Devotions from Genesis

Passage Read: Genesis 1-4 Meditation Verse: 4:16 Cain was cursed and sent away from the ground that accepted his brother's blood and from the presence of the Lord. He would be a restless wanderer and the ground would not produce fruit for him. He had…

Passage Read: Genesis 5-8 Meditation Verse: 7:1 No matter how bad everyone else gets, we can still remain righteous and find favor with God. It is no excuse to give in to wickedness because there is no one else left doing what is right. Just…

Passage Read: Genesis 9-12 Meditation Verses: 12:11-13 Abram did not yet know the Lord well, so he depended on his own wisdom to keep himself alive. But his wisdom backfired, and while it kept him alive and obtained for him preferential treatment, it lost him…

Passage Read: Genesis 13-16 Meditation Verses: 16:8-9 The Lord knew full well that Ishmael would not inherit Abram's promise; He would reckon Abram's descendants through Isaac, not Ishmael. He could have let Hagar continue to wander with Ishmael, taken care of them and fulfilled His…

Passage Read: Genesis 17-20 Meditation Verse: 17:23 Even the slaves were included in God's promise to Abraham. It was not just for flesh-and-blood members of his family, but everyone who belonged to him. His neighbors and friends weren't included, but those born in his household…

Passage Read: Genesis 21-24 Meditation Verses: 24:12-14 If someone told me today that they had done something like this to find their wife, I would think they were careless. The servant made sure to confirm that Rebekah was from Abraham's relatives, which helped confirm that…

Passage Read: Genesis 25-28 Meditation Verses: 28:20-22 It seems Jacob had not yet adopted the Lord as his God. His father honored and obeