Genesis 37:22

LESSON/VERSE 1 OF 12

I think one of the things I find comforting in the story of Joseph is that he comes from a complicated family. My own family is a little complicated and messy.

Joseph is one of 13 children…12 boys and 1 girl. Today Joseph would say something like,

“Dad has been married 4 times. I have 6 half-brothers and 1 half-sister from step mom #1. I have 2 half-brothers each from step-mom #2 & #3. My youngest brother and I are from Dad’s 4^th marriage. But Mom died giving birth to my little brother.

My own mom has been married 4 times (my dad was the first) but only had children with my dad. I do have one step-sister and one step brother that are my 3^rd step-father’s children. My own Dad died when I was 15. I didn’t see him much. He struggled with alcoholism for all of the time I knew him.

It isn’t so different is it?

All of the emotions that go along with a blended complicated family are right there in chapter 37.

A complicated family is made all the more complex with a passive father. Jacob is kind-of a hot mess when we get to this chapter. His history may have had some part in that. 

Jacob fell in love with Rachel and wanted to marry her. He worked out a deal with her father, Laban, to do just that in exchange for working for him for 7 years. After the 7 years had passed Laban pulled the old switch-a-roo on poor Jacob, instead of marring Rachel as he expected, Jacob ended up married to Leah. Leah was Rachel’s older, less attractive sister. UGH! At which point Jacob struck another deal with Laban to work an additional 7 years so he can marry Rachel. During that time Leah had 7 children. At some point the handmaids of Leah and Rachel get into the act and each have two sons by Jacob. Rachel is barren and prays for God to give her children. She has Joseph and prays for another. When that other baby comes, she gives birth, and dies. Jacob is left with a lot of kids and Jacob has a favorite.

My step-sister is 8 days younger than me. We have almost nothing in common other than our age and the fact that our parents are married to one another. I remember at one point in high-school I was sick to death of hearing of her good grades and scholastic achievement. There may have been other things as well but I don’t recall anymore. What I do remember is how sick I was of her. I was making my mom’s & step-father’s bed and tiding up their room and I couldn’t take seeing her face one minute longer. I went around the room and turned all of the pictures of her over!

Joseph’s brothers threw him in a pit and sold him into slavery so by comparison what I did wasn’t so bad but I would guess the feeling was exactly the same!

That night my mom came into my room and said she was worried about my step-sister. I feel certain I rolled my eyes, if not outwardly for certain I did it in my mind’s eye.  My mom went on to explain that SS’s (step-sister) self-esteem must be very low right now because she has turned over all the pictures of herself.  My first thought was, "Oh, for the love of Pete! I don’t even get the credit for cleaning the master bedroom (surely she assumes SS did it)" and secondly, "she doesn't even see that I am seething with jealousy" --or whatever that emotion is that overcomes a teen sick to death of a sibling. Mom just assumes that SS is suffering with low self-esteem! heavy sigh I am invisible.

I don’t really remember how that particular situation resolved itself in my own family, but I feel certain that Joseph’s brothers felt similarly (times 17 years) and they were not missing him. All except for Reuben, maybe.

Reuben found a way to keep the other brothers from killing Joseph (throw him in the pit) and had planned to come back and rescue him. And that brings me to my verse.

     Genesis 37:22

                And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness but do not lay a hand on him.” –that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.

When I read that (last part in particular) it struck me for the first time how much it is like my own salvation story.  When God called me to accept Jesus and follow him, I was in a pit. The enemy had me in his hand and it was through accepting Christ that I was rescued from his hand and restored to my Father.

Now, I don’t know if any Bible scholars see it the way I see it, but it jumped out at me. So I wanted to look at the Hebrew wording, especially on that last part since it is so clearly painting the redemptive picture of Jesus.

הַצִּ֤יל   haṣ-ṣîl   he might rid (Verb)

אֹתוֹ֙    ’ō-ṯōw   him

מִיָּדָ֔ם   mî-yā-ḏām,   out of their hands

לַהֲשִׁיב֖וֹ     la-hă-šî-ḇōw   to restore him (Verb)

אֶל־     ’el-   unto

אָבִֽיו׃     ’ā-ḇîw.     his father

For Old Testament text I like to check out my regular resources but I also like to use Jewish/Hebrew resources. As I said earlier, I am not a Bible scholar nor am I a Hebrew scholar. So this is just me wading through trying my best to understand the Lord.

