Week 4 Thursday
Jacob's love for Rachel is complicated by his match in Laban, David closes his psalm still praising God's greatness and saving grace, and Jesus' identity is confirmed through Peter's confession and the Transfiguration.
Genesis 29
📖 What are we reading?: When Jacob sees Rachel it is love at first sight! But he meets his match in Laban, who deceives him, as he had deceived his brother. Notice how Leah praises God for the birth of Judah, in whose line Jesus would be born.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He sees the overlooked and unloved - Leah, unloved by her husband, is seen and blessed by God with children, and it is through her son Judah that the line of the Messiah would come.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Jacob, the deceiver, now tastes his own medicine at the hands of Laban. What we sow, we reap. Yet even in the middle of this tangled family story, God's grace and purposes keep moving forward - as Leah's praise reminds us.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: Genesis, meaning "beginnings", was written by Moses around 1400 BC, and covers the story of creation, the fall, and the origins of God's chosen people, Israel.
Psalm 18:25-50
📖 What are we reading?: The second half of this Psalm focuses on God's greatness again, as well as His saving grace in the lives of His children.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He is the living God, worthy of praise among the nations, who saves and exalts His people.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: May it lead you to echo verses 46 and 49 in your heart today - praising God as our living Rock, and giving thanks to Him among the nations.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: The Psalms is a collection of 150 poems and songs, written by David and others, expressing the full range of human emotion in response to God and to life.
♫ Worship through Psalm 18 with Luke in this session.
Luke 9:18-50
📖 What are we reading?: Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, and Jesus responds by teaching what it will cost to follow Him. He is then transfigured on the mountain before Peter, James, and John, before coming down to heal a boy tormented by a demon and teach His disciples about true greatness.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: Jesus is confirmed, in word and in glory, as the Messiah and beloved Son of God - and yet He is also the suffering servant who must go to the cross.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Peter's confession that Jesus is Messiah prompts Jesus to remind the disciples how hard it is to follow Him. The Transfiguration is an amazing moment, and His teaching that follows challenges us in many ways - to take up our cross daily, and to measure greatness not by status but by humble service.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: Luke's Gospel was written by Luke, a Greek physician and companion of Paul, around AD 60-62. It is the most detailed account of Jesus' life, and is especially attentive to the poor, to women, and to outcasts.
A Prayer for the Day
🙏 Lord, thank You that You see the overlooked and that Your purposes keep moving forward even in our tangled stories. You are our living Rock, worthy of praise. Help us, like the disciples, to truly know who Jesus is, and to take up our cross daily in humble service to You. Amen.
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