January 13
Gen 28-29 | PS 11 | Prov 3:11-12 | Matt 9:18-38
From my vantage point I certainly do not have all the answers to many of our current situations. Though all the drones in our skies appear to be nefarious, and there are no shortage of opinions swirling, I'm not sure who they belong to or what they are doing. Though the situation surrounding the LA fires seem nefarious, with some similarities to the Lahaina, Hawaii fire in 2023, with the rapid devastation, the absence of water to fight the fires, I can't be sure of who was behind it, what the purpose of it was, etc. When I think of these things it is good to remind ourselves of Psalm 11:4, "But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven. He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth." So, when I feel anger welling up over the injustice, I have to remind myself of God's sovereignty. Jesus, though attacked from every side, saw things clearly, not angrily, as He said in Matthew 9:36, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Despite those who questioned His character (9:34), He remained steadfast with His message, as we see in 9:35, "Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness." And His message to us should not be missed, as we read in 9:37-38, "He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”"
We have a tendency to focus on the situation and not enough on the One who is able to see us through the situation. In Matthew 9:18-32, we see a dead girl raise to life, a woman who was bleeding, stop after twelve years, two blind men see, and a mute demon-possessed man speak, all because they placed their faith in Jesus and not the enormity of their situation. We see in Esau, what not following God looks like. Esau is a tragic character in that he was a man of the world who never gave God a thought. He was carnal. When hungry, he demanded food. Some might even see him as a real man's man. When he sought a wife, he never looked up and sought the counsel of God, even when he noticed his parents were not happy with his choices (his original two from Canaan), he doesn't bother to seek their advice, as we read in Genesis 28:6-9, that upon this realization, he visits his uncle Ishmael and marries one of his daughters. Realize the Satanic creed is "Do as thou whilst". These actions by Esau all reflect a man who simply did what he wanted at all times. Never seeking God’s will, he followed his own will. He had no heart for God. How many do we know, who deem themselves "good" live life basing every decision on what they themselves think. People sadly just don't realize that we are not that smart, not that logical, not that good, and our choices come with consequences, and are often poor choices.
We see what conditional faith looks like in the character of Jacob. After God promises Jacob amazing things in a dream, we read Jacob's response in Genesis 28:20-22, "Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.” To despise does not mean to hate, but to take lightly or not consider at all. So, we must all ask ourselves after today's reading whose faith does ours resemble. Do you despise God, like Esau, not that you necessarily do bad things, in fact, you might even do many good things, but if you were honest, you don't seek God at all in these decisions or in your life. Or are you more like Jacob, who has a conditional faith, sort of a quid pro quo faith, if God comes through on what you want then you will respond. Or are you like those who were healed by Jesus in the accounts in Matthew 9, who approached the King of Kings with situations which were seemingly impossible in absolute faith. For those of us in the faith, like Jesus, may we never take our minds and thoughts off the message at hand: it was about the gospel message, it is, and it will always be about Jesus and His Kingdom, so, let's be those workers that Jesus sends into our own respective mission fields.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: