Back to the footprints

Source: Back to the footprints

Back to the footprints

GENESIS  32 IN FOCUS

 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

THINK   ABOUT    IT

What guilt is ruling your mind?

What footprint did you leave yesterday?

Why do you cheat others?

Do you think we reap what we sow?

Why the fear?

If you cheat others because of their  ignorance, be warned! God who is not ignorant of what you are doing is  watching! If you like taking what doesn’t belong to you, be warned! All things belong to God and he is watching. If you like backbiting others, be warned! they might  be absent but,  God is present. Nothing is so hidden. Things done in latent shall surely come to the light later.

Regardless of how long it takes the tree to germinate, grow and  flower, its fruits shall surely be seen!

Jacob conspired with his mother to take his brothers blessings. He could have disapprove the plans of his mother.

⁵ But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game, ⁶ she said to her son Jacob, “Listen. I overheard your father say to Esau, ⁷ ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare me a delicious meal. Then I will bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ ⁸ Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. ⁹ Go out to the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use them to prepare your father’s favorite dish. ¹⁰ Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies.”

The same things we did yesterday are the same things we shall meet today. The same things we are meeting today, shall be the same things we shall meet tomorrow. It was time for Jacob to go back to the footprints he left. Jacob, though God had instructed him to return home,  was filled with fear and guilt.

⁷ In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,^[c] and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸ He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,^[d] the group^[e] that is left may escape.

If Jacob had treated his brother well, he would have been going back home with a clear conscience but, because of the footprints he left, he was going back in fear.

Though Joseph had a clear conscience meeting his brothers, his brothers were with guilt because of what they had done.

²¹ They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.”

Whatever we are doing today shall be what we shall do tomorrow probably in a different or the same  form.  Jesus Christ said:

‘ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. ‘

PONDER

If you can do it today, you can bear the consequence tomorrow!

Pursue

GENESIS       31      IN       FOCUS

²³ Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days…

THINK ABOUT IT

How do you feel when you miss something that is so precious to you?

Have you experience real failure before?

How eager are you to get what you want?

What is tenacity?

Why do people leave you?

Jacob served Laban well. For twenty years, Jacob was with Laban, dedicating 14 years of it to serve Laban for his daughters hand in marriage. Why would Jacob decide to move on from Laban’s house after years of staying there? Why did the angel of God tell Jacob to leave where he was?

”… for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.”

 

When things were so difficult for Jacob’s father Isaac, God instructed him not to move though the situation was a bitter one but for Jacob, he was asked to move. How well do we seek for God’s guidance before we do what we do?

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST REGRET?

Proverbs 14 says ‘  There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.’

There are so many people who have taken steps only to come to a regretful later realization that not to have taken such steps would have been better.

We must have reasonable reasons to take steps. We must get the clear signs from God to do what we must do.

²² On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days…

how do you feel when something that is so precious to you gets lost?

Laban never wanted to miss things that were precious to him. Jacob had taken his heart desires away. Laban needed to go on an arduous errand to rescue his possessions.

HOW WELL DO YOU CARE FOR WHAT HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED IN YOUR HANDS?

Joshua was eager to accomplish his task, he prayed for the sun not to go down until he had finished with his battle  and that was tenacity at work.

. 12Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” 13So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.’

What is missing in your life? What are you doing to pursue and restore?

So many of us allow our precious time, thought, energy, attention etc to be stolen by things that least matter yet we least show a sign to stop such things.

So many of us allow the business of our lives to be taken for granted and we least care about it. So many of us allow the most productive portions of our lives to be taken by idleness and things of no solemn value to our maker and we least take action to rescue the perishing parts of our lives.

What is not going well with your today? Think of pursuing to overtake and take!!!

Finally, may it not be part of us to disregard the good things people do for us and pay them evil for good. May it be part of us to appreciate the very atom of goodness people show to us. May it not be a part of us to be called ungrateful. May it be a part of us to appreciate peoples good efforts regardless off how tiny the efforts may be.

Jesus Christ healed ten people and only one came back with thanksgiving

PONDER:     when you entertain problems, you shall always have problems

HYMN

Pursue Him and know Him; be found in Him.
Count all things loss for Him.
Just gain Him, obtain Him; lay hold of Him.
It’s Christ the central vision.

Forgetting the things which are behind,
Press on, pursue with this mind.
By any means each hour now redeem;
Stretch forth, lay hold of Him.

Pursue Him and seize Him, Christ the supreme.
Just love this precious Person.
Forgetting and leaving all other things,
Love Him with your whole being.

Christ now is my center and reality,
My life for eternity.
All things are just dung compared to Him,
So love and just gain Him!

