by Verena Johnson
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The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy (Psalm 26:3).
Read Psalm 126
As a girl, I remember my mother making me write happy thank-you letters to people after Christmas and birthdays. Sometimes, I wasn’t all that happy or thankful, though.
My heart wasn’t exactly filled with joy by embroidered handkerchiefs, crocheted coat hangers, school socks, undies or hair ties. Once, there was even a strawberry pin cushion that I had no idea what to do with. Another time, it was a tissue box cover, which wound up covering a brick as a doorstop. To my mind, these were not great things, and the letters were hard to write.
Thank you for your terrible, weird, interesting, strange, practical gift.
What a difference it made when I was truly appreciative and joyful about a gift.
The Lord has done great things for us. He has rescued us, saved us and restored us to his family as his beloved children. There are countless gifts and blessings that he showers on us every day. So, we should be filled with joy all the time or at least most of the time.
Interestingly, with everything God has done for us in the past and is doing for us now, we can still take him for granted. We can adopt a ‘ho-hum’ attitude or even feel entitled instead of bursting with joy and thankfulness.
We can also be distracted from seeing the goodness of God by the world around us or our circumstances and struggles.
The truth is that I do not always feel filled with joy. But then I remember that my joy is not based on my feelings. It is based on my relationship with God and the hope I have in him. That hope is true, steadfast and sure. When I take my eyes off the things that rob me of my joy or do not feel happy about and turn to God, I find my joy in him.
Read through the Scripture, and you will find joy. Remember God’s promises to us. Think about what Jesus has done for us and all the things he went through for us. Spend time with God and allow the Holy Spirit to grow the fruit of joy in you as you do.
Gracious God, you have been so good to me. You have done great things for me. Please help me to lift my eyes to you and away from the things in my life that rob me of my joy. Please fill me with your joy today by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Verena is a Church Worker Support Officer for the LCA’s Church Worker Support team, through which it is her privilege to support congregations, pastors, lay workers, employees and volunteers of the LCA. In her spare time, she is involved in drama ministry, women’s ministry and prayer ministry. She has three children and nine grandchildren in three different states.
by Verena Johnson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
‘The Lord your God gave me success,’ he replied (Genesis 27:20b).
Read Genesis 27:1–29
Isaac was 137 years old, and blind. He didn’t know how much time he had left to live. So, he decided it was time to give the blessing that would usually belong to the eldest son.
The problem was that Isaac favoured Esau, while Rebekah favoured Jacob. So began the sneaking around, trickery, lying and deception.
Tents are not very soundproof, so Rebekah overheard Isaac telling Esau to hunt some wild game and prepare his favourite stew, after which Isaac would bless Esau. This wasn’t right. She knew that wasn’t God’s plan; however, rather than trusting that God would somehow fulfil his promise. She took matters into her own hands and hatched a plan to deceive Isaac and trick him into giving the blessing to Jacob.
What happened to that innocent, faith-filled woman Isaac married? The lengths Rebekah and Jacob went to deceive Isaac are astonishing.
Isaac didn’t trust God’s plan either. Notice the secrecy and the conspiracy. Usually, the father’s blessing would be given before the entire family because it was like a will, distributing the family wealth and headship. Also, if you read Isaac’s blessing, you will see that he did not intend to give Jacob anything. It should have been a two-thirds, one-third split. (The eldest son usually got twice as much.)
Isaac knew God had determined that the older would serve the younger. He knew Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob. He also knew Esau had disqualified himself from spiritual leadership when he took two Canaanite women as wives, yet he resisted God’s plan.
Amid all the deception and lying, there was one unintentionally true thing Jacob said. ‘The Lord your God gave me success.’
God was still in control, regardless of the plotting and scheming of his chosen vessels. Despite their sinfulness and character flaws, God still chose them even though they didn’t deserve it. God gave Jacob success because it was part of God’s plan – not Rebekah’s or Jacob’s.
It never ceases to amaze me who God chooses to be part of his plans.
It never ceases to amaze me that God chooses me to be part of his plans. I certainly don’t deserve it. He chooses you, too, even though you don’t deserve it.
Almighty God, I am amazed that you chose me to be part of your plan. Thank you for not giving up on me despite my sinfulness and character flaws. Please help me to live today for you. Amen.
Verena is a Church Worker Support Officer for the LCA’s Church Worker Support team, through which it is her privilege to support congregations, pastors, lay workers, employees and volunteers of the LCA. In her spare time, she is involved in drama ministry, women’s ministry and prayer ministry. She has three children and nine grandchildren in three different states.
by Verena Johnson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant (Genesis 25:21).
Read Genesis 25:19–34
Sometimes, when we assume nothing can go wrong, it is when things do go wrong.
