Fri.’s Devo - Guilt

Read: Genesis 42:18-43:34; Matthew 13:47-14:12; Psalm 18:16:36; Proverbs 4:7-10 On the third day of their day in prison, Joseph came to see his brothers and told them their fate. They were to choose one of them to stay and the others could return to Canaan. To prove that they were honest men, they must return with their other brother and then they would all be free. Reuben spoke and defended himself. He told them he had told them not to harm Joseph and now all this was a punishment for what they had done to Joseph. Little did they understand that Joseph was standing among them listening to everything they were saying. Joseph chose who would stay and he chose the next oldest to stay. Since Reuben was innocent he chose Simeon, the second son. The nine of them headed for home and on the way one of them discovered that their money was still in their sack. Instead of seeing this as a blessing, they were afraid. Their guilt kept them from seeing the blessing. Everything Joseph did was a test to see if their hearts had been changed. The fact that they felt guilty for what they did for Joseph and now were afraid that they had not paid for their grain showed that they had changed. When they returned and told Jacob all that had happened, he was very upset. He would never part with Benjamin. But, as the famine continued they ran out of the grain and begged their father to let them return to buy more. Judah told his father that he would put up his two sons as collateral for Benjamin’s safety if he would just let Benjamin go with them. Jacob finally let Benjamin go. When they arrived in Egypt, they were immediately taken to Joseph’s house and were told to wait. They told the manager that their money had been returned in their sacks and they had brought it back with more money. The manager was not concerned about their money and even said that God must have put the treasure into their packs. They were full of fear that they were going to be made slaves and never return home. Instead, Simeon was released to them and they were given a feast. Joseph seated them in their birth order and gave them food from his own table. Benjamin was given five times as much as the rest of them. In Matthew, Jesus gives one last parable about the Kingdom of Heaven and the end of time. In the end, a big net will gather everyone to heaven where the angels will separate the good fist from the bad (the righteous people from the evil ones). Jesus finished his teaching and returned to his home town. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and taught and performed miracles. The people who had known Jesus as he grew and knew his family had a hard time believing that Jesus was special let alone the Messiah. So Jesus declared that a prophet was not honored in his home town and left. Meanwhile, back in the kingdom of government. Herod Antipas was the ruler of Galilee and he heard about Jesus and was afraid he might be John the Baptist raised from the dead. He had had John killed when he was tricked by his new wife he had stolen from his brother. John had spoken out about how wrong it was for him to have his brother’s wife which made the wife, Herodias really upset. One night at a party, her daughter had danced before Herod and he offered her a request. She had been told by her mother to ask for the head of John the Baptist so that was how John died. Now that Herod had heard about what Jesus was doing, his guilt was catching up with him. Both of our stories have to do with the guilt caused by sin which lead to the consequences of the sin. Lord, thank you that you took our guilt as well as our sin on the cross and bore all our shame for us that we might walk in freedom and victory.

