Today as I was spending time in the Word of God, the Lord showed me something that I have not seen before. Before I share that with you I need to tell you that when I do my devotions, I read a portion from the Old Testament and a portion from the New Testament each day and today I saw something I thought was very interesting:
Manipulating the circumstances instead of trusting the Lord (Genesis 30:1-43)
First of all, we need to remember that the Lord had told Jacob that “Your descendents shall be as the dust of the earth… and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen.28:14). But we see in chapter 30 how Rachel gave Jacob her maid Bilha to bear children for them. Then at the right time (God’s time) she bore Joseph (v.22-24).
Then before Jacob takes his family to provide for his own household (v.30), he makes a deal with his uncle Laben. However, Jacob is using trickery. He has become quite a trickster as well as finally meeting his match. Jacob is now going to make a comeback. The point I am making is that Jacob has used and is still using deception and trickery to get his way and be blessed when the Lord had already given him many promises.
Now what I want to do is to jump to the New Testament passage in (Matthew 9:18 thru 10:14). In these verse we see..
- A ruler’s daughter is raised from the dead… he had faith that Jesus could do this (v.18).
- A woman with a flow of blood being healed and Jesus says “Your faith has made you well” (v.22).
- Two blind men were given their sight and Jesus said ‘According to your faith let it be to you” (v.29).
- Jesus sends out the twelve and tells them “Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper (money), two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs (v.9-10)… the point is… the Lord will provide for them… that takes faith.
Here is my point: we see Jacob using trickery and deception trying to get his way when God has already given him promises to stand on. These passages in the New Testament show us how these peoples’ faith was what the Lord was wanting.
The Lord has spoken to my heart that He has given us (Dave, Shelly, The Mitchell’s) a promise to move to Milano, Italy and I need to stand on that promise, not trying to manipulate circumstances to see it take place, not that I am, but the point is, trust in Him (Prov.3:5-6).
What promise has the Lord given you? Trust in His promises!
May the Lord richly bless you
Pastor Ronnie