Questions For the Successful Life.
Memory Verse: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. '
James 1:17
Sermon Sentence: "Rock bottom" is not the only place to be compelled to find and follow Jesus.
James 1:17
Sermon Sentence: "Rock bottom" is not the only place to be compelled to find and follow Jesus.
Day 1
Read Genesis 30:25-43
Question of the day: What in the world is going on in this story?
Let’s start our week of study in the weird parts of this story. The goal today will not be for you to walk away with a really helpful application from the text for your life. You may get that, but it will not be on purpose! The goal for today will be to walk in an exercise of understanding what the Bible says and how people drive at different conclusions in that process. The plan of this devotion is not to give you the answer to a discussion that has gone on for many years, but to show you how to think through that.
Jacob is doing some weird farming here. For as long as I can remember, I have only ever heard this discussed in one singular way: there is a weird farming technique that seems like an old wives tale that Jacob is using here. He is cutting stripes into the sticks and when the animal sees those and breed, it impacts what happens at birth. Is that what is happening here? Maybe. The reasoning for that comes from verses 38-39. It does not say this logic exactly, but it is what we assume when we read it. From all I ever read or studied, this is the only logic that was offered up.
I was not aware there are differences of opinions here. The difference of opinion that could be argued is rooted in the fact that those verses may seem to assume that logic, but that is not what it actually says. Nor is there a cultural context that seems to lead us to read it that way. In other words, in the ancient documents of sheep herding, there is nothing that points to this being a common way of thinking or even a superstitious way of thinking. This way of thinking simply comes from what we think we are hearing this text say.
Another opinion would come from the practices of sheep farming over the years. This logic would say that Jacob is simply making decoys that trick the sheep into mating with sticks. If that seems strange, it is, but the language of the Hebrew does actually say the sheep bred “on the sticks.” The idea is that the sheep would mate when they came to the water troughs, so Jacob was tricking them.
Are you ready for another layer? There are actual medical journals that also talk about the benefit of these types of trees (almond and poplar) in the breeding of animals! So some even argue that there were actual science-like things going on here!
The reason that it is ok to entertain all of these theories and even disagree on what is happening here, is because that is not the point of the text. Regardless of what you decide you believe the text is saying, no one can deny that the text is saying that these were cheap tricks and the reality is they merited nothing really worth declaring that they are the full proof method for growing large herds of sheep! What is really going on in this text is that God is blessing and doing things that are being passed off as some sort of manipulation or trickery on Laban or Jacob’s part! Let the old farmers argue about methods and science, that is not the real story here. The real story here is how God blesses in spite of good or bad methods!
Which theory seems like what the text is teaching to you?
Why do you think the author left all of this vague discussion in here?
What do you see about your life from this text?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Question of the day: What in the world is going on in this story?
Let’s start our week of study in the weird parts of this story. The goal today will not be for you to walk away with a really helpful application from the text for your life. You may get that, but it will not be on purpose! The goal for today will be to walk in an exercise of understanding what the Bible says and how people drive at different conclusions in that process. The plan of this devotion is not to give you the answer to a discussion that has gone on for many years, but to show you how to think through that.
Jacob is doing some weird farming here. For as long as I can remember, I have only ever heard this discussed in one singular way: there is a weird farming technique that seems like an old wives tale that Jacob is using here. He is cutting stripes into the sticks and when the animal sees those and breed, it impacts what happens at birth. Is that what is happening here? Maybe. The reasoning for that comes from verses 38-39. It does not say this logic exactly, but it is what we assume when we read it. From all I ever read or studied, this is the only logic that was offered up.
I was not aware there are differences of opinions here. The difference of opinion that could be argued is rooted in the fact that those verses may seem to assume that logic, but that is not what it actually says. Nor is there a cultural context that seems to lead us to read it that way. In other words, in the ancient documents of sheep herding, there is nothing that points to this being a common way of thinking or even a superstitious way of thinking. This way of thinking simply comes from what we think we are hearing this text say.
