Live the Word Bible Studies

Purpose Study Bible 41: More Altars

We have seen in past studies that Abraham built more than a few altars during his pilgrimage to and from his land God gave him. We did not look at Issac's altar in Genesis 26:25, but we did examine the wells he dug, which were at the same venue where his altar was located (Rehoboth). Jacob followed more in his grandfather's footsteps and built multiple altars, as well as gave names to a few areas important to him on his journey home:

1. Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim (Genesis 32:1).
2. So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth,where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth (Genesis 33:16-17) (note: he did not build an altar here).
3. After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel (Genesis 33:18-20).
4. Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel (Genesis 35:13-15).

Please note that the Lord did not tell Jacob what to name the areas, which resembles the story of Adam naming the animals. This indicates Jacob acted through his own free will, using the creativity and ability to think God gave him—just as Adam had done. It does not seem God was offended when either of them acted in that manner.

Yet there was one instance where God did tell Jacob to go back and build: “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau" (Genesis 35:1). God wanted Jacob to build an altar so he would be sure to commemorate the encounter with God on his way to see his brother after a separation of many years. Jacob obeyed, built an altar, and had another encounter with God that led him to build the altar mentioned in number four above.

 

What we see in these examples is Jacob freely expressing his worship and creativity in each instance except for the one where God clearly directed him. What are the implications of this pattern for you? It seems that you may have more freedom to express your purpose than you have previously understood. Are you waiting for God to direct your purpose and creativity, otherwise you refuse to do anything? Do you see God can and will direct them, but not necessarily on every occasion? How will this impact your strategy and approach to your creative expressions and how you fulfill your purpose? Does this give you more freedom to be who God made you to be?

Purpose Study Bible 40: God Is in the Fruit

Last week, we looked at the unusual strategy Jacob deployed to ensure that his severance pay from his  uncle would be sufficient to make him a rich man. Let's look at the strategy again:

Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods; but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys (Genesis 30:37-43).

Commentators and scientists are at a loss to explain how this process could actually be effective and I will not try to explain it from a physiological point of view. We learned in Genesis 31 that God gave him this strategy as a means to compensate him for Laban's labor abuse. What was God doing or thinking when He showed this to Jacob?

It seems that God had Jacob show the sheep a clear picture of what he wanted from them. Is that biblical or even practical? it is if you consider these truths:

1. A role model is a powerful teaching tool. Didn't Paul say to follow him as he followed Christ (see 1 Corinthians 11)? With his positive behavior in his followers' minds, there was a greater chance they would reproduce that behavior.
2. Paul quoted Jesus to have said, "Bad company corrupts good morals" (1 Corinthians 15:33). If that is true, then what does good company produce? It should reinforce and reproduce good moral behavior.
3. In Philippians 4:8-9, Paul wrote, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Notice that if the Philippians would set their minds on pure, right, and noble things—all things they had seen in Paul—and would then practice those things, they would have peace in their lives.

Once Jacob had done what he could do, then it was up to God to do His part, and that was to make the sheep fruitful so they would multiply strong, healthy sheep. Once you do what you can to set before you what you want or what God wants to produce through you, you have done your part. Then God has to be in the fruit or else there will be no fruit—but we know He wants you to be fruitful.

Are you spending time with people who are productive and have worthy behaviors worth imitating? Are you around people who are ethical and are not looking for shortcuts to financial or ministry success? Is your mind focusing on what it should, the pure, good, and righteous thoughts that will lead to peace? The steps above are not a magic formula, but rather conditions that must be met before the Lord will act on your behalf. If you are doing those things, then you can rest assured that God will do His part and ensure success, for God is indeed in the fruit.

Purpose Study Bible 39: Follow Through, Cash In

When Jacob was preparing to leave Laban, his conniving father-in-law, Jacob proposed a plan that he would take all the spotted and speckled sheep as his payment for years of service. To Laban's surprise, Jacob proposed that all the existing spotted and speckled sheep be taken from the flock and only the yet-to-be-born spotted and speckled be Jacob's.

What a strange plan, for how could Jacob expect to gain any non-solid colored sheep if they were all removed before they could mate and reproduce? Laban was all too happy to comply with the plan and put a three-day's-journey distance between his flocks and Jacob's so there would be no possibility, or so he thought, of Jacob getting any of his sheep.

