ODJ: family tree
There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
READ: Matthew 1:1-17
My daughter was assigned a class project to trace her family tree. She came to me for help in tracing our ancestry. Sadly, I was only able to identify family members who belonged to the previous three generations!
Our Lord Jesus had his family tree preserved by the Holy Spirit, tracing his ancestry to Abraham (Matthew 1:1-17) and to Adam (Luke 3:23-38). In Matthew 1, God included five names that should surprise us greatly. All five were women, and females were usually not included in Jewish genealogies:
Tamar was a Canaanite who tricked her father-in-law into sleeping with her and thus continued Judah’s family line with the birth of twins Perez and Zerah (Genesis 38:6-30). Perez, in an unusual birth (Genesis vv.27-30), became the Lord’s ancestor (Matthew 1:3).
Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute (Joshua 2, 6:17) who became the mother of Boaz, the great-grandfather of King David (Matthew 1:5; Ruth 4:21-22).
Ruth was a cursed Moabitess (4:5; Deuteronomy 23:3-4) and an abject and poor widow (Ruth 2:2) who risked her reputation to propose marriage to Boaz on the threshing floor during the harvest festivities (Ruth 3). She became the great-grandmother of David (Matthew 1:5-6). Bathsheba was a Hittite (2 Samuel 11:3) who through a web of adultery, betrayal, deceit, and murder (2 Samuel 11-12), gave birth to David’s son Solomon (Matthew 1:6).
Mary was a young unmarried Jewish virgin who endured the scandal of an unexplained pregnancy for her entire lifetime. She became the mother of Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25).
These women were redeemed and honored as ancestors of the Messiah. Jesus came to be the Savior of both Jews and Gentiles lost in sin. —K.T. Sim
How does learning the history of these women encourage you in your standing before God? How has God’s amazing grace changed your life and future?
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Loading ...ODB: giving up?
January 23, 2010
READ: 1 Kings 19:11-18
I alone am left; and they seek to take my life. —1 Kings 19:10
Have you ever felt like giving up? Elijah did. The Lord had just used him to show the nation of Israel that the Lord is God (1 Kings 18). Yet, the threats of Queen Jezebel so alarmed him that he ran to Beersheba, 100 miles south (19:3). Then he walked another 150 miles south to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Twice God asked Elijah what he was doing there (vv.9,13). Both times he answered with identical words—“I alone am left; and they seek to take my life” (vv.10,14). He had become so preoccupied with his own fears that he had forgotten what God had done through him at Mount Carmel. Despite his great victory, Elijah plunged into the depths of discouragement. How easy it is for us to do the same.
God did not accept Elijah’s notice that he was quitting. Instead, He commissioned his tired servant to handle three major tasks (vv.15-17). And by the way, Elijah was wrong when he said he was the only faithful one left. God had 7,000 others who had not bowed to Baal (v.18).
Perhaps, like Elijah, you are despairing at the circumstances in your life. Let God speak to you (v.12). Instead of allowing you to quit, He will show you what you can do through His strength. — C. P. Hia
When you’re working for Jesus, it’s always too soon to quit.
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