Another opinion would come from the practices of sheep farming over the years. This logic would say that Jacob is simply making decoys that trick the sheep into mating with sticks. If that seems strange, it is, but the language of the Hebrew does actually say the sheep bred “on the sticks.” The idea is that the sheep would mate when they came to the water troughs, so Jacob was tricking them.
Are you ready for another layer? There are actual medical journals that also talk about the benefit of these types of trees (almond and poplar) in the breeding of animals! So some even argue that there were actual science-like things going on here!
The reason that it is ok to entertain all of these theories and even disagree on what is happening here, is because that is not the point of the text. Regardless of what you decide you believe the text is saying, no one can deny that the text is saying that these were cheap tricks and the reality is they merited nothing really worth declaring that they are the full proof method for growing large herds of sheep! What is really going on in this text is that God is blessing and doing things that are being passed off as some sort of manipulation or trickery on Laban or Jacob’s part! Let the old farmers argue about methods and science, that is not the real story here. The real story here is how God blesses in spite of good or bad methods!
Which theory seems like what the text is teaching to you?
Why do you think the author left all of this vague discussion in here?
What do you see about your life from this text?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read Genesis 30:25-43
Question of the day: What if you do get everything that you spend your whole life laboring and fighting for?
Yesterday, you would have read this section for the purpose of chasing out the specifics of what is happening in the story. Today, we want to approach it from a different thought. Go back in your mind through the story of Jacob. We have landed in this place of him being a conniving character that seems willing to run over everyone in his way to get what he wants. I would like to think that you know someone like that. Most of the time, those people end up falling on their faces and getting a lesson in hard knocks in life.
Well…think about that for a little while again. Do they get that most of the time? One of the common struggles for all of humanity and for the writers of the Bible, was the struggle of processing why good things happen to bad people. It is a fair question that has been asked for many, many generations. I wonder if we would not say that not enough people have found themselves falling on their faces in a way that allows them to think through life.
Most of the time, that crisis moment that is helpful for a person happens at the bottom. Rarely do you have a person that will really consider their life from the place of victory and success. A person will not really struggle with their life choices as long as those life choices seem to be working well enough.
That is the place that I want to tease out this question of the day for us. What if it all works and we do get it all? What if we were to accomplish all of our dreams and reach all of our goals? Or even most of them? At the end of life, what does it matter? I challenge you to spend time thinking about that from Jacob’s story, which is a story of a man that set out to make a blessing happen, and good, bad, or not even a result of his work, he got it. So what? What’s the point of even a successful life?
How would you, as a friend to Jacob, talk to him about this and bring him to the truths of the Bible?
When was the last time that you wrestled with the deeper and more fulfilling meaning of your life? What did you come up with?
How have you had to change priorities and dreams in order to do things God’s way recently?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Question of the day: What if you do get everything that you spend your whole life laboring and fighting for?
Yesterday, you would have read this section for the purpose of chasing out the specifics of what is happening in the story. Today, we want to approach it from a different thought. Go back in your mind through the story of Jacob. We have landed in this place of him being a conniving character that seems willing to run over everyone in his way to get what he wants. I would like to think that you know someone like that. Most of the time, those people end up falling on their faces and getting a lesson in hard knocks in life.
Well…think about that for a little while again. Do they get that most of the time? One of the common struggles for all of humanity and for the writers of the Bible, was the struggle of processing why good things happen to bad people. It is a fair question that has been asked for many, many generations. I wonder if we would not say that not enough people have found themselves falling on their faces in a way that allows them to think through life.
Most of the time, that crisis moment that is helpful for a person happens at the bottom. Rarely do you have a person that will really consider their life from the place of victory and success. A person will not really struggle with their life choices as long as those life choices seem to be working well enough.
That is the place that I want to tease out this question of the day for us. What if it all works and we do get it all? What if we were to accomplish all of our dreams and reach all of our goals? Or even most of them? At the end of life, what does it matter? I challenge you to spend time thinking about that from Jacob’s story, which is a story of a man that set out to make a blessing happen, and good, bad, or not even a result of his work, he got it. So what? What’s the point of even a successful life?
How would you, as a friend to Jacob, talk to him about this and bring him to the truths of the Bible?
When was the last time that you wrestled with the deeper and more fulfilling meaning of your life? What did you come up with?