But Jacob had a divine plan, a flash of brilliance and creative insight, that made him a wealthy man. We read in Genesis 30:37-43:

Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods; but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.

This strategy seems a bit bizarre, but it worked. Later when Jacob was talking to his wives who were Laban's daughters, he said this about his plan in Genesis 31:10-13:

And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”

God gave Jacob a creative strategy and prospered him with an idea. Jacob had to follow through on the idea to get his financial blessing. You can pray for money and when God answers, He may give you an idea. You have to convert that idea into action and only then does the money come. There are no shortcuts and no winning the lottery. Jacob got the creative inspiration, had to implement and follow through on what he saw, and over time he became wealthy. Do you have any creative ideas you need to convert into action and then into cash and wealth? Are you following through on your heaven-inspired creativity? Do you even believe that God may want to prosper you through the business or creative ideas you have?

Purpose Study Bible 38: Love

Once Jacob left his homeland for his uncle's territory, he fell in love with his cousin Rachel and wanted to marry her. We read,

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her (Genesis 29:16-20).

Seven years went by quickly for Jacob because he was working for something he really wanted, something (or in the case someone) he loved. If and when that happens to you that you find time going by quickly because of the joy you have in your activity, you can be sure that you have found something connected to your purpose as you lose track of time, absorbed in doing what you love.

God is love so the best motivator for doing anything is love, whether it be love for another person, for God, or the joy of the activity itself. What is it that you do that when you do it, you can easily lose track of time? Playing the piano? Playing a particular sport? Studying? Helping the poor? That love is an indication that you are in the will of God at that moment and in a sense enter into a piece of eternity while you are engaged in that thing you love, for you were engaged in a timeless period that had no prescribed end. The only love that does not work out so well is the love of money for we read in First Timothy that it is the root of all evil.

Are you doing what you love as often as possible, or do your days drag on? Do you welcome Fridays and dread Mondays or whatever day it is you must return to you work? Do you really believe that is God's plan, God's best, for you to hate your work? Find out what you love to do and then do it as often as possible and you will find the joy that Jacob had when he labored for 2,555 days but they seemed to pass as quickly as two or three. That's the kind of relationship you want to have with your work and that is the kind that God wants you to have as well. 

Purpose Study Bible 37: Vivid Images

After Rebekah and Jacob tricked Isaac into giving his blessing to Jacob instead of Esau, Jacob had to leave town and take refuge with his Uncle Laban to escape his brother's wrath. While on his way there, we read

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (Genesis 28:10-15). 

Jacob realized that the Lord was with him on his journey and made a vow to give God a tenth of all his increase if and when God brought him back to his father's household.

God painted a vivid picture to represent His presence in Jacob's life in a dream that featured the ladder with the angels ascending and descending. He had given metaphors and similes to his grandfather that described his descendants as numerous as the sands on the shore and the stars in the sky. God often communicates through images and pictures to impart truth and values, and Jesus did the same through His parables and creative responses to questions.

What's more, when Jacob was asleep, he experienced one of our most fascinating human creative exercises: dreaming. When we sleep, there are aspects of us that are still awake and they generate and produce symbolic images, most of which we don't even remember. Yet research shows that dreaming plays an important role in our psychological equilibrium. 

Knowing that God paints word pictures that create mental images, and keeping in mind that our dream machine functions every night, then can you see the importance of using art to communicate and transmit what is important to us? Also can you see that your creativity, like your dreaming, plays an important role in your sanity and harmony? Where can you tap into this aspect of your being to vivid images in word or action that produce art, help share your testimony, or teach others life lessons?

Purpose Study Bible 36: Cunning Creativity

In Genesis 27, we read that Isaac was advanced in years and wanted to impart his blessing to his eldest son before he died. Jacob had already negotiated the purchase of his older brother's birthright, but had to do something to also intercept his brother's blessing from their father. We read,

Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies" (Genesis 27:5-10).

Jacob's mother conspired with Jacob to trick Isaac into a blessing for Jacob through an elaborate ruse that had Jacob pretending to be Esau. This trick seemed to work and poor Isaac was humiliated when he found out he was hoodwinked by his own family, but could not retrieve the blessing! 

It is interesting that when Jacob protested that if his father found out what she had done, he would curse them instead of blessing, and Rebekah replied, "My son, let the curse fall on me" (Genesis 27:13). After Jacob had to flee his brother's anger when the plot was uncovered, he never saw his mother alive again. The curse did indeed fall on her, as it does on all who use their creativity to take matters into their own hands and try even to manipulate God into doing what they want the way they want it.

Once again, we see the creativity God gave humans perverted when Rebekah used her creativity to devise a creative plot to steal and deceive. In a sense, Rebekah's creativity expressed itself as shrewdness or perhaps a better word is cunning. Instead of praying to the Lord to order the situation so that the right son would get the correct blessing, she plotted and schemed.

We saw this same tendency to use God's creative gifts for personal gain in Abraham's life and here in Jacob's as well. How are you using your creativity? Are you using it as God intends? Are you using it to carry out God's will or to circumvent it through creative excuse making? Are you stretching the limits through what is not easily discovered but inappropriate behavior for a believer (cheating on taxes, lying to gain some personal benefit, or staying silent when you receive a service or goods for which you did not pay)? There is a price to pay whenever you do that, and God is watching, just like He was with Rebekah and Jacob, and in the end, it is better to lose with integrity and ethics than win through cunning plans and schemes.

Purpose Study Bible 35: Making Room

Isaac was not the most dynamic man highlighted in the Bible, but God still used him to continue
Abraham's legacy. This week we read,

Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek [dispute], because they disputed with him. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah [opposition]. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth [room], saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land" (Genesis 26:19-22, meaning of words in brackets added by author].

Before he dug those three wells, Isaac had been invited to leave his previous territory because he was too powerful and the locals feared his presence. So he left, only to encounter the opposition and dispute over the first two wells that he dug to water his abundant flocks. Isaac kept moving on until he came to a place, dug a well, and found no opposition. He named that place Rehoboth because God had finally made a place or room for him.

The same can happen when you pursue your purpose. You can be a threat to others so you have to move on. Then you have some other successes, only to find that people oppose you yet again. This also happened to the Apostle Paul, for when he went to his beloved fellow Jews, they did not want to hear from him. Yet when he went to the Gentiles, God opened doors and he was able to plant a church. Yet even after his success, opposition would arise and that was Paul's eviction notice that it was time to move on to another field of work.

It is important to see in both instances of Isaac and Paul that God used opposition to direct their steps. He was sending them to a place where they were celebrated and not just tolerated, and when they got there, they both knew they were where they were supposed to be. God made room for them and he will do the same for you.

Are you ready to go where you are celebrated, or will you stubbornly stay and insist that where you are is where God must bless you? Do you see that it may not be a geographic relocation, but a shift to a different job, career, or people group that don't dread seeing you, but welcome you gladly? Can you accept that even if you have failed, God will use that to take you away from those who can only remember your failure to a people who don't know and don't care because you are God's answer to their prayers? 

God wants you to know His will and the place where you will bear the most fruit. Therefore, don't fight His plan, but rather go with the flow, confident that God is making room for you by sending you into situations where you are celebrated for who you are and what you bring and not resented for the same reasons.

Purpose Study Bible 34: Conflict Within

As we move on in our study, Abraham died and his son Isaac found that his wife, like his mother, had trouble conceiving a child. He prayed, God heard his prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. The babies were tussling with one another in her womb, and we read that their activity was so unusual that Rebekah prayed for understanding:

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her . . . (Genesis 25:21-23).

Rebekah was carrying the purpose of Abraham's descendants but needed insight into the reason for the conflict within. Notice that the Lord spoke to her and answered her prayers by giving her "inside" information to calm her heart and anxiety. Often, when you are creative or seeking purpose, there may be conflicting interests and feelings tussling inside of you, just like they were in Rebekah. 

Perhaps you want to create, giving yourself to sculpting, painting, or writing, but you have a family to feed. Maybe you want to travel and do missions work but your domestic responsibilities keep you grounded. Or perhaps you have a desire for ministry but don't see how you can afford to do that—or if you are even anointed or qualified to do so.

