Main Verse: Genesis 29

Good morning,

In the book of Leviticus it is recorded, “You shall not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is alive” (Leviticus 18:18). When I first read this law my first thought was, “Boy someone was dredging the bottom or was trying to fill in space”. Then I read Jacob’s account of his time in the East and it dawned on me that this law resulted from a life lesson or “lessons learned”. All of God’s laws have sound logic and reasoning behind them. Part of the reason why God does not answer “why” is because he wants us to use critical thinking skills to think through the process. Jacob did not have the Book of the Law and because of it, his actions were not sinful but they were problematic (Romans 7:7-8).

My encouragement for you today is that you will consider how God’s laws apply to your life. You see, making mistakes in judgment is not wrong but not learning from them is (Proverbs 13:18-20). It is for learning that Moses was told to write down what he heard on the mountain so that the people would know the way of the Lord and that which would please him. It is true that no matter how carefully we write out what the Lord requires of us our children will most likely not listen to it much less read our report.  Yet, they will not be able to argue with the results.

Father,

For all of the years of mankind, we have learned lessons that benefit the next generation and beyond. The problem is, that as enlightened as we proclaim to be, we still walk in the same darkness that Jesus talked about (John 8:12). The Good News is that while we are alive, we have the opportunity to turn around and ask for forgiveness (Ecclesiastes 9:4). Please help me not to be like Solomon who after building the Temple, asked for wisdom to lead the people, and yet tripped over a glaring problem that was too big to miss. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you today and always

I.H.S. MK