January 29

GENESIS 30
Yesterday we began to contemplate how when God blesses, He adds no sorrow. We continue in that today. Rachel and Leah are constantly jockeying for Jacob’s favor, particularly to bear him children. Leah was obviously not Jacob’s favorite, yet God opened her womb. Through the process of naming her children, we can learn that she sought to obtain Jacob’s prime love by the children that she bore him. Why couldn’t she be satisfied with just the blessing of children? Do you ever struggle with feeling unloved? Leah did. I don’t think she ever felt loved by her husband. Would her drive to be felt loved by her husband have been as strong if she felt loved by God and contented herself in that love and in the limited blessing of the children that He gave her?
Rachel on the other hand felt loved by her husband, but God closed her womb. She sought desperately to obtain children. She finally resorted to the same cultural solution that Sarai used with Abram; she gave her handmaid to her husband for the night. She obtained two sons by that method but it did not satisfy. Leah’s sons found some mandrakes in the field. In ancient cultures mandrakes were considered love potions or magic charms. Rachel believed the mandrakes would bring her fertility. After Leah bore two more children (at least 2 years later), the Lord opened Rachel’s womb. Do you suppose that Rachel realized that her mandrakes did not work? If she had found her delight in the glory of the Lord, do you suppose her drive to have children would have driven her to bargaining for mandrakes or giving her handmaid to her husband.
Both Jacob and Laban wanted wealth. The Lord gave it to Jacob. Jacob came up with schemes to make his livestock more productive. It was foolishness. Laban sought to divert Jacob’s financial growth by changing his wages, yet Laban grew weak in comparison to Jacob. It was all foolishness. But God blesses Jacob anyway. How much did Jacob miss out on because of his foolishness? I don’t know, but I do know that it is the glory of God that He blessed Jacob anyway. That gives me hope. Even in my foolishness, He will bless me to accomplish His purpose. It is just a matter of how much pain I must endure because of my own foolishness. Do I content myself with His glory, or do I add sorrow to his blessing because of my foolishness? Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 29
Constant streaking, crackling, thundering, flashing, lightning, pulsating, rumbling filled the sky from one horizon to the other. Occasionally the strikes were so close that the sound and light were simultaneous and deafening. The display lasted for about 30 minutes. It was the early fall of 1994, and I have never been so awed by a thunderstorm in my life. Oklahoma is famous for its violent weather, and this had to have been the most awesome barrage that I have ever experienced. It illumined the sky in a fireworks display that is unequalled by man.
Such displays overwhelmingly speak to me about the judgment of God. “The God of glory thunders!” My personal theology leads me to believe that before the flood of Noah, certainly before the fall of Adam, such displays did not exist in our environment in a destructive form. They are the result of the curse of the fall and the radical change in the earth’s land masses and atmosphere stemming from Noah’s flood. Electrical storms are a constant reminder of God’s hatred of sin and His sovereignty over the earth. His rainbow is His promise of peace.
David was a widely traveled man for his generation. He spent 10 years on the run from Saul. His travels took him from far south in the Negev to the northern limits of the promised land. Apparently from this Psalm, he had been as far north as Lebanon and Mt. Hermon (Sirion). He was a friend of Hiram, the King of Tyre, who helped David with cedar to build a palace. Early in David’s life the Philistines were the major power in the promised land. Philistines were a sea-going people. Consequently, their gods included sea gods sometimes depicted as part fish. So when David says that the voice of the Lord is over many waters, he is declaring in poetic fashion that the Lord is greater than the gods of the Philistines. The Lord controlled the great flood of Noah; He certainly controls the waters of the Philistine gods, and He certainly controls the elements of the gods around me. But He is not limited to just the sea-gods. He also is sovereign over the mountain forests. This glorious God of ours is sovereign over all things! His power makes the best lightning displays of Oklahoma seem like a mere ripple of 1.5 volt direct current. Whoopee.
Just His voice is full of power and majesty. When Jesus was in the boat in the middle of the storm in the Sea of Galilee, His voice spoken firmly and once, “Peace, be still,” caused the wind and the waves to be still. I have no doubt that His voice not only calmed the sea, but it also caused the storm. Why? Because He wanted His disciples to know His voice was over many waters. He wanted His disciples to know that He is God. No wonder they said to themselves, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” His voice speaks storms into my life and speaks peace into my life. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ESTHER 6
A friend of mine related to me a very significant vision that he had at the College of Prayer. In his vision he found himself in a room with three persons who were rolling in laughter. In his vision he understood them to be the Trinity. The One he understood to be the Father slapped His thigh in laughter and said, “Can you imagine that, he (my friend) doesn’t believe that We love him.” My friend related to me that all his life he has struggled with really sensing that God loved him. Intellectually he acknowledged God’s love, but somehow in His spirit he wrestled with it. Somehow in the humor of that vision, the Lord communicated to him the immense love He has for him. My friend had difficulty explaining the overwhelming sense of love he experienced in the humor of that vision.
The Lord has a sense of humor. One of the definitions of comedy in classical literature is a play in which the main characters and motive triumph over adversity. That is certainly the case in Esther. The plot begins reveal the move toward that direction in this chapter. Not only are Esther and Mordecai now moving toward a triumph in adversity, but the Lord does add a sense of humor to it. He forces Haman to publicly honor Mordecai! I need to remember that and lighten up even in the worse circumstances. Who knows, maybe the Lord is about to display some of His humor. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

MATTHEW 19
Some things are just impossible. One summer I had a job mowing empty lots and garbage collecting in a large mobile home park. There were over 120 lots, and over half were empty. Needless to say by the time I finished the rounds, it was almost time to start them over again. One day my mower quit working. I pulled and pulled and pulled to restart it. Try as I might, nothing would work. Finally, I prayed over the mower. I pulled the rope one more time. It started right up. I finished the day without a problem. I thought it was impossible. Was it a miracle? I don't know. But I do know that I was no longer frustrated over a non-working engine. Some things are just impossible.
Jesus hits on some impossible things here. Living with one woman for an entire lifetime for some people is impossible. Now, my wife is almost perfect. Sorry guys but there aren't many like her and you can't have her. So, I've never had to deal with the problem of an unbearable spouse. Maybe she's had to deal with it with me, but not me with her. But I've met some women whom I wonder how their husband can stand living with them. And I've met some men of whom I have wondered how their wives could stand living with them. But Jesus makes all things possible.
Some people have the gift of celibacy. I wonder how they could stand it. I was celibate until I was 22. So, I guess I've never had to deal with the problem of long term celibacy. But I know some men that have. They can tell you, "Jesus makes all things possible."
There are some people who just seem to be able to do everything right. They are morally straight, good looking, intelligent, relate well to everyone they meet, they have achieved wealth, they are athletic. It just makes one envious to know them. Jesus met one of those. He called Jesus, "Good Master." Jesus knew where the man's heart was. He revealed to the man what he was lacking.
Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me." It was only one more hurdle for the man to cross in order to make himself perfect. But He couldn't do it. That was the real point that Jesus was trying to make with the man. He thought he could become perfect. Jesus just showed him that he couldn't.
The disciples were flabbergasted. "Who then can be saved?" was their reply. With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible," was Jesus' reply to them. It harkens back to Jesus' question to the young man who wanted to be perfect, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." Jesus is God. He could make the young man perfect. But He only does that for people who see the need and are willing to receive His power. Jesus is able to make us willing to do anything. But we must be willing to let go and let Him. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John