Sun.’s Devo - Rebuking the Storm

Read: Genesis 24:52-26:16; Matthew 8:18-34; Psalm 10:1-15; Proverbs 3:7-8 The servant got his okay from Laban and Nahor for Rebekah to marry Isaac and gave them the expensive gifts Abraham had sent with him. Then he asked if they could leave the next morning. Reluctantly, they let Rebekah leave with him. They blessed her to become the mother of many millions and her descendants be strong and conquer the cities of their enemies. *** Rebekah and the servant went to the Negev. Isaac had revisited the place where Hagar went when she was running from Sarah (Genesis 16:13). That place was Beer-lahai-roi. God spoke to her and she called him the God who sees me. Isaac was meditating in the field when he saw the camels coming. I wonder if he was praying that God would see him and bring him a bride, or if he was thinking Beer-lahai-roi would be a great place to set up house. He listened to the story of how the servant chose Rebekah and welcomed Rebekah home. He loved her deeply and she was a great comfort to him after Sarah’s death. *** Abraham remarried a woman named Keturah and she had six sons. But, all that Abraham had went to Isaac. Before he died, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them eastward, away from Isaac. *** Abraham died after living 175 years. Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah were Sarah was buried. Isaac took Rebekah to Beer-lahai-roi and they settled there. *** Next, we are given the account of Ishmael and his descendants. He had twelve sons who founded twelve tribes. Ishmael lived 137 years and died. His descendants had occupied land east of Egypt where they lived in open hostility toward all their relatives. *** Next, Isaac’s descendants were given. He was forty when he married Rebekah. Rebekah was barren, so Isaac prayed that she would have children. God heard his prayer and she had twins. Esau came out hairy and red. Jacob came out grasping Esau’s heel. They had fought in her womb when she carried them and God told her that she was carrying two nations that would be rivals. The older son would serve the younger. *** Esau grew up to be a hunter who became his father’s favorite because of his venison. Jacob was a home-body and was Rebekah’s favorite. *** One day, Jacob was cooking stew when his brother Esau came in from hunting, famished. Jacob told him he would give him some of his stew if he bought it for his birthright. Esau flippantly agreed, showing contempt for his firstborn rights. *** A terrible famine hit the land so Isaac moved his family to Gerar where Abimelech, king of the Philistines lived. The Lord appeared to Isaac and told him not to go to Egypt but to live in Gerar and God would be with him and bless him and his descendants. His descendants would become as numerous as the stars in the sky. So Isaac stayed in Gerar. *** Isaac did the same thing his father had done when he went to Egypt. He told Rebekah to tell everyone she was his sister because she was so beautiful. She did, but Abimelech saw Isaac caressing her and called Isaac to come see him. He confronted Isaac about his lie and chastised him for it. Abimelech issued a proclamation that if anyone touched Isaac or Rebekah they would be put to death. *** Isaac planted a crop and yielded 100 percent return. He became very rich and acquired so many sheep and goats that the servants of the Philistines became jealous of him. They conspired against him and filled up all the wells Isaac had dug. Abimelech finally kicked Isaac out of his country because he had become too powerful. *** In Matthew, Jesus observed the crowd and told his disciples to cross the lake to the other side. *** One of the teachers wanted to follow Jesus where ever he went, but Jesus told him that he didn’t have a permanent home. Another wanted to follow Jesus but he wanted to return home to first bury his father. Jesus told him to let the spiritually dead bury their own dead. *** These sound like mean answers, but Jesus was answering them according to their hearts. Jesus was not of this world and he hadn’t come to make them comfortable. He had come to change their status quo. *** Jesus got into the boat with his disciples and went to sleep. There arose a great storm so the disciples went to wake Jesus up because they thought they would drown. Jesus asked them why they were so afraid. He rebuked the wind and the waves and they became calm. Jesus did this to show them they could rebuke the elements. The storm had come to keep them from their destiny which was to cast out the demons from the demoniacs. *** Two demon-possessed men were waiting for him on the other side and the demons in them were very upset that they had made it through the storm. Jesus rebuked them and sent them into a herd of pigs where they ran over the steep cliff and drowned in the water. (That was what the demons had planned for them - to drown in the sea during the storm.) The herdsmen of the pigs ran back and told the whole town what had happened. The entire town came to beg Jesus to leave them alone. *** These same people would welcome Jesus the next time he came. The two demoniacs who had been released from bondage would testify that Jesus was who he said he was and they would see for themselves the power of God. *** Lord, may we walk in the power and authority that you gave us so that we may change atmospheres and bring your kingdom to earth.