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Apr 10, 2023 06:00am

The Bible Recap: Days 22-28

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(The following are reflections from the writer’s personal journey through The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble – a Bible reading plan to read the Bible chronologically in one year. To learn more about The Bible Recap, visit thebiblerecap.com.)

Day 22: Read Genesis Chapters 30-31

My Takeaways:

Sibling rivalry, mandrakes, and babies, oh my!

(Sooo much sibling rivalry in these early days!)

Again, interesting how the parents/grandparents’ sins surface with our sisters’ need to out-do each other when it comes to having babies! I totally understand how important babies are to a woman….but wowza. (The only winner here seems like it was Jacob? Maybe it’s just me.)

My God Shot today was this: God sees our afflictions and those who wrong us. He works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). And, He is our protector.

He saw Leah’s heartache and gave her children.

Her remembered Rachel and gave her children.

He saw how Laban was treating Jacob and helps Jacob gain wealth (I am assuming the dream Jacob had about the sheep came from God to help him here. I could be wrong!) He also affirms he should leave Laban. God even protects Jacob from Laban. Jacob isn’t innocent here—once again, he deceives Laban and runs away with his family, Laban’s family. But, I do feel there is beginning to be a shift in Jacob’s heart to God.

Day 23: Read Genesis Chapters 32-34

My Takeaways:

From pillars to altars, God uses extreme circumstances to get our attention and to change our hearts!

For Jacob, it was facing his brother Esau, whom he had deceived and stolen his birthright and his blessing. Of course, Jacob expected the worst because he had wronged Esau. Fear motivates him to pray to God for the first time. He recognizes all God has done for him and asks for rescuing. Then, he reminds God of His promise to Jacob.

This is a humbling, heart changing moment!

Then, he sends all of his family ahead of him and spends the night alone.

And he wrestles with God. He was desperate. He didn’t give up. And God blessed him and remained with him. And, Jacob walked away with a limp.

This is a heart-changing moment, one he will always remember!

I wonder…have any of you wrestled with God? And I also wonder, what did you walk away with? My son wrestled, for at least a few matches before he decided it wasn’t his thing. (I was horrified by wrestling and very much agreed!)

Wrestling is personal. It’s contact. It’s the ultimate contest of strength. To me, it’s one of the hardest sports. But, it’s engaging. It’s personal. It’s determination.

James 4:8 says when we lean into God, God leans into us. Jacob didn’t shy away from the fight. He leaned in, he didn’t give up, and he experienced God.

If you are in a fighting season, keep fighting! You, too, will experience God. And if you have given up, consider this God’s affirmation to rise up and fight, dear friends! Every person in the Bible who chose to trust God and fight for their family, their cause, their faith, their legacy experienced God!

And may our “limp,” whatever that injury we sustained in the fight, be a reminder that when we stay in the game and struggle it out, God will meet us there. Every time.

And, as a result, a humbled, changed Jacob met his brother and experienced as close of a restoration to Esau as he could. It was a tender moment.

We end on a horrific moment of rape, one that we will see a few times in Scripture. But, we know at this point, God sees the broken hearts and those who feel unworthy and unloved. Those who have been wronged. His character has shown us this so far. He reached out to Hagar. He reached out to Leah. And though we don’t see it in Scripture, we know His character enough to know He will with Dinah. She is not alone. He will sustain her.

Day 24: Read Genesis Chapters 35-37

My Takeaways:

Today is very reminiscent of one of my favorite verses—Romans 8:28:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Jacob has faced hard times. He has been the deceiver and has been deceived. And, he has had to face the consequences of his mistakes. Yet, God was there all along. He was faithful to Jacob, even when Jacob wasn’t faithful to Him. Then, something beautiful happens: a shift occurs in Jacob’s heart. He went from building pillars to binding altars. He finally surrendered his heart to God, and God renamed him, signifying this change.

I love God’s faithfulness to us, even when we aren’t faithful to Him. Jacob’s not perfect—he still messes up, but don’t we all? I love this story of God wooing Jacob’s heart.

Rachel, who was barren, gave birth to not one but two boys before she died. That was a double blessing for her heartache of being barren for so long.

And now, we have Joesph, Jacob’s favorite son, who has been schemed against by his jealous brothers. When all hope seems lost, God’s fingerprints are there, even when we can’t see them. Instead of killing Joseph, his brothers sell him to a distant relative who takes him to Egypt.

To a man named Potiphar.

Even when we can’t see it, God is using the tough, sad, and hard moments in our lives and bringing good out of them. Going to Egypt doesn’t sound good, but believe me, God is going to use Joseph is a mighty way in this pagan country. And Potiphar is part of the plan.

So much hope for us, friends! Cleave to Romans 8:28 anytime life feels not fair and too much. God is working it all out. He can bring good from it.

