God is Here

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 32:22-31

TO CHEW ON: "So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, 'It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.'" Genesis 32:30

Soon Jacob was a father, once, twice. three times... As he kept working for Laban, God blessed him with wealth and many children. But things were not going well. Laban and his sons were jealous of Jacob’s wealth. There was quarreling.

One day God told Jacob to move back to his childhood home. He sneaked away from Laban with his family. Though Laban came after him, he didn’t make Jacob come back. Now Jacob and his family were really on their own.

To get back home, he had to pass through Edom, where his brother Esau lived. This worried Jacob a lot. Was Esau still angry with him? Did Esau still want to kill him?

He got ready to meet Esau by preparing a gift of animals and servants. He put the gift in front, with his own flocks behind that, and at the very back his wives and children.

The night before they met, he spent time alone, praying and worrying about what the next day would bring. Then a man met him. They begin to wrestle. At dawn, after they had wrestled all night, the man said, “Let me go.”

“Bless me first,” Jacob begged.

Jacob wrestling with the Angel - Gustave Dore

“Your name will be changed from Jacob to Israel,*” the man replied. Then with one touch He crippled Jacob’s hip. Now Jacob knew this was not an ordinary man, but God. He felt good because he knew God had not forgotten about him. God would be with him on this day when he met his brother Esau.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that when I am worried and anxious, You are there. Amen.

MORE: Seeing God

God showed Himself to several people in the Bible. (When God makes Himself visible to people we call it a theophany.) Which of these statements about seeing God are true? Which false? Look up the Bible references if you’re unsure.

____ 1. Sometimes when God appeared, He looked like a man. (Genesis 18:1-2)

____ 2. Moses, Aaron and the 70 leaders of Israel died when they saw God. (Exodus 24:9-11)

____ 3. Sometimes God appeared to people in dreams. (1 Kings 3:5)

____ 4. Some people who saw God felt dirty and unclean. (Isaiah 6:5)

____ 5. People thought if they saw God, they would die. (Judges 13:22)

____ 6. God only appeared to people when they were in church. (2 Chronicles 3:1)

*Israel means “he struggles or wrestles with God.”

Answers


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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Ask and Ask Again

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Read: Genesis 18:20-33

TO CHEW ON: "Abraham said, 'Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?'
He said, 'For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.'
Then he said, 'May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?'
He answered, 'For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.'” Genesis 18:31,32

One day three men came to visit Abraham. He welcomed them, washed their dusty feet and fed them a hot dinner. As they talked, Abraham realized that these visitors weren’t ordinary men. Two of them were angels and one was God Himself, in human form.

After their visit, as Abraham walked down the road with them God turned to him and said, “I’m going to tell you what I’m planning to do.” Then He explained how He had heard that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were sinful and violent. He said if the angels found that to be true, He would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Immediately Abraham thought of Lot. He had moved near Sodom. So Abraham begged God to spare the city if there were good people found in it. Abraham asked God, would He please spare the city if there were fifty good people left in it?

God answered, “Yes.”

Abraham asked again, “What about forty-five?”

“Yes.”

“Forty? Thirty? Twenty?"

Three more times God said,“Yes.”

Still Abraham was worried. But should he test God's patience by asking still another time? He would ask just once more.

Abraham was persistent and determined when he talked to God. We too can pray for others (intercede) like Abraham did.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help and protect and bless my family, my friends, my coach, my teachers, my pastor, my mayor, my member of parliament or senator, my prime minister or president. Amen


MORE: Never-give-up prayers

Abraham didn’t easily give up in his praying. He kept asking and asking and asking.

Who is someone you’ve been praying for for a long time?

Learn from Abraham’s example, and don’t give up praying for that person!

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.