King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 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.]
Date: Monday, January 24, 2022
Chapters: Genesis 34-36
Message: Being Hospitable
Hello My Friend,
My heart is heavy today, I even prayed that God would renew my heart, fear, and dedication to Him, feeling like I have failed Him so badly. I am in a position where I do need to go back to my past in order to move forward, and I really do not want to do that, but as I read the chapters for today, God reminded me of something. Love covers a multitude of sins, [Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. – 1 Peter 4:1-2,6-9]
Well, as you may have noticed from the passage, God reminded me of much more than that, praise God, that at least, it was not my sin that love needs to cover. You know, when we choose to dedicate our lives to Christ, we do not realize that we actually do make an impact on the people that God places in our lives. Just as God places people in our lives when we need them to show them His love, God places us in peoples lives when they need us to show them the same thing. No matter how far people fall into the abyss of sin, we need to love them because God’s love for us covers our multitude of sins. As we continue in the reading of Genesis, Jacob took his family from Padanaram, and headed to Canaan, at first, he built a house in Succoth, then decided to go to Shalem. That was when his daughter, Dinah, decided to hang out with the locals, where she had met Shechem.
[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. – Genesis 34:1-5]
[and Jacob held his peace until they were come.] Jacob did not want to deal with this issue, instead he let his sons handle it, and well, all they did was make things worse. Hamor actually loved Dinah, and was willing to do whatever it took for her to become his wife, but her brothers could not get pass what they had done and deceitfully talked the entire family into getting circumcised.
[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. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: 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. – Genesis 34:8-11,13-15,19]
[and he was more honourable than all the house of his father.] Not everyone in the world is of the world, they really do have faith in God and want to live right by Him, they just do not know how to do that. That is where we come in, we are their light to the truth of Christ, but those who insist on placing judgment on them and denying them the truth, well, they are making themselves a judge. And God will judge those who take the law into their own hands, [Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? – James 4:11-12]
I can understand how hard it is to love those who just keep spiraling downward in their sin, but think how God must feel, and actually how they must feel as well. I am sure that Dinah felt a lot of guilt for what she had done, but the damage was done, and now they were trying to rectify it. Only, Dinah’s brothers were not only deceitful, they were down right ruthless, not only did they kill Shechem, they killed their father and all the men.
[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 they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out. 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. – Genesis 34:24-26,30]
[they shall gather themselves together against me,] 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. Well, once again, Jacob did not deal with this issue, and wanted to run again, but this time God stepped in.
[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. And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. – Genesis 35:1-5]
[and make there an altar unto God,] God will sit there and let us make one foolish decision after another until He has had enough and that is when He tells us that it is time to repent before things really get out of hand. This is why I believe that once you get saved, God only lets you fall down that abyss of sin so far, He will never let you fall away from Him completely. And if you do refuse to repent, then He will take you home where you will no longer hurt yourself. There is not one of us who are not capable of getting caught up in a web of sin, we have too much flesh in us to deal with it on our own, and this is why we need Christ every hour of every day, [My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. – 1 John 2:1-2]
[and be clean, and change your garments:] 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.
[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 God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. – Genesis 35:9-14]
[but Israel shall be thy name:] The prince that prevails with God, that is what Israel means. Think about it, when we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour we become heirs with Him, since He is the King of all kings, we become a prince or princess that has prevails with God. Amazingly, as much as we mess up in this life, God still loves us, and that is why we are to continue loving those who cannot escape their sin, [Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. – Luke 17:3-4]
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 them and even forgive them when I repent. I know my flesh, and no matter how hard I try, I will keep making more foolish decisions, but also know that Your hand is in everything, and You will work every thing together for good and for Your glory whenever I come to You with all my heart. Just as merciful and loving as You are toward me, You expect me to be merciful and loving toward those You place in my life. 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. Show me how to love those You place in my life as You love them, and what I need to do to shine Your light through me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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