Genesis 32:1-35:27 The Bible is filled with people who are good and bad, lovers and haters, peacemakers and violent. Often all these behaviors are in one person. I mean, is that not true of us? Jacob is this type of character. We have continually been faced with his deception, lies, waywardness, and sin. As he approaches his family reunion and his anxiety builds in Genesis 32, we may expect much o...  Read More

Genesis 30:25-31:55 Being a person of integrity involves being honest and upright. Our character is not to be divided between deception and truthfulness but always marked by honesty. We have seen again and again that Jacob was a man marked by deception, which is what his name means. Jacob was not alone in having a lack of integrity. His father-in-law continually sought to thwart their agreements a...  Read More

Genesis 28:6-30:24 Everyone wants to be loved. This desire crosses cultures, genders, and the centuries. Esau, Leah, and Rachel all seek to find love and acceptance through a variety of means. Esau adds a non-Canaanite bride to his collection of wives thinking this will cause him to be loved by his parents. Leah certainly would have dealt with an inferiority complex. She had such "weak eyes" (almo...  Read More

Genesis 25:27-28:5 Conflict is everywhere. We can see it in nature, cities, arguments, politics, and in our homes. The household of Isaac and Rebekah was a model of disunity. Jacob and Esau were caught in an endless game of one-upmanship. Jacob was willing to do anything including withholding a meal from his potentially dying brother and lying to his father. As if that sibling rivalry was not bad ...  Read More

Genesis 25:1-4; 1 Chronicles 1:32-33; Genesis 25:5-6, 12-18; 1 Chronicles 1:28-31, 34; Genesis 25:19-26, 7-11 Genealogies take up a surprising amount of the Bible. Genealogies are lists of each generation in succession. We may find ourselves breezing through these sections, stumbling over names, and wondering why they are there. One of the reasons we have these lists is that they are displays of G...  Read More

Genesis 21:8-23:20, 11:32, 24:1-67 Abraham was willing to sacrifice that which he treasured more than anything else to obey God. He put God’s commands above his own wishes by being willing to sacrifice his son if that is what God demanded of him. It is not hard to imagine the quiet, depressing walk as Abraham and Isaac walked up the mountain to the place of sacrifice. Yet at the final moment, God ...  Read More

Genesis 18:1-21:7 God shows his desire to enter a relationship with his creation in innumerable ways in the Bible. We have seen God enter covenants to express his desire for relationship, and in today’s reading we see God's willingness to enter into conversation with us. When God announced that judgment would fall upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham seeks to intervene by entering a dialogue with God....  Read More

Genesis 15:1-17:27 The main story of the Bible is God seeking a relationship with his wayward creation. One of the primary ways he does this is through a series of covenants. A biblical covenant is a contract or agreement entered by God for the blessing of humanity, and especially those who trust in him. One of these covenants is the Abrahamic Covenant; a promise from God that land, seed, and bles...  Read More

Genesis 11:1-26; 1 Chronicles 1:24-27; Genesis 11:27-31, 12:1-14:24 God's plan seems to be consistently thwarted throughout the Bible. God choose to work through Adam and Eve and they rebelled. God worked through Noah and his lineage, but their righteousness was short-lived. Today we see God choose to work through Abram who would become the father of a great nation. He promised an old childless ma...  Read More

Genesis 7:1-10:5; 1 Chronicles 1:5-7; Genesis 10:6-20; 1 Chronicles 1:8-16; Genesis 10:21-30; 1 Chronicles 1:17-23; Genesis 10:31-32 We should ask these critical questions as we read: 1) What did my reading teach me about God? 2) What did my reading teach me about myself/humanity? Today we discover the grace and justice of God. His justice is seen in sending a flood to destroy/cleanse a sinful wor...  Read More

Genesis 4:1-5:32; 1 Chronicles 1:1-4; Genesis 6:1-22 It is not hard to imagine the hopeful expectation that Adam and Eve must have had at the birth of their first son. Would Cain be the one to crush the head of the serpent and be their savior? He not only failed to crush Satan's head but would actually crush his brother's head in an act of murder. By the time of Noah, God saw "how great the wicked...  Read More

Genesis 1:1-3:24 The first two chapters of Genesis are like the beginning of a traditional roller coaster ride. These chapters take you up, up, up to see the grand, beautiful world God has made. You see God's hand creating a very good world. Yet like the rest of a roller coaster, chapter 3 takes us down a steep drop. We find ourselves plummeting toward disaster as Adam and Eve rebel against God. S...  Read More