How can we bear to not sing of God’s love that is so beautiful our hearts are lifted up in hope and peace? When I contrast the world today with the problems we face and see glimpses of the world in Isaac’s time in Genesis 26 and see the same discord, the same animosity among…

In Genesis 25 after naming the sons of Ishmael, Abraham’s son through Hagar, who become twelve tribal rulers it says: And they lived in hostility toward all the tribes related to them. v. 18. That’s what God said to Hagar while she was pregnant with Ishmael and had run away from Sarah: and he will…

Genesis 24 introduces us to the wonderful story of Rebekah and Isaac. First, we find Eliezer, Abraham’s senior servant and the one in charge of all he had v. 2. Can you imagine the blessing he had? We read about the faith of Abraham; Eliezer witnessed it firsthand. He witnessed the faithfulness of God. When…

In reading Genesis 23 I was struck by the sorrow Abraham must have felt at the death of Sarah, his wife. God had promised Abraham all the land he could see and ancestors as numerous as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the seashore. Yet, in his time of mourning after her…

Genesis 22 records Abraham’s faithful trust in God, a powerful example for us, and I see the Father everywhere. God spoke to Abraham and said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I…

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Genesis 21:1. Sarah was blessed with a son, Isaac, in her and Abraham’s old age. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” v. 6.…

Genesis 20 is a curious repeat of the experience of Abram and Sarai in Egypt with Abram telling people Sarai was his sister and not his wife. Instead of Pharaoh confronting Abram about why he said Sarai was his sister, Abimelek confronts Abraham. God had appeared to Abimelek in a dream. Then God said to…

I’m not going to lie. I’m afraid of the darkness of sin. Reading Genesis 19 a weight of darkness settled onto me and it took bringing it to God and waiting patiently for His light to lift me up. The sins that led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the sins of the incest…

In mythology there is the story of Sisyphus who was punished by having to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity only to have it roll back down on him as he neared the top. In the morning after I have studied a Chapter of the Bible, and read my devotionals, I spend the…

I was just reading William Barclay’s The Gospel of Luke commentary about Jesus healing the ten men with leprosy. Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called…