It certainly seemed like nothing could go wrong for Isaac and Rebekah. After all, God has found Abraham a good wife for his son. Isaac and Rebekah have fallen in love and married.
Yet Rebekah hasn’t been able to have children for 20 years. God’s promise will only be fulfilled if God intervenes. They must depend entirely on God. This kind of dependence isn’t easy. We certainly struggle with it when things go wrong for us.
Isaac goes to God in prayer, and Rebekah becomes pregnant.
So now nothing can possibly go wrong, can it? Rebekah and Isaac will have a son, and God’s promise will be fulfilled.
However, Rebekah’s pregnancy becomes painful. Her unborn twins aren’t just moving delicately around in her womb; they’re jostling or struggling with each other. She asks God that classic question we all ask from time to time, ‘Why is this happening to me?’
What God tells this expectant mum is hardly reassuring. Your sons won’t be friends or even close. They’ll be separated. In fact, they’ll become two nations, and the older one will serve the younger one.
The twins grow up to become two very different people. Esau becomes a big, hairy, outdoorsy hunter. Jacob becomes a quiet stay-at-home man. On top of that, Isaac loves Esau best, while Rebekah loves Jacob. Even their parents are divided.
It all comes crashing down when Jacob cheats his big brother out of his birthright. Esau doesn’t come off well in this story either, as he trades his valuable birthright for a simple bowl of stew. It’s a trade he’ll live to regret and the beginning of a resentment that will only grow.
Thank God that his grace comes to us, as it did for them, when things go wrong. God meets us in the unpredictable and often messy places of our lives. He comes to us amid our sinfulness and brokenness. He does not give up on us when we fail to value our heavenly birthright and focus on the things of this world. He still loves us when we cheat or take advantage of others. Thank God for his amazing grace.
Gracious God, thank you for the amazing grace you show towards me in my messy, unpredictable, sinful life. Please help me to treasure the heavenly birthright you’ve given me and to live as your beloved child. Amen.
Verena is a Church Worker Support Officer for the LCA’s Church Worker Support team, through which it is her privilege to support congregations, pastors, lay workers, employees and volunteers of the LCA. In her spare time, she is involved in drama ministry, women’s ministry and prayer mini
by Verena Johnson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death (Genesis 24:67).
Read Genesis 24:50–67
Don’t you just love a happy ending? I know I do.
If this were a fairytale, verse 67 would end with: ‘and they all lived happily ever after’. Add Isaac and Rebekah in each other’s arms with a sunset in the background and some swelling romantic music, and you have a classic romance movie ending. Except that, we know the story doesn’t end here.
So far, we haven’t focused much on Rebekah. It seems to me she must have been a brave, strong and faith-filled woman. Not only would she have had to be strong to carry all that water to all those camels at the spring, but she was also quick to follow God’s plan even though it happened suddenly and would change her whole life.
Imagine you’re Rebekah. You’re just minding your own business; however, because you are kind and generous, you offer to water a stranger’s camels. Unexpectedly, he tells you that you’re exactly who he’s been looking for as a wife for his master. While you’re still recovering from that surprise, he gives you marriage jewellery as a sign of good faith and an indication of the wealth of his master. So, in a daze, you take him home to discuss things with your father and brother.
They all agree it’s God’s will; you can feel that too. The servant wants you to leave right now. Under normal circumstances, it would be customary for you to stay with your family for at least ten days to pack, prepare yourself for the marriage and say goodbye to everyone. But you immediately agree to leave in the morning with this stranger you’ve only just met.
Rebekah bravely agreed to uproot her comfortable, stable life for a completely unknown future. She didn’t make a list of pros and cons. She didn’t spend hours thinking and praying about it. She didn’t even worry about how she would get all her packing done in time. Why? She could feel God’s leading and didn’t hesitate to be part of his plan.
It’s interesting the blessing Rebekah’s family gave her when she left was also a prophecy that would be fulfilled. Indeed, this woman of faith would ultimately be the mother of ‘thousands upon thousands’ of descendants.
Dear God, help me to be willing to follow where you lead me. Please help me to be brave, strong and faith filled as I follow where you lead me today. Amen.
Verena is a Church Worker Support Officer for the LCA’s Church Worker Support team, through which it is her privilege to support congregations, pastors, lay workers, employees and volunteers of the LCA. In her spare time, she is involved in drama ministry, women’s ministry and prayer ministry. She has three children and nine grandchildren in three different states.
by Verena Johnson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other (Genesis 24:50b).
Read Genesis 24:28–38,49–51
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It’s amazing how we can see things with so much more clarity when we look back on them. Then there’s foresight, where we can predict future possibilities and prepare for them.
