Notice where Ruth’s story takes place. Does it sound familiar? It’s not the last time we’ll find ourselves in Bethlehem this Advent. [Read more…]
December 8: Rahab
The family line of Jesus is full of unlikely people. Again and again, they’re more sinner than saint. They regularly forget, disobey, or betray God. They’re not honorable or composed or polished, and they’re neither trusting nor trustworthy.
Rahab is one of these unlikely people. And she’s more unlikely than most to be named in Jesus’s genealogy (Matthew 1:5) because she is an outsider on three counts, she’s:
- a woman
- a Canaanite, and
- a prostitute.
In a genealogy that stretches from Abraham to Jesus, she’s one of just five women named. In a patrilineal genealogy—a record of fathers and sons—she makes the cut. Just as shocking, she makes the cut despite being a Gentile, a non-Israelite, someone decidedly outside the family tree. And, of course, she’s a prostitute.
And yet God finds her worthy of a place in his family. He invites her to play a role in the story of Israel claiming the land God has promised. And he grafts her into the family early enough that she gets to be one of Jesus’s great- great- great-grandmothers.
What an encouragement to us! Not only does God want us in his family, he wants to use us. When we join the family, he’ll put us to work, helping move this story along to its beautiful conclusion. Rahab got to play a part in Jesus’s coming as a baby, but we get to join in as Jesus comes in glory.
Scripture reading: Joshua 2:1-21
Prayer
God, your grace is astonishing!
You could care less about my pedigree, and you’re even willing to overlook my sin as you graft me into your family and your story.
Would you help me to be faithful like Rahab as I do the work you’ve called me to do?
Amen.
December 7: The 10 Commandments
On the one hand, the Ten Commandments seem fairly easy to keep. No idols—check. Don’t murder—check. Don’t steal—got it. We might get the impression that it’s within our power to do right, to keep the commandments, even to earn God’s love. [Read more…]
December 6: The Story of Joseph
The story of Joseph and his brothers is not the Bible’s only story of betrayal and denial.
December 5: Jacob’s Dream
Have you ever had a dream that feels so vivid that you sit up in bed and start to act on it, as if the events of your dream had really happened? In Jacob’s case, they had. His dream wasn’t just the normal processes of a brain filing away the day’s events. His dream was a vision deliberately given to him by God. [Read more…]
December 4: Sacrificing Isaac
Oh, the heartache. Abraham had been promised not only the abundance of a multitude of descendants but the delight of a particular son. And here he stood, about to sacrifice that very son. God put him to the test, asking for what was most precious to Abraham: his son Isaac.