January 16

Good morning. Let's hit it!

Also - haha! This is a one of a kind prayer accessory.  It's a MIRACLE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMUcMoe9FaQ&feature=related 


Reading for January 16


Genesis 32:13-34:31
And the action continues!

So last time, Jacob was freaking out that Esau was on his way to murder him and his entire family. Jacob continues to come up with ideas to soften Esau up and defend his family. He sends his servants ahead of him, one at a time, with a portion of his livestock, offering them to Esau so when they finally meet, Esau's heart will be softened enough to welcome Jacob.

The night before they meet, Jacob wrestles with "a man" for the entire night. Jacob never backs down and it turns out that the man he was wrestling was God. How did that start by the way? Did God come down and say "Hey YOU! I'm in a wrastling mood! LET'S WRASTLE!"

Anyway, God changes Jacob's name to Israel, which means "Wrestles with God". Get it?
The next morning, Jacob/Israel finally meets Esau and his 400 men, and Esau hugs him and they reconcile. Yay!

Then Jacob's family goes to a new land and one of his daughters gets raped by a local. Well this local falls in love with her and tries to marry her. Two of Jacob's sons, knowing this guy raped their sister, say they won't accept the marriage unless everyone in their town is circumcised. Well they all do it, and while they are recovering, these two sons of Jacob go into the town and murder everyone like crazy people. They take all the livestock and everything from the houses, including the women and children. Geez, louise! Jacob is like "What the heck were you thinking!? Now everyone's gonna hate me!" and they were all "no one treats our sister like that. Peace."

Matthew 11:7-30
Jesus talks here about how in some of the cities in which he performed miracles, the people have not changed their ways, or they haven't repented. He calls out specific cities, and talks about the day of judgment. Then He completely switches gears and starts telling people to come to him and learn from him, that he will provide rest for the weary and so on.

OK, right here. Here is a perfect example of something that I would take out of context and trumpet up and say, look how great Christianity is! Jesus just wants to provide rest to the sad people! And while that statement may be true, there is a lot of other stuff that goes along with that. These couple of verses are still beautiful, but I think a lot of people take them out of context.

Psalm 14:1-7
Interesting:

 ² The LORD looks down from heaven
       on the sons of men
       to see if there are any who understand,
       any who seek God.
 ³ All have turned aside,
       they have together become corrupt;
       there is no one who does good,
       not even one.

Is David including himself in that passage? And is this foreshadowing of the need for salvation through Christ? 

Proverbs 3:19-20
More of the wisdom jam, here - but it is put in a very cool context. He talks about the wisdom of God when creating the earth. Very cool:

 ¹⁹ By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations,
       by understanding he set the heavens in place;
 ²⁰ by his knowledge the deeps were divided,
       and the clouds let drop the dew.

Alright - that will do it for today. Nice way to start the day. Have a good day. Day. Everyone say "day"

Dear God, thank you again for your word this morning. I thank you for people reading this blog as well, it is an encouragement to me to keep reading and writing. I pray for your continued mercy to those suffering in Haiti, please provide them as much comfort and relief as you can. I pray that you watch over me today, and keep yourself and your word at the forefront of my mind as I go throughout my day. 

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.