1189 Adventure

Joseph's dream is finally fulfilled after 22 years of testing and fire. Painful years, but the heat has reformed and transformed the hearts of Jacob's entire family, including Joseph, who according to Psalm 105, has been under God's testing since age 17, when he first received his dreams. Chapter 43 closes with all the siblings having a lovely meal, with no envy or jealousy at the tabl...

Jacob's family is in disarray. Their past is coming to haunt them and it even knocks at Joseph's door, causing him to act harshly towards his brothers and shed a few tears as the memory of their cruelty towards him is re-lived by their conversations. In this dramatic combustion of emotions and what seems a tragic end for Jacob's family, God is working all things together for the good o...

Joseph has gone through deep trauma–kidnapped by his brothers, sold into slavery as a commodity, slandered and accused of a sexual crime he did not commit, sent and forgotten in prison. 13 years of agony, yet he remains faithful in obscurity. God, in a sovereign move of power, gives Pharaoh a dream that awakens the cupbearer’s memory about Joseph, and in one day Joseph is exalted from being a pris...

Joseph continues to serve God with humility despite the unjust indictment against his life, going to prison for a sexual crime he did not commit. But God's hand remains with him and His favor does not depart from him. He rises as a leader also in prison and continues to serve those around him. His service to God never stopped despite the struggle and was instrumental to his deliverance from prison...

Joseph's brothers repeat the hatred and murderous anger they displayed against Hamor and his son Shechem, in the same area where the mass murder of all the men of the city took place. But their envy and jealousy could not kill the dream of God, and God works out this evil to strategically place Joseph in Egypt to later save the lineage through which our Savior and Messiah would come. God's good pl...

The genealogy of Esau–the Edomite or ‘red’ one–is charged with rancor, hatred, and cruelty against the lineage of Jacob. Jealousy and bitterness dominate their behavior against the Israelites through history, blocking their passage through their land during the exodus their Israelites from Egypt and betraying them to the Babylonians during the fall of Jerusalem. A glimmer of hope can be seen throu...

After feeling ruined by the decision of his sons to kill every man at Shechem as vengeance for the raping of their sister Dinah, Jacob is directed by God to return to Bethel and remember the one who called Him when he was running from his brother Esau. This is a moment of renewal, of casting down all idols and resuming Godly authority in his household. God reveals Himself to him again and reinforc...

Jacob has never confronted the pagan idols in his home, causing the family to be out of touch with the Lord. This impairs their judgment and causes them to make dumb decisions that lead to catastrophic consequences, such as the raping of Dinah by the local prince of Canaan and the mass murder of all males in Shechem by the sons of Jacob. Living away from Bethel–the house of God–as God intended, ha...

Jacob lowers his guard in a season of peace and calm from the Lord. He takes it easy and makes a devastating decision to build a house for himself in Succoth when God called him to build an altar in Bethel. This led to the raping of his daughter in chapter 34 which triggered a series of violent events that bring a new level of tension and danger to the household of the patriarch. Beware of seasons...

Jacob faces the struggle of his life as he is terrified about the possibility of being him and his entire household being murdered by Esau, as a result of something he did 20 years ago. His past is catching up with him; he now needs to decide whether to believe the future God said He would have or the future his eyes are telling him will have. He wrestles God and wins through surrender. He is bles...

God has enrolled Jacob on a full scholarship to Laban’s character university. He wants to deepen his character to prepare him for the next chapter of his life. This was not a 4 year bachelor's in science program or a two-year master’s degree, but a 20-year heart-wrenching test that exposed Jacob’s flaws and refined him to become an honest man, a weighty man who would lead the charge for the 12...

A pregnancy tournament in the bedroom and a cheating spree in the workplace. This is Laban’s family’s dysfunction in full disclosure for the world to see, the fruit of an incomplete devotion to the one true God. Worshipers of Teraphim–Laban and his daughters fall prey of envy, jealousy and cheating, the result of having your value and worth linked to what you don’t have or fear losing to someone e...

Chapter 26 is a blockbuster movie saga. Romance at the well, hard work to pay for the bride, a master switcharoo pulled on Jacob by his uncle Laban, and finally the destitute and unwanted Leah–the one without sparkle in her eye is chosen by God to deliver Levi and Judah into the world, the pillars of the Old and New Covenant. Only God can forge destiny from the destitute!

Jacob’s place of hopelessness, barrenness and distress becomes a sacred altar of praise to God. Every promise comes with a process that prunes and prepares us to receive God’s blessing. He may give us a rock for a pillow and a desert for our bed, but in these uncomfortable places God does His best work to upgrade our character and promote His plan. Your misery moment in God’s hands becomes a holy...

Once sin is conceived, it grows to become a lethal threat to a family. Isaac and Jacob are not dealing with the consequences of infant sins that have matured and become fully grown and filled their home with tension, fear, and murderous threats. Rebekah lies to her husband, Jacob lies to his dad, the blessing of Esau is stolen through deceit, and Esau wants to kill his Jacob once his father Isaac...

Children often mirror the habits, hang-ups, and wounds of their parents. Genesis 26 offers a vivid picture of this generational pattern, as Isaac repeats both the strengths and the failures of his father, Abraham. By renouncing unhealthy behaviors passed down to us, reinforcing what is good, and intentionally cultivating new, honorable rhythms and habits, we can build strong, godly homes. Not ever...

The new covenant family–Isaac and Rebekah begin to experience the tension of raising a family. Favoritism, opportunism, and disregard for what is sacred fill family dynamics that insert the seed of bitterness in Esau–posing a new threat to the fulfillment of God's promise.

Genesis 24 is a roadmap to a Godly marriage. The longest chapter in Genesis dedicated to a tender love story that teaches the value of leadership, humility. virtue, submission and Godly authority. If you are longing to get married, learned from these timeless divine principles that make a way for God to arrange a healthy and Kingdom-minded marriage. Enjoy!

Abraham grieves the death of his wife Sarah, which leads to the purchase of the first legal piece of real estate in the promised land from the Hittites, the descendants of Canaan. Abraham pays full price for the cave of Machpelah and it becomes the first fruits of the entire promised land inheritance for God's people. This is a sweet reminder of how Jesus paid the full price for our souls and...

Abraham experiences the biggest test of his life–offering his beloved son Isaac as a burnt offering to God, after 25 years of waiting for this promise. Isaac, the beloved of his heart, the source of his laughter. As hard as this was for Abraham, he calls the experience an act of worship, teaching us that true worship is letting go of anything God may ask from us, for He is worthy of it all. God re...

Ishmael, the fruit of the flesh, is bullying Isaac, the son of the promise. God says to Abraham, 'The slave woman and her son must go,' so the promise can flourish and take root. This illustrates the ongoing battle we have between the flesh and the spirit. We must cut ties with the flesh and protect the promise so we can live by faith and drink deeply from the well of living water and live...

Even though Abraham displays a habit of lyiing about his wife to protect himself, endangering her safety in the ability to give birth to the promised child, God intervenes to protet her and keep her womb a sacred place for Isaac–from whom the Savior of the world would come. God is a faithful God who has from generation to generation to give the wolrd our Messiah.

The most crude and perverse chapter in Genesis, the result of a desensitized soul that has gotten used to living for many years in the depravity of Sodom. Lot and his family have lost their sound judgment and everything they worked for all their life was burned up in a day. His wife ends up as a pillar of salt and his daughters give birth to vile nations by committing incest with him in a cave, th...

God is not distant. He draws close. He longs to have fellowship with us and confide His plans with us. Abraham displays openness to the Lord's presence and gets precise information about the birth of his son plus first hand intel about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra. He bargains with God and pleads for mercy for the city.

Abram experiences the greatest comeback of his life after his greatest blunder, as God meets him again after 13 years of silence to reveal something new about Himself and something about Abram that he did not know. God changes his name before he changes his circumstances and consolidates the entry of the promised child who would be an eternal blessing to the nations of the earth.