Genesis 24:1-67…
This is a great passage. Firstly, let me say, that I’m glad we no longer have to make promises by slipping our hand under someone’s thigh. That could lead to all sorts of awkward situations! You might also become quite selective about who you make promises to. But, anyway, that’s the way Abraham ensured his servant would stick to his promise and who am I to criticise!
What I think is great about this passage is that Abraham and his servant are so keen that God plays the major role in the choice of Isaac’s wife. There’s an angel involved. And the servant asks for a specific sign from God so as to make sure he ‘picks’ the right woman. And, guess what, God gives the servant a specific sign when Rebekah comes to the well – even before the servant’s finished praying.
When it comes to our relationships – particularly with regards to girlfriends or boyfriends (you can’t pick your parents or your siblings after all) – do we want God do play the central role? In reality, most of us probably let certain parts of our body do the decision making. But it’s clear from this passage – at least to me – that God has a specific person in mind for each of us, whether we’ve found them yet or not. And if we take a step back and pray and ask God to reveal if someone’s right for you or not then I believe he will, just like he did to Abraham’s servant.
God wants to be part of every bit of our lives, not just the churchy stuff we do. In fact he wants to be the most important bit (not that God’s a ‘bit’) of every area of our lives. And that includes our relationships too.
And the brilliant thing in this passage is that, when everyone recognises that God’s in charge of the situation they all step back and say… let’s not get in the way. Laban and Bethuel (Rebekah’s brother and father) say together: ‘This is from the Lord. We can say nothing to you one way or the other…’
Now we’re good at saying stuff and doing things that often get in the way of what God is doing and, as a result, end up doing our own stuff rather than what God wants to do. And, unfortunately, that’s all too often the case not just in our relationship but in our churches and youth groups and – sad to say – everything we do. And, here, the morning after, Rebekah’s mother and brother decide to do just that. ‘Let the girl remain with us ten days or so.’ In other words, we know what God has planned but let’s just put it on hold for a week and a half. Thank goodness Rebekah was willing to just go with God’s plan and she goes with Abraham’s servant, falls in love with Isaac at first sight (God had matched them up after all) and she becomes the next great woman of faith after Sarah, who, of course, has died as we read yesterday.
There’s the lesson… when we get a sense of what God is doing – in our relationships, our churches or wherever – just go for it. Don’t put it off, don’t over analyse it, don’t put the barriers up. It might be scary, uncomfortable or totally new for you (as it must have been for Rebekah, leaving her country, her family and her friends). But who are we – really, who are we – to get in the way of God?
Matthew 9:14-38…
Fasting, eh? I’ve said before that we don’t do enough of it! But it’s important to note that if we fast that we do it for the right reasons. When Jesus was with the disciples walking around on earth there was no need to fast. Fasting is about giving up stuff in order to focus on Jesus, pray and long for his return. That’s what Jesus is saying: when I’m with you, rejoice… when I’m not, fast, pray, long for me to be with you again. And I’ve got something up my sleeve for Lent 2011 where we can fast and pray and long for Jesus together. It’ll be hard but it’ll be good.
And then we’ve more examples of faith. On the way to a house where a girl’s died a woman who’d been bleeding for 12 years and who was therefore unclean – an outsider – touches his cloak. And she’s healed, and therefore she’s made clean and is included in society again. But, do you see, it’s got a lot to do with her faith that she got healed. Jesus says to her that her faith has healed her. (And that’s because her faith is in Jesus, by the way, not just in any old so and so.) And it was through the faith of the dead girl’s father that she is raised to life again. Notice, everyone else (‘professional’ mourners if you’re wondering who they are) laughs at Jesus. They didn’t have faith in him. And we might not laugh at Jesus but I often wonder if we have genuine faith in him. Do we really believe that Jesus can heal people and work miracles today – because he can and he will if we dare to believe it. Our faith will make us well too!
And the blind person is asked by Jesus if he believes that Jesus can heal him. That;s the issue: do we believe? Do we have faith? (And it’s clear, by the way, that the Pharisees didn’t as they made the most preposterous and wicked claim, actually, that Jesus was doing demonic things! Not so… so not so!)
And, the last few verses… they’re as true today as they were 2000 odd years ago. There are many people in the world – in our schools, our workplaces, our communities – who are ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ In short, there are loads of people around us who need Jesus. And, though there’s not many of us, it’s our job to introduce them all to him.
[NB: this pattern of Jesus telling the people he’s healed not to tell anyone about it (v.30) is known as the Messianic Secret. When Jesus was around on earth there were certain ideas about what the Messiah would be like, the most common of which was that the Messiah would be a military leader to drive out and slaughter the Romans. That’s not what Jesus is like and he doesn’t want people to think that’s what he’s going to be like. So, he tries to keep his identity secret as he has a mission and he doesn’t want people with their own agendas to get in the way of God’s work.]
Psalm 8:1-9…
‘O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.’ Wow. And indeed God is amazing and majestic and we can’t really get our heads around who he is. And the Psalmist recognises that God shouldn’t really be bothered with wee human beings like us. And yet he is. He’s put us in control of all he’s created and that’s amazing (and comes with a lot of responsibility too). God – the creator of the universe – cares for little old you and little old me! So, when you’re praying and reading, imagine that a person more powerful than anyone else and who loves you more than anyone else in the universe is with you and wants to talk to you. And know that he is and that he does – that’s God. How majestic is his name in all the earth.