How have you had to change priorities and dreams in order to do things God’s way recently?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read Genesis 31:1-21
Question of the day: How many times do you need to be told there is more going on than meets the eye?
When I am reading this story, this is where it starts to get a bit confusing on the specific events. Jacob tells his wives about a dream that he had, but the dream is not talked about in this story. So either we are not given information when the dream happened, or Jacob is referencing the dream from a while back at Bethel with the whole ladder to Heaven thing. Or Jacob is just telling his wives that God said something to get them to move away from their father. Regardless of what you think about Jacob at this point, he is not totally cured of his trickery ways. He is still implementing all of those ways of being. You may say that is because he has to! Laban is making him act like that! And I think that is the tension you should be feeling in the storytelling.
No matter where you landed with your interpretation of Jacob’s sheep herding methods or even Laban’s methods to sabotage Jacob’s methods, this is one of the first times we get Jacob really landing on the truth that there is a far greater force working in the background of his life than just his really good ideas.
I often find myself liking my own ideas. You know what I mean! You too think that your ideas are good ideas, that is why you let them escape from your mind. So I also find it really easy to blame my success on my good ideas more often than not. I wonder how much is happening in the background of our lives, that God is doing, that we do not get to see or even know? I want to make it a point to stop and think about that reality and thank God, in a moment of worship, for how He works things for my good when I do not even realize it.
When was the last time you found something in your life that you overlooked and turned out to be a blessing for you?
How have you stopped and thanked God for that work in your life?
How does this become your prayer today?
Question of the day: How many times do you need to be told there is more going on than meets the eye?
When I am reading this story, this is where it starts to get a bit confusing on the specific events. Jacob tells his wives about a dream that he had, but the dream is not talked about in this story. So either we are not given information when the dream happened, or Jacob is referencing the dream from a while back at Bethel with the whole ladder to Heaven thing. Or Jacob is just telling his wives that God said something to get them to move away from their father. Regardless of what you think about Jacob at this point, he is not totally cured of his trickery ways. He is still implementing all of those ways of being. You may say that is because he has to! Laban is making him act like that! And I think that is the tension you should be feeling in the storytelling.
No matter where you landed with your interpretation of Jacob’s sheep herding methods or even Laban’s methods to sabotage Jacob’s methods, this is one of the first times we get Jacob really landing on the truth that there is a far greater force working in the background of his life than just his really good ideas.
I often find myself liking my own ideas. You know what I mean! You too think that your ideas are good ideas, that is why you let them escape from your mind. So I also find it really easy to blame my success on my good ideas more often than not. I wonder how much is happening in the background of our lives, that God is doing, that we do not get to see or even know? I want to make it a point to stop and think about that reality and thank God, in a moment of worship, for how He works things for my good when I do not even realize it.
When was the last time you found something in your life that you overlooked and turned out to be a blessing for you?
How have you stopped and thanked God for that work in your life?
How does this become your prayer today?
Day 4
Read Genesis 31:22-35
Question of the day: Who can take from you what God has intended for you to have?
I hope after reading this part of the story, you are bothered by the injustice that sits unresolved. By that, I mean, I hope that you find a twisted strange comfort in the story ending that way. Laban’s part of this story is coming to a close and nothing in his family is resolved. He is losing contact with all of his kids, grandkids, and so much more. He has spent 20 years tricking Jacob and the end result is that they agreed to just forget about it and go on.
Where is the comfort in that? The strange comfort in that is the ability to relate to it. Maybe you don’t call it injustice when you think about it, but isn’t that what happens when a family dynamic just changes and never gets resolved? Kids move away, families grow, life keeps moving and the past is forgotten, except those odd moments that we are forced to process what happened to us or was taken from us so long ago.
It is a strange comfort, because this story shows us that injustice does happen. It happens all the time, in fact. In a country where we pride ourselves on people being brought to justice and having a great system to bring about justice, there are sometimes that justice is not what happens. And in those moments, we are just wronged and experience being sinned against. So then what? God promises justice. So that is and will be coming soon, but in the meantime, the comfort we can find is that what happened to us did not take from us what God felt that we needed to have. In fact, if God wants me to have it, there is no one that can take it from me. If I am following God, I will have all that I need to accomplish the task of following Him!
