Devotions - 01/27

Genesis 28:15 (NIV)¹⁵ I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Jacob has bought his brothers birthright and stolen his blessing. As he flees from his brother Esau, he has an encounter with God at Bethel. There God promises many things to this rascal. Nothing is really asked of Jacob. True, Jacob valued the blessing but went about obtaining it in an ungodly manner. Once God has expressed the blessing and promises to Jacob, Jacob goes about cutting a deal. I'll paraphrase it. OK, if you protect and feed and cloth me and get me back here safely, tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a tenth and worship you here. Then I'll adopt you as my god. (I use the little g intentionally.)

How patient God is with us. Jacob has just been told how blessed he is in spite of his deceptions, received promises he doesn't deserve, and then he talks to god as if God needs him! If we will look deep within our own heart, we will find the same is often true of us and our requests of God. He has given us promises as great as the ones He gave to Jacob, and we still wheel and deal with Him as if He should be grateful for our worship.

Oh Lord, open our eyes to who You are and all that You have promised us. Help us to worship and adore You and ask in humble gratitude only the things that are in your will for your glory and honor. Teach us of your wonder that we may never talk to You as if you were a god. You are the awesome Creator of all, and we owe all to You. Help us submit all that we are in gratitude because of who You are and your generous promises to us. Amen

Evening

Isaiah 26:19-21 (NIV) 19 But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. 20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. 21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.

In Isaiah 26 the prophet contrasts the hopelessness of the world with the hope of the people of God. He tells us that the world's great ones come and go, forgotten. Their kingdoms rise and fall. God disciplines them, but they do not learn. He chastens them, but they refuse instruction.

The people of God are different. When God deals with them, they learn righteousness. Though they are oppressed and downtrodden by the world, they have the hope of this passage. The day is coming when God will do the treading upon those who do evil. He will come to judge the earth. No murders will be unsolved. No crimes will be hidden. There will be retribution for all evil that is not repented of.

The people of God will rise from their graves. They will meet the LORD in the air. They world thinks it will silence the righteous by killing them, but they will return. The wrath of God will be poured upon the earth, and then they will return to rule and reign with Christ.

Are you looking forward to the hope that is set before us, or are your eyes set in the earth, on the passing things? Do you think evil will go without justice being met? All sins will be dealt with, either by the redeeming blood of Jesus or the wrath of the Lamb. If you have chosen repentance and redemption you will one day wake up and shout for joy.

yours in Christ Jesus
Johnny G. Camarillo