Verse for the Day, 14 May 2014.

Genesis 39:4-9, “So Joseph found favour in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had.  (5)  From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had, in house and field.  (6)  So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.  (7)  And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me."  (8)  But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge.  (9)  He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

Pursuing righteousness, integrity, holiness and godliness can sometimes be very costly and painful. For many years Christians have been wrongly taught that if you obey God then you will be blessed all the day long, no harm or evil will befall you. There is some truth to this, which is we will know the favour of God when we live in obedience, but we have no promise of receiving the favour of man when we seek to live godly lives. Potiphar’s wife was displeased by Joseph’s integrity, rather than admiring and rewarding it. In her displeasure she not only continued to entice Joseph, but finally conspired against him and laid the most serious, but false, allegations of attempted rape against Joseph. Joseph is deemed guilty and imprisoned, presumably until he died, there is no mention of the length of the sentence, nor is there ever any mention of his coming release. Joseph sought to honour God with his life and the result was that he was sinned against, treated as guilty and left to languish in prison.

What makes Genesis 39 all the more remarkable is that despite the fact that Joseph is treated as guilty and cast into prison, this doesn’t deter Joseph from continuing to living in a God-honouring manner. Shortly after being placed in prison Joseph’s integrity makes him stand out from the rest of the inmates and he is put in charge, entrusted with great responsibility. We have to ask ourselves how we would respond and continue to live if we were treated in a similar manner.

As believers in Jesus Christ we are called to live upright lives in the midst of an evil world. We do this for several reasons, firstly and most importantly, to glorify God; secondly, to give outward evidence of our faith, to demonstrate that we are authentic believers and thirdly, so that the world might see the testimony of our lives and give glory to God. We are called to live such lives and we are aware of the importance of living in such a manner, but we must be equally prepared to receive the disdain of the world. Jesus never promised us that it would be easy to follow Him and to live in accordance to His example. Jesus did tells us that it would not just be difficult, but that we could expect to be hated, opposed, handed over to the authorities and imprisoned, or even put to death. Should this frightening reality and prospect cause us to stop pursuing Christlikeness? By no means! Yes, it may be difficult and lead to pain and suffering, but we need to remember that we do not live a life of godliness so as to be praised and accepted by men; we do it for the glory, sake and name of our heavenly Father. We do it to honour Him, display our love for Him and to further glorify Him, we live in this manner so as to receive the eternal reward laid up and kept in heaven for us. We live such lives in the hope and with the prayer that God will use the testimony of our lives to lead others to Christ, others to glorify God. Peter expresses this truth 1 Peter 2:12, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

Ultimately Joseph in this passage serves as a type of Christ. Joseph though innocent of this crime, is falsely accused and unjustly cast into prison. Christ, likewise is innocent, not just of the crime of which he is accused, but innocent altogether, and thus he is superior to Joseph. Christ is also falsely accused and given the sentence of death, but in the case of Christ, there is no deliverance of the sentence as there was for Joseph. Christ went to His death. He, who was innocent of all things, was treated as the guiltiest of all men and given the sentence of death. Yet as Scripture teaches us, Christ entrusted Himself to God the Father, who judges justly and continued to live in perfect obedience, right to his death. We have then two great examples to follow as we seek to walk in holiness, Joseph and best of all Christ.

Holy Father, we are aware that there are many times in our lives when we do not live as we should because we are afraid of how others might react. We ask that You would enable us to walk in holiness and to love You to the point that we are less concerned with how the world will react and more concerned with Your glory and our standing before You. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 7 May 2014.

Genesis 38:6-7  And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.  (7)  But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death….(10) And what he (Onan) did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death also…(15) When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.  (16)  He turned to her at the roadside and said, "Come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"

Genesis 38 is a chapter filled with the harsh consequences of sin, earthly consequences and divine consequences. Judah’s two sons Er and Onan are both struck dead by God for their sinful actions, and Judah’s sinfulness is exposed when he discovers that he is the one who caused his daughter-in-law to become pregnant. Within Judah’s family there appears to be a complete failure to love and follow God. Judah, Onan and Tamar fail to learn from God’s dealings with Er, and continue on in sinful behaviour. Judah and Tamar fail once more to learn from God’s dealings with both Er and Onan, continuing on in sin.

