January 13 ▪ Day 13

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 4:7
Genesis 25–26
Matthew 13
Psalms 13

Verse Focus (Proverbs 4:7)

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom.
     Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Alternately translated as: Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
     Whatever else you get, get understanding.

Meditation

I love the NIV’s translation of today’s verse focus: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom.” It’s like, duh! To receive wisdom, you must pursue it. So obvious, and yet we must be told. So, make a point of searching for wisdom. It’s more than worth it. Scripture says: “Though it cost all you have” or “whatever else you get.” Such a high value on wisdom! It reminds me of what Jesus says about the kingdom of heaven. That’s not too surprising, since seeking God first is also what seeking wisdom is about (since wisdom comes from God).

Father God, help me to seek you and your wisdom above all other things!

Our history of Israel’s patriarchs continues as we read Genesis 25 and 26 today. Abraham marries again after Sarah’s death, and has additional children with Keturah. We learn the names of Ishmael’s 12 princes. And we are told the story about the birth of Esau and Jacob, twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah.

Genesis 25:20 tells us that Isaac was 40 years old when he and Rebekah got married. Despite Rebekah’s family’s hopes and wishes for Rebekah to become the mother of multitudes, the couple remained childless for some time. Scripture tells us that Isaac prayed for his wife’s infertility and that God “answered his prayer.” But then we learn that Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth to the twins (v. 26). I don’t know when Isaac started praying for his wife, but 20 years is a long time to wait for children. Perhaps this wait was to remind Isaac and Rebekah that their children, too, were the result of God’s promise. In the “natural” order of things, Rebekah may have been approaching menopause or might have already reached it before God intervened and allowed her to get pregnant.

We read the story of how Esau sells his birthright to Jacob. In the interaction between the brothers, we learn that Esau was extremely impatient and unwilling to deny himself something that he wanted. He may not have really believed or understood that he was really “selling” his birthright to Jacob, but the fact is that he was not willing to wait the time it would take to prepare food. It is this impatience of spirit that helps me to understand why God favored Jacob over Esau. So many stories of God’s blessings seem to involve long waits. Obviously, God could give us what we desire immediately, but clearly we learn valuable lessons from waiting.

Abraham dies at age 175, when the twins are about 15 years old. He is buried next to his wife Sarah in the only plot of land they own in Canaan.

Genesis chapter 26 tells a number of stories about Isaac that are near repeats of stories about Abraham. I forget what the term in literary criticism is for this kind of repetition (“parallelism,” maybe?), but there are some scholars who see these “repeats” as evidence that Genesis was written by multiple authors. I don’t fully understand their reasoning in this, but I think it has to do with a belief that these repeats are evidence of oral histories that were confused. Of course, if you believe the Bible is divinely inspired, you will see evidence of that. On the other hand, if you believe that the stories are just a collection of a people’s oral histories, you’ll find the evidence of that, too.

So in chapter 26 we have another famine. And God appears to Isaac and tells him not to go down to Egypt. The LORD speaks to Isaac directly about the covenant with Abraham and now invites Isaac to join into the terms of the covenant: if Isaac obeys God, he will be blessed and have numerous descendants who will inherit the land and who will be a blessing to all peoples. So Isaac obeys what God tells him, and he goes to King Abimelek of Gerar in the land of the Philistines.

We get another repeat of the “she is my sister” thing, also with Abimelek discovering the truth of the matter and being upset that Isaac might have brought guilt upon him or his people. Like Abraham, Isaac also gains great wealth during this time. So that, again, the king asks them to leave his territory. There is quarreling over a well again — this time over several wells — and again, there is another treaty.

As I was re-reading chapter 26 today, I was struck particularly by verse 12: “Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in the same year reaped a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him.” We’ve heard the story of this bountiful multiplication before, haven’t we?

In fact, in our gospel chapter today, Matthew 13, we have the parable of the sower. Some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky soil, and the plants sprang up quickly but soon died from not having enough roots. Some seed fell among the thorns, and they had their life choked out of them. Finally there was the seed that fell upon good soil and produced grain of up to a “hundredfold” of what had originally been sown. Jesus interprets this parable for his disciples. The seed on the path are those who do not understand the words of the kingdom of God: the devil snatches the seed away from their hearts. The seed on rocky soil are those who receive the word with joy, but because they have no root they fall away when trouble or persecution comes. The seed among thorns are those people who let the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke them so that they are unfruitful. And finally, the seed in the good soil stands for those who hear the word and understand it, bearing much fruit.

I confess that this parable gave me a bit of anxiety when I was younger. I worried that I might be one whose soil was rocky or covered with thorns. I viewed this parable rather fatalistically, as if we had no control over what type of field we might be. But recently I have begun to understand this parable as a metaphor for stages in our spiritual journeys. We all start out like seed on the path. Then we start beginning to understand, but we haven’t developed roots. Later, we may be more deeply rooted, but it’s so easy to be distracted by the problems in the world or by the desire for a more comfortable life. Finally, as we mature in Christ, we become the good soil: fruitful and blessed. That shift in my understanding, from a futile or fatalistic point of view to recognizing that in Christ we do have control over what kind of soil we might be — well, it gives me hope. Because we all want hundredfold blessing, don’t we?

Matthew 13:52 was a verse that the Holy Spirit highlighted for me two years ago. The verse reads: He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” On one level, this verse is talking about the treasures of Judaism — the Law — combined with the treasures of the gospel. But there is always more when you dig deeper.

We know that we are meant to store up treasures in heaven. And we all have Scripture verses that hold special meaning for us or stories of God’s faithfulness in our repertoire. You may trot out these same stories year after year. And why not? They are, after all, our old treasures. But two years ago the Holy Spirit showed me that I need to be sure I am searching for new treasures, too. Perhaps you’ve never read the Bible all the way through before. Or perhaps you’ve read Scripture so many times it doesn’t seem like you’ll ever be able to see anything new. In either case, we need to remember to pray that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes and anoint our understanding. Ask for God to reveal some new treasures to you today.

This chapter in Matthew is chock full of parables. And Jesus spokes in parables partly in fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah. But Jesus’ comment on these parables is telling: “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” (v. 16) Father God, please bless my eyes and my ears!

Psalm 13 is a prayer for deliverance from enemies (at least according to the editorial notes that different translations add to help us differentiate one passage of Scripture from another). This short psalm was written by David, and it is an extremely impassioned call for help. A couple of days ago I talked about Psalm 10, which was not written by David and commented that it did not display the kind of faith that we associate with him. Psalm 10 talked about the silence of God — and so does this psalm. But in true David-style, he is passionate as he questions this silence from God. “How long?” David asks. How long, how long, how long, how long — four times in a row!

After a much shorter plea to be remembered and not have his enemies think they have won, David then concludes the psalm with a statement of trust and praise for God’s faithfulness.

Father God, I’m so thankful that you welcome me no matter how I’m feeling. In Christ, I can be intimate with you. I can freely share whether I’m feeling angry or hurt or frustrated. I can shout at you when you are silent. I can be angry at you when you make me wait, usually because I don’t understand why. You don’t chastise me for feeling the way I do. You help me to sort out those negative feelings and enable me to gain proper perspective on how I should handle people or situations that frustrate me.

Please help me to become “good soil.” Open my eyes and ears. Help me to truly see and understand. And let me be fruitful for you — bless me a hundredfold in Christ Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.