JANUARY 10
In yesterday's
reading when Abraham was going to offer Isaac, the angel of the Lord spoke to
him. Now, what I'm going to say is meant to be an encouragement for you to take
time and observe and get curious. If you missed this, that's OK. It is
something to learn. Texts like these are what form our theology, literally
"knowledge of God.” You don't have to read theology or go to a seminary.
All you have to do is take time with your Bible.
Who is the angel
of the Lord? I mentioned a couple of days ago that He is often recognized as
God in human form. How do you know? Read what He says to Abraham. These are not
the words of a messenger, an angel. The speaker is saying what only God can
say.
Why do people
say this is God the Son before He became flesh? This is where just reading the
entire Bible through over years helps. You know from Paul and Jesus and others,
that no one has ever seen God, the Father. No one has ever seen the Spirit. But
the Son has been seen. It makes sense, and the Son is the only candidate; but
it only makes sense if you've read these texts and grappled with some of the
"apparent" inconsistencies, i.e., "No one has ever seen God? But
they saw that angel and people saw Jesus and Jesus was God and…..Whoa, the angel
of the Lord is God who can be seen, or God the Son in human form."
Genesis 23:1-24:51
Genesis 23
Notice that Sarah lived to be 127, that means she lived to
see her son grow for __ years. That's like another lifetime. God blessed her
last years in such a way that it removed the pain and longing of those barren
years.
As disciples we need to be continually building for the
future. What special thing could you do in your own life, if the Lord were to
approve and grant you the time? What could you begin doing today, little by
little, that would deepen your relationship with Him and make you a better
maker of disciples? I'm 59 and I could die tomorrow, but God could also give me
another 30 years. Thirty years is like another lifetime. The Lord has
graciously given me two big projects to work on (and you're reading one of
them) that I hope will deepen my love for Jesus, give glory to God in bearing
fruit and help me present myself to Him and His work as an approved workman.
What you could do in just one or two years would be incredible. Look to the
Lord, ask and pray, and when He gives you the idea, just do it. Our years are
to be lived with Christ, building into the lives of others, not sitting,
amusing ourselves or mourning our aging bodies and coming deaths. Tomorrow, we'll
see this "wasted time" with Isaac, who appears to have prepared for
death long before he was buried. What a shame.
Vs. 1-20 This shows that Abraham was respected by the people
of the land. Abe arrived when he was 75 and lived until he was 175. He wasn't
just a man. He was like a small cultural entity in Canaan. Note the strength
and humility of Abraham. He was strong, faithful and humble and a witness to
his neighbors. He was honest and patient. This is the only piece of real estate
Abe owned in the land that was to be his. What a guy.
Genesis 24
There are great lessons for you in this section and I won't
say much. I remember having my quiet time one morning in a restaurant at the
intersection of I-80 and I-35. It was the fall of 1987. My car broke down the
Sunday evening before, and I missed presenting my missionary stuff at a church.
Disappointing. So now my car was being fixed and I'd soon be on my way to GEM's
headquarters in Illinois. When I read this portion, I was encouraged by God's
sovereignty and His mercy to Abraham's servant. I was touched and it calmed my
heart. Reading the Bible is to be valued. Spending time with your Father over a
cup of coffee with His Word penetrating your heart is priceless.
So, if you read your Bible every year, you'd read this
section and think back to last year and go, "I know about you!” But if you
didn't you won't, because you can't. Next year, when you read this and you meet
Rebekah and Laban again, remember what you learn about both of them in the next
several chapters. It might add some "insight" to their actions here.
Obviously, what I'll share with you is my take on things. There are very few,
"squeaky clean," people in the Bible. Most were just normal sinners
with some faith. As disciples we need to live in the Word so that their stories
and God's working with them can make an impact on us. That's why He wrote it
down for us.
Vs. 1-9 Notice that Abe didn't want Isaac to have a woman
from Canaan. The people were pretty corrupt. Isaac and Rebekah would learn this
the hard way. Also, Abe didn't want Isaac taken back to Haran. Years later,
Jacob went there and almost didn't make it back.
V. 8 Abraham was willing to leave this all to the
sovereignty of God.
Vs. 10-14 The guy I love here is Abe's servant, ________.
You've already heard his name, but, if you remember, you'll see it next year
(it took me a couple years to remember to look). What a great guy, and blessed
to have this kind of faith and to see this kind of answer. He is a model of
what it means to be a disciple (slave, servant, ambassador) of Jesus. I am
always impressed at the depth of his faith and devotion.
I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time God's steadfast love is mentioned in the
Bible, and it comes from this incredible disciple and man of God.
