Dinah, Won’t You Blow Your Horn? | Genesis 34, P2

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Christians can be quick to see the sin of the openly wicked but slow to see the evil of good people, and that kind of evil is actually worse because it often goes unrecognized and even denied. Remember, it was not the prostitutes and drunks who crucified Jesus — it was the good, righteous people. We live in a wicked world, but wickedness is not something on which the world of unbelievers has a monopoly. Often, there is evil also among the believing community. Beware.

Dinah, Won’t You Blow Your Horn? | Genesis 34, P1

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Genesis 34 is a chapter in the Bible that reveals such heinous acts by the people of God that it’s difficult to know how to address it in preaching or teaching, much less just reading it and attempting to reconcile it to the remainder of the Bible. Genesis 34 records the rape of Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, and the merciless blood-stained revenge of her brothers on the city of Shechem. It is disgraceful and embarrassing. So, what are we to do with this narrative? Perhaps, ignore it and hope that no one notices or asks us about it. However, we cannot. Are you ready for the fray?

One More World to Conquer | Gensis 33

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From the moment God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, the name Abram was never used again. Yet, after God changed Jacob’s name, his old name was employed twice as much as his new name in the remaining chapters of Genesis. Jacob became a changed man as the result of wrestling with God at Peniel. Yet, he also remained unchanged. Apparently, there remained a lot of the old man in the new patriarch, just as there often remains a lot of the old man or woman in us.

Wrestle Mania | Genesis 32:24-32

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When the chickens come home to roost, being optimistic is almost impossible. How often Jacob had thought of the very moment that now came upon him. Would he survive? Would he have a future? He wanted to be flush with hope, but the regrets had piled so high they seemed to hide even the possibility of hope. Yet, God used this precise event to produce usefulness in Jacob. It is at the Jabbok River that he left behind the immaturity of the past and, at last, took a huge step toward spiritual adulthood. Your Jabbok may be just ahead.

The Greatest of All Schools | Genesis 29:1-30

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What are principles that guide your life? Jacob had to learn the hard way that God’s guiding principles had to be chiseled into his head and heart. The chiseling, as you may imagine, did not come instantaneously but required years of training and struggle. The amazing thing is not so much that Jacob stayed the course but that God stayed the course with him. If your life is a train-wreck, stay the course, and you will discover that God will stay the course with you to the end.

The Way Home | Genesis 26:12-33

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Genesis 26 reveals an amazing, incredible picture of God’s grace in that God continued
to bless Isaac though Isaac had chosen a path of disobedience to the will of God.
Genesis 26 also shows us that God’s lordship demands disciplinary measures in spite
of the blessings, and in this case, the immensity of the discipline is measured by the
abundance of blessings. Isaac eventually found his way home, and so can you. When
you finally arrive, you will discover that that God holds no grudges, but instead,
welcomes you home.