Envy

GENESIS 31     IN   FOCUS

^‘2 And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.‘

 

THINK ABOUT IT

How do you feel when you see others prospering?

Why do you envy the lives of others?

How do you feel when what really belongs to you go to somebody else you know?

Do you have patience?

How closer are you to God?

Is the spirit of God dwelling in you?

Do you have envy in you?

 

Envy can be dangerous. Envy can trigger massacre. Envy can disintegrate even the most loyal and royal bond. The world is suffering today because of the spirit of envy. People are enacting serious evil acts against their fellow workers at the work place because of envy. Siblings are not at peace with one another because of envy.

Envy produces pain that can trigger evil thoughts and actions. When we notice an increase in the life of others, how do we take it? People will do all things at all cost to stop others from progressing because of envy. When you see envy, take precaution. Jacob noticed what was coming his way ⁴ So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. ⁵ He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.”

Sometimes, when we experience increase in all that we do, we experience insecurity in all that we do. Rich men opt for highly sophisticated security apparatuses. They seek to employ well skilled watchmen over their lives and properties. Yes! That is for good but the Bible says: ‘ Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.’Psalm 127:1

The eyes of God were upon Jacob. Jacob had earnestly served Laban but Laban wanted to cheat him. It is so sad to see how some employers of our today’s world cheat their employees. They make their employees work to the very atom of their strengths and pay them just a one-tenth of what is due them. ‘For the Scripture says, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

God blessed Jacob regardless of the situation he found himself in. God spoke to Jacob not- withstanding what he was seeing. Laban meant it for evil but God meant it for good for Jacob. Paul wrote in Romans    8  : 28 ” And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purposed…”

Be cautious how you envy people who have the eyes of God upon their lives. Be careful how you deal with people who walk with the presence of God.

God shall always protect His own ‘For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ‘

PONDER : when you see envy, pause and ponder

HYMN

BY: Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

No, I shall envy them no more,
Who grow profanely great,
Though they increase their golden store,
And rise to wondrous height.

They taste of all the joys that grow
Upon this earthly clod!
Well, they may search the creature through,
For they have ne’er a God.

Shake off the thoughts of dying too,
And think your life your own;

But death comes hastening on to you,
To mow your glory down.

Yes, you must bow your stately head,
Away your spirit flies,
And no kind angel near your bed,
To bear it to the skies.

Go now, and boast of all your stores,
And tell how bright you shine;
Your heaps of glittering dust are yours,
And my Redeemer’s mine.

WISDOM AND HARDWORK

GENESIS       30    IN    FOCUS

  ⁴² but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob

THINK ABOUT IT:

How do you see life?

How do you wish to win the game of life?

What do you think wisdom is?

How do you ensure increase in what you do?

Jacob had been through a lot. He had served Laban but he refused to be rewarded. Jacob however had an increase in his stock.

Jacob knew when to fetch rain water when it was raining heavily but not when the rains were stopping.

Life demands wisdom. ‘The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.’   Proverbs 4:7

Wisdom is what will make us prosper. Wisdom can give us wealth whilst wealth cannot give us wisdom. We must seek for Godly wisdom in all that we do so as to be prosperous in our endeavor. There are so many people who end up their lives from greatness into bankruptcy because of the absence of wisdom.

A wisdom mentality thinks not only of today but tomorrow as well. We can do mighty things with wisdom without wealth. History never said the Wrights brothers were the richest men on earth when they invented aircraft. History never said Nelson Mandela was the richest man when he stood for the liberation of his people. We ought to pray for the wisdom of God for greatness.

Jacob applied wisdom and hard work and he increased his stock wealth. A life without wisdom always lacks and least increases.

PONDER:   When things go wrong, think of wisdom

Jacob’s Flocks Increase

²⁵ After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. ²⁶ Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”

²⁷ But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸ He added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

²⁹ Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. ³⁰ The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?”

³¹ “What shall I give you?” he asked.

“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: ³² Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. ³³ And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.”

³⁴ “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” ³⁵ That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. ³⁶ Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. ³⁸ Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, ³⁹ they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. ⁴⁰ Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. ⁴¹ Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, ⁴² but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. ⁴³ In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

competition

GENESIS   30    IN       FOCUS

¹⁴ During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵ But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”

THINK ABOUT IT

what are you competing for in life?

what chances do you meet everyday?

do you remember the chance you missed yesterday?

do you have any regret?

He who don’t know what competition is about will least know how to win competition.  Life can be seen as a competition. We are all competing for something in life. We are all competing for a seat in heaven.  Jesus Christ said: ‘Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.’‘  And he also said  ‘14“For many are called, but few are chosen.”   

We are all competing to get the best life. Competition exists everywhere in our daily life.  In  our businesses, in the family, in the society in which we dwell, we live without the absence of competition .

