Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 24:15-33.  Let’s go!

Genesis 24:15-17 (NIV)
15  Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
16  The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.
17  The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”

On verses 15-17:  Just as God brought Rebekah to Abraham’s servant even before Abraham’s servant finished praying, God knows your need even before you express it.  So why ask God if He already knows what we need?  Even though He already knows what we need, we ask God because asking is part of growing in our relationship with God, learning to rely on Him and experiencing the power of faith.  Faith is like a muscle that grows with use.  So use your faith muscles and ask God for what you need.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 23:1-20.  Let’s go!

Genesis 23:1-2 (NIV)
1  Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old.
2  She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.

On verses 1-2:  For some reason the first time a person in the Bible is recorded as weeping, it’s in a situation where Abraham lost his wife Sarah.  The two had been together for many decades.  Together they had moved to and lived in many different places, experienced so many ups and downs, trusted in God’s promises and saw God work powerfully in their lives.  Other than the presence of God, there was no one whose presence was more constant in Abraham’s life than Sarah’s.  And now Abraham and Sarah were saying goodbye.  No doubt even in their old age, this was a very difficult thing to do.

To me in part it’s a reminder that God sees us as His bride.  Because He never wanted to lose us to death, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins, so that we could be with Him forever.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 22:1-12.  Let’s go!

Genesis 22:1-12 (NIV)
1  Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
2  Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
3  Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about…….

On verses 1-12:  In one of the most shocking and powerful scenes in the Bible, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar.  This does not appear to be a spur of the moment, spontaneous event.  It would take Abraham, Isaac and their servant more than a day to travel to the place where God would tell Abraham to conduct the sacrifice (v4).

Why would God tell Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac after promising that Abraham’s line of descendants would be born through Isaac (see Genesis 21:12)?  How could God tell Abraham to sacrifice his only son whom he loves?  

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 21:1-16.  Let’s go!

Genesis 21:1-2 (NIV)
1  Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
2  Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.

On verses 1-2:  Just as God promised, Sarah becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son at the very time God promised.  God is faithful to His Word. He does what He says when He says He will do it.  You can trust God and His timing completely.

Genesis 21:3-7 (NIV)
3  Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
4  When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.
5  Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6  Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
7  And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 19:23-38.  Let’s go!

Genesis 19:23-28 (NIV)
23  By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.
24  Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah–from the LORD out of the heavens.
25  Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities–and also the vegetation in the land.
26  But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27  Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
28  He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

On verses 23-28:  God’s wrath against sin is real.  It is only by God’s mercy and grace expressed through Jesus Christ on the cross that we have hope and protection against God’s wrath.  When Jesus first came to as a suffering servant to die for our sins.  The next time Jesus comes, He will not come as a suffering servant but as a righteous judge and conquering king.  In fact, in Luke 17, when Jesus describes his second coming, he compares it to the way God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah: