New and Improved - February 11 Readings: Genesis 28:10-22, 32:22-32. 35:9-15, Encountering God

The Story of the Bible from Creation to the Cross to Eternal Glory

In 72 daily readings, we will examine the overall story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, seeking to get the big picture of God's work through Jesus Christ in this sinful world.

Today's Reading:  Genesis 28:10-22, 32:22-32. 35:9-15

Genesis 28:10-22

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. 13 The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. 14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

18 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it 19 and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz. 20 Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I’m making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, 21 and if I return safely to my father’s family, then the Lord will be my God. 22 This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me.”

Genesis 32:22-32 

22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two slave women, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. 26 Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 “What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” he said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”

But he answered, “Why do you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.

30 Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.” 31 The sun shone on him as he passed by Penuel—limping because of his hip. 32 That is why, still today, the Israelites don’t eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because he struck Jacob’s hip socket at the thigh muscle.

Genesis 35:9-15 

9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. 11 God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you. 12 I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.” 13 Then God withdrew[b] from him at the place where he had spoken to him.

14 Jacob set up a marker at the place where he had spoken to him—a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. 15 Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Through the Bible Reading: Exodus 37-38, Matthew 25:31–46, Psalm 22:6–13, Proverbs5:3-6

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Context 

What kind of "religion" do we have? Is it primarily a series of rules that are meant to be followed, a lifestyle to be lived? Is it a theology to be understood, a mental exercise? Is Christianity a set of rituals and liturgies that we perform? 

In one sense, it is all of these - there are guidelines for life, there is biblical theology that must be understood, and we worship and baptize and observe the Lord's Supper. But in another sense, our faith is none of these. It is about encountering the Living God and being transformed by that encounter. 

In today's readings, we see how Jacob, the deceiver and schemer, encountered God and was transformed to become a new person. That's the God we serve. That's the faith we practice. 

Devotional: All New and Improved

One of the fundamental assertions of modern pop-psychology is that people don't really change. You are what you are and that is what you always will be. An alcoholic may be able to stop drinking, but he remains an alcoholic to the end of his days. It is assumed that people's sexual desires are hard-wired into them and to ask people to change is unfair, even cruel.  

There is a very different message in the pages of Scripture. When people come into contact with the living God, their lives are radically changed. Ever noticed how often someone who came to know God was renamed by the Father?  Abram became Abraham.  Saul became Paul.  And in Genesis 35:10, God gives a new name to Jacob.  It is a significant change.

Jacob was a troubled man with a troubled name.  His name meant "deceiver" and that is exactly what Jacob was.  He was a schemer, tricking his father and his brother. This was not a good man. 

But God does not look simply at what a man is; he looks at what he intends to make him. God got a hold on Jacob and he became a new man. Since a new man needs a new name, God gave him one. The new name was Israel. God was working out his new purpose in this man's life and the new name referred to the triumph of God's will that now prevailed in his life. 

  

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are told that in Christ we are “new creations” and that the old is gone, replaced by the new work that God in doing in our hearts.  In Christ, I do not have to be today what I was yesterday and I do not have to be tomorrow what I am today.  I can change in Christ. In Christ, I will!

God is in the business of giving new names to his children.  The drunk gets called by a new name – sober.  The pervert can become pure.  Those who live to indulge their sinful natures can walk in self-control. It can happen - not because of me but because of the God I serve, the One who makes all things new. 

Lord, I thank you for your life-changing and renewing power.  Because of you, I do not have to be tomorrow what I was yesterday. You are the name-changer, the life-transformer. I rely on your power and strength to become tomorrow what I am not today.

Think and Pray:

What changes is God making in your life right now?
Is your faith a set of rules, a theology, or a set of rituals and liturgies alone, or it is, at it's heart, an encounter with the God of Heaven?