'God Truths' Revealed to me through a Year-long Study of Genesis through
Bible Study Fellowship
Written April-ish 2013
I’d like to say I relate
to Joseph, for I feel I’ve been (and at times still am) in a pit of darkness,
“unjustly” suffering with prayers for complete healing & deliverance going
unanswered. I think, "I haven’t really done anything to deserve this."
However, I’m finding myself more closely resembling his faltering father, Jacob
–passionate, strong-willed, and always at unrest because I cling so tightly to my
plan for my life, God can’t get through to me. I keep wrestling with God
instead of submitting, accepting, hands wide open. I must. Let go. Receive the
manna—whatever it is—daily, moment by moment. Never sure what will come, like
Abraham, I must trust that I am headed for the land He will show me. And I can rejoice when
one day my unwavering faith makes Him proud and He says, Go and walk through
the land. I am giving it to you.
I’m afraid my child is
following closely behind me, in my footsteps, pointing out to me my gross
imperfections. The same things in him that cause my temper to blow are the very
things in me I loathe. I struggle. Hot tempered, don’t like pain (or anything
that doesn’t go my way, for that matter, gives up easily, easily frustrated
& defensive, craves excess, perfectionist-ic, impulsive. Immaturity. Wow,
until the words took form, I had no idea. I did not know what I was doing when
I named him Jacob. God knew.
YET I am confident that I
will see your goodness while I am here in the land of the living! Ps 27:13. I
will claim it. I will receive it. And I will REST in it. “See, I am doing a new
thing!” Isaiah 43:19.
I find it refreshing that
it’s okay to remind God of His promises, like the fearful Jacob did, afraid of
the consequences he deserved would come to fruition. God welcomes the honesty,
the intimacy. He shares his plan willingly, his secrets, with his beloved
children who obey Him. He longs for restored relationship, like a walk in the
Garden—the free exchange He had between his first created beings—what I long
for too. Over and over he birthed miracle out of nothingness (a poor baby born
in a stable to the Savior of the World, empty wombs became filled with children
of Promise – Isaac, nets became filled with fish where once they were
discouragingly empty, baskets filled with food to nourish a hillside, battles
won with overwhelming odds, giants knocked down, men saved from blazing fire
and lion’s grasp, sinners-nobodys, were forgiven—even commended for their sincere
yearning for Jesus), all the while foreshadowing his inevitable rescue plan. He
wants to bless us, just as was His intent when he came to wrestle with
Jacob in the night. He wants to bless us, but we must let go and let
Him. It’s on His terms. I must give Him the end result and then I
can breathe relief. Why is it so excrutiating to trust? With my body? My life?
It’s like a freefall…and I’m not a risk-taker.
And I need reminding. Of
God’s faithfulness. But that part’s up to me…to pick up the stones and mark as
a memorial, an altar, to remember & celebrate those times when God spoke,
appeared to me. And He will reassure me more than once, (Hallelujah!) like he did for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Because He is patient with my forgetfulness. He is familiar with my tendencies.
Because even the righteous man, Abraham, pleaded, "How can I be
sure?" Gen 15:8
As I become frustrated in
my failed attempts at perfection, what encouragement that He can use me,
as He did those before me. His plan, His will, cannot be moved. He will
accomplish His purpose. And when I find myself far from faithful, in need of
grace, I need only RETURN, like Abraham & Jacob, to the place of His
Promise, the place I know God is present….to my stone altar of remembrance. Like Elijah (1 Kings 19:13,15) To go back the same way I came. To
repent. To rededicate. There I can Release my burden and Receive His peace.
Rejoice in the grace He has shown me. This was almost the year of
"RE" for me. It can be that too. The year of the New Thing is what I
named this year, to give focus to which to steer all my days. That was God’s
idea. His theme. (Isa 43:19)
All the stories pointing
towards the Great One who would come to take my place, my sin, to bring
atonement I did not deserve. Christ is pictured in the sacrifice of Isaac, the
innocent boy, submitting fully to the will of His father, the lamb who took our
place. Christ is in the servant of Abraham, who sought out a bride for Isaac,
who followed strict guidelines and received a full miraculous confirmation by
events aligning themselves one after another, and by his humble worship &
recognition that God alone brought him success. Christ seeks us out, His bride,
and will stop at nothing to bring us back to Himself.
Jesus is the covering of
Adam & Eve with animal skins after the first sin, because sin has always
required the shedding of blood. Jesus is in the covering of Noah’s sin by Shem
& Japheth, their intent to cover, rather than expose, the sin of their
father. He would one day cover us, cover our sin, with His robe of
righteousness, shedding blood once and for all. 2 Cor 5:21 Judah offered himself as a
substitute for his brother Benjamin, as Christ became our substitute to provide
atonement for His beloved. Christ is beautiful in Joseph’s story, his
undeserved suffering, years spent in
darkness, only to wait for God’s perfect timing to rise him up in honor, in
glory, for “the last will be first.”
And I do marvel at
how God works, even through sin (Judah) to accomplish His
purposes out of mercy & grace. Even when I am deep within the pit (Joseph),
and I cannot see God moving because all sides are blocked, even when His answers
are not echoed for chapters of my life, HE is actively working to bring about
His purpose to move His kingdom forward & to transform me to the image of
Christ. Even when He is silent. He is working towards what He always seeks.
Reconciliation.
In the words of Joseph,
may you make me fruitful in my land of suffering! You ordained my suffering. I
worship you, by giving up my own plans, ambitions, rights and trading them for
yours! I seek the NEWness you give. New Power. Bring a new thing out of
nothing! It's what You do best.
God is good. Pray for the
good stuff. When something else happens, God has something better in mind. –
Steve Lacy
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and also at Cornerstone Community Church
