Day 16 Bible Reading

Genesis 32 & 33, Matthew 12: 22-45, Proverbs 2: 1-11

Genesis 32: 24 (ESV)

“And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.”

Verse 24 from Genesis 32 struck me today. Jacob wrestled with God, only he didn’t know it was God until the morning. I like to think that I sometimes wrestle with God in my mind at night when I can’t sleep because of an issue I am pondering. This seems to happen when the issue is about something that I want to or need to do, and I don’t know whether doing the thing would be good for my life. I lie in bed, and I pray to God for guidance for the right course of action to take. Sometimes I lie there for hours praying and waiting for Holy Spirit to whisper something in my mind. And when I get an answer that I don’t particularly like, that’s when I feel like I wrestle with God. And yes, God always wins, and I do the thing he wants me to do. And of course, it always works out for the best in the end.

Day 15 Bible Reading

Genesis 31, Matthew 12: 1-21, Psalm 9: 13-20

Matthew 12: 14-16 (ESV)

“But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known.”

Theses verse from Matthew 12 struck me today as I was listening to a Bible commentary, since this is the start of the Pharisees beginning to plot the death of Christ. Jesus knew what was going on, but he had to carry out his mission. He had to fulfill the will of God and keep healing people, and at the same time he had to quiet things down so he could arrive in Jerusalem and be betrayed. Everything had to be done according to his father’s plan, to God’s timing. Everything had to be perfectly timed and done, so it would all fall into place. Jesus had unfailing obedience to God’s plan for his life. I often wonder how many times I have railed against having to follow God’s plan, endlessly complaining how it was taking too long, and why couldn’t things be done in my timing and not God’s timing. But in the end, God’s timing was always perfect, and everything worked out better than I could have ever planned because God is the ultimate project planner. He leaves no stone unturned with every possibility having been analyzed, so only the actions with the best outcomes are part of his plan. I see it happening that way every time and yet time and time again, I often doubt God’s timing because I don’t have enough faith in him and his plan. I pray that God give me more faith to trust in him and his plans that always, always work out for the best.

Day 14 Bible Reading

Genesis 29 & 30, Matthew 11, Psalm 9: 1-12

Matthew 11: 28-30 (ESV)

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I love these verses from Matthew 11. They are probably in my top 10 for favorite Bible verses. Jesus promises to give those of who are weary rest. Christ says he is gentle and lowly n heart, and that following him will be easy and our burden light because he will share it with us And by sharing it, he meant he will take our sins away from us when he goes to die on the cross. There have been so many times when I have been so weary in my heart in the past, and my only comfort was my faith in Christ. When my mother died and I felt so lost, I felt myself being held by Jesus in the palms of his hands because I was so emotionally fragile for a few days. I remember thinking back then, I don’t know how anyone deals with grief on their own without Christ in their life. I felt so luck and grateful to have my strong faith during that season of loss in my life. Jesus gave me rest from weariness, from my sadness, and he gave his protection.

Day 13 Bible Reading

Genesis 27 & 28, Matthew 10: 32-42, Psalm 9: 1-6

I do not have a specific verse for today to reflect upon, but instead I want to reflect on what happened in Genesis 27. God has a plan for each of our lives. He had a plan for Esau and Jacob, where Esau would bow down to Jacob. What happens in Genesis 27 shows us that no matter what we try to do, God’s plan will not be thwarted. He will figure out a way for his plan to be fulfilled. Isaac wanted to bless Esau and instead, ended up blessing Jacob by the deceit of Jacob on instructions from his mother Rebekah. Why Rebekah did this is unclear, but she did it anyway. I know if I look back on my own life there are things that I wanted that I didn’t get, and I was unhappy at the time thinking that God wasn’t granting me my desires. It was only in hindsight where I realized that what happened had put me on the best path towards getting the thing I wanted, but in a roundabout way. And when I explored it further, it turned out that the roundabout way gave me abundance of what I wanted. One good example is when I moved to the state where I live today. I had a five-year plan, and it ended getting delayed by a year. When the delay happened, I was really bummed out. But what ended up happening is in that year delay, my company did really well and I ended up receiving a large financial bonus before my move. I had more than money that I needed to move, and that extra money made my move very comfortable and left me in a great financial situation. So God has his own plan for my move and his way ended up benefitting me greatly, more than my own plan would have done. I wish I had had more faith at the time in God, and not been so unhappy and railing against God for the delay in my plan. But perhaps that was the lesson for me. Don’t look at delays in what I want as an unhappy event. Instead, I need to have more faith in God that there was a very good reason for the delay and that God is always going to give me what I want but only in a way that will benefit me the most.