This chapter teaches us two truths. Firstly, sin always, always, has consequences, both earthly and divine. Our sin has a negative impact upon our relationship with others; especially those whom we sin against. It can lead us to have to incur the penalty of the law, to suffer ill-health because of a sinful lifestyle choice or to suffer other consequences of sinful actions or choices. Greatest of all our sin will impact upon our relationship with God, for sin always alienates us from God and because God is holy and just, He must always respond to sin. He must deal with it, whether by means of punishment for those who are not His children or by means of discipline for those who are His children. We must never allow ourselves the opportunity to think that our sin will escape unnoticed. God sees and knows all and God will deal with all sin.

Secondly, we need to learn from Scripture and from the lives of others around us. Both Scripture and human history is littered with countless examples of sin and its consequences. We need to learn from the poor choices of others, discerning that there are consequences and to then seek to walk in obedience to God and His Word. There is never a circumstance whereby we are left with no choice but to sin, there is never an occasion when sin is excusable. Er, Onan, Judah and Tamar deliberately and consciously chose sin, they may have sought to justify their sinfulness, but sin remains sin. They failed to learn that sin has destructive and deadly consequences; it alienates us from God and from each other. Sin cannot be covered over; it can have life-long consequences and it definitely has eternal consequences.

While reading chapters such as Genesis 38 causes us to be saddened by the sinful actions of others, these chapters should alert us to the fact that we need to take our own sinfulness seriously, to never let our guard down and to never try and excuse or justify sin. We should learn from the poor examples and seek to avoid those same temptations. Secondly, whilst we are saddened by this chapter, we should also be filled with thankfulness. It is only by God’s grace that our fate has not been the same as that of Er and Onan, for we all have given adequate cause for God to destroy us, to strike us down. God in His grace has laid all our sinfulness upon His Son, Jesus Christ, whilst we deserved to die for our sin, God the Son has died in our stead. Furthermore, we have now been filled with God’s Spirit, so that we can walk in obedience, be helped in times of temptation and receive the strength to avoid sin.

Righteous Father, we thank You, that You are a holy and just God, who deals with sin and who will by no means clear the guilty. We thank You that there is full, fair and final justice with You. We also worship You for You have laid our trespasses, iniquity and guilt upon Your Son, who has suffered and died in our place. Thank You that You have filled us with Your Spirit and given us Your Word. We pray that You would help us daily to see the ugliness of sin, renounce worldliness, resist sin and train ourselves for godliness. Amen

Verse for the Day, 2 May 2014.

Genesis 37:5-11  Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.  (6)  He said to them, "Hear this dream that I have dreamed:  (7)  Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf."  (8)  His brothers said to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.  (9)  Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, "Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."  (10)  But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?"  (11)  And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

One of the many wonders of Scripture is how it records for us the manner in which people change under the hand of God. We have already seen this truth reflected in the life of Jacob and now we shall see it in the life of Joseph. Joseph was the favourite son and he knew it, he also sought to remind his brothers of this fact. Furthermore, Joseph had a reputation for reporting on his brothers to his father, making him all the less popular with them. When God did speak to Joseph through a dream, Joseph had two choices, he could wisely, discreetly and in a spirit of humility seek the counsel and advice of his father as to what these dreams meant, or he could act in pride and tell his whole family of the great dreams God had given him. Sadly, Joseph chose the latter and incurs the anger, resentment and hatred of his brothers and the displeasure of his father. Thus some time later when Joseph comes to check-up on his brothers, his brothers are stirred to anger, for they see him coming wearing his special robe and are aware that he has come to see them so that he might report back to their father. The result of this is that they conspire together against him, first to murder him, but then upon the pleas of Reuben, they decide to throw him into one of the pits. The brothers then see an opportunity to profit from Joseph’s demise and sell him into slavery.