There’s another ‘sight’ that you may not have heard of. Probably because I just invented it. I wish I had ‘middle-sight’, where I could see what is really going on right in the middle of things and not have to wait until later or try to predict it earlier.
After reading this story again, I am amazed at how everybody seemed to understand exactly what was going on while it was happening. There appears to be no confusion or questioning. No-one doubts that it’s God’s plan and his doing. They can all see God’s hand so clearly as the story unfolds. Laban sums it up by saying, ‘This is from the Lord’. He goes on to add that there is nothing more they can say about it.
So why is it so hard to see God’s hand in our lives at times? Then, when we do, why do we second-guess him, doubt him, question him and have so much to say?
Sometimes we fail to see the hand of God in the midst of things simply because we’re not looking for it or even expecting it. Maybe it’s because we have a set idea of how he should be acting and what he should be doing, and we’re not looking anywhere else. If we can’t see God’s hand, it’s not because he’s not actively working in our lives. He is. He is always at work and blessing us beyond measure.
We can ask God to open our spiritual eyes to see his hand more clearly in our everyday lives and then actively look for him, expecting to see him at work.
Think back over the last few days. Where can you see the hand of God? How has God been active in your everyday life?
Loving Father, thank you that you are active in my life. Thank you for all the blessings you give me each day. Open my spiritual eyes to see your hand more clearly in my life. Help me to look for you and expect you today. Amen.
Verena is a Church Worker Support Officer for the LCA’s Church Worker Support team, through which it is her privilege to support congregations, pastors, lay workers, employees and volunteers of the LCA. In her spare time, she is involved in drama ministry, women’s ministry and prayer ministry. She has three children and nine grandchildren in three different states.
by Verena Johnson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
As for me, the Lord has led me … (Genesis 24:27b).
Read Genesis 24:1–27
What is the hardest thing you’ve ever been asked to do?
How about: ‘Go to a far country and find a wife for my son, and you can’t take him with you to meet her’?
The interesting thing is that, in response to receiving this fairly daunting task, the servant only asked Abraham one question. I would have had a whole list of them. Abraham did assure his servant that God ‘will send his angel before you’. But I still can’t help wondering what must have been going through this poor man’s mind on his long journey to that strange country. He had plenty of time to think about what he had been asked to do.
The real standout thing about this story is what the servant did when he finally reached his destination. After he found a likely spot near a spring, the first thing he did was pray. He handed the whole daunting task he had been given over to God and asked him to do the heavy lifting.
Before he had even finished praying, God answered his prayer with nothing short of a miracle. God helped the servant to accomplish his task successfully, and he knew it. His immediate response was to worship and praise God and tell Rebekah how the Lord had led him.
In this story, we can see how God is actively involved in the lives of his children. He is keenly interested in our everyday decisions, both big and small. He wants us to turn to him. To hand the things we are asked to do to him. To let him do the heavy lifting when we are carrying the weight of responsibility. To make prayer the first thing we do and not a last act of desperation.
How has God led and guided you in the past?
Take a moment to thank and praise him for those times.
Where is God leading you and guiding you right now?
Take a moment to talk with him about this.
Dear God, I’m sorry for the times when I failed to turn to you and tried to do it all in my own strength and wisdom. Help me to turn to you first when I need guidance. Lead and guide me today in all I do and say. Amen.
Verena is a Church Worker Support Officer for the LCA’s Church Worker Support team, through which it is her privilege to support congregations, pastors, lay workers, employees and volunteers of the LCA. In her spare time, she is involved in drama ministry, women’s ministry and prayer ministry. She has three children and nine grandchildren in three different states.
by Verena Johnson
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
Read Mark 10:35–45
Have you ever asked a stupid question and then really wished you’d kept your mouth closed? I can think of a few times when I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.
Today’s reading includes one of the most stupid requests in the Bible. James and John start off with, ‘Do whatever we ask’. Really?! What on earth were they thinking? Then they follow it up with, ‘Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory’. What kind of a request is that?
James and John were already in Jesus’ inner circle with Peter. Maybe that gave them big heads or an inflated sense of importance. They weren’t even being secretive about this – the other disciples all heard. Again, what were they thinking?! Had they learnt nothing from all their time with Jesus and his teaching and example?
Three times, Jesus had predicted that he would suffer and die in Jerusalem. In Mark 8:31–33, 9:30–32 and just before today’s text in 10:32–34. Somehow, these two disciples made it all about them and completely missed what Jesus was saying.
Of course, Jesus knew what was in their hearts, but he still asked them anyway. If it were me, I’d be rolling my eyes and not even bothering to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. Jesus probably just sighed internally and lovingly prepared to use it as a teaching moment for the whole group.