How have you experienced injustice in a relationship in your life that was left unresolved?
How have you tried to resolve that before?
How does Jacob’s story help you with the injustices that you have had to experience?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Question of the day: Who can take from you what God has intended for you to have?
I hope after reading this part of the story, you are bothered by the injustice that sits unresolved. By that, I mean, I hope that you find a twisted strange comfort in the story ending that way. Laban’s part of this story is coming to a close and nothing in his family is resolved. He is losing contact with all of his kids, grandkids, and so much more. He has spent 20 years tricking Jacob and the end result is that they agreed to just forget about it and go on.
Where is the comfort in that? The strange comfort in that is the ability to relate to it. Maybe you don’t call it injustice when you think about it, but isn’t that what happens when a family dynamic just changes and never gets resolved? Kids move away, families grow, life keeps moving and the past is forgotten, except those odd moments that we are forced to process what happened to us or was taken from us so long ago.
It is a strange comfort, because this story shows us that injustice does happen. It happens all the time, in fact. In a country where we pride ourselves on people being brought to justice and having a great system to bring about justice, there are sometimes that justice is not what happens. And in those moments, we are just wronged and experience being sinned against. So then what? God promises justice. So that is and will be coming soon, but in the meantime, the comfort we can find is that what happened to us did not take from us what God felt that we needed to have. In fact, if God wants me to have it, there is no one that can take it from me. If I am following God, I will have all that I need to accomplish the task of following Him!
How have you experienced injustice in a relationship in your life that was left unresolved?
How have you tried to resolve that before?
How does Jacob’s story help you with the injustices that you have had to experience?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read Genesis 31:36-55
It is like listening to a conversation that you have all of the inside information for, but the truth just doesn’t seem to be coming out. Rachel gets away with what she had stolen. Jacob gets away with what he had stolen. Laban gets away with what he had stolen. No one seems to have won between the tricking contest that everyone played along. The way it concludes is that they just agree to disagree and just stop being after each other the whole time.
I don’t know how I would expect it to end, that would be better, but it doesn’t seem good the way it is. Or maybe not fair.
Can you imagine living in that relationship with Laban for 2 years where you knew he was cheating you the whole time and had every intent on just to continue doing that? Can you imagine being Laban and having the knowledge that Jacob, somehow, some way, was really good for business and the more he was around, the more wealthy he got, but also knowing that Jacob was trying to make everything fall apart and was being selfish?
Then there is Rachel. The story was told of Jacob stealing the birthright and the blessing from his family, running away from them and then having a long list of children. Now, Rachel is running away, after a story of so many animals being born to them, and she steals the household gods, which were far more than statues, but rather were much like the livelihood of the family and were related to wealth…like the birthright and the blessing. This story just has so many twists and turns…and it's not done yet.
How does this become your prayer today?
It is like listening to a conversation that you have all of the inside information for, but the truth just doesn’t seem to be coming out. Rachel gets away with what she had stolen. Jacob gets away with what he had stolen. Laban gets away with what he had stolen. No one seems to have won between the tricking contest that everyone played along. The way it concludes is that they just agree to disagree and just stop being after each other the whole time.
I don’t know how I would expect it to end, that would be better, but it doesn’t seem good the way it is. Or maybe not fair.
Can you imagine living in that relationship with Laban for 2 years where you knew he was cheating you the whole time and had every intent on just to continue doing that? Can you imagine being Laban and having the knowledge that Jacob, somehow, some way, was really good for business and the more he was around, the more wealthy he got, but also knowing that Jacob was trying to make everything fall apart and was being selfish?
Then there is Rachel. The story was told of Jacob stealing the birthright and the blessing from his family, running away from them and then having a long list of children. Now, Rachel is running away, after a story of so many animals being born to them, and she steals the household gods, which were far more than statues, but rather were much like the livelihood of the family and were related to wealth…like the birthright and the blessing. This story just has so many twists and turns…and it's not done yet.
How does this become your prayer today?
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