Category: Genesis

An Old Testament Devotion for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

When I was young, there were three girls in my school who liked to pick on me. They wouldn’t let me sit with them at lunch with the other girls. They even called me names and threw food at me. When the school put on a play, they tried to take my part in the play away from me, whining to their parents that it wasn’t fair that I got the role they wanted.

Even worse was that while many of the other girls didn’t hate me like the three girls did, they were too scared to stand up to the bullies. And because they didn’t stand up to the bullies, I was left feeling very alone.

That school year was miserable. I still think about it as the loneliest year of my life.

But I learned something that year that might surprise you.

I realized that even if God gave me a time machine to go back and get rid of that year… I wouldn’t do it. I would keep that year, as hard and sad and lonely as it was. Because in that year, I learned to trust God. I grew more and more aware that he was with me, and truly began to understand that He is with me all the time. God used that sad time to bring me closer to Him. In my loneliness, I read my Bible more than I ever had. I began to memorize God’s promises to His children.

Those mean girls meant evil against me that year. But God meant it for good so I would learn to trust in Him more and feel and understand His love for me more than I ever had.

In our Bible verse today, Jacob’s son, Joseph, who had been sold into slavery by his own brothers, had finally reunited with those same brothers years later. They didn’t recognize him at first, but when they did, they were terrified. And with good reason.

Since being sold into slavery, God had made Joseph nearly as powerful as Egypt’s king—and Egypt was the most powerful kingdom in the world at that time. This meant Joseph was one of the most powerful men on earth.

His brothers understood that if Joseph wanted to, he could snap his fingers and have the Egyptian guards kill them right then and there. He could deny them food if he wanted, leaving their families to die from starvation. He could have his revenge in many ways if he so desired.

But Joseph did not desire it. Because he understood that God had used his brothers’ sinful hatred of him to save many, many lives. For God had chosen Joseph to reveal the coming famine (seven years in which food wouldn’t grow) to the Egyptian king—Pharaoh. God had also chosen to bless Joseph with wisdom, telling him how to save food so that Egypt and the people of the surrounding tribes and nations would survive the famine.
people including his family.

Even more importantly, God used Joseph to keep Abraham’s descendants alive so God could one day keep His promise of sending a Savior to save sinners.

So when we’re feeling sad or lonely or worried, we can take comfort in remembering how God used what we would consider “bad things” to save Joseph, his family, and many, many other lives. God used Joseph to keep His promise to send Jesus.

And God can and will use your sad times, too, dear one, to bless you and bless others and to glorify Himself. Even when you feel too sinful or too small or too sad, God will, as He did with Joseph, work in you and through you to do amazing things. Because everything God does is amazing, even when working through sinners like us.

So go to bed tonight knowing that whatever happened to you today, God is going to use that to bring about good things, for you and for many others. For you are loved.

Discussion Questions

1. What does it mean when someone means something for evil against us?

2. How did God use Joseph’s brothers’ sin for good?

3. How has God used hard things in your life for good?

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An Old Testament Devotion for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.

Are you ever so frustrated by your sin that you wonder if God can still love you? Do you ever feel like you just can’t fight your sin anymore?

I think most Christians feel this way sometimes. Sometimes it can feel as though we keep praying to God to help us fight our sin… but we feel like God doesn’t hear us. Because we keep on sinning.

Most of the Bible verses we talk about in this book happen when God is speaking to one of His children. But this verse tells us the story of when God spoke to King Abimelech, a powerful Pagan king of the country Gerar.

At the beginning of this story, Abraham and his wife Sarah were traveling, and they came to Gerar. Now, Sarah was very beautiful, and King Abimelech noticed. 

In those days, kings often did whatever they wanted. They could have any man killed simply because they felt like it. They could take what they wanted and give what they wanted. And when Abraham and Sarah came into town, King Abimelech noticed Sarah’s beauty, and Abraham was scared. He was afraid King Abimelech would have him killed so he could take Sarah to be his own wife. For in that part of the world, the kings often had many, many wives.

Instead of trusting in God, however, and trying to protect his wife, Abraham took the coward’s way out. He told King Abimelech that Sarah was his sister, rather than his wife. And when Abimelech commanded that Sarah be brought to him, instead of protecting her as a husband should, Abraham gave her away.

I don’t know about you, but I would be pretty upset if I were Sarah.

God, however, knew everything that was happening, and He stepped in to save His daughter.

Knowing that King Abimelech planned to take Sarah as his new wife, God appeared to King Abimelech in a dream.

And it was King Abimelech’s turn to be afraid.

In this dream, God revealed to King Abimelech that Sarah was actually Abraham’s wife. And that King Abimelech had stolen her. King Abimelech, of course, was terrified. He pleaded with God. “I didn’t know! I haven’t even touched her!”

God replied, “Yes, I know. Because I knew the truth, and I didn’t allow you to touch her.”

God knew what was going on, and He stopped the king from making Sarah his wife. Even though King Abimelech didn’t know it, God was merciful enough to stop him from committing a great sin.

