It is amazing what a person will do for love! Let's face it, from the 1st time Jacob laid eyes on Rachel, he was smitten! Normally it took all of the shepherds to roll the stone away that covered the well, but when Jacob saw Rachel that 1st time, the feelings he had for her gave him the strength to move the stone by himself! In fact, he was so in love with her that he worked for her father 14 years, twice as long as he agreed to, just to have her . That is one serious commitment! One has to feel bad for Leah, the older sister, in this story. Jacob saw her as the short straw, and married her just so he could eventually have Rachel as his bride. Her husband didn't love her as much as he loved Rachel, and God saw this, so he blessed her with sons who eventually became leaders of the tribes of Israel. Jacobs instantaneous love for Rachel is hard to comprehend, because of the lengths he went to in order to have her hand. He showed a commitment beyond what most people would even consider! What about the commitment that God made to show his love for us? He sent his son, Jesus, who according to philippians chapter 2, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death. Even death on a cross! He did that for us! He allowed his son to be tortured, beaten, and killed. By the very people he was restoring his relationship with. That, Is what makes his love for us so incredible!

What keeps us from hearing from God? Does he even speak to us? Back in the time of Abraham, it seemed as if God was constantly speaking to his people! What changed? Hebrews says that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Why does it seem like he only spoke to those who lived way back when the Earth was new? Life was much harder than it is now, back then. Just surviving from day-to-day was enough to keep a person, even a family busy. Today, with all of our conveniences, a person can easily live without even lifting a finger. The last year, because of our pandemic, people have been able to live entirely from home. Everything can be delivered, from groceries, to schooling, to the most important commodity of all… toilet paper! Most supermarkets had a tough time keeping it in stock! That's crazy. Technology has definitely made our world smaller, but it has also made us a whole lot less reliant on our own skills, and the support of a family to survive. One might go so far as to say that technology has become a God to us. Do we really need a saviour? We have everything we could possibly ever want or need. If we don't have it, Amazon is only a click away. We are so busy making sure we have all of our extraneous needs met, that we really don't have time to listen. Nor do we have time to commune with the God and father who created us for relationship with him . Isaac's servant was sent to find a wife for Isaac. He was sent with specific expectations. He didn't have access to dating.com, or whatever the current site is. He only had access to the one he had already built a relationship with. All it took was a conversation with God, and he provided Rebecca, the perfect wife for Isaac. I believe God doesn't talk to us, because we don't talk to him.

How much are you willing to sacrifice for God? Your job? Your house? Your marriage? Let me ask that question again. How much are you really willing to sacrifice for God? History is full of saints who have given everything, even their lives, for the gospel. Saints aside, I think most parents would be willing to give their lives so their sons and daughters could live. But what about the other way around? God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son, who he loved dearly! Abraham's faith in God was so strong, that he was willing to kill his own son in the name of the father! The turmoil and confusion that must have tormented abraham. I can't even imagine! Here he waz, gathering the wood, loading up the donkeys and the servants, caring for the fire, and travelling at least 3 days to the place where God will have him murder his son. God! This is my only son! How can you possibly make nations from my descendants, if I kill my only son? He doesn't even have a girlfriend yet! I know he trusted God, but in the back of his mind. Would he provide the lamb? God did provide, just in the Nick of time! Years later, he also provided another lamb. One that was spotless. He came so that we could be saved, if we choose. Jesus was God's only son and he sent him to us to be sacrificed, just as Abraham offered Isaac to be sacrificed. Only this time, God didn't stop it. He knew that it needed to happen. Because of his love for us.

Leave your old life behind you. The story of Lot in Genesis 19 is an excellent example of not turning back, when living and following in God's will. The Lord had decided he was going to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah, because it was a place where sin ran rampant, and the only righteous people living there were Lot and his family. I can imagine Sodom wasn't a very comfortable place for Lot and his family to live, especially if they were trying to live righteously, and follow the Lord's will! Can you imagine having company, and your neighbours standing outside, wanting to rape your guests? Thats just crazy! After some convincing, the angels were able to lead Lot and his family away from Sodom. Away from the uncomfortable life they were living. They were warned not to look back, but what did Lot's wife do? She looked back, and was instantly turned into a pillar of salt. As we walk forward in our life with Jesus, time and time again we are reminded to leave the past behind us. To bury the old man, and never dig him up. Did Lot's wife look back, longing for a final taste of the life they were leaving behind, or was she tempted to turn back fully… we will never know. What we do know, is it is always better to leave the past behind us, and keep moving forward in Him.

Every month there will be a few days where I won't be reading any verses. I call these days of reflection. On these days I want to encourage each of you to find some time today to reflect on what we read together so far, spend some time in prayer for those people or needs in your life that need some extra attention. Enjoy your time today. Be thankful for all of the blessings in your life, and I will see you again tomorrow.

