January 10, 2006 - Genesis 25-26 and Matthew 8:1-17
God spoke to me in so many ways this morning that I almost don't know where to begin. How about you? What did God say to you as you read this passage? I want my notes to be a blessing and an encouragement to you, but I do not want them to replace your own reflection and understanding of what God is saying to you.
It seems to me that the passage in Genesis emphasizes some principles relating to sin. Genesis 25 tells us that Abraham married again after Sarah's death, and then, it mentions his "concubines." It seems that Abraham gave in to this worldly practice, and this is sin. The result was that he had to send his sons away from Isaac. There was no unity in the family. Even in Ishmael's family there were 12 princes for 12 nations, but there was no unity. Sin brings division. When we depart from God's design for the family, which is one man and one woman for life, we bring strife and disunity into the family.
At the end of chapter 25 and in chapter 26 we see the similarities between Abraham and Isaac. Did you realize it was 26 years before Isaac and Rebekah had Esau and Jacob? That is a year longer than Abraham and Sarah had to wait for Isaac. This shows patience on the part of Isaac and Rebekah. However, Isaac committed the same sin of lying about his wife that his father had committed. This shows how our personalities are tied to our parents, and we inherit certain tendencies. Some of these things are in us at birth, and others come from our parents' example to us, but the point is that we end up being a lot like our parents. This is bad when it leads us to sin, and we must ask the Lord to empower us through His Spirit and transform us so we don't sin as our parents did.
In Matthew 8 we read about several people who were in need because of sickness. Jesus cared, and he healed these people. I personally do not believe that Jesus healed every sick person He encountered then, and I don't think He heals everyone who is sick today. However, this passage gives us some good insights. The story of the leper shows us that Jesus cares about those who are sick. However, the emphasis was not on being healed. Jesus told him to not tell anyone. The emphasis is on obeying God's Word. If he was healed and disobedient, that would be worse than being sick and obedient. Physical healing is not the ultimate goal. Spiritual healing is the goal.
The account of the centurion has helped me ever since I noticed verse 9. He said he could trust Jesus to speak and his servant would be healed, because he was a man under authority, and he understood the chain of command. Jesus praised his faith and healed his servant, because of this faith. Do you have faith to be under God's authority? Do you realize how important it is to follow God's orders? If you do, God can answer your prayer and trust you, because He knows you will do His will. Do you see the connection here? I believe it is very important in our lives. We often want authority, but we should desire to be under the authority of God, instead. Then, we can live based on His authority and not our own.
The passage ends with a quote from Isaiah 53:4. If you compare the wording of the two verses, you will notice that Jesus did not just deal with our sicknesses, but with all of our pains and weaknesses. Our main weakness is sin, as we saw in the Genesis passage today. Sin brings the pain, even more than sickness. It would be wrong for us to focus on physical healing from the Lord. We must focus on the spiritual healing. Then, our lives will be much more free from the real causes of pain.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 27-28 and Matthew 8:18-38.
It seems to me that the passage in Genesis emphasizes some principles relating to sin. Genesis 25 tells us that Abraham married again after Sarah's death, and then, it mentions his "concubines." It seems that Abraham gave in to this worldly practice, and this is sin. The result was that he had to send his sons away from Isaac. There was no unity in the family. Even in Ishmael's family there were 12 princes for 12 nations, but there was no unity. Sin brings division. When we depart from God's design for the family, which is one man and one woman for life, we bring strife and disunity into the family.
At the end of chapter 25 and in chapter 26 we see the similarities between Abraham and Isaac. Did you realize it was 26 years before Isaac and Rebekah had Esau and Jacob? That is a year longer than Abraham and Sarah had to wait for Isaac. This shows patience on the part of Isaac and Rebekah. However, Isaac committed the same sin of lying about his wife that his father had committed. This shows how our personalities are tied to our parents, and we inherit certain tendencies. Some of these things are in us at birth, and others come from our parents' example to us, but the point is that we end up being a lot like our parents. This is bad when it leads us to sin, and we must ask the Lord to empower us through His Spirit and transform us so we don't sin as our parents did.
In Matthew 8 we read about several people who were in need because of sickness. Jesus cared, and he healed these people. I personally do not believe that Jesus healed every sick person He encountered then, and I don't think He heals everyone who is sick today. However, this passage gives us some good insights. The story of the leper shows us that Jesus cares about those who are sick. However, the emphasis was not on being healed. Jesus told him to not tell anyone. The emphasis is on obeying God's Word. If he was healed and disobedient, that would be worse than being sick and obedient. Physical healing is not the ultimate goal. Spiritual healing is the goal.
The account of the centurion has helped me ever since I noticed verse 9. He said he could trust Jesus to speak and his servant would be healed, because he was a man under authority, and he understood the chain of command. Jesus praised his faith and healed his servant, because of this faith. Do you have faith to be under God's authority? Do you realize how important it is to follow God's orders? If you do, God can answer your prayer and trust you, because He knows you will do His will. Do you see the connection here? I believe it is very important in our lives. We often want authority, but we should desire to be under the authority of God, instead. Then, we can live based on His authority and not our own.
The passage ends with a quote from Isaiah 53:4. If you compare the wording of the two verses, you will notice that Jesus did not just deal with our sicknesses, but with all of our pains and weaknesses. Our main weakness is sin, as we saw in the Genesis passage today. Sin brings the pain, even more than sickness. It would be wrong for us to focus on physical healing from the Lord. We must focus on the spiritual healing. Then, our lives will be much more free from the real causes of pain.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 27-28 and Matthew 8:18-38.