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.

     After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife and had several sons by her. Before he died Abraham gave these other sons gifts from his wealth and sent them away from where Isaac lived. Abraham died when he was 175 years old and left his possessions to Isaac. Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham in the cave he had purchased to bury Sarah. The account then gives a list of Ishmael’s sons and tells us that they lived in hostility towards all of the tribes related to them.
     The passage tells us that Rebekah had trouble conceiving children and that Isaac pleaded with God on her behalf. In due time God answered Isaac’s prayer and Rebekah bore twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau emerged first and Jacob came out clutching at Esau’s heal. Jacob means “he grasps the heal”. It is interesting that the phrase “he grasps the heel” was Hebrew idiom for “he deceives”. As the boys grew up, Esau became an avid hunter and an outdoors-man. Jacob on the other hand was more of a homebody. Isaac loved Esau because Isaac enjoyed the taste of wild game. On the other hand, Rebekah favored Jacob.
     One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came back from the wilds hungry. Esau asked Jacob for some of the stew. Jacob told Esau that he could have some stew if he would give Jacob his birthright as firstborn. Esau tells Isaac that he is starving and his birthright is of no value to him now. Jacob insists that Esau swear an oath transferring his birthright to Jacob. Esau complies and Jacob feeds him. The passage tells us that Esau showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn. This story is a great example of someone sacrificing their long-term best interest in exchange for short-term pleasure.
     At some point there is another famine in the land. Instead of going to Egypt as Abraham had done when he experienced famine in Canaan, Isaac goes to Gerar and lived among the Philistines. While there he does the same thing that his father had done under similar circumstances, he tells people that his wife is his sister. Isaac was afraid that the people would kill him to take Rebekah as their wife since she was so beautiful. When Isaac had been there some time, the king Abimelech saw Isaac caressing Rebekah and realized that she was really his wife. It is unlikely that this was the same Abimelech who took Sarah as his wife when Abraham did the same thing before Isaac was born. However, it might be his son who heard stories of that event. Abimelech is horrified by Isaac’s deception and issues an edict that no one is to touch him or his wife on pain of death. Isaac continued to gather wealth so that the Philistines became jealous of him and filled in some of the wells that Abraham’s servants had dug. Abimelech finally tells Isaac to go somewhere else since he has become too powerful to live as a nomad among them.

     When the crowds following Him became too large and He needed a break, Jesus instructed His disciples to cross over to the other side of the lake. A teacher of the law approached Jesus and said that he would follow Him. Jesus replied by telling the teacher of the law that He had no place to lay His head. This is followed by an account of another disciple asked Jesus for permission to first go and bury his father. This is not a case of where the man’s father had just died and he wanted to have the funeral before he started following Jesus around. The man was saying, “I will come follow you after my father dies.” Jesus tells him that he should choose to follow now. These two stories tell us that we should be prepared for hardship when we choose to follow Jesus and the time to act is now.
     Following this, Jesus got in the boat and started across the lake with His disciples. Jesus went to sleep in the boat. While Jesus was sleeping a storm came up suddenly and started to swamp the boat. The disciples woke Jesus up crying that they were going to drown. Jesus asked them why they were afraid, suggesting that their fear was evidence of lack of faith. He then commanded the wind and waves to calm and they did. A storm when you are out on a lake in a boat is not something to be taken lightly, many people have died in such situations. Do we cry out to God in fear when the storms of life surround us? How often do we suffer from fear when we experience difficulties that are a much less imminent danger than this storm was to the disciples? This story is a reminder to us that if we have faith in God, we do not need to fear.

     It may seem like the wicked will continue to prosper, that those who are too proud to seek God will find great reward, but in His time God will hold them to account. The wicked are mistaken when they think that nothing bad will ever happen to them. God will not ignore the cries of the helpless who put their trust in Him. God defends the orphan.

     Oh Lord do not let me become convinced that I am wise and cunning, rather let me fear You and seek to follow your path in all of my actions.