If it’s not one thing…it’s your mother! Just ask Jacob. His mother, Rebekah, found out the hard way that manipulating life’s path is a slippery slope. Rebekah didn’t have much time to think when she overheard her husband promising to give an extraordinary blessing to their oldest son Esau instead of his twin Jacob. Had […]
Women of the Bible – Week 5 – Twins! (Genesis 27, Rebekah)
I loved feeling my babies move when I was pregnant! Our third child literally NEVER stopped. My husband and I would sit in church and watch her elbow and kick me. I thought it was amazing, he thought it looked like I was inhabited by an alien. Rebekah’s twins were absolutely wild in the womb; […]
Women of the Bible – Week 5 – A Match Made in Heaven (Genesis 24-25, Rebekah)
Isaac and Rebekah were positively a match made in Heaven. (Really! God actually arranged it personally.) Abraham’s servant may have had to travel 450 miles to find her, but Rebekah was a woman well worth the trip. From the first moment that we meet Rebekah in scripture we find her to be kind, strong and […]
Women of the Bible – Week 5 – Isaac and Jesus (Genesis 22–Sarah)
This week we watched the promised son, Isaac, go from his baby shower to his engagement. That was quick! The only story that we read in between those two events is Abraham’s test of faith when asked by God to sacrifice his son. Though Sarah was not mentioned in that particular narrative, I included it […]
Lot’s Wife and Daughters (Genesis 18 & 19)
Lot’s wife and daughters have an interesting story; don’t they? But more than just being a little bazaar, their story demonstrates two very essential facts. First, one righteous person’s prayers truly are powerful and effective (James 5:16). When the Lord told Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their extreme […]
The God Who Sees—Hagar (Genesis 16)
Abraham and Sarah had been living in their promised land of Canaan when a severe famine covered their homeland like a dense fog (Genesis 12:10). Famines in the ancient world were not just inconvenient, they were life-threatening catastrophes and Abraham decided to move his household to Egypt in order to escape it. This transfer to […]
Betrayed Twice–Sarah (Genesis 12)
We’ve entered some complicated terrain in our scripture study. Most of us have likely always assumed that the vilest betrayal from our spouse would be to have them be unfaithful to us. However, as I was reading our scriptures this week, it struck me that an even worse betrayal would be to have your spouse […]
Two-by-Two: Noah’s Wife and Daughters in Law (Genesis 8 and 9)
As you were studying our scriptures this week, did you notice that the Sunday school version of the flood story recorded in Genesis is nothing like what actually happened? What an unimaginable situation! We can quickly read the few verses associated with it, but when Noah and his family were living through it, it must […]
Temptation: There Is Always a Way Out (Genesis 3, Eve)
What a difference a chapter makes! In Genesis chapter two we left Adam and Eve in perfect harmony with each other and with God, living in Paradise. In chapter three, sin has entered the Garden of Eden and changed everything. Eve has a sullied reputation for being the person who brought sin into the world. […]
Eve: The Warrior (Genesis 2)
Happy New Year everybody! I am so thankful to be delving into scripture with you in 2016. This is going to be an amazing experience for all of us. We naturally begin our study with the creation of the first woman, Eve. Christian women have long been taught that we should see ourselves as princesses- […]