Vs. 15-28 You know, God doesn't always have to answer like
this, but He always can. We always applaud God when He answers with a miracle
like this; but if He can do this all the time, it should make us think when He
doesn’t answer like this. It doesn't mean He is sleeping on the job, or that
we've made a mistake, but it does mean we need to be paying careful attention
to what He wants from us. Just think, God could have made Sarah pregnant when
she was 65, but He waited until she was 90.
V. 27 Thanks to Laura, I just noticed in my reading this
year, that this is the first mention in the Bible of God’s steadfast love and
faithfulness being linked together (ESV, vs. 27 & 49). You may want to
search for these the rest of the year as you read your Bible daily.
Vs. 29-51 Recounting the story of God's gracious provision
should never get "old" for us. We will get to know both Rebekah and
Laban in the stories that follow. They were two peas in a pod. Neither of them
were close followers of the Lord. I'm almost surprised that Eliezer got out of
there, but he knew the Lord and he was following God in deep passion and
devotion.
Matthew 8:1-17
Matthew will begin to show Jesus' authority over sickness
(which attracted crowds), over nature and over the spiritual world. Then Jesus
will claim authority as the human king who will reign eternally over Israel and
the entire earth. At this point, Jesus has been preaching and making disciples
for a year. Now, as His ministry and popularity grow, He will use every event
and confrontation to train the Twelve.
Vs. 1-4 Lepers were not cleansed every day; in fact, this is
the first Israelite we know of who was ever healed of leprosy. Jesus commanded
the leper to allow his healing to be a sign for Israel. Matthew's focus was to
show the Messiah's power and authority. It is Luke who tells us that this guy
didn't obey, and as a result, Jesus' ministry was hampered.
Vs. 5-13 Now this is a contrast. The last guy to be healed
was a Jew. This miracle will be done for a Roman centurion's Gentile servant.
It is hard to find a place where Jesus Himself marvels at anything. Here is a
Gentile who has amazing faith and understanding. If this centurion hadn't been
loved by the Jews, Jesus would have caught some flak for what He said in vs.
11-12. Matthew shows here that the Messiah's healing is extended to Gentiles.
By the way, all of the centurions in the Bible are good guys.
Vs. 14-15 I always smile when I read this. I can see Jesus
finding out that the mother-in-law was sick and that Peter was going to cook,
and saying, "No, I've got a better idea.” He healed her and she made
supper. Jesus heals Pete's mother-in-law and then He becomes the ER ward for
all of Capernaum. Matthew, very focused, gets to his point, that this healing
ministry was the fulfillment of another prophecy of the Messiah. Your job is to
find the passage Matthew is referring to, and read the entire chapter. As the
teacher, so the disciple. We are to model and live for what our Savior did in
that chapter.
Psalm 9:13-20
Vs. 13-14 Now David came to his request for help. One of the
repeated lines of reasoning in Psalms is, "It would be good to save me
because I can't praise you before men if I'm dead." (roughly paraphrased).
Vs. 15-16 God had done this again and again in human
history, but David was living by faith in God's promise to judge the
unrighteous.
Vs. 17-18 David learned that present injustice and suffering
didn't mean God had gone away or was disapproving. David knew he could always
count on God, but not knowing God's will and purpose meant that he needed to
wait and cry out. And as a result, Israel got some great worship songs and we
have these very deep psalms.
Vs. 19-20 This is David's plea for God to take action. Apparently
David felt the threat was very near.
For us as disciples, rather than freaking out when
"life" happens, we can train ourselves to pray that the Lord would
use the experience to give us hearts of praise to express what the Lord has
done to those who don't yet know Him and to those who are becoming disciples
who are making disciples.
Proverbs
3:1-6
If you haven't memorized Proverbs 3:5-6, make that your
meditation and assignment. These are two of the easiest verses in the Bible to
memorize and two of the hardest to follow.
On the same day in our reading, we find another example of steadfast love and faithfulness being linked together.
If you’re reading along
and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link http://oneyearbibleonline.com/weekly-one-year-readings/?version=47&startmmdd=0101. This
version is set to the ESV but you can reset this to a different version or
different language.
I'm writing these
comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in
growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see
the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples,
meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out
and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal
manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us
more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are
only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of
God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are
designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is
that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a
year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples,
disciples making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a
complete description of this model of being and making disciples you can find
it in my book: Simply Disciples*Making Disciples.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more
descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the
Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the
commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never
hurts.
I am not endorsing any
particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte
Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with
us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their
own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular
tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to
criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has
written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like
documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to
print.
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