January 19-25, 2025

Week’s Reading Plan:

• Sunday, January 19th – Genesis 22-24
• Monday, January 20th – Genesis 25-26
• Tuesday, January 21st – Genesis 27-29
• Wednesday, January 22nd – Genesis 30-31
• Thursday, January 23rd – Genesis 32-34
• Friday, January 24th – Genesis 35-37
• Saturday, January 25th – Genesis 38-40

What to Expect:
You will be reading in the book of Genesis, the accounts of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob- known as the fathers of our faith. Even in the burning bush, God tells Moses he is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. This specifies who our God is from the fallacies. It also shows that God uses fallible people just like you and me. Think of all the things associated with our fathers of the faith. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all sinners just like us. The first two lied that their wives were their sisters. Jacob cheated Esau and took the latter’s birthright. Jacob also took advantage of his aging father to get the firstborn’s blessing. The other thing they all had in common was an unflinching trust in God. Despite our weaknesses, God will work with us to deliver the lost to himself. As long as we trust in and obey God, He will use us, despite the flaws we have.


Things to Look For: The Promises of God

1. A Great Nation: God promises to make Abraham into a great nation. This is significant because, at the time, Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless.
2. Blessing and a Great Name: God assures Abraham that He will bless him and make his name great. 
3. A Blessing to Others: Perhaps the most profound aspect of God's promise is that through Abraham, all peoples on earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3). This sets the stage for the God's redemptive plan, ultimately fulfilled through Jesus Christ, a descendant of Abraham.
4. The Promised Land: God promises Abraham the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession for his descendants (Genesis 17:8). This promise is reiterated several times and is central to the identity of the Israelites as God's chosen people with a specific homeland.

Personal Insight: 
I found myself wondering when I would place Jacob’s salvation and commitment to God. He’s born second to Esau, then gives Esau no choice but to give up his birthright, then tricks his father as well to get that right. Rebekah tells Jacob that Esau is upset and it’d be best to get away. Jacob knows his father wants him to take a wife from their own people and he flees to Laban. He has a dream where God tells him he will be a great nation and he will be safe. When Jacob wakes up after his dream, he sets up his pillow-rock as a pillar or a memorial, and proceeds to make a deal with God- “If you keep me safe, if you bring me home, you will be my God” (Gen. 28:20-21). That begs the question, was he not already Jacob’s God? Another dream and a fearful trip home to see Esau again after 20 years, and the whole way Jacob gets more and more paranoid. Jacob changes when God’s promise is fulfilled, thinking Esau will have hate for him, but he is met with joy. Esau is very happy to see him. I felt something change in Jacob after his reunion with his brother. To those of us privileged enough to be raised in a family, or a country, with a God-fearing heritage, the heritage itself is not enough. We, like Jacob, must choose to follow and to obey. I must make the God of my fathers my own.

This week's devotion was prepared by Curt Zahm, associate pastor at Center.