Teach them he did. Again. Christians have called the way Jesus described his kingdom ‘the great reverse’. Jesus turned everything upside-down or backwards. The last shall be first and the first last. To be great, you’ve got to become a servant or slave of all.
Forget James and John for a moment. What about you and me? We can also struggle with our own sense of importance in wanting recognition, power, position, influence and even glory. We struggle with living the great reverse and being last or being servants. Serving ourselves instead of Jesus or others comes naturally to us.
Thank Jesus that he ‘didn’t come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’. Thanks to the ransom he paid, we can be forgiven, like James and John, for our ungodly desires and actions, our daily stuff-ups, and even our stupidest questions.
Jesus, thank you that you came to serve and give your life as a ransom for me. Forgive me when I fail to serve you and others and instead serve myself. Help me to live today in service to you and those you send into my life. Amen.
Verena is a Church Worker Support Officer for the LCA’s Church Worker Support team, through which it is her privilege to support congregations, pastors, lay workers, employees and volunteers of the LCA. In her spare time, she is involved in drama ministry, women’s ministry and prayer ministry. She has three children and nine grandchildren in three different states.
by Pastor Peter Bean
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The Lord is your protection; you have made God Most High your place of safety (Psalm 91:9).
Read Psalm 91:9–16
Many people say this is one of their favourite psalms. I can understand why. It is full of promises. If you read the whole psalm, you will see how verses 9 to 16 more or less parallel verses 1 to 8.
It is a psalm of confidence, hope, protection and abundant life. It is a psalm that was obviously spoken or written when the writer was in a good place, life was going well, the psalmist had recovered from a distressing time and the psalmist could look forward to an ongoing, abundant life. Which is terrific. And it would be a wonderful place to be in.
But we are not always in that place. In this world, life has a habit of hitting us in the face and slowing us down. When a relationship goes sour, a business fails, a friend dies suddenly, or illness strikes, life does not seem so good. Abundance can seem to have disappeared. We need to honour those times. They will not be enjoyable. They will take time to get through. They may leave us anxious or distressed. They may leave us frail and in ill health. Where is the protection, then? Where is the place of safety?
Perhaps that is the time to turn to this psalm again. (And perhaps not. Don’t flog yourself trying to feel good. Read the psalm when you are ready!) In her paraphrase, Nan Merrill renders verse 9: ‘I will surrender myself to you, abandoning myself into your hands without reserve.’ Can you do that? Can you turn to the Lord, surrendering life with all its ups and downs to him? Can you put your trust in him?
The reality is that God is your protection – even in the down times, as well as in the good times. Make God Most High your place of safety. And look forward to an abundant life.
God of comfort, protection and safety, please remind me of your presence in my life. Be with me in times of trouble. Be with me in times of abundance. Help us all to live in harmony. Amen.
In early October, Peter enjoyed a family camp with his children and grandchildren at Lake Bonney, South Australia. Then, he returned to weeding, planting, riding, reading and relaxing!
by Pastor Peter Bean
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
I am only a stranger and foreigner here. Sell me some of your land (Genesis 23:4a).
Read Genesis 23:1–20
If you have been reading the story of Abraham carefully this week, you’ll have noticed that among all the horrible bits is a story of hospitality. In fact, hospitality and inhospitality are woven throughout this narrative. The Greek word for hospitality literally means ‘love of strangers'. So, Abraham welcomes the three strangers in Genesis 18, feeds them and gives them a drink. This is taken up in Hebrews 13, where we are told: ‘Remember to welcome strangers, because some who have done this have welcomed angels without knowing it.’ Think back through this week’s readings. Where are examples of hospitality and inhospitality?
So, we come to Genesis 23. Sarah dies. Abraham seeks to bury her. He goes to the Hittites, the adversaries of the Israelites and their (our) God. And as you read the chapter, you will see hospitality played out, back and forth, until there is an agreement all are happy with.
No bickering over whose land this is, no slandering of each other, no questioning each other’s motives. Rather, acceptance of who they are and their place in the world. Peace in their time!
Can we follow their example? Can we accept God’s statement to us through Paul in Ephesians 2:19? ‘So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household.’ And then apply it to our lives?
God accepts all. You, me, your neighbours, the first inhabitants of Australia, those who come from different lands. In our world of social disharmony that we seem to live in, we do well to remember God’s words: ‘You belong to God’s household.’ Then, living in grace and forgiveness, extend that hospitality to all we encounter, all humanity, remembering each person is made in God’s image and is also extended grace.
God of hospitality, who loves humanity in all its various expressions, let me live in your love. Help me to reflect that grace and forgiveness to everyone I meet. Amen.
In early October, Peter enjoyed a family camp with his children and grandchildren at Lake Bonney, South Australia. Then, he returned to weeding, planting, riding, reading and relaxing!