Have you ever considered the fact that Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph, didn’t get to plan her first pregnancy? As one who was engaged, she likely thought about the time after she and Joseph were married when, if God allowed, they would be able to start a family. In …
As I’ve pondered how to introduce our season of Advent this year, I looked at our first Advent reading. As you heard read earlier, it states in part, Today we begin a new Christian year with the season of Advent. The word advent means “coming.” It’s a time of preparation …
The Scripture reading from Habakkuk expresses well the jarring contrast we often experience, doesn’t it? On the one hand, we have the record and testimony of God’s greatness—who he is and the marvelous things he has done; on the other, we have an expression of the threat of deprivation and …
Jacob was a man who didn’t understand the meaning of “Don’t burn your bridges behind you.” For in his treatment of his older twin brother, Esau, Jacob had burnt his bridges by taking Esau’s birthright—and then his blessing—and then his inheritance. Therefore Jacob had to flee his homeland lest his …
“Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”[1] These are the words that God spoke to Jacob after he had spent twenty years working for his father-in-law Laban. Specifically, as Jacob recounted to his wives, Rachel and Leah, the angel …
As we saw last week, after the LORD appeared to Jacob and told him to return to the land of his father, letting him know that he would be with him,[1] Jacob obeyed him. He sent for his wives, Rachel and Leah, and recounted the work he had done for …
Though his mother Rebekah never did send for Jacob to let him know that his brother Esau’s anger had dissipated making it safe for him to return home,[1] nonetheless, having worked fourteen years for his uncle Laban—seven years for each of his daughters—Jacob was ready to leave. Therefore we read …
After encountering God in a vision, Jacob continued on his journey to his mother’s homeland probably arriving there around three weeks after leaving Canaan.[1] When he arrived, verse 2, “he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered …
Having been born and raised in Canaan, Jacob was forced to leave the only home he’d ever known[1] to take the same journey of over 500 miles[2]—the one requiring around three weeks that Abraham’s head servant had formerly taken[3]—in order return to the birthplace of his mother Rebekah and his …
Though it’ll be a few months before we arrive at the end of Joseph’s story, the powerful statement concerning God’s sovereignty that he made to his brothers who had sold him into slavery and left him for dead may be well-applied to the story of Esau and Jacob—not to mention …