It is important to seek the Lord for wisdom but when you do, you must expect Him to respond and then you must act on what you hear. James wrote these words to help you sort through your conflicting interests or any other life scenario on which you need greater understanding:

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do (James 1:5-9).

Are you trying to resolve the conflict within or are you afraid of the answer so you make no effort to do so? When you pray, do you doubt the response, thus asking for more confirmation and prolonging your inner turmoil? Are you prepared that the response may lead to a change of lifestyle or occupation? Whatever the issue you are facing, it is important that you obtain a clearer understanding so you can move on and give birth to the purpose and/or creativity of God you have been carrying that may be causing conflict in your heart.

Purpose Study Bible 33: A Prayer and a Plan

God has spared Abraham's son of promise named Isaac, but when it was time for Isaac to marry, Abraham had to exercise faith once again on his son's behalf:

"I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac" (Genesis 24:3-4).

Abraham commissioned his trusted servant with going to an unfamiliar land to find an unknown woman who would agree to come back with the servant to marry a man she had never met. That could have been labeled mission impossible, but the story does not indicate that the servant hesitated or complained. Instead, he saddled up and headed out to fulfill his master's command:

Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water (Genesis 24:10-11).

What did he do when he got there? Did he put out the word and set up a series of interviews with potential candidates? Did he begin to ask around the area for references and leads? Did he put an ad in the local paper or post something on social media? (of course he didn't do that, but you get the idea). No, this faithful servant came up with a prayer and a plan:

Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master" (Genesis 24:12-14).

The servant had faith, came up with a faith plan, and then prayed and turned His plan over to God. What was the result? The first, yes the first, woman who came to the well was the answer to his prayer: 

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.  The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again (Genesis 24:15-16).

Are you facing what you think are impossible tasks? Have you refused certain tasks because you considered them impossible? Then think again and take a lesson from this servant's handbook. Like he was, you should be creative, come up with a plan, pray, and then watch God move on your behalf. After all, you too are a servant of the Most High God who has also given you an assignment to fulfill your purpose, but has not left you alone. He is present to help you do what He has assigned, but you must have the faith and apply the creativity to help make the assignment come to a successful conclusion. 

Purpose Study Bible 32: What's In a Name?

In Study 8, we looked at the story of Adam naming the animals and pointed out that it was an example of his God-given creativity. God directed Adam's work but Adam was free to name the animals whatever he chose. We see another example of this kind of creativity as we finish up our study of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22:

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided" (Genesis 22:13-14).

When Abraham found the ram, he saw the day of the Lord as Jesus described in John 8:56-59. At that moment, Abraham was standing on Mt. Moriah, the eventual location of the Temple in Jerusalem, where the ultimate sacrifice would take place through the death of Christ. When Abraham sacrificed the ram, he understood that God had sent a substitutionary sacrifice for Isaac, just like God would send His Son as the Lamb of God to be slain for the forgiveness of our sins. Then Abraham did something that Adam had also done: he used his creativity to define the moment.

Abraham assigned a name to God that is still used by the people of God. Abraham looked at the ram, sacrificed it, considered what had taken place, summarized what had happened in his mind, and called the place Jehovah-Jireh: the Lord Will Provide. Abraham saw that God would provide a sacrifice for Himself on His holy mountain and gave that place and God a new name. We do not see that God ordered Abraham to name the place. God did not say to him, "Name me now, according to what you have just seen." We certainly don't see that God was offended by what Abraham did. Abraham used his God-given ability to assess, evaluate and create, and in a few words summarized what could have taken many more words to adequately communicate—The Lord Will Provide.

God has given you the same capacity as Abraham had. Where can you use your creativity to assess and create? Is it the name of your company? The title for your book? The trend in your field of work? An invention? A movement? A child? A nickname that will lovingly connect someone with their heritage or talent? Your sense of humor? Your ability to write, paint, sculpt, or rhyme?

Who knows, maybe as you express your creativity, the identifying title you give it could become a lasting memorial to your creativity and God's work in your life just like it did for Abraham. Then you can answer the question, "what's in a name?", by honestly saying, "the creativity that God gave me is in that name"—and God will be honored to be identified with your creativity, just as He was with Abraham's.