“So why doesn’t God stop us from sinning all the time?” you might ask. To be honest, I don’t know God’s secret thoughts. But I do know what He says in His Word. And in Philippians 2:12-13, He says,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Before babies can learn to walk, they must first learn to crawl. And only then can they try to walk. But learning to walk isn’t easy. It involves a lot of falling, and often many bumps on the head. Babies must learn to balance their weight and move their legs and arms properly, and to develop those muscles, they usually have to fail again and again.

“Now, that’s mean,” we might say. “Why do parents allow babies to get so many bumps and bruises? Surely their mommies and daddies could hold them up so they don’t fall so many times!”

That’s true. The parents could do that. But then the baby wouldn’t really be walking. His legs wouldn’t grow strong, and he would never be able to play baseball or do gymnastics or play a game of tag with friends. He wouldn’t even be able to run away from danger.

Likewise, even though God has saved us, He sometimes lets us fall and fail again and again. Because He knows that we must learn how to obey Him. Just like a baby learning to walk, Christians must learn to love God through obedience.

But just as parents are there to watch the babies learn to walk, they are also watching to keep the baby from doing something truly dangerous. A little bump on the leg or arm won’t really hurt a baby, but running into traffic or touching an oven will. Likewise, God sometimes does stop us from sinning, just as He did for King Abimelech, without us ever knowing it. Paul promises in 1 Corinthians 10:13,

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

As Christians, we should desire to obey God. But we must also expect that such obedience is hard work for such sinners like us. Thankfully, we don’t have to obey God to earn or keep our salvation, but rather, we obey God because we love Him and are grateful for His first loving us.

We might sometimes feel alone as we go through this world, feeling very much like a little baby who falls and fails all the time. But God is our Heavenly Father, always with us, always smiling on us, always loving us. Even when we fail.

Which is all the more reason to love Him more.

So enter this night in peace, sweet one. For you are loved.

Discussion Questions

1. Did Abraham trust God when he told Sarah to lie to King Abimelech about being his wife?

2. How did God protect Sarah even when her husband did not?

3. Why does God sometimes allow us to sin and then disciplines us? How does He bring good out of those hard lessons?discipline us? How does He bring good out of those hard lessons?

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Never Again: An Old Testament Devotion for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.“

When I was little, my brothers and I would search my grandparents’ backyard for sticks. But we didn’t choose just any stick. We had to find the right sticks, the kind that were somewhat bent, but not too much. Then we would carefully take our pocket knives (or sometimes, my Papa would do it for us) and carve the smallest slit into each end of the stick. Then my grandmother would give us some sort of string, and we’d slip that string between each slit and knot the string so the string was stretched tightly between the ends of the stick. After all of this was done, we would go in search of straight sticks we could catapult away using that tight string.

That’s how we would make play bows and arrows.

I think all children love bows and arrows. I know a lot of adults love them, too. It’s amazing to think of how tribes in the Americas would use bows and arrows to bring down large prey on the prairies or in forests. Likewise, people all over the world used bows and arrows for both hunting and war.

Did you know that God used the symbol of a bow in his promise to Noah that He would never flood the whole earth again?

Remember, God sent the great flood because humans had grown so incredibly wicked that they were not only hurting and mistreating one another, but they were ignoring God as well. So God decided the earth would be a better place if He simply started over again. He punished the wicked people for their sins. As a warrior strikes an enemy with a bow and arrows, God sent an unstoppable flood.

And yet, even in the judgment of that flood, God had mercy and saved Noah and his family. Instead of wiping away all of mankind, for even Noah was sinful, God remembered His promise to send a Savior to save His people from their sin, and He gave Noah a new, godly heart. Then He spared Noah and his family from the flood.

And when that flood was done, God gave Noah and his family yet another gift. God made Noah a new covenant—a new sacred promise. Then He placed a sign of that promise in the sky—a sign that promised He would never make war on man by flooding the whole earth again.

That sign was the rainbow.

We often think of a rainbow as just a pretty thing that happens when we use a prism or water to break apart white light. One of my children’s favorite things to do with a garden hose is to try to make a rainbow with the water spray. But the rainbow itself was a gift of God as a sign of His promise.

If you look carefully, the shape of the rainbow in the sky looks very much like an archer’s bow. But the archer’s bow isn’t down in the archer’s hand, ready to be used for war. No, God put the rainbow in the sky so that it looks as though it’s hung on the wall–the way a warrior might hang a bow he’s done using.

God hung up His bow, so to speak, because He was going to fulfill His covenant to Adam and Eve to send a Savior to destroy sin. In God’s great mercy, He made it very clear that He wasn’t going to destroy all of humanity the way it deserved. And that mercy—through Jesus Christ—would extend to people through all eternity.

Just as Noah and his family looked upon that rainbow with relief, so you can, too. Every time you see a rainbow in the sky, think of God’s love, His mercy, and His promises. The promises that He kept. The promises that sent you, dear child of God, a Savior to destroy your sin and bring you home to Heaven.

Because those promises are for you as well. For you, beloved child, are loved.

Discussion Questions

1. When was the last time you saw a rainbow in the sky?

2. Why is it special that the bow lies on its side, instead of being up and down?

3. How can God’s covenant in the rainbow comfort us? How can it motivate us to obey Him?

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