Thurs.’s Devo - Pharoah’s Dreams

Read: Genesis 41:17-42:17; Matthew 13:24-46; Psalm 18:1-15; Proverbs 4:1-6 Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams of seven thin cows eating seven fat cows and seven plump grains being replaced by seven withered grains. Joseph explained that the seven had to do with timing. For seven years, the land would prosper but after that seven years of famine would eat up all the prosperity of the seven years. Since God was telling the Pharaoh in advance he would be able to plan and Joseph told him exactly what he must do. Once again Joseph’s gift of administration shone through. Pharaoh recognized that Joseph was gifted and put him in charge of doing exactly what he said needed to be done. He would be in charge of storing up during the good years to be ready for the bad ones. Joseph had been put in charge of Potipher’s house, then the royal prison and now the whole land of Egypt. Everything in Joseph’s life up to now was to prepare him for this job. Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife who gave him two sons, Manasseh which means “causing to forget” and another one he named Ephraim which means “fruitful”. God had caused him to forget the cruelty of his brothers and his life up till then and caused him to be fruitful. This is what God does when we come to him for salvation. He causes us to forget our past and the pains of walking through life with out God and he causes us to bear fruit and prosper in Him. Joseph was given an Egyptian wife. Think of all the great men of the Bible that married Gentile women. Moses married Zipporah, Abraham married Sarah, Isaac married Rebekah, Jacob married Leah and Rachel. Even though some of these women were from Abraham’s family, we have to remember that Abraham’s father was a priest of another god. Abraham was called out of his family to be a chosen people separate from his father’s gods. Samson married Philistine women, David married many foreign wives as did Solomon, Boaz married Ruth who was a Moabite. Jesus will marry a Gentile bride. They are all pictures of his love for all people. Jacob heard that Egypt had grain as the famine had reached Canaan. He sent his ten sons to go to Egypt and bring back grain. He could not part with Benjamin as he was the last of Rachel’s sons and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing him, too. The sons arrived in Egypt and had to buy grain from Joseph. Joseph had a shaved head and looked like an Egyptian. They didn’t recognize him but he recognized them. He put them to a test to test their hearts. They told him they had another brother who had stayed home so Joseph put them all in prison and told them they must choose one to go home and bring back the other brother to prove that they were telling the truth. They stayed in prison for three days. They got a little taste of the treatment they had given Joseph. Jesus began teaching his parables and then he explained them to his disciples. The farmer in all the parables is Jesus. He is the one who plants the good seed. The field is the world and the harvesters are angels who will harvest the world in the end. Satan is the one who plants bad seeds in the world. These bad seeds are his people that he disguises as good people. It is the angels’ job to get rid of them at the end of time. The last two parables he gave talk about a treasure found in the field. Psalm 135:4 says that The Lord took Jacob and Israel for his peculiar treasure. We are the Lord’s treasure. Our treasure is all the things the Lord gives us to store up in our heart. Isaiah 33:6 says that wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure. The world’s treasure is their possessions and the things they esteem highly. We are to esteem righteousness, wisdom, understanding, knowledge of God and God’s love as our treasures. A rabbi would explain the treasure to be the Jewish nation and the pearl to be the Gentile nation. God chose to buy the whole world with the blood of his son to purchase the good seed in it - those whose hearts would be turned toward the Lord. Lord, help us to guard the treasures of wisdom and understanding that you have given us. May we be the pearl of great price that brings you glory and honor on the earth.

Wed.’s Devo - Joseph’s Trials

Read: Genesis 39:1-41:16; Matthew 12:46-13:23; Psalm 17:1-15; Proverbs 3:33-35 Joseph was taken to Potiphar’s house. Potiphar means “my affliction was broken”. His affliction was broken when Joseph came and everything in his house was blessed and turned around. Joseph had an enemy which was Satan. He was there to discourage and fight everything God was doing. But God was using every failure to mold Joseph into the leader he needed him to become. God had a funny way of promoting Joseph. He would test him and Joseph would end up in prison. Joseph would use his gift of administration and be promoted again. Everywhere Joseph ended up God was with him to bless him. It was all preparation for the greatest job of all. Joseph’s life was a picture of Jesus’ life in so many ways. Jesus, like Joseph learned to obey God by the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:8). Joseph was rejected by his own brothers because of their jealousy of his favor from their father just as Jesus was rejected by the Jews for his talk of his relationship with his Father. Joseph was wrongly accused by Potipher’s wife just as Jesus was wrongly accused of doing his miracles by the power of Satan. Both were being prepared to reign over nations. Both grew in the favor of God. Apparently the king found out that someone was trying to poison him and there were two people who could do this. One would be the one who gave him what he drank - the cup bearer and the other was the one who baked his food - the baker. They were both put in prison till the plot could be investigated to find the guilty one. God gave them both a dream on the same night and when Joseph heard the dreams, God gave him the interpretation. The baker was guilty and ended up hanging on the third day. The cup-bearer was innocent and was exalted to his rightful position on the third day. This is a picture of judgment day when all of the sins of the world will be revealed and brought to light. Those covered by the blood of Jesus will be declared innocent and we will reign with Christ in his Kingdom. Those who are guilty of sin will go to their destiny in hell. The cup-bearer completely forgot about Joseph until two years later when the Pharaoh had a dream that no one could interpret. Joseph was brought out of prison and brought before the king. Joseph made sure that the Pharaoh knew that only God in heaven could interpret his dream. In Matthew, Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were outside and wanted to speak with him. Jesus made sure that they understood that everyone was on the same level with God. They could all have the status of his mother and brothers. Jesus taught the people in parables which were stories that had hidden meaning. To understand the meaning you had to meditate on them and want to understand. Jesus did this to cull out those who were just there for the miracles and not for their love for God. The parable about the seed and the soil was the parable of all parables. If you understand it, you will understand the others. The seed is the Words that Jesus spoke and that are written in the Bible. If they land on hearts that are fertile they will grow and produce fruit, but if they fall on shallow hearts, they will not stand when persecution comes. If they fall on hearts that are full of sin, they will be choked out by the sin. Jesus chose the disciples he chose because all but one of them had the right kind of hearts. Thank you, Lord for choosing us and putting your Word and your Spirit in us. May we grow to produce much fruit for your kingdom.

