I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     Isaac moved away from the Philistines as Abimelech had asked. Isaac’s servants dug several wells, but the Philistine’s claimed them. Rather than fight, Isaac moved on until the Philistines did not dispute him over a well. There Isaac stopped and worshiped God. That night God appeared to him and affirmed His blessing on Isaac and his descendants. Meanwhile Abimelech came to Isaac with several of his advisers. Abimelech wished to enter into a treaty with Isaac that neither side would harm the other.
     The passage mentions that Esau married two Hittite women who were a source of grief for Isaac and Rebekah. The passage foes on to tell us that when Isaac got old his eyesight failed him. At one point Isaac called Esau to him. Isaac asked Esau to go hunting and prepare him some tasty food to eat. Isaac told Esau that when he returned he would give him his blessing. Rebekah overheard this conversation and told Jacob to bring her two goats so that she could prepare a dish for Isaac and Jacob would get the blessing. Jacob responded that would never work because he was not as hairy as Esau. Rebekah tells him to do it anyway, so he gets the goats. Rebekah prepares the meal and takes the goatskins and places them on the back of Jacob’s hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Isaac was suspicious but Jacob convinced him that he was Esau and Isaac blessed him. Shortly after Jacob left Isaac, Esau returned and came into Isaac’s presence. When Esau asks for his blessing Isaac tells him that he has already given it to Jacob. Esau begs Isaac for any blessing he can give him. Isaac after much thought blesses Esau that he will not always be subordinate to Jacob. Esau was furious with Jacob and plotted that when Isaac had died he would kill Jacob. When Rebekah heard of Esau’s plans she convinces Jacob to go to her brother, Laban, until Esau calms down. She then goes to Isaac and convinces him to send Jacob to her brother so that he does not marry one (or more) of the local women as Esau had done.
     Whenever I read this story my heart goes out to Esau. His mother and his brother conspired to steal the blessing that his father intended to give him. Of course, Isaac gave a blessing to Jacob (the one he intended to give Esau) that left no room to give his other son much of a blessing, so if things had gone as Isaac planned it would have been Jacob left out in the cold. Talk about a dysfunctional family. Yet these were the ones through whom God planned to bring His blessing to the whole earth.

     Some people brought a paralyzed man to Jesus. When Jesus saw the faith of the man’s friends, he encouraged him and told him that his sins were forgiven. The teachers of the law who witnessed this immediately whispered to each other that what Jesus had just said was blasphemy. Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked them whether it was easier to tell the man that his sins were forgiven or to get up and walk? Then He told the man to get up and go home which the man promptly did. Jesus met both the spiritual needs (forgiveness) and the physical needs (healing) of this man. We are called to behave in the same manner.
     Shortly after this, Jesus was walking along when He saw Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth (as a tax collector). Jesus told Matthew to follow Him and Matthew immediately got up and followed Him. Jesus ate dinner at Matthew’s house along with many tax collectors and other sinners. When some of the Pharisees saw this they asked His disciples why He ate with tax collectors and sinners? When He heard this Jesus told them that it isn’t the healthy that need a doctor, rather it is the sick. Jesus then references a passage from Hosea where the prophet said that God desired us to be merciful more than he desired us to offer sacrifices. Finally He tells them that He came to call sinners, not the righteous (or those who thought they were righteous). I think this passage is an important one for Christians. How are we supposed to call sinners to Christ if we never spend any time with them? Jesus spent a large amount of His time on this earth at places many Christians will never go, at the wild parties and at the equivalent of the modern bar. Jesus spent a lot of time where people went to drink and hang out.

     God hears the cry of the afflicted and answers it. He defends the fatherless and the oppressed, He will repay those who treat them with injustice.

     The proverb writer tells us that if we honor God with our wealth, we will never want. If we put God first, we will manage what wealth God blesses us with in a way that does not squander it. By making sure we honor God with our wealth, we will ensure that we have our priorities straight.