This week, we will be exploring Genesis 30:25-31:55 together, Hard Times According to God.
This is another passage that could be under the "Strange Stories in the Bible" category.
We have weird breeding strategies, a bunch of oddball sheep and goats, stolen household gods, a daring escape on camels, a showdown at Gilead, and Jacob's first country song.
It's better than any movie out there!
But in the midst of this crazy story, God is still at work. He is slowly molding and shaping Jacob into the man that He wants him to be. Jacob doesn't make this process easy but God is faithful to complete the work that He started in him.
Praise God...because we are not the easiest clay to mold either!
God takes Jacob through hard times, through his own "wilderness experience," to teach him to trust Him alone.
And there is much that we can learn from Jacob's story.
May God strengthen us day by day, give us peace in the midst of hard times, and fix our hope on the redemption that we have in Jesus Christ!

This week, we will be exploring Genesis 29:31-30:24 together, Dysfunction According to God.
"Wow! These people are messed up!"
I remember hearing that from a new believer who was reading through Genesis for the first time.
There are no real heroes in this passage of Scripture. Everyone fails on some level. You have an apathetic man. An unloved woman. An angry husband. An unhappy wife. Arguing parents. Neglected children. Sibling rivalry. Family conflict. Misused sex. Misused prayer. And misused people.
It is a messy, dysfunctional family filled with messy, dysfunctional people.
So what are we supposed to learn from all this? Why is this passage in the Scriptures? Why are God's people acting this way?
Welcome to reality!
All of us are dysfunctional. None of us "function," live, or love to the degree that God calls us to. We all fall short. And thus, every family, church, and community will reflect that dysfunction in some way.
All of us can find ourselves somewhere in this story...if we are willing to see.
And all of us desperately need God's amazing, abundant grace!
Even in this mess, God is at work behind the scenes, answering half-hearted prayers, showing love to the unloved, humbling the proud, encouraging the weak, healing the broken-hearted, and accomplishing His will in spite of the attitudes and actions of His people.
He redeems the mess for His glory.
And He redeems our mess when we are willing to humble our hearts, acknowledge our failures, seek His righteousness, and praise His name.
May God open our eyes to see our sinful ways and His amazing grace!

This week, we will be exploring Genesis 28:1-22 together, Grace According to God.
Grace, grace, God's grace.
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!
Grace is such a beautiful word and such a beautiful attribute of our God.
We see His grace in Jacob's life.
Jacob is a heelcatcher, a finagler, a deceiver, a coward.
There is not much "good" in him when we meet him in Genesis 25-27.
But God has a purpose for him and God pursues him despite himself.
Genesis 28 is a beautiful chapter of God's grace.
Alone, wandering, discouraged, uncertain, exhausted, fearful. Jacob does not know what is next in his life. He is on the run. From his brother, from his family, from God.
But in the middle of the darkness, God reveals His glory and His grace to Jacob. Jacob has a dream that reminds him that he is always in the presence of God and he is never too far for God to reach down to him.
He also has a revelation of the future glory and grace to be revealed in Jesus Christ!
May God open our eyes to His glory and His grace as we worship Him together this Sunday!