We seldom realise the subtly and danger of pride. In many instances Joseph may have not have thought he was acting pride, yet it was abundantly evident in his attitude and behaviour. Such is the subtly of pride that it can even rear its head when we are seeking to act in humility. It is something which we must be on a constant guard against, seeking to identify it and root it out quickly. Pride left unchecked can lead only to further sin, and our sin always has consequences. In Joseph’s case, his pride caused him to be alienated from his brothers; they despised him and sought to destroy him. Joseph’s pride, exposed the pride of his brothers, which led them to further sin in conspiring against him, and their combined pride led to the great sorrow and grief of their father and their family. We can only wonder about the deep conviction, regret and guilt the brothers must have felt as they watched their father grieve and refuse to be comforted.

Pride is more often than not the root of our sin, it was the root of Adam and Eve’s sin and thus the sooner we act against it, the better. We have a great example to follow in the Lord Jesus Christ, who, as Paul tells un in Philippian 2:6-8, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” How is it that Jesus walked in such humility and how can that help us in our battle against pride? When we consider the glory of God, then we will have no room for pride. Jesus made this so clear in his life; he spoke constantly of how he had come so that the Father might be glorified. His focus was on the glory of God and how he might further increase that glory. We need to make it our practice to daily remind ourselves of how glorious and great God is, and that as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we are called to do all things so as to further glorify God. If we do this, it will help us in our battle against pride.

All glorious God, we are mindful of how ugly pride is in Your sight, especially when it leads us to make much more ourselves than what we truly are. Help us to consider how immensely glorious and great You, so that we might be kept from ever glorying in ourselves. We pray also that You might help us to follow the great example of the Lord Jesus Christ in this regard. May we make it the aim our lives to live for Your glory each and every day. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 1 May 2014.

Genesis 36:6-7  Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob.  (7)  For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock.

When it comes to passages of Scripture like the last half of Genesis 35 through to the end of Genesis 36, we tend to skip over them, as they appear to be nothing more than a long list of names. What is the point of attempting to read names that we cannot pronounce and seem to hold little or no significance? The truth is that these lists and what they record hold great significance. If we cast our minds back to Genesis 12, when God first made His promise to Abraham, we will see just how significant this list is. From one couple, Abraham and Sarah, a multitude of people has come, a multitude that is ever growing and increasing. It is significant to see how God blesses, prospers the descendants of Abraham, for his two grandsons, Jacob and Esau are so prosperous that they cannot live near to one another, the land simply cannot support them both. All this is a sign, a confirmation that God is true to His promises and works in ways and means we cannot know, or even understand to accomplish His purposes. Jacob could not have known that one day his family would found a nation of millions and from that nation would come a Saviour, Jesus Christ, through whom the whole world would be blessed. This is God’s great plan and work, as we make our way through the Old Testament we have the joy of witnessing this plan and purpose unfold. These long lists all serve to remind us of these truths, God is working out His sovereign purpose, for His glory and for our eternal good.

Whilst this point has been made on a number of occasions, it comes to the fore again in this passage, God is faithful. Abraham received a promised that sounded impossible, and yet God did the impossible; God did the impossible time and time again, with Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Leah and Rachel. When we think of these three men, we remember how they all faced difficult, dark and trying times; times when it was hard to see the goodness and faithfulness of God, and therefore times when it was hard to see the truth of God’s promises and God’s good hand at work in their lives. This then is the encouragement and blessing of Scripture. For we can look back through their lives and see how God was at work even when all seemed lost. Think of Jacob, when he fled from Esau, he had nothing but what he could carry; fast forward some 20 years and we see that he has an absolute abundance. We can rejoice and take comfort and encouragement from this truth, God is faithful, God is at work all the time bringing His good purposes to pass. He is at work for our good even when that good and His work is hidden from our sight by the darkness of trials or distress. We can therefore place an even greater trust, hope, faith and confidence in our God.

Heavenly Father, words fail to express the gratitude that we have today as we contemplate Your sovereignty, goodness, power, faithfulness, purposes, plans and unfailing love. You truly are the God of the impossible who never forsakes His promises or His people. We thank You, that You are still at work in Your sovereign goodness even when we cannot see it, when it is hidden from us. We look forward to the day when we will see You face to face and then understand many of Your ways, purposes and plans. Until that time, we ask that You would strengthen and enable us to continue to follow You faithfully, especially in the times when we don’t understand, or cannot see Your good hand at work. Amen.