Leah had been competing with Rachel in so many endeavors of life especially child birth. Each wanted to do everything at all cost to get the heart desire.

Life will always put us in the arena of competition but we must remember the grace of God is only what will see us through for the crown of victory. We must remember to be vigilant and take captive of passing chances. One great tool to stand out in a competitive world is to take your chances. Ecclesiastics say:     ”11 I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.”

let us think of how good what we do to get what we want is.

PONDER:     ‘in the competition of life, remember, chances matter’

GENESIS    30

 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

² Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

³ Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”

⁴ So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, ⁵ and she became pregnant and bore him a son. ⁶ Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan.^[a]

⁷ Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.^[b]

⁹ When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰ Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ Then Leah said, “What good fortune!”^[c] So she named him Gad.^[d]

¹² Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³ Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.^[e]

¹⁴ During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵ But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”

“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶ So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

¹⁷ God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.^[f]

¹⁹ Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰ Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.^[g]

Pursue with tenacity 2

GENESIS   29   IN   FOCUS

After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, ¹⁵ Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

THINK ABOUT IT

What is your vision in life?

What mission do you want to accomplish?

What hurdles are you facing?

Why will you give up on your purpose?

How often do you meet the disappointments of life?

What are your heart desires?

Do you know who you are?

Life is full of uncertainties. Our very heart desires are not met or probably we may get them in a different form. The same joy we might be having today might become our sorrow tomorrow. The same car we purchase for faster and comfortable transportation becomes our woe. But we must live life. We must accomplish the race of life leaving distinctive footprints.

Jacob had a vision, to get a good wife from a specific group of people. He had pursued to get to his destination. Jacob had seen what he wanted but after a  seven good years of service to Laban so as to get his desired woman, he instead gets deception.

²⁰ So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, …”

²² So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. ²³ But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob,

The same deception he showed to his brother Esau met him. Nothing just vanishes. ‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.‘

Jacob, regardless of the deceptions he met, still knew what he really wanted, Rachel.

It is amazing to see the plans and great vision of so many people. It is sad to notice how some people give up on their goals so easily because of difficulty and the attitude of people. It is pathetic to ponder over how some people use life excuses as reasons for staying in perpetual averageness.

Life is a problem and you are the solution. If you also become a problem, then who are you? Disappointments, hurdles, mockery, pain, hunger, loneliness in purpose, rejections, are all necessary barriers to cross so as to accomplish the vision in our mission of life. Onward go! Onward match! Onward dare without retreating, onward pursue to get to the real goal regardless of the woes of life.

Life will always present you with a ‘suitable’ alternative to your real purpose. Know who you are and be who you are. Jesus Christ was offered earthly kingship but, He rejected it because He knew His real focus, a heavenly kingship.

‘So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.’

 let your real purpose inspire you to dare regardless of how arduous the errand may be

PONDER: Somebody has done it, why not you?

HYMN

Let me love and not be requited.
Let me serve and not be rewarded.
Let me labor and not be remembered.
Let me suffer and not be regarded.

Let me pour wine, while I drink not.
Let me break bread, while I keep not,
Pour my life out that others be blessèd,
Be in suff’ring that they be contented

None to pity me or care for me,
None to praise me or to console me.
I would rather be desolate, wretched,
Lonely, friendless, and wrongly treated.

With my blood and tears pay the price to gain the crown,
Suffer loss that I might a pilgrim’s life live out,
For, Lord, this is how You lived Your life
when You walked on this earthly sphere,
Gladly bore all loss that those who drew near
Could be freed from all suffering and fear.

	.

Pursue with tenacity

GENESIS   29   IN     FOCUS

THINK ABOUT IT:

Why is life full of challenges?

Who are the sons of God?

What must we pursue in life?

When is it good to relax in life?

 

A wife is an asset but a good wife is worth more than an asset. ‘A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.’   Proverbs 31: 10.  Jacob needed a wife.

Adam and Eve were created into a serene atmosphere where  they had access to all their needs. They were however not just to enjoy all those goodies but to work. ‘ ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Jacob had been blessed by his father Isaac. The eyes of God were upon him. He was even fortunate to have seen the presence of God in his dream. One would have expected then that life would have been so easy for him but Jacob was still in pursuance of something, a wife. Recall that Abraham sent for a wife for Isaac. Though Abraham was a chosen one, he still did take a step for what he wanted for his son Isaac, a good wife.

It wouldn’t be so easy to use a stone as a pillow but that remember Jacob did use it. It takes tenacity to pursue. Jacob needed a wife but though the eyes of God were upon his life, he had to pursue to get what he wanted. Jacob had been through thick and thins before reaching Paddan Aram

¹⁰ When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep’.

