January 11 ▪ Day 11

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 3:35
Genesis 21–22
Matthew 11
Psalms 11

Verse Focus (Proverbs 3:35)

The wise inherit honor,
     but fools get only shame.

Meditation

Hello! Can you believe we’re a third of the way through our first month together? Already the year seems to be flying by….

So, our verse focus today talks about yet another facet of wisdom: those who are wise are respected and honored, while fools are humiliated and disgraced. This is actually a very strong motive for our sin-centered natures to seek wisdom since we tend to care an awful lot about what other people think! Certainly no one wants to be shamed. But notice the first verb: inherit. We don’t get the “glory” (as some translations say) by chasing after it directly; it is a by-product of our search for wisdom.

Father God, if we’re truthful, we do long to be honored and respected — and perhaps we care more about what others think than we should. Help us to seek after you, and to learn wisdom. And as we grow, please refine our motives so that we seek you because of who you are rather than for any benefits we might receive.

As the story continues in Genesis 21, we learn that God fulfills his promise: Isaac is born to Sarah at the time that the LORD had said it would happen. Abraham is now 100 years old. Although the text doesn’t remind us here, we know from other Scriptures that Sarah is 90 years old. They name the child “Isaac” (meaning laughter) because he not only is and brings laughter to his family, but everyone will laugh when they hear this news. I imagine myself hearing news of an older couple, that they had had a child. After the initial disbelief, I know I would laugh. Just imagine someone set in their ways suddenly having to deal with an infant… or a toddler… a child. (This sounds like the plot of a comedy movie, doesn’t it? Talk about hysterical!)

So eight days after he is born, Isaac is circumcised as part of the covenant agreement. He grows, and he is weaned, and Abraham throws a great feast. Ishmael, who is about 17 years old now (possibly 16, possibly 18), is seen to be mocking. Perhaps the mockery stemmed from rivalry, but it sounds like typical teenage behavior to me. Still, this sets Sarah off and family tensions explode as Sarah demands that Abraham get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. Although Abraham is distressed at this, God tells Abraham to listen to Sarah. Ishmael will be taken care of, but God’s covenant promise is for Isaac.

This little story is fascinating because it seems so very ordinary. What else would you expect to happen when you have two different wives, two possible heirs, and inheritance on the line? Yet in the New Testament, Paul tells us that this incident is an allegory for our salvation (see Galatians 4).

So the slave woman and her son are cast out of the household. In a near repetition of the events in Genesis 16, an angel of the LORD speaks to Hagar when she is in the desert. Her emotional state is probably very similar to how it was then. She has lost all hope because she can not find water. But God helps Hagar and He watches over Ishmael (literally, “was with” him) as he grows to adulthood. Eventually, Hagar gets a wife for Ishmael from Egypt — not too surprising considering that Hagar is also Egyptian.

In the final part of chapter 21, we are told about how Abraham and Abimelek make a treaty at Beersheeba. Perhaps you wondered, as I did, how Abraham could make a treaty that he and his descendants would always treat Abimelek’s descendants “kindly.” Weren’t all the Canaanites to be totally destroyed when Israel came into the Promised Land? Abraham and Abimelek had met and had their earlier conflict over Sarah in what was more-or-less Canaanite territory, so I had assumed that the kingdom of Gerar was in Canaan. Not so. They were actually Philistines (v. 31-32). Although there was fighting on and off between them, the Philistines were not included in the group of tribes that Israel was supposed to annihilate.

So Genesis chapter 22 is a pivotal chapter. If you have any kind of church background, you know this story. As the story begins, we are told that God is “testing” Abraham. Abraham is told he must offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. They travel to Mount Moriah to “worship,” and Abraham and Isaac go up the mountain alone. According to Jewish tradition, Isaac was a willing sacrifice. It is only as Abraham raises the knife to slay Isaac that God stops him. Miraculously, there’s a suitable animal nearby that Abraham sacrifices instead. God tells Abraham, “Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” The covenant between God and Abraham is then re-affirmed, this time with an oath.

So as modern readers, we have mixed feelings when we read this story. How can the God of love, the God of compassion, the God who sent Jesus — how can He have asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, even if it was only a test? The God we see here in the Old Testament seems so different than the God we have come to know in the New Testament. When I first started reading the Bible, that was something I really struggled with because the God of the Old Testament seemed so different than the God of the New Testament. But as I got to know the Scriptures better, I gradually understood how they were one and the same. The holy, fierce, and fearful God who judges in the Old Testament is a caricature of God’s nature, while the God of Love from the New Testament also distorts His nature by oversimplifying who He really is. We need to see Him from both sides.