The key?

Love. He does it for those who love Him and uses it to direct them to their purpose in life. He does it for Joseph. And He will do it for us.

We just have to love and trust our Redeemer, even when our eyes can’t see it and our feelings lie to us. It’s the ultimate walk of faith.

Day 25: Read Genesis Chapters 38-40

My Takeaways:

Lots of action in today’s reading! I was going to focus on Joseph because I love his story! And, to be honest, I just didn’t know what to do with Judah and Tamar…but then I read Tara-Leigh’s God Shot and it blew me away!

What?! Jesus comes from the lineage of Judah, Tamar, and their son Perez?! I love how God worked in this messy story and brought blessing from brokenness, good from sin, faithfulness to the unfaithful. God is so good to us in our brokenness!

Every day I read, I am astounded how God works in the lives of this family—He doesn’t give up. He doesn’t justify their sin. He is always working to bring good from it.

Yes, He is a God of justice and will enact punishment when He sees fit, but He is also a God of mercy and grace. We have seen that much in Genesis.

Okay, I focused on Judah and Tamar—what were your thoughts on Joseph?!

He does the right thing in Potiphar’s house and gets falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and imprisoned.

He interprets dreams for the cup bearer and baker and they come true.

He feels forgotten.

But, the Lord was with him every step of the way and showed him kindness and favor.

Because all these tough times are going to a good place.

Day 26: Read Genesis Chapters 41-42

My Takeaways:

My, oh my, how the tables have turned! Joseph seems to go from rags to riches overnight! But, in reality, it has been 13 long years of being enslaved. Interestingly, God uses dreams to restore him.

A few of my God Shots:

God speaks in dreams in this story.

I get this. He has spoken to me in dreams since I have been a young girl. One of my most profound dreams was of me having a baby with dark hair with a man who had dark hair. The long-term relationship that I was in at the time was with a man who did not have dark hair. In that moment, I knew he wasn’t “the one.” Funny enough, I did marry a man with dark hair but I had two planned babies with auburn hair! But, I got pregnant again, 5 months after having my second baby. (This was not planned!) I had an emergency delivery to a baby with a head full of dark hair! Everything in my dream played out over 12 years later!

Why say all of this? Because one way God speaks is in dreams, and He certainly shows us that in this story!

God affirms in twos.

Joseph had two dreams, Joseph was enslaved twice, Joseph interpreted two dreams, the Pharaoh had two dreams, and Joseph had two children.

I know many times, when I need God to affirm something, I wait for it to come back twice to know that it’s in His will. I know sometimes He wants me to walk by faith, but other times, it will pop up in different ways at least twice.

Day 27: Read Genesis Chapters 43-45

My Takeaways:

Forgiveness and restoration run strong in today’s reading!

Perhaps Joseph being his father’s favorite gave him a sense of entitlement and pride when he was a young boy, talking about those dreams to his brothers? (I mean, Joseph sounded a bit braggy telling his brothers, didn’t he?)

And then, he faced the most humbling life circumstances ever—sold as a slave, taken to a foreign land, falsely accused and imprisoned, and forgotten for years.

Like Job, perhaps God let all this happen so that his heart would be humbled in the process. God worked on his heart all those hard, lonely, unfair years and tendered it to the point he could face his brothers…and forgive them, bringing restoration to this family.

Joesph’s raw emotions along with Judah’s sacrifice got me in this reading!

My God Shot is how God can take hard circumstances in our lives and use them to change our hearts.

And this: we don’t forgive others because they deserve it. We forgive others because we are called to live like Christ. If He could forgive His murderers, we can forgive those that hurt us. It’s not easy. It’s perhaps the hardest thing you will ever do. But, it will be the best thing you ever do. The freedom and the peace you get from it is priceless. This I know.

Day 28: Read Genesis Chapters 46-47

My Takeaways:

Today is the day a very humbled Jacob gets to see his son Joseph. Can you imagine how tear-filled this reunion must have been? (And, perhaps convicting to see if you are the brothers….)

Oh, this reading had all good feels in it! Jacob and his family get the Pharaoh’s favor and good land while Joseph is super resourceful at providing for his people during the famine.

My God Shot was this:

Not only did God reassure his man Jacob that going to Egypt was a good thing, he blessed Jacob with many more years there of living near his boy, Joseph. The whole family was together…finally. This is a time of restoration and peace—perhaps for the first time in Jacob’s life.

You guys, this is God’s grace to Jacob! It’s His patience and kindness to Jacob, who didn’t accept God as his God when he was younger, is now very much following and submitted to God.

For anyone who has had much dysfunction and strife in families over the years, I hope this reading gave you hope that nothing is beyond God’s intervention and grasp. He is there with you in it.