Tues.’s Devo - Joseph’s Humble Beginnings

Read: Genesis 37:1-38:30; Matthew 12:22-45; Psalm 16:1-11; Proverbs 3:27-32 Jacob settled in the land of Canaan. Joseph was now 17 and Jacob loved him the most since he was Rachel’s son and probably reminded him of her. All of Jacob’s sons knew that Jospeh was the favorite and to make matters worse, Jacob had a special coat made for Joseph. Joseph was a dreamer and had a dream where his brother’s bowed down to him. This made them even hate him even more. He had another dream where his mother and father bowed down to him also. Jacob took note of this dream. One day, Jacob sent Joseph to find his other sons who had been gone for a while with the flocks. When Joseph finally found them in Dothan, they plotted to kill him. Rueben came to his rescue and convinced them to throw him in a well instead. He had planned to rescue him later. (I wonder if he wanted to use this to get back into his father’s good graces after sleeping with his concubine.) Whatever the reason, it backfired on Rueben but ended up saving Joseph. A caravan of of Ismaelite traders passed their way and they decided to sell Joseph to them. They bought him and took him to Egypt. Joseph’s brothers covered up their crime with the blood of a goat to make their father think that Joseph had been eaten by wild animals. They smeared it on the coat they so envied and took it to Jacob. He mourned Joseph’s death and refused to be comforted. The brothers had to live with the guilt and lies. Meanwhile, the Ishmaelite traders sold Joseph to Potiphar who was an officer to the Pharaoh in Egypt. Judah left his father’s household and moved to Adullam which means “a testimony to them”. The people of the land would see how God works with his people. Judah married a woman whose father was named Shua, meaning “depression: a pit”. He would have two evil sons with her named Er and Onan. Er married a woman named Tamar. God killed Er because he was so wicked. Onan was suppose to marry Tamar and have a son for Er but he refused so God killed him, too. Judah had a third son named Shelia but he was afraid that if he gave him to Tamar then he would also die. He was not understanding that it was not Tamar’s fault they were dying, but the wickedness of his sons. When Tamar saw that Judah had no intention of giving her Shelia, she devised her own plot to have a son. She veiled herself and played the harlot with Judah. He took the bait and gave her his seal and staff to have sex with her thinking she was just a prostitute. Tamar got pregnant and when Judah found out he wanted to stone her till she gave him the evidence of who the father was. There was no way Judah would kill his own offspring. He realized that Tamar had been more righteous than him. Tamar had twins and when it came time for her to deliver, one of the babies reached out his hand. The midwife put a scarlet thread around his hand but the other son came out of the womb first. This was all prophetic of these two sons. The would be called Perez who came out first and Zerah who was born with the scarlet thread. Once again we see the picture of the firstborn being earthly and the second born being bought with the blood. Jesus knew the heartbreak of seeing his own house divided. He came to the Jews, God’s chosen people, his family on the earth, and they rejected him and wanted nothing to do with who he was and his mission. They said he was of Satan. Jesus explained that a tree is recognized by its fruits and so are we. Our fruit determine our roots. The Pharisees were suppose to be the keepers of God’s laws but they undermined, perverted and misrepresented God to the people. They always wanted to see signs so Jesus would give them the sign of Jonah. They would see that Jesus would die and be in the belly of the earth for three days then rise from death to live in heaven. Jesus described their generation as evil. It would just get more and more evil because they had rejected Christ. He had cleaned out the evil spirits but they would return and their state would be worse than when he came. Lord, may we walk in your light and become more and more like you every day.