Another reason we find Abraham’s test problematic is because we know from other Scriptures that God hates any kind of human sacrifice. Indeed, many Canaanite religions called for child sacrifice and this was one of the reasons why they were supposed to be destroyed.

However, we also know that this story about Abraham and Isaac foreshadows the story of God and Christ Jesus. Abraham did not withhold his son from God; God does not withhold His Son from us. And for that, I am extremely grateful.

Matthew chapter 11 relates to us a time when John the Baptist was in prison and he seems to be undergoing a crisis of faith. Even though in chapter 3, John had baptized Jesus and recognized who Jesus really was, now he is questioning if that is really true. He sends his disciples to Jesus to ask if Jesus is really the expected one. For evidence, Jesus points to the good works he is doing and the good news that is being preached.

Jesus then begins to talk about John the Baptist. John is a prophet, and more than a prophet — indeed, he is the one who was to predict the coming of the Messiah. Further, Jesus says, there is no one who has yet been born who is greater than John the Baptist. And then he startles us by saying that even the least person who is in the kingdom of God is greater than John. Think about this for a moment. Do you believe it? When I look at myself, I certainly don’t see someone who is greater than John the Baptist! So what does Jesus mean?

As I ponder these verses, I feel like I catch the barest glimpse of understanding. Those in the kingdom of God will live forever; there is a future glory waiting for us that is unshakeable. Before Christ came, and before he could be the bridge between human-kind and God, no one could even enter the kingdom. No one enters now, apart from God’s grace in Christ Jesus. I suspect there’s more to this that I don’t understand, and I wonder if part of the “greatness” has to do with the impact we have on others by having the Holy Spirit inside us. It may not be impact we see, but maybe it’s there all the same. I don’t know. What do you think Jesus means by this?

Just as he did in the previous chapter, Jesus again talks about how Sodom will fare better on the Day of Judgment than many of the towns of Galilee and Judah.

Jesus praises the Father for confounding the wisdom of the world. God hides these spiritual matters from the wise and learned, but reveals them to little children. Then Jesus talks about his own identity and knowing God, making claims that the Jews would see as blasphemous.

Finally, in Matthew 11, we have Jesus’ famous call for the weary and burdened to come to Him. Words of comfort — highlighted in probably every version of the Bible that I have ever read! As much as I have loved these words, I only recently came to a new understanding of what it meant to take Christ’s yoke upon you.

Well, to begin with, I’m desperately lazy, so I wasn’t too keen on the whole idea of a yoke in the first place. If you’re weary, you want to rest, to take off the yoke. Or so it seemed to me. But eventually I reasoned that everyone wears a yoke of some type — that’s partly what Paul is talking about in his letters when he talks about being enslaved to sin. Somehow, though, I imagined that Jesus was like the farmer and I was one of his oxen. I saw Christ standing over me, like an overseer. But recently I realized that “my” yoke — Jesus’ yoke — was the yoke he was wearing. So I’m being yoked directly with Christ. And, believe me, I know who’s bearing the real burden of that load!

As Psalm 11 begins, David is in danger and he is being counseled to flee to the mountains for his own protection against his enemies. However, David finds it hard to believe what he is being asked to do. How can the speaker not know that the LORD will protect him? David’s counselor obviously has no faith in the God of Israel, and no faith that the righteous will prevail. So David speaks of God’s power and his reign — the LORD sits in heaven and rules over the entire earth. He hates the wicked and will “rain burning coals and sulfur” upon them (yet another reference to Sodom!). But the upright will see the LORD’s face.

Again, I find myself impressed by David’s faith. His life is on the line, but rather than running away, he is trusting God to deal with the wicked. It’s interesting, too, because some would say that running away is the “sensible” thing to do. Of course, every situation is different and there were times when David did flee. Oh, may we all walk so closely with the LORD that we will know when to run and when to stay and fight!

Father God, thank you for this day. Thank you for your Scripture, and for the things you want to teach us. Help us to understand; open our eyes.

Father God, when we compare the faith of people like Abraham or David and set that against our own faith, our faith seems too puny. I doubt I’d have the courage or the faith to do what Abraham did when he bound Isaac on Mount Moriah. And if there were men who wanted to kill me, I think I’d run to the mountains, too. So I don’t really understand why Jesus said that I am greater than John the Baptist. But I thank you that you did send Jesus for us, and I thank you that you have adopted me as your own child. Thank you for bringing me into your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.