Dear Ekko,
I invite you to meditate on these words with me this week. As you know we've been in the Book of Genesis for almost two years now as a tribe. It's been such a blessing to see how God uses his word to form in us the image of his Son.
I'll try to do this more often and earlier in the week but I invite you to spend the next few days if you don't already have a reading plan (Bible Reading Plan), to grab the text below, chew on it, and let it mess with you.
Bless you and see you soon.
This Sunday we'll wrestle with Chapter 25. See below for the text and other Scriptures we may be in dialogue with this Sunday.
{What I'm listening to while reading and praying over/with these words. Enjoy.}
Happy Chewing,
- PB
Excerpts from Genesis 25
19 This is the history of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham. 20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban. 21 Isaac pleaded with the LORD to give Rebekah a child because she was childless. So the LORD answered Isaac's prayer, and his wife became pregnant with twins. 22 But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the LORD about it. "Why is this happening to me?" she asked. 23 And the LORD told her, "The sons in your womb will become two rival nations. One nation will be stronger than the other; the descendants of your older son will serve the descendants of your younger son." 24 And when the time came, the twins were born. 25 The first was very red at birth. He was covered with so much hair that one would think he was wearing a piece of clothing. So they called him Esau. 26 Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau's heel. So they called him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. 27 As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open fields, while Jacob was the kind of person who liked to stay at home. 28 Isaac loved Esau in particular because of the wild game he brought home, but Rebekah favored Jacob. 29 One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home exhausted and hungry from a hunt. 30 Esau said to Jacob, "I'm starved! Give me some of that red stew you've made." (This was how Esau got his other name, Edom -- "Red.") 31 Jacob replied, "All right, but trade me your birthright for it." 32 "Look, I'm dying of starvation!" said Esau. "What good is my birthright to me now?" 33 So Jacob insisted, "Well then, swear to me right now that it is mine." So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his younger brother. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the fact that he had given up his birthright. - Genesis 25 NLT {Read the Entire Chapter Here}
Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness
1 Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil. 2For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry. 3 Then the Devil came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread." 4 But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say, 'People need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God.' " 5 Then the Devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, 'He orders his angels to protect you. And they will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.' " 7Jesus responded, "The Scriptures also say, 'Do not test the Lord your God.' " 8 Next the Devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all their glory.9 "I will give it all to you," he said, "if you will only kneel down and worship me." 10 "Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say, 'You must worship the Lord your God; serve only him.' " 11 Then the Devil went away, and angels came and cared for Jesus. - Matthew 4
Malachi 1
1 This is the message that the LORD gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi. 2 "I have loved you deeply," says the LORD.But you retort, "Really? How have you loved us?"And the LORD replies, "I showed my love for you by loving your ancestor Jacob. Yet Esau was Jacob's brother, 3and I rejected Esau and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau's inheritance into a desert for jackals." 4 And Esau's descendants in Edom may say, "We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins."But this is what the LORD Almighty says: "They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again! Their country will be known as 'The Land of Wickedness,' and their people will be called 'The People with Whom the LORD Is Forever Angry.' 5 When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, 'Truly, the LORD's great power reaches far beyond our borders!'" 6 The LORD Almighty says to the priests: "A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. I am your father and master, but where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have despised my name!"But you ask, 'How have we ever despised your name?' 7 "You have despised my name by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar."Then you ask, 'How have we defiled the sacrifices ?'"You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect. 8 When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn't that wrong? And isn't it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!" says the LORD Almighty. 9 "Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?" asks the LORD Almighty. 10 "I wish that someone among you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not at all pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will not accept your offerings. 11 But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it's all right to defile the Lord's table. 13 You say, 'It's too hard to serve the LORD,' and you turn up your noses at his commands," says the LORD Almighty. "Think of it! Animals that are stolen and mutilated, crippled and sick -- presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?" asks the LORD. 14 "Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is feared among the nations!