usher in the day of God’s vengeance and wrath which will be poured out on all who have failed to believe.  Just as we have seasons on this earth, so there are seasons in God’s plan and purpose, today is the day of salvation, the seasons of his mercy, grace and favour. If you have not yet repented and asked Jesus into your life, then do it today, while there is still time, before this season of grace is over.

 

And one last thing—the bow that God placed in the clouds has been hi-jacked and misused to represent the sinful and depraved sexual deviations that we see in our modern society. This is not something new, it happened in the days of Abraham and Lot and God will not be mocked, as he punished then, so he will one day punish all who have rebelled and acted in ways that go against the standard that he set regarding marriage and sexual relationships. The bow in the clouds which we call a rainbow was and still is God’s sign, and those who have abused it and misused it like every other sinner, which includes each one of us needs to come to repentance.