Sam's blog - Mind, Matter, and Soul: 2013

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Genesis 39 overview

Overview of Genesis 39 -
When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed. (Genesis 39:1, 23 NLT)

Summary : Joseph is taken to Egypt, sold to Potiphar. God's favor is on Joseph, which shows in Joseph's abilities to manage. Potiphar recognizes this, and promotes Joseph to a position over all his house hold. Joseph is a well built and handsome young man. Potiphar's wife wants an extra-marital affair with Joseph, and applies pressure on Joseph, to which he refuses. This continues over a period of time, but Joseph doesn't agree. The breaking point comes when Potiphar's wife forces Joseph to sleep with her, but when he runs away, humiliated by his refusal and publicly accuses Joseph of attempted rape. An enraged Potiphar throws Joseph into prison. God's favor being with Joseph as Joseph gets busy in managing the prison, and the warden is happy to give him responsibility.

What are the striking points and takeaways from this chapter.

1. God's favor is always with Joseph.
2. Joseph is an active, intelligent, handsome young man, with exceptional management skills.
3. Circumstances change for Joseph - slave, manger of the Pharoh's chief of guard's household - a position of influence, Opportunities to have physical relationship with his boss' wife, intense pressure and his stand against it, accused of rape, and thrown into prison, rising to manage the prison and favor of the warden.

It's easy to think this happened as God's favor was with Joseph. But we got to see that Joseph's actions are equally important. One, he was upbeat even in the worst of situations. Even as a slave, he took the initiative to lead, and grabbed opportunities to demonstrate his abilities. This lead to recognition by Potiphar, and eventually being elevated to a position of power. What if Joseph didn't do any of this instead, and wait for a divine intervention for God to pull him out of the bad situation?

Next, when he was in a position of power, and when he was sought by his master's wife, he refused. Note that this wasn't a one time incident. He was still a slave, and bound to obey anything that his master or master's wife commanded him to do. Yet he refused to obey, a sure way to face death. Why did he do this? It's because of Joseph's respect for his master and a very clear understanding of his responsibilities. Potiphar's wife was not given to Joseph, and he considered as stealing what belongs to his master. His strong belief made him withstand the overtures and resist.

Joseph May have been disappointed when Potiphar got enraged and threw him into prison. But realize that Joseph was a slave, he did not have any rights. Joseph accepted his situation but refused to give up. It is a blessing to have god's favor upon you, but question is what do I do with it. Joseph continued his initiative even in prison, grabbed/created opportunities to prove his talents and in turn get recognized.

This chapter tells us it is very important what we do with God's favor, how our attitude at prevalent circumstances are, do we take the initiative , act or wait/get depressed? Or act with the trust in God, take responsibility to work what we can do?

Why is Tamar righteous?

Genesis 38:26 (NLT)

Judah recognized them immediately and said, “She is more righteous than I am, because I didn’t arrange for her to marry my son Shelah.” And Judah never slept with Tamar again. (Genesis 38:26 NLT)

I am surprised about the choice of the word "righteous" in the context of what happened between Judah and Tamar. I think it is purely relative - between Judah and Tamar. And Tamar is righteous in the sense that she did what she did to get a child. We need to be aware of the times and society of Tamar's time. A son represents security and who will take care of the parents and property, and honor. That was what Tamar was after, whereas Judah's reason was pure lust.

Clever Jesus

Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!” (Mark 2:5-12 NLT)

"Son of Man" is a title that Jesus took for himself. We see that Jesus directly tells everyone that he has authority on earth to forgive sins. And we know what he does to prove it, through healing the paralyzed man. We can dig deeper through these verses.

Why did Jesus say to the paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven, when he was brought for healing ? Because sin is a worst disease than paralysis, or maybe Jesus wants to use this incident to settle questions about his authority or by what authority he was doing all the miracles.

The question Jesus asks "Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ' Your sins are forgiven' or ' Stand up, pick your mat, and walk' - is a tricky one. Obviously the easier one is saying ' Your sins are forgiven', because the other option involves a miracle. So if he can do the hard part, it means he can do the easy part! This is how he proves that he has authority to forgive sins on earth. And by doing both he establishes that he is God, as the Pharisees were thinking only God can forgive sins.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

A blueprint

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:16-19 NLT)

1.God empowers us through his Spirit with inner strength.
2. Christ lives in our hearts, as we trust him
3. We grow in our faith in God (God is love), become strong foundation.
4. We labor and work for good deeds for the Kingdom of God, to experience His love and power.
5. We are transformed into the likeness of Christ.

David as a precursor of Jesus

They brought the Ark of God and placed it inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. When he had finished his sacrifices, David blessed the people in the name of the LORD. Then he gave to every man and woman in all Israel a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins.
David appointed the following Levites to lead the people in worship before the Ark of the LORD—to invoke his blessings, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel. (1 Chronicles 16:1-4 NLT)

David lead as king. But we also note that during the transfer and placing of the Ark of God, David was wearing the robes of a priest, and functioned like the Chief Priest. He also distributed bread, raisins nd dates to all the people. This is a precursor of the High Priesthood of Jesus. David is not from the tribe of Levi, nor is Jesus. Both are from the tribe of Judah. Both are not priests ordained as per the statutes or the law, but by the Spirit of God.

Kneeling

2 Chronicles 6:13 (NET)

Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet long, seven and one-half feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky, (2 Chronicles 6:13 NET)

King Solomon is not a common man. He is a king, and even in those times, there would be protocol. Kings don't bow, or kneel in public. But why does Solomon get down on his knees?

He is kneeling before the Lord God, King of kings, Almighty , All Powerful. He was following protocol. He is submitting to the King. In the diplomatic world, protocol is very important. Unfortunately we don't see this attitude in the Western world. We can rationalize it as cultural, but really if you are before a king what would be your attitude? Would it be, I kinda respect you but I am my own man?

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Encouragement

It's been a while since my last post. I want to share some encouragement through the pictures and verses together. All the photos are taken by me.