Marching Forth!

Before the death of Isaac, he called Jacob before him, blessed him, and directed him to go his uncle Laban in Padanaram to seek a wife.  Though Jacob had the birthright and his father's blessing, he was commanded to leave home and all that was familiar.  Unlike his outdoorsman older twin Esau, Jacob was a "plain" man who preferred living the comforts of home.  His dad gravitated to manly Esau, and his mother favoured Jacob.  He was a homebody, and apparently preferred spending his day tending stew over working outside.  In his advancing age Isaac sent Jacob away, and it must have been hard for him to leave.  I imagine many would have felt rejected and ostricised at that moment. Jacob went from sleeping in the comforts of his tent to sleeping under the stars with rocks for a pillow.  After laying down to sleep in the darkness, in a dream God revealed Himself to Jacob.  Jacob had been sent away by his father, but God's eyes were upon him though h...

Old news came across my Facebook feed the other day about how Pope Francis boldly declared support for evolution saying, “ When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so ,”  I believe the Bible provides evidence God is far greater than a magician using sleight of hand who seems able to do everything - without waving a "magic" wand.  That fact God can do everything is the precise conclusion Job came to when God revealed Himself in  Job 42:1-2:  " Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You ."  A god who cannot do everything is not God, and certainly not worthy of worship. The words of the Pope do not affect my beliefs in the slightest, but unfortunately much of the world sees him as speaking for the church with a degree of authority.  My entire life has been lived in a ...

Being an immigrant opens a new world to explore and enjoy.  There are countless adjustments to life after moving to a new country.  Australia is a culture permeated with sport, and it didn't take long after moving to Australia to notice the popular sports are quite different to those I was familiar.  Instead of growing up playing baseball, kids play cricket or compete in "Little Athletics" (track and field events).  I have never seen gridiron (American football) played in a park, but I have seen plenty of rugby.  Australian football (footy) bears no resemblance to any football I knew previously, and netball seems to be more popular than basketball. There is great personal enrichment available for all who will humbly lay aside what is familiar and be open to new things.  I remember hearing a message from Alan Redpath who hailed from Britain when he spoke of the "raw material" Abraham was made of, this flesh which " needed knocking in and knocking about ....

A great challenge in our Christian walk is working through painful trials.  A couple of useful books on the subject is The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis and Where is God When it Hurts ? by Philip Yancey.  We labour hard to reduce and eliminate it when we can, but pain isn't a bad thing when viewed through a biblical perspective.  Pain is a useful sensation (excruciating as it can be at times) to notify us of physical damage and prevents us from wounding ourselves further.  It is not fun to be robbed of sleep or rest due to pain, yet we can still find solace in Christ as our rest.  Our bodies heal much better and faster than wounded hearts and minds.  There is no prescription a doctor can supply to heal a broken heart, and what is impossible with men is possible with God.  The only time physical pain truly is a thing of the past is when a Christian enters into eternal glory. Last Saturday I sprained my ankle playing baseball, and I did a quality job...

The tendency to self-reliance is common to all people.  No matter how dependent we are on others or our environment, we retain the freedom of preference to suit ourselves.  It is a jarring realisation when we accept the fact we are powerlessness to change a situation.  We value the right to choose, and when that is "taken" from us we can resent it bitterly. This morning I read of Isaac and Rebekah who for about twenty years of marriage were without children.  They wanted to have children but Rebekah was barren.  There were no fertility clinics back in those days.  But the God who created man and woman was able to heal such an irreversible condition as infertility.   Genesis 25:21 says, " Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived ."  It occurred to me Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had wives who were for a time barren but the LORD remembered them and gave th...

I love the genealogies in scripture.  They may be a bit tedious to read out loud or to teach from expositionally, but they are great evidence the Bible is a book of historical fact.  We understand in this world everyone is a descendant of other human beings, and the line of Jesus Christ is taken right back to the beginning, to the first man named Adam ( Luke 3:38 ) God created from the dust of the ground and breathed into a human soul.  I do not find it difficult to believe there is a God who created all things and is able to do everything.  What I find impossible to reconcile is how people who say they believe in this God and the Bible is God's Word yet explain away Adam and creation account in Genesis as figurative. Jesus claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God sent of the Father to save people from their sins.  He did many miraculous signs which confirmed His identity as God, the One who created all things.  I do not feel the need to scientifically e...

Today the LORD had encouragement for me from the book of Genesis.  The portion I read was when Hagar and Ishmael were sent away by Abraham with bread and a skin of water.  They wandered around in the wilderness of Beersheba until the water was gone.  It says in  Genesis 21:15-16 , " And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, "Let me not see the death of the boy." So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept. "  I will admit this part is not very uplifting.  It is a sad picture of a dying child and a hopeless mother all alone in a wilderness.  Yet it is in the midst of this confronting and tragic scene God graciously revealed Himself. Hagar placed Ishmael in the shade, a boy of around 13 years old.  Not wanting to see him die of thirst, she separated herself to a distance where she could ...