I am 50 years old. Almost 51. At times I feel as if I've wasted my entire life! I'm too old to start something new! How old are you? In your twenties? In your sixties? Are you lucky enough to still be in your teens? Boy, that would be nice. God doesn't care how old you are. Look, he told a 99 year old man and his 90 year old wife that they will be parents to a nation! No wonder Abraham laughed to himself when he heard this! It's never too late for God to use us in a powerful way. All it takes is for us to have a willingness to submit to him, and follow where he leads. Abraham is clearly in the autumn of his life when God makes this everlasting covenant with him. With the condition that he and his entire household undergo circumcision! Ouch! Abram and Sarai had both lived long and fulfilling lives when God gave them each new names. Abram became Abraham, which means father of many. Sarai became Sarah, which served to confirm that she would be the mother of nations and kings. Do you ever feel like you're just too old to start something new? When you feel the prompting from the Holy Spirit to start a new chapter in your life, do you question why he wouldn't assign that to somebody half, or even a quarter your age? Take a page from the lives of Abraham and Sarah. You never know the incredible adventure God may have in store for you, and the impact you could make!

The word of God promises that God can use anyone! Nobody who has ever lived, except Jesus, can be counted as perfect. Abram is considered by many to be the father of Christianity and Judaism, and he was far from perfect! As he and his family were coming upon Egypt, Abram feared for his life so he lied to the king of Egypt about his relationship with his wife! I would imagine Sarai wasn't too happy about becoming pharaoh's wife based on her husband's lie! I know my wife would definitely be none too pleased if I started going around telling people she was my sister! In spite of this, and many other of Abrams shortcomings, which we will hear about later, God still richly blest Abram! He even ended up keeping all of the livestock and servants that were given to him by Pharaoh! In psalm 5, David pleads with God to lead him in his righteousness, and to make straight the path for us to follow. God has a destination for each and every one of us. He patiently waits, as we stray far from the path he is laid out for us. He is always there to welcome us and to continue to lead us down that path. We no longer need to worry about what he thinks of us, or how he sees us. He can use us, no matter where we are, or what we've done. His grace is limitless. His mercy unending. Since the beginning of time, he has used people, where they are at, to fulfill his purposes here on Earth. From Abram, to you. He enjoys us. He takes pleasure in us. Thank you, Lord, for meeting us where we are at. And thank you for your limitless grace and mercy that you lavish on us through your son, Jesus.

Do you work harder to just please God? Do you build yourself a place, or make a spot, just so you can get closer to the father? I know I am guilty of just that. if I could just have a more comfortable chair, I could really meet with Jesus. If I put up thicker, quieter walls in my prayer closet, then I could surely hear his voice clearly. If I could only do more. That would bring me closer to God. That work would definitely take me higher. Closer to heaven. In Genesis chapter 11, that's exactly what we tried to do! In our pride and arrogance we thought building a tower to heaven would not only get us closer to God, we would also make a name for ourselves, becoming more like God! And what did God ultimately say about that? Ha! He put a stop to that right now! He scattered mankind all over the Earth, and confused their speech, so they couldn't even understand each other! We just didn't get it, and even today, we still don't get it sometimes. We still think that God will only be happy with us if we work. If we strive. If we could only do more to please him. In the new International version, psalm 4 says that the Lord will hear when I call to him! That's it! All we need to do is call to him. To acknowledge him. To recognise that he is here. He is with us. Proverbs 18:24 says that he is a friend that sticks closer than a brother! So let's stop building our towers to try to reach him. Let's stop striving to impress our father. All he wants is for us to stop. And be with him. After this, everything else will fall into place. Does this make sense to you? I know it makes sense to me.

When was the last time you experienced a real, torrential downpour of rain? I'm not talking about a light, Spring, sprinkling of drops. I mean a gully washing sewer filling outpouring from the heavens! When I sit through a rain like that, it reminds me of the early nineties movie called Forrest gump. He referred to that kind of downpour as big old fat rain! Maybe you have very vivid memories of rain like that. Like the time you were at your in laws, and you had just finished helping to re-shingle the roof, when the rain hit. I am speaking from experience here. The new shingles hadn't had a chance to properly seal themselves in the Sun yet, so the water found its way into my wife's parents house. I remember sitting around their dinner table, eating, with buckets spread around their kitchen, catching the water drops. I'm sure there were a few prayers going up for the rain to stop that day! Well, we survived that rainfall with minimal damage, because eventually the rain stopped, the Sun came from behind the clouds, and the promise of God stretched across the sky! A rainbow. That age old symbol that God 1st put in the sky as a promise that never again will everything living be destroyed by flood waters. No, never again will a flood destroy the Earth. Since then, science has managed to explain away those bands of red, Orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple as a result of light refracting off of water droplets. This may be true, but it was God who created the light in such a way as to cause it to refract that way. As a promise to us.

Was the fruit as delicious as it looked? The new International version of The Bible says when Eve looked at the tree that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye. So she ate it, and offered some to Adam. Neither of them had any idea the lasting effects of eating that fruit would have. They had been tricked by the serpent to disobey their creator. Their God. Their father. That one act of disobedience changed the future of all of mankind. One moment they are walking freely with God throughout Eden, the next moment, they are ashamed of their nakedness and hiding from God. I'm certain both Adam-and-Eve regretted that decision for the rest of their lives. They were now separated from their God, cursed to labour in the fields for sustenance, experience excruciating pain during childbirth, and cover themselves, feeling shame and despair, because of their separation from their maker. They had lost hope. They had lost true freedom. But God had a plan! We could be sure that he was heartbroken and disappointed when Adam-and-Eve disobeyed Him. But he was already putting the pieces in place to redeem the sin they committed. A true and real plan to bring his people back to him. A way to save them from that day, long ago in the garden, when they ate that fruit. I still wonder… was it delicious?