This is a great passage. Firstly, let me say, that I’m glad we no longer have to make promises by slipping our hand under someone’s thigh. That could lead to all sorts of awkward situations! You might also become quite selective about who you make promises to. But, anyway, that’s the way Abraham ensured his servant would stick to his promise and who am I to criticise!
What I think is great about this passage is that Abraham and his servant are so keen that God plays the major role in the choice of Isaac’s wife. There’s an angel involved. And the servant asks for a specific sign from God so as to make sure he ‘picks’ the right woman. And, guess what, God gives the servant a specific sign when Rebekah comes to the well – even before the servant’s finished praying.
When it comes to our relationships – particularly with regards to girlfriends or boyfriends (you can’t pick your parents or your siblings after all) – do we want God do play the central role? In reality, most of us probably let certain parts of our body do the decision making. But it’s clear from this passage – at least to me – that God has a specific person in mind for each of us, whether we’ve found them yet or not. And if we take a step back and pray and ask God to reveal if someone’s right for you or not then I believe he will, just like he did to Abraham’s servant.
God wants to be part of every bit of our lives, not just the churchy stuff we do. In fact he wants to be the most important bit (not that God’s a ‘bit’) of every area of our lives. And that includes our relationships too.
And the brilliant thing in this passage is that, when everyone recognises that God’s in charge of the situation they all step back and say… let’s not get in the way. Laban and Bethuel (Rebekah’s brother and father) say together: ‘This is from the Lord. We can say nothing to you one way or the other…’
Now we’re good at saying stuff and doing things that often get in the way of what God is doing and, as a result, end up doing our own stuff rather than what God wants to do. And, unfortunately, that’s all too often the case not just in our relationship but in our churches and youth groups and – sad to say – everything we do. And, here, the morning after, Rebekah’s mother and brother decide to do just that. ‘Let the girl remain with us ten days or so.’ In other words, we know what God has planned but let’s just put it on hold for a week and a half. Thank goodness Rebekah was willing to just go with God’s plan and she goes with Abraham’s servant, falls in love with Isaac at first sight (God had matched them up after all) and she becomes the next great woman of faith after Sarah, who, of course, has died as we read yesterday.
There’s the lesson… when we get a sense of what God is doing – in our relationships, our churches or wherever – just go for it. Don’t put it off, don’t over analyse it, don’t put the barriers up. It might be scary, uncomfortable or totally new for you (as it must have been for Rebekah, leaving her country, her family and her friends). But who are we – really, who are we – to get in the way of God?
Matthew 9:14-38…
Fasting, eh? I’ve said before that we don’t do enough of it! But it’s important to note that if we fast that we do it for the right reasons. When Jesus was with the disciples walking around on earth there was no need to fast. Fasting is about giving up stuff in order to focus on Jesus, pray and long for his return. That’s what Jesus is saying: when I’m with you, rejoice… when I’m not, fast, pray, long for me to be with you again. And I’ve got something up my sleeve for Lent 2011 where we can fast and pray and long for Jesus together. It’ll be hard but it’ll be good.
And then we’ve more examples of faith. On the way to a house where a girl’s died a woman who’d been bleeding for 12 years and who was therefore unclean – an outsider – touches his cloak. And she’s healed, and therefore she’s made clean and is included in society again. But, do you see, it’s got a lot to do with her faith that she got healed. Jesus says to her that her faith has healed her. (And that’s because her faith is in Jesus, by the way, not just in any old so and so.) And it was through the faith of the dead girl’s father that she is raised to life again. Notice, everyone else (‘professional’ mourners if you’re wondering who they are) laughs at Jesus. They didn’t have faith in him. And we might not laugh at Jesus but I often wonder if we have genuine faith in him. Do we really believe that Jesus can heal people and work miracles today – because he can and he will if we dare to believe it. Our faith will make us well too!
And the blind person is asked by Jesus if he believes that Jesus can heal him. That;s the issue: do we believe? Do we have faith? (And it’s clear, by the way, that the Pharisees didn’t as they made the most preposterous and wicked claim, actually, that Jesus was doing demonic things! Not so… so not so!)
And, the last few verses… they’re as true today as they were 2000 odd years ago. There are many people in the world – in our schools, our workplaces, our communities – who are ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ In short, there are loads of people around us who need Jesus. And, though there’s not many of us, it’s our job to introduce them all to him.
[NB: this pattern of Jesus telling the people he’s healed not to tell anyone about it (v.30) is known as the Messianic Secret. When Jesus was around on earth there were certain ideas about what the Messiah would be like, the most common of which was that the Messiah would be a military leader to drive out and slaughter the Romans. That’s not what Jesus is like and he doesn’t want people to think that’s what he’s going to be like. So, he tries to keep his identity secret as he has a mission and he doesn’t want people with their own agendas to get in the way of God’s work.]
Psalm 8:1-9…
‘O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.’ Wow. And indeed God is amazing and majestic and we can’t really get our heads around who he is. And the Psalmist recognises that God shouldn’t really be bothered with wee human beings like us. And yet he is. He’s put us in control of all he’s created and that’s amazing (and comes with a lot of responsibility too). God – the creator of the universe – cares for little old you and little old me! So, when you’re praying and reading, imagine that a person more powerful than anyone else and who loves you more than anyone else in the universe is with you and wants to talk to you. And know that he is and that he does – that’s God. How majestic is his name in all the earth.
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