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by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Note: I am writing this from a hospital room where my 94 year old mother-in-law is battling pneumonia. Prayers would be greatly appreciated.
Exodus 16-22
God seems tough, doesn’t He? He has to be.
Just think about this most unlikely scenario. This enormous crowd of people (some scholars say about 6 million), who have been slaves under the fist of Pharoah all of their lives – and the lives of their fathers – and the lives of their fathers’ fathers – back for 400 years, are leaving to form their own nation.
This unlikely group of people, often hard-headed and self-centered, are actually God’s chosen people. They are chosen because of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised to take them to their own land. And what he wants from them is to establish a relationship with Him, come to understand His ways, be faithful to Him, and some day be the nation which brings forth His salvation to the rest of the world.
They don’t look like they are on track for such a great mission, but God’s hand is upon them anyway. (more…)
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Exodus 14, 15
The Israelites cross the Red Sea in a triumphant way. Just as they approach the sea, Pharoah decides to chase them and take them back to Egypt.
As we will see many times, when things are not looking great, Moses gets the blame. “Why did you bring us out to die?”
Moses remains steadfast in faith, but he gets it wrong in one aspect. He is wanting everyone to stand still and let God “do something.” But God has another plan. He says, “Why are you crying out to Me? Stretch out your rod and go forward.”
Now we have to realize that “forward,” meant walking into a giant sea – they would drown under normal circumstances. But God wanted a demonstration of faith, and He also wanted to show a principle. (more…)
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by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Genesis 46-48
So when Jacob was one hundred thirty years old he went with his wives, children, and all of his possessions to the land of Egypt to begin the second phase of God’s great plan. The first phase, which lasted 200 years or so was the calling of Abraham and grooming him to be the patriarch of this great nation, the calling of Isaac, and the calling of Jacob.
God had spoken to Abraham that his descendants would go into a foreign land and stay there 400 years before they would be delivered by His mighty hand. In the last few chapters we can see clearly how God was working His plan. Now that Joseph was there in charge of distributing the grain, he is in position to appropriate the best land for his family.
Even the customs of Egypt play into God’s hand. The Egyptians are prejudiced against Hebrews – and particularly sheepherders. Since Jacob’s family herd sheep, Pharoah gives them a choice land, Goshen, which is away from most other people. The Hebrews are in position to grow and thrive and bond as a nation.
Jacob’s twelve sons will become the heads of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel.
Everything is working according to design.
One more reminder, if you think His plans are taking awhile in your life, just think about these people. Sometimes God seems to take more time than we would like, buttrust Him. He is working out the details.
Matthew 14:1-21
How does Jesus handle grief? We see it in this passage.
John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus and the one who recognized who Jesus was. John was a completely holy man. Yet, just as is the case in our modern society, sometimes people call good “evil” and evil “good.” Because they want to live in debauchery, they blame those who are upholding God’s principles. So Herodias, Herod’s wife, acts toward John.
When Herod has John beheaded, Jesus is notified. So what does He do? He runs to His Father. The Word says that He goes off by Himself to a deserted place so that He can pray and seek God.
There have been times in my life when grief seemed to be overwhelming me. So I know personally how significant these actions are. When we run to our Father and let Him minister to us, He lifts us up in a way that seems impossible. Everything gets put into perspective.
We are in this thing called “life” forever. Part of it here on earth, but most of it in Heaven. When we focus on eternity, we are ready to live with zeal in the here-and-now. It will all turn out alright in the end for those who are His.
Then after going away, Jesus sees the crowd and His compassion leads Him to heal and minister to them. One of His many miracles is performed at this time. He feeds a crowd of five thousand men, plus women, and children by breaking up five loaves and two fish.
His pay back to the devil for John’s death is to heal the sick and perform miracles so that the crowds can see the One true God. There is no mistaking the fact that Jesus is representing God as He ministers to the sick and feeds the multitudes.
One more note. Do you sometimes feel that you want to share your love of God and His Word with others, but feel inadequate to do so? Don’t let those feelings stop you. When you begin to break the bread that you have, it will begin to multiply, just as this natural bread did with Jesus. God doesn’t give us a huge pile of understanding until we are ready to give it out.
When we give what we have, more will be given to us. When we share what we know, even if we think it is a little, we will receive more. That’s God’s way. Give and it shall be given unto you!
Blessings,
Suellen Estes
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Genesis 39-40
I have probably heard more sermons about Joseph than any other Old Testament figure. His story can only bring hope to any who are believing God for great things, and having to wait awhile before they come to pass. There are many lessons we could learn from Joseph.
The dreams he had from God showed his brothers – and even his parents – bowing before him. Yet almost immediately, it seems, his life takes a turn south. First his brothers sell him into slavery. And then, if that isn’t bad enough, Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses him, and he lands in prison.
Would you have given up? Would you have said by that time, “I guess those dreams weren’t from God?” Would you have been mad at God for allowing those incidents to take place? Many people would have done all those things after going through Joseph’s experiences.
Not Joseph! He obviously remains faithful to God and trusting in His mercy. There is no account of Joseph feeling sorry for himself. Instead, everywhere he is placed, God’s favor is upon him. That favor blesses every place he goes, and causes him to be promoted to the top job.
God had a big plan, and Joseph was to be part of it. The devil stirred up the brothers and he stirred up Potiphar’s wife, not knowing that everything he did to hurt Joseph ended up being for his good.
