King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Sunday, January 24, 2021
Chapters: Genesis 34-36
Message: Foolish Decisions
Hello My Friend,
As saved, born again Christians, no matter how faithful we are to God, we are all guilty of one thing a time or two, and that is not doing exactly what God tells us to do. Once we are saved, we have the Spirit of God dwelling inside of us, and that means, that He talks to us. God gave us His Word as a guide for when He talks to us, but we know right from wrong, when He tells us to do something in our conscience, He means it, and has a very good reason for telling us to do it as He directs us. While God is longsuffering in that His mercy endures when we do make foolish decisions, we would save ourselves a lot of pain moving forward if we would just listen and do as He asks us to do, [Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.]
[And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,] When we love God with all our heart His commands are not grievous to us, and we will not question what He asks us to do. While we are all sinners, this goes beyond following the ten commandments, which is why Jesus narrows them down to two. When God told Jacob to leave his father-in-law and go back home, He meant go back home. And after all that God had helped him overcome with his father-in-law, and brother, you would think that he would have listened, and went back home. Instead he chose to live in Shechem, [Genesis 33:17-20 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.]
[And he bought a parcel of a field,] Jacob may not have committed a sin in what he did, but that foolish decision would lead to sin. You know, God’s is so merciful and longsuffering in that He is willing to forgive our foolish decisions when we repent, but at some point we need to learn that obedience is better than sacrifice. Jacob’s foolish decision led to another disaster when his only daughter started hanging out with the people of the land and got sexually involved with one of the men, [Genesis 34:1-5 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come.]
[and Jacob held his peace until they were come.] Instead of dealing with this issue, Jacob said nothing and let Dinah’s brothers handle it, another foolish decision. They were not too happy that this man enticed their sister to begin with, Simeon and Levi came up with an evil plan in retaliation, [Genesis 34:8-13 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:]
[And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully,] When anyone wants to come to Christ, regardless of their race, religion, or family, God never denies them that opportunity. Shechem was willing to do whatever it took for her to become his wife, even convert, but that was really not their intention.
[Genesis 34:14-15.19,24-25,30 And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father. And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.]
[and he was more honourable than all the house of his father.] Let me tell you, way too many Christians make the foolish decision to condemn family members for getting into trouble. Instead of giving them the opportunity to make amends as God would have them, they make things worse by attempting to take over the situation, [Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.]
By Jacob not addressing this, it led to more foolish decisions by his children, and sin. All foolish decisions will lead to sin if we do not repent. Ashamed, of all that happened, Jacob finally prays to God, [Genesis 35:1-4 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.]
[Put away the strange gods that are among you,] So, we make these foolish decisions, think that we can handle them on our own, quite frankly we are ashamed to God to God because of what we did, God sits back, with his arms folded, shaking his head, thinking, “Why did not you listen to me?”. Well, that is how I picture Him anyway, and that is when God reminds us of what we were supposed to do in the first place. This time Jacob actually went where God told him to to do, and that is when God just appeared.
[Genesis 35:9-12,16-19 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.]
[as her soul was in departing,] This is proof that our souls do leave their body when they die. Where a soul ends up is determined by our faith in God, and has nothing to do with whether or not we followed every command. And today that faith is dependent upon Christ, and His finished work on the cross. The only foolish decision that cannot be amended is if we never accepted Christ before we took our last breath, [John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.]
After Rachel died, Jacob makes yet another foolish decision to stay there instead of moving onward home. That was when Reuben had an affair with Bilhah, Reuben was not a child at this point, if either one of them had respect for themselves, family, or God, they would not have even gotten to that point. And yet, God still gives an account to them, [Genesis 35:21-27 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.]
[that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine:] Again; this is what happens when we do not do what God asks of us. This incident would cause Reuben to be striped of his birthright as he was the firstborn, and since Simeon and Levi did what they did, the next one down the line to receive the birthright Judah, the forth son, who God would eventually use to not only make his descendants kings, but Jesus would descend from also. Since God promised He was going to give Jacob the land He gave Abraham, and Isaac that meant those who were already on it had to go. Let me tell you, we are going to make lots of foolish decisions, but as long as we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we will never lose our place in the Kingdom of God, [Romans 10:11-13 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Genesis 35:2-3 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for bringing me to Your Son, and for the best decision I ever made in accepting Him as my Saviour. While I know I have made many foolish decisions in my life, You are still faithful and just to move past and even forgive them when I repent. I know my flesh, and no matter how hard I try, I will ignore Your decision, making more foolish decisions, but know that You hand is in everything, and You will work it all together for good and for Your glory whenever I come to You with all my heart. Lord, thank You for loving me, never forsaking me, and always seeing better things of me. Teach me to listen to You the first time so I do not have to suffer needlessly for making another foolish decision. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/imfollowingjesus
Copyright © 2021 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.