So many of us do fast and pray a lot for our heart desires but we least pursue to take what our heart desires. Life is full of challenges and it is only those who can challenge the challenges with tenacity who will obtain their desires.

Remember that God will give you the grace to do what you must do but you must do what you must do.

Stand up, arise! There is no time like now to do what you must do. Your heart desires shall always be your heart desires until you pursue with tenacity to bring vision into reality.

PONDER : if you will think about something from January to December, do something from January to December

Jacob Arrives in Paddan Aram

29 Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. ² There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. ³ When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

⁴ Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?”

“We’re from Harran,” they replied.

⁵ He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?”

“Yes, we know him,” they answered.

⁶ Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?”

“Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”

⁷ “Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

⁸ “We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

⁹ While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. ¹² He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

¹³ As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. ¹⁴ Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

A FAITHFUL GOD

GENESIS     28   IN   FOCUS

 

“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.

THINK   ABOUT IT

how do we get blessings?

How faithful is God to us?

What must we do to attract the blessings of God?

How do you regard your dreams?

How eager are we to honor the presence of God with us?

 

We live in a world full of afflictions. Life presents us with different hurdles each day. We try with the very atom of our strength to do what we must do but, least do we get returns that commensurate our efforts and equalize our satisfaction. We grow weary each day. Sometimes, it all seems like there is no helper to see us through the afflictions of life, but God is a faithful God. His mercies endure forever.

God was with Abraham. He blessed him (Abraham) and promised to be with his descendants and truly He was with Isaac and the son of Isaac, Jacob.

It may seem quite ironical to notice how people God’s eyes are upon go through the twist and turns of life. One could have expected that the chosen ones of God would never face difficulty in life. God is faithful to His children regardless of their mistakes as a result of their choices and what they go through.

As it was in the days of Abraham, so it is today. God reveals mysteries to us through dreams. Jacob had a dream and saw the presence of God. We must not take our dreams for granted. God provides us with answers to our daily needs through dreams but we do neglect them and yet seek for what we still have.

‘He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it^[c] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.

God is still a faithful God. He is still the God who provides. He is still the God who shows and reveals though dreams. Only be vigilant, have faith, trust and obey. Jacob never did take his dream for granted. He honored the presence of God with all seriousness ‘

⁸ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He called that place Bethel,^[e] though the city used to be called Luz.²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear ²¹ so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord^[f] will be my God ²² and^[g] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

PONDER:   Dreams are important, mind your dream.

HYMN

• What a friend we have in Jesus,
  All our sins and griefs to bear!
  What a privilege to carry
  Everything to God in prayer!
  Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
  Oh, what needless pain we bear,
  All because we do not carry
  Everything to God in prayer!

 

• Have we trials and temptations?
  Is there trouble anywhere?
  We should never be discouraged—
  Take it to the Lord in prayer.
  Can we find a friend so faithful,
  Who will all our sorrows share?
  Jesus knows our every weakness;
  Take it to the Lord in prayer.

 

 

The good suffer; the bad rejoice

GENESIS      27     IN     FOCUS

Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!”

THINK ABOUT IT

Why do we see good people suffering’?

Why do we see bad people rejoicing?

Is the world full of injustice?

What is the panacea to our woes?

 

We live in a world of irony. Two people sit in the same classroom; one dull minded and another brilliant but, in the end, the dull minded becomes successful and somewhat controls the brilliant. Two people may go for a job interview and the less qualified is picked above the most qualified person. Two people start business; one with all the great business plans, all necessary academic qualification and business tycoons support; another without any proper academic qualification or thoughtful plan yet the later succeeds greatly in business. What kind of world are we living in?

The world is full of traitors and conspirators. So many people will do all they can to prevent the good people from succeeding. People cheat in favor of and for wrong people to win elections of all sought because of conspicuous agenda.

 Esau, a skillful hunter,  while Jacob, content to stay at home among the tents.
yet, upon all the hard working of Esau, he had things always working against him. Though he knew how to cook, he exchanged his birth right for food. Then again, his blessing was taken from him. As hard working as Esau was, he could not get a deserving joy.

So many people who have chosen the path of righteousness are suffering today not just because they want to suffer, but out of life circumstances. We seldom do  take the chances God presents to us. We live in a kind of world that give less regards to the good and focus much on evil. The keen interest of the media is greatly on bad news. The media is quick to report bad news than good news.The world will therefore not be favorable to they that want to live a good life

Jesus said : “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

The book of Ecclesiastics puts it right . The writer said  ‘I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
We ought to be vigilant to understand the ways of God for us.

The great panacea to our woes is to trust and have faith in God and obey his commands.

PONDER:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight

 REMEMBER

Jesus Christ is coming soon!!!