Psalm 105:19 says about Joseph, “Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.”
Anytime there is a word from God, the enemy tries to steal it. So Joseph gets tested by the word. Yet the devil is constantly playing into God’s hands.
In fact, God wanted Abraham’s family to become cohesive as a nation, so His plan is to take them to a place where they can grow in unity. The devil does that for Him. Then we know that Joseph is to become a ruler in Egypt, but he needs administrative training first. So the devil provides that also. He learns to administrate in Potiphar’s house and in the prison. He also needs to understand the customs of egypt. What better place to learn those than in a house of a high official? Done!
This should be a lesson for our lives. We may have heard from God about some tremendous things He wants to accomplish, yet all we see is doom and gloom. Look around and you might see some attributes you are developing in the meantime. (If nothing else, you might be gaining some humility)! If we stay faithful to Him, we will see His promises fulfilled.
It’s obvious that Joseph remains full of faith. At the very end of these adversities, as he is interpreting dreams, he gives God all of the credit.
He’s ready now for the really big promotion. Are you?
Matthew 12:22-50
Jesus is having to get tough with these Pharisees. Their hearts are very hard – like rock. So He’s having to do what Jeremiah talks about. He’s having to use a Word which will break a rock in pieces.
These leaders want the status quo to continue. They’re enjoying their roles as “big shots,” and they don’t want to be pushed out of their place by this “new doctrine.”
Jesus doesn’t give them what they want; He gives them what they need. If there is any hope for these guys, it’s going to be contained in a hard-heart-breaking word. It’s His love which provides them with that Word. Tough love. Hopefully some of them are listening.
In verses 33-37, Jesus gets back to words again. He takes it deeper than we have heard so far. He says that “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure, brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil.” So we see that the way to change the words is to change the heart. We have to keep our hearts pure to do this thing right.
Then he goes on to say that “By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.” And that even “idle words” count!
When we first learn about the significance of words, it’s easy to think that we can make “official statements” that count and then blast off in “off the record” statements which don’t count. But Jesus says that it all counts. Even idle words. We have to guard our tongues.
Yikes! You mean that all of that grumbling I’ve been doing when by myself and to my family counts? Yes, it counts!
If we want to live our lives for God with the greatest potential possible, we are going to have to guard our tongues. It’s a necessary part of God’s plan.
Words are powerful, and we need to use them wisely.
Blessings,
Suellen Estes
![Read The Bible Through, Days 27-29]()
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I hope you are enjoying your reading as much as I am. Every time we read the Bible we find something new, don’t we?
Genesis 36-38
The whole 36th chapter names the descendants of Esau. He took a turn from Jacob. Esau married wives from the inhabitants of the land and mixed with many foreign gods. (Lower case “g” intended). These aren’t “children of the promise,” but later as we see kings rise up against Israel, we will be able to trace some back to here.
I think it’s significant that three times in this chapter it says, “Esau was Edom.” (vs. 1,8,and 19). Later when we encounter the Edomites, we’ll remember where they came from.
I’m sure that all of us have Joseph on our favorites list. He is the epitome of someone who has a dream or prophecy from God, and has to wait a long time for its fulfillment.
There are lots of teachings which incorporate Joseph’s life. I think that one of the major ones is that God gave Joseph the dreams at the beginning – before he was to go through horrific trials.
I’m sure that there will be many times when those dreams keep Joseph hopeful – and on track, as his life takes such a down turn. When we leave him, he has been sold into slavery to Potiphar, the captain of Pharoah’s guard. That’s hardly what he saw in his dream, is it?
Matthew 12:1-21
Jesus has an interesting way of dealing with people. He is tough on the leaders, but very gentle on the others. We begin to see this in chapter 12.
The religious leadersof the day are arrogant and full of pride. They see their leadership roles as ones of prestige, and they expect people to hold them in high esteem because of their position.
At the same time, they are not deserving of that esteem, because they are hard task masters for the people. They hold rigidly to what they believe to be the “Law of Moses” and use that Law to intimidate and abuse their constituents.
Jesus, on the other hand, introduces them to the long-forgotten concept, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”
When the law is held higher than God’s people, skewed thinking always follows. When the disciples eat some grain from the field on Sunday, the Sabbath law, and not their need, is what the Pharisees think about. When Jesus heals on the Sabbath, the same happens.
Can you imagine that these leaders, instead of rejoicing over a precious man’s withered hand being healed are concerned about it being done on the Sabbath? I’m sure that in our time, such attitudes prevail from time to time.
To understand the dilemma Jesus faces here, we need to understand what the Law is all about. The Law was created for man, and not vice versa. What do I mean? When men have no standards at all, anything goes. “If it feels good, do it.”
Under that attitude, people are always hurt. When selfishness prevails, there is murder, rape, incest, abuse, stealing, you name it. It’s all there.
The Law of God was introduced to lead people to know that they needed to honor only the One true God, and that they needed to treat others well. Love God and love others.
When the spirit of the law is there, there’s clarity. When the letter of the law is there, there’s hardness and harm.
When people truly worship God, they know that He wants others healed and whole. These people rejoice with a man whose hand is healed – whenever it is.
That’s why Jesus continually says, “I desire mercy (or compassion) and not sacrifice.”(Hosea 6:6)