One of my Jewish/Hebrew resources translates that verb as ‘to return’ rather than restore. Either way it reads redemptive to me. Did it strike you the same?

What part of Joseph's story strikes you and leaves you thinking about his story? 

Did you pick a verse to work on? Or just memorize? 
What parts of Joseph's story can you relate to? 

For the next posting read Genesis 38-39:18. Start to think about a verse that you want to focus on.

Thank you for joining me. Jump in at any point and read along & create a verse!

30 Days with Joseph | Genesis 37-50 Joseph

A couple of weeks ago I was on my way to a debate tournament and while I knew I had been to this school before, I couldn’t recall where it was located.  As it usually happens in situations like this, I was running late. Because I was running late I didn’t have time to look it up on Google maps. 

I normally like to look at a map to get the big picture and see all the different paths available to get me to my location/destination. I like to be able to have some options in case I run into an issue or obstacle so I can change course and still get to my location.

But on this day, I couldn’t do that. I hopped into my mom van not knowing where I was going.  As I headed out of my neighborhood I thought about how crazy it was to do this –leave without knowing where I was going or how I was going to get there! Circumstances were such that I needed to just use my phone’s GPS to get me there.

I am not a fan of that.

As I drove along I found myself getting a little anxious that I wasn’t being told what was ahead and what I needed to do. I was on several different freeways with crazy left and right exits. Would GPS know that I need some warning if it is a left exit so I am not trying to pull across 4 lanes to get to the exit?

My drive was almost an hour long and as I approached my final destination I remember thinking, “This is NOT how I would have come to this location!” As I walked from my parked mom van to my event I had a conversation in my head…

     “Why would GPS take me this way? It seemed so much longer.” And I answered myself  saying…

     “It may have been a bit longer but there was no traffic so perhaps it was faster.”  I responded again…

     “Yeah, but what about that early exit and the weird drive through a residential area instead of the correct exit to the major intersection?”

I debated back & forth until I found my way to the judges check-in.  The last thing I thought on the topic was…

     “I will not go home that way!”

10 hours later I got back in the mom van and as promised I took another route home.

It was the opposite direction from the route GPS had given me.

Not even a mile into my desired route and I am at a standstill with bumper to bumper traffic. That went on for miles until I made my way onto another freeway where I also found myself in traffic with other folks with poor driving skills. My frustration level was a little high.

I thought about the GPS route.

The experience of the day reminded me that God leads us much like my GPS...step-by-step without giving us the full view. God doesn’t give us a big overview and full picture of where He is leading us, does He? No, He leads like the GPS …one step at a time with direction at just the right time. Not many of us would follow if we knew where God was taking us. Just like I wouldn't have gone the GPS route if I had seen the path traveled in advance.

It made me think about Joseph, Old Testament Joseph, or as I affectionately call him, OT Joe. 

I studied Joseph in the summer of 2013. It was my first time attending Sunday school class and it was a new class Pastor Dave was going to teach (Pastor Dave didn’t teach Sunday school).  It was a wonderful introduction to Joseph. I have thought of it many times. Over the last 6 months I have felt God calling me to study this again. You know when God puts something in your path so many times and so many ways you can no longer pretend He isn’t talking to you – well, it was that kind of thing.

So here we are …you, me, and OT Joe.

Joseph’s story is timeless. The beauty of the Bible is that people that lived 2000 or 3000 years ago are very much like the people we are today. The circumstances in which we live may be different, but people are still the same. Joseph’s story is proof.

This won’t be an in-depth Beth Moore style study but I want to encourage you to read along and pick a verse and create some art to go with it. No pressure. Do what you can, when you can.

We will begin in Genesis 37. Read Chapter 37 and select a verse. I will share my verse on Saturday, October 3 and talk a little about the chapter. I will continue to post on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday throughout the month of October. 12 postings will bring us to Wednesday the 28^th. Saturday the 31^st will be an extra verse and recap. (I already have too many verses J)

Please feel free to comment , I love hearing from you!

1 Corinthians 15:33

I am not sure what I had in mind when I started working on this verse. I stumbled upon some rub-ons from my scrapbooking days, and thought it might be fun to use them here.

The rub-ons are close to 10 years old and I didn't have enough of some of the letters. At the end of the day, it ended up looking like a ransom note. Maybe it wasn't planned but I do kind-of like the ransom note look for this strong warning.

