Bible reading update week 2

Thoughts and reflections based on the second week of The Discipleship Journal's Bible reading plan (Genesis18-30; Psalms 7-12; Acts 4:23-7; Matthew 4-5:32):

• Genesis 20: For the second time, Abraham lies and says that Sarah, his wife, is his sister, putting her at risk out of fear for his own life. When confronted about his lie, he responds "I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place." But there was some fear, because when Abimelech was confronted with his sin (taking Sarah), he was terrified, and testified to the integrity of his heart. And God confirmed this. Abraham was guilty of poor discernment and a lack of trust in God's protection. Now, while this is bad, he compounded this by leading Abimelech into sin. This is why discernment and trust in God are key to our actions. I know when I read that, it made me think about the need to be discerning in my role as shepherd. May God give me deep insight!
• Matthew 4:1-11. The temptation of Jesus. Satan looks through us, into the weak places in our lives and tempts us there. He doesn't go after what has no effect on us. But the good news is we have One stronger than him. We need to identify how we are being tempted and cast him away, "Be gone Satan!" We can do this not by our strength but by Jesus' authority. And that is an amazing thing, that he who is in us is stronger than the one in the world!
• Acts 4. The believers prayed for boldness in the face of persecution, in word, action and prayer. An amazing testimony of how we should be today. We should ask for this same kind of boldness even in a time when we aren't being persecuted.
• Psalm 7:14-16. This is such a great portrait of sin, the wicked conceives evil, becomes pregnant with mischief and then gives birth to lies. Our sin starts with the spark of rebellion then grows to action. But our sin doesn't just go out from us without a consequence. It comes back upon us, falling back on our heads. Oh how true!
• Genesis 22:12. Not long after Abraham's false discernment, God had given another chance for redemption. God told him to take his son Isaac up on the mountain and offer him as a burnt offering. And Abraham was obedient. He had learned his lesson and had begun to trust God with everything. God responded "for now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." Are we willing to hold nothing back from God? Even if it is a promise that he gave to us? Or a dream? It is difficult to offer back to God the very thing He has given you, but if we don't then it is an idol and becomes worthless. Give it all back to God! He will get the glory, trust me, and you might get the dream back in full as well!
• Acts 6 and 7. Stephen. The accuser comes at us so often like in this passage, using half truths and lies about what we have said when we are speaking God's word. And he uses ordinary people. All to destroy our testimony. Our response needs to be like Stephen's. Biblical and true, rooted in the word of God, calling others to repentance.
• The other interesting aspect of Acts 7, Stephen's speech, is that it shows the importance of being grounded in our story. We have the story of our faith handed down from the Jews with the Old Testament plus the witness of the saints in the New Testament. We need to embrace the faith that is passed down to us through this Word, but also our community faith story, the story of our denomination and our church. All of these stories help to shape our individual faith stories, giving it the richness that we all possess. As we look back on our lives, we can see how God has acted from then to now all to bring Glory to himself!
• Psalm 11:7 "the upright shall behold his face." This needs to be my daily prayer, that each day I would cry out to behold the face of God, that I would see his face in each and every person that I come in contact with that day and that I would see his Glory!
• Gen 25:34 "Esau despised his birthright". We tend to shake our head at Esau, trading his birthright, his inheritance, for a bowl of stew. But then we go and do likewise when we turn our back on God and fall into sin. The allure of momentary satisfaction cause us to forget eternal glory.
• Gen 29. Jacob, Laban, Rachel, and Leah. What a story of patience! Jacob displayed that we will have patience for what we value. In his case he was willing to wait 7 years to marry Rachel, then he was told he'd have to work 7 more years. And in his mind it was worth it. We will wait for what we value.
• Acts 7:54-60. Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit called out to God asking him not to hold the sin of those who were about to stone him against them. What an act of forgiveness! And yet, how often do we hold sins against others, refusing to forgive something they have done to us or another. We need to look at Stephen's willingness to forgive and imitate it.