60IN60 Day 20 - Sat Sept 24

It's Day 20 and we're in Genesis 28.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 6-9 - There is something sad about Esau here trying to do what he thinks will please his parents.  It seems like he's always falling short.

Help:
- Verse 2, 9 - As mentioned before, back then it was fairly common to take your spouse from your extended family.  The fact that most lived in small tribes or small villages necessitated it.
- Verse 9 - Polygamy was common back then.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Comments and Questions:

- "Genesis 26:7  -  I wonder if Isaac knew that his father had done this same thing ?  Had Isaac heard Abraham or Sarah talking about it ?  Did Isaac think it was ok to do because his father had done it ?  Or was it just a common thing for a man in this situation to do ?" - I think that is an interesting part of the story. I think your questions are all good ones and I'm not sure of the answers. The biggest thing I take away from it is that our children are likely to repeat the sins they see their parents doing, which is why we see such generational brokenness passed down.

60IN60 Day 19 - Fri Sept 23

It's Day 19 and we're in Genesis 27.

Remember that your daily reading in the Bible isn't about gaining information - it's about changing your life to be more like Christ. That means that you need to take action on what God speaks to you about.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 20 - This happens pretty often - God's name gets invoked in a lie to make it fly.

Help:
- Verses 6-13 - This is very dysfunctional.
- Verses 33-36 - Although it was taken by deception, there was authority that God had granted to Isaac to speak the blessing and there was authority when he spoke it.  It's somewhat similar today to, for instance, the authority that is granted to a pastor to speak God's Word and that authority can be used for good or hypocrisy.
- Verse 46 - Rebekah is using this as a cover to get Jacob out of town before Esau kills him.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com. 

60IN60 Day 18 - Thurs Sept 22

It's Day 18 and we're in Genesis 26.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 24 - It's interesting to me that Abraham's influence is lingering even after his death.

Help:
- Verse 7 - Yes, he just made the same stupid mistake that his father made twice.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 17 - Wed Sept 21

It's Day 17 and we're in Genesis 25.

One thing that's important as we read daily: being eager to hear Him speak to you. Go into your reading expectant that God desires to share something with you.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 6 - The fact that Abraham had concubines is an uncomfortable truth.  It's one to wrestle with.

Help:
- Verse 6 - Given the larger life story of Abraham, we presume that these concubines were later in his life.
- Verse 7 - Back then people lived longer.
- Verse 21 - This is not to say that God's hand is usually the deciding factor in such things.  Given what we read in v. 26, this is an unusual situation with implications for what God is doing in bringing about Israel.  I believe that, normally, fertility issues are not specifically driven by the hand of God.
- Verse 22 - "If it is so" - She's saying, "If this is from God, then why the struggling within me?"
- Verse 28 - Remember that not everything the Bible describes is approved by God.  A lot of the behavior of the "heroes of the faith" is sinful.  Here, this idea of playing favorites among the children is a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what they get.
- Verses 31-34 - Esau was obviously someone who didn't think through the implications of his decisions.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 16 - Tues Sept 20

It's Day 16 and we're in Genesis 24.

We'll be reading the stories of Isaac and Jacob from Genesis.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 14 - God doesn't usually grant requests like that, but sometimes His mercy is unusually generous.

Help:
- Verse 2 - "place your hand under my thigh" - This was the equivalent of a handshake back then.  It seems odd to us, but then again if someone 600 years from now heard that we pressed the palms of our hands together and shook them up and down, they might think that weird too.
- Verses 21, 27, 38 - He was wondering whether this woman was of Abraham's house.  Yes, it seems odd to us to marry fairly close relatives, but it was common back then when tribes and towns were usually relatively small.
- Verse 51 - The family had a lot more say back then in arranging marriages.  This seems weird to us because we're used to romantic love being the only standard for marriage.  Before we judge their system too harshly, we should probably remember the divorce rate that our system has created.
- Verse 67 - That means he married her.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Comments and Questions:

- "I Corinthians 7 speaking of divorce - The Bible gives sexual immorality as an acceptable reason for divorce (Matthew 5:32). I've known couples ( man and woman) to marry, even have children, then one of them decides they are a different gender. For example, the wife married a man, and if the man now says he's female, is that biblical grounds for divorce ?  She didn't marry another woman, she married a man. Or should that be part of "for better or for worse" in the vows ?" - Interesting, complicated question that would require a really long answer to handle all the various aspects, but my short answer is this: if I had someone in my congregation in that situation, I would tell them that I think their divorce was Biblically justified.

60IN60 Day 15 - Mon Sept 19

It's Day 15 and we're in 1 Corinthians 8.

If you struggle with the feeling that you need to hurry through the reading, it can be helpful to lay aside a certain length of time for the reading. "I'm going to spend the next ten minutes reading the Bible. If I get done early, I'll go back and re-read it. If I don't get it done, that's fine. Now I can relax and not try to hurry through so I can get on with the other things I need to get done today. I'm going to be here for ten minutes."

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 9 - Don't use your freedom in Christ in a way that causes a brother or sister in Christ to stumble.

Help:
- Verse 1 - Food sacrificed to idols was a big issue back then.
- Verses 2-3 - If you think you know it all, you're not as smart as you think you are.
- Verses 4-5 - If food is sacrificed to an idol God, nothing has really happened with that food because that idol isn't real and can't affect the food.  There is only one alive God.
- Verse 7 - Some weaker Christians were bothered by the fact that the food had been sacrificed to the idol even though the idol isn't real.
- Verses 9-10 - Don't use your freedom in Christ in a way that trips up a fellow believer.  An example today: Biblically I have the freedom to drink wine if I want to but I don't because it might cause a weaker believer to stumble in seeing his preacher drinking.
- Verse 13 - He vows to avoid meat sacrificed to idols if it's going to hurt his brother in Christ.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com. 

60IN60 Day 14 - Sun Sept 18

It's Day 14 and we're in 1 Corinthians 7.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing jumped out to me today.  That's ok - there will be days like that.

Help:
- Verses 1-5 - If we get married, we need to fulfill the sexual aspects of our commitment.
- Verse 7 - Paul was single and he argues that you can do more for the Lord without the obligations of a family.  He also recognizes that not everyone can do this.
- Verses 10-11 - This is a hard teaching.  It's important to read all the New Testament passages on divorce together in order to get a clear understanding of what's acceptable and what's not.
- Verse 14 - The unbelieving spouse is drawn closer to God through the presence of the believing partner.  Similarly, the children are raise with at least one Christian parent.
- Verses 27-34 - The basic point: life is short, the time till judgment is short, and we should treat the time as precious for serving the Lord.
- Verses 36-37 - This gives a lot more authority to the father in determining who to marry than they exercise today.  It was a common thing in that culture, but that's not to say that we are obligated to live that way.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.