I often tell my children that you become what you surround yourself with.

This verse is strong support for that sentiment.

Happy Monday to you!

Thank you for stopping by! 

Exodus 14:14

Continuing with my theme of mouth/talking this verse it so powerful.

I wanted to reflect that power in my coloring so I did a kind-of camouflage inking.

For those of us who like to talk (and do a lot of talking), and find it difficult to be still, this verse is so important.

Depending on the version you use that last word, silent (from ESV) is translated as still, calm, peace, quiet. I feel like God is sometimes telling me this verse using ALL of the words. 

  

תַּחֲרִישֽׁוּן׃  ta·ḥă·rî·šūn 

One commentary explains it as "firm in confidence" as in firm in your confidence in God. Strong's Concordance records 2 occurrences of this Hebrew verb. Exodus 14:14 & Job 13:5.

Exodus 14:14 
HEB: לָכֶ֑ם וְאַתֶּ֖ם תַּחֲרִישֽׁוּן׃ פ 
NAS: will fight for you while you keep silent.
KJV: shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
INT: will fight you keep

Job 13:5 
HEB: יִ֭תֵּן הַחֲרֵ֣שׁ תַּחֲרִישׁ֑וּן וּתְהִ֖י לָכֶ֣ם
NAS: that you would be completely silent, And that it would become
KJV: ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
INT: that you would be completely silent become your wisdom

In Exodus, and in Job, it is clear that God wants us to steady ourselves and let Him do what only He does so completely. 

I love to look at root words and compare where they are used. It helps me to understand the full scope of a word and why it was used in a particular verse or story.

I used a stamp for "LORD" and the rest is hand lettered.

I used Ranger Distress Ink and blender tool to create my "camouflage"

Thanks for stopping by!

James 1:19

For the past week I have my alarm on my phone set for every waking hour 6am-9pm. When the alarm goes off, (like it just did while I was writing this post) I stop and recite this verse aloud.

I went to put it in my Bible only to find the margins filled already.

I used the only open space available.

I decided not to color it just to keep the page from looking like a hot mess.

I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to include this very important verse (for me).

I LOVE these pages and these verses all done at different times and for different reasons.

One thing I love so much about my Journaling Bible is that I can now go through the 60 or so verses I have done and know exactly what was going on at the time.

The scrapbooker in me wants to go back and journal why I have each of these verses done. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Acts 8:26-39

We had a guest preacher a few weeks ago and he taught on Acts 8:29-39

and though I had studied the book of Acts before (this Summer as a matter of fact) I don't recall this story. 

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south[a] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said,“How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”[b]38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

Our friend went on to offer a simple reminder of this story:

Be Sensitive to the Spirit

Surrender to God's Call 

Sacrifice to God's Mission

Sensitive

Surrender

Sacrifice

What a great lesson for all of us. I had to ask myself, am I being sensitive to the Spirit?

Will I surrender to God's call? and Am I willing to sacrifice to God's mission?

Tough questions.

So instead of picking a single verse from the lesson I used the simple reminder in my Bible.

It isn't very fancy but it is BOLD which is exactly what I wanted. 

It is good to have a BOLD reminder to be obedient to the Spirit, Call, & Mission.

Psalm 130:5

Sorry it has been a week since I posted. I had this ready to go but just have been inside myself. 

Do you have times when you have something before you and you need to take some time and sit with it and make time for prayer and time to hear from God?

That is what I have been up to.

I have been waiting.

I really wasn't aware that this is the verse I had ready to go but I do think it fits perfectly.

God is dealing with me on some character issues. 

I am thankful that God only has dealt with one issue at a time with me.

He is a good good Father that way.

He knows that too much is overwhelming.

I heard something the other day that has really stayed with me...

we should read the Bible like we are dating not like a newspaper.

Meaning that we should be really interested in learning about who God is from his Word. We should read the Bible like we are learning about the person we are dating. Instead we often read it like a newspaper for facts we can regurgitate as if we are up to date and knowledgeable.

I hate to admit it but it sure rang true for me.

Not all the time but more time than I care to admit.

This past week, I have been reading it like someone I really want to know.

It makes a difference.

I will get back to creating again. 

I have a whole series of verses I want to do. I just have to find the time to do them!

Wishing you many blessings!