{"id":16221,"date":"2021-06-13T22:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T05:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_27_30-46-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-06-13T16:08:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T23:08:55","slug":"genesis_28_1-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_28_1-22\/","title":{"rendered":"We Can\u2019t Control How Others Hurt Us, But\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 28:1-22 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 28:1-22.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 28:1-10 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,”
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac;
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-10:\u00a0\u00a0Pursuant to his father Isaac\u2019s advice, Jacob heads to Paddan Aram for his uncle Laban\u2019s house with the prospect of possibility finding a wife among Laban\u2019s daughters.\u00a0\u00a0Meanwhile, contrary to his father Isaac\u2019s wishes, Esau intentionally marries a Canaanite woman to spite his parents.\u00a0\u00a0Here we see the two brothers, Jacob and Esau, going in very different directions both geographically as well as in marriage.<\/p>\n

Esau undoubtedly felt mistreated by his parents and harboured bitterness toward his parents and his brother.\u00a0\u00a0He dealt with that bitterness by trying to get back at his parents by hurting them in return.\u00a0\u00a0Later on, Joseph, the son of Jacob and the nephew of Esau, would also be mistreated by his immediate family, in particular his brothers, but Joseph learned to forgive and let go.\u00a0\u00a0As a result Joseph\u2019s relationship with his family and his life generally was blessed greatly in the end.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0You can\u2019t control what others do to hurt you, but you are responsible for how you respond to the hurt.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0How you respond to the biggest hurts in your life will largely determine your destiny.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 28:11-17 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.<\/em>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There above it stood the\u00a0LORD, and he said: “I am the\u00a0LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the\u00a0LORD\u00a0is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-17:\u00a0\u00a0On his way to Paddan Aram to see his uncle Laban, Jacob stops for the night to rest.\u00a0\u00a0With a rock for a pillow, Jacob dreams about a stairway resting on the earth reaching to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it.\u00a0\u00a0Jacob sees the Lord above the stairway speaking a blessing that recalls the blessing God spoke to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac before him (v13-14).\u00a0\u00a0God also promises to watch over Jacob wherever he goes and to bring him back to this place (v15).\u00a0\u00a0Jacob wakes up, amazed that he has just met with God in this place (v16-17).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Many centuries later, Jesus would say to one of his first disciples Nathanael, \u201cI tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.\u201d (John 1:51).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In other words,\u00a0recalling Jacob\u2019s dream here, Jesus is referring to himself as the stairway from earth to heaven<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0It is because of Jesus that heaven and earth can connect and a holy God and can meet unholy sinners.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus is our stairway to heaven.<\/p>\n

Genesis 28:18-22 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will be my God
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 18-22:\u00a0\u00a0In response to the vision God showed him, Jacob vows to make the Lord his God and to tithe one tenth of what he makes to God (v22), much like Abraham tithed to Melchizedek in Genesis 14:20.\u00a0\u00a0He also sets up this stone where he met God as a pillar in God\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When God speaks to you, when you experience God\u2019s power, protection, presence or provision in a powerful way, commemorate it by recording it and giving to God a thank offering.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that from generation to generation You are willing to bless Your people.\u00a0\u00a0Since how I respond to hurt is important, I pray I would respond to hurts in my life in a productive, healthy way.\u00a0\u00a0May I not take for granted those times when You have spoken to me, but may I celebrate, commemorate and thank You for each of those times.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 28:1-22.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 28:1-10 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.”……<\/p>\n

On verses 1-10:\u00a0\u00a0Pursuant to his father Isaac\u2019s advice, Jacob heads to Paddan Aram for his uncle Laban\u2019s house with the prospect of possibility finding a wife among Laban\u2019s daughters.\u00a0\u00a0Meanwhile, contrary to his father Isaac\u2019s wishes, Esau intentionally marries a Canaanite woman to spite his parents.\u00a0\u00a0Here we see the two brothers, Jacob and Esau, going in very different directions both geographically as well as in marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16221"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16222,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16221\/revisions\/16222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}