Mon.’s Devo - Jacob’s Travels

Read: Genesis 35:1-36:43; Matthew 12:1-21; Psalm 15:1-5; Provers 3:21-26 Jacob told all his family and servants to get rid of their idols because they were going to Bethel where God had spoken to him and there they would build an altar to the Lord. (I wonder if Rachel got rid of the idols she stole from her father’s house.) Jacob took these idols and buried them under a great tree near Shechem. This tree appears time and time again throughout the Bible story. The oak tree was deemed a consecrated tree, to bury these idols at its root was to deposit them in a place where no hand would venture to disturb the ground. They continued on to Bethel where Jacob built an altar. God appeared to him and reemphasized to him that his name was not Jacob the Supplanter anymore but Israel, the one who, along with his descendants, would rule as God on the earth. He gave him the land he had given to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob set up a pillar to mark the place God had spoken to him then poured wine over it and anointed it with olive oil. He named it Bethel meaning “house of God”. He traveled to Ephrath (“fruitful”) where Rachel went into labor and died delivering Benjamin. Benjamin means “son of my right hand”. Ephrath became named Bethlehem where God’s right hand son was born. On to Migdal-elder (“tower of the flock)” where Rueben had sex with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. Bilhah had been the mother of Dan and Naphtali. This was a terrible sin and showed that Rueben, Jacob’s first-born had no respect for his father. The first-born is a picture of our being born of the flesh. We will die in our sins unless we are born again (second-born). Jacob returned to live in the land with Isaac, his father. This land was Hebron which became a city of refuge. Esau’s line is given and it is the bad seed with could not produce any good fruit. His descendants became the inhabitants of Canaan that God would tell Joshua to completely kill and get rid of. The ones who remained alive only brought curse and sin upon the earth. Jesus came and offered to all freedom from the bondage of sin. In Matthew, Jesus gave a great demonstration to show what would happen when God’s people get hungry enough. They will break the law to get fed. What good is the law if you are dying? Jesus showed them how nonsensical their laws had become. They would deny a person healing because its process would break their man-made laws. We have laws right now in our land that go against common sense and we comply because we have put our trust in sinful lawmakers and politicians who only have their pockets in mind. We have to break man’s laws to follow God’s when man’s laws defy God’s. Jesus didn’t stop healing because it upset the government of the day. He knew God’s government and it was the government he was following. Lord, thank you that You are our security and You will keep our feet from being caught in a trap. Give us discernment for today.

Sun.’s Devo - Defeating Shechem

Read: Genesis 32:13-34:31; Matthew 11:7-30; Psalm 14:1-7; Proverbs 3:19-20 Jacob didn’t know what to expect when he met Esau since the last time they were together Esau wanted to kill him. Jacob strategically positioned herds ahead of him to be gifts to Esau to soften his anger. After all the gifts had gone, Jacob took his wives and children across the Jabbok River along with all his possessions. He was left alone in the camp when an angel came and wrestled with him until dawn. The angel begged to let go of him but Jacob refused until he blessed him. He man asked Jacob what his name was and when he told him it was Jacob, he changed it to Israel which means “he who will rule as God”. Jacob had fought with God and with men and won. Jacob wanted to know the angels’ name but he never told him. Jacob was injured in the battle and limped from that time on. Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his 400 men and went to meet him. Esau met him with open arms and they wept on each other’s shoulder. Esau was introduced to his wives and children and saw all the wealth that Jacob had. Esau wanted Jacob to travel with him but Jacob explained they needed to travel too slowly because of the children. Instead, Jacob traveled to Shechem and set up a camp outside of the town. He set up an altar to the Lord and named it El-Elohe-Israel. Jacob’s daughter Hagar was violated by one of the local princess from Shechem. Once he violated her he wanted to marry her. Jacob found out what had happened and so did his sons. The leader of Shechem wanted to make a covenant with Jacob so that they would share in one another’s wealth. Jacob’s sons devised a plan to deceive the men of Shechem to avenge the violation of their sister. They told them they would make a covenant if the men would circumcise themselves. The monetary gain was worth the pain so they agreed to do that. When they were sore from their surgery, Jacob’s sons attacked the town of Shechem and killed everyone and took their possessions. Jacob found out what they had done and was upset because they had made his name a stink among the people. As John’s disciples went to tell John how Jesus had responded to his question about if he was the Messiah, Jesus addressed the crowd about John. He asked them why they had gone to see John. He explained who John was a big part of God’s plan. He was the one who was sent to prepare the way for him. He was the Elijah spoken of by the prophets and much of what they had said led to this very time. Jesus rebuked their generation because no matter what God did, they were not satisfied. Jesus had done miracles and they complained that he hung out with sinners. Jesus embodied God and yet no one wanted to know him because they didn’t truly want to know God. Lord, help us to truly seek your face and want to know your will and your ways.

Sat.’s Devo - The Battles of Life

Read: Genesis 31:17-32:12; Matthew 10:24-11:6; Psalm 13:1-6; Provers 3:16-18 Jacob left secretly from Laban’s land and was gone three days before Laban was told they had escaped. Laban found out they had not only left but stolen his household gods. He was enraged and went after them with an army of men. When he met up with Jacob, he hotly questioned him about why he left without telling him and then he got to the main reason he was mad…they had stolen his gods. Laban was not a man who took lightly being tricked or stolen from. He was the one who was used to ending up on top and now Jacob had won. Jacob pronounced a curse of death on the one who stole the gods not knowing it was Rachel and the curse would take her life. These household gods were idols. How sad that Rachel would succumb to idolatry instead of trusting God. Laban and Jacob told each other just how they felt about everything that had happened. Laban had been warned by God not to harm Jacob so he piled up stone for a covenant instead. They made a covenant to stay on their side of the line and not pass it to harm the other. Laban called on the God of Abraham - Jehovah and the god of Nahor which was probably Baal to witness this covenant. Jacob took the oath before the God of his father Isaac. Laban left the next morning after blessing his family. When Jacob left that place angels came and met him. There were so many of them that he called the place Mahanaim - camp of angels. Next, Jacob sent messages to his brother Esau with a friendly greeting. He learned that Esau got the message and was headed his way with an army of 400 men. Jacob was afraid. He divided his household into two groups and sent the first one ahead hoping that if Esau attacked it, at least the second group could escape. Jacob got alone with the Lord and reminded him of his promise to him that if he returned to his own home, he would bless him and cause him to become a powerful nation. In Matthew, Jesus explained that they would be treated even worse than he had been treated became no servant was greater than the master. They were not to be afraid of the evil people because their sins would be revealed for all the see one day. They can kill our body, but no one can take our soul - it is eternal. Earth is the battle field so we are always at war with Satan and his servants. Our reward is not here but in heaven. The disciple went out and taught and preached in the towns through the region. John the Baptist heard about all Jesus was doing and sent a message asking him if he was truly the Messiah. Jesus send word to John to test him by his fruit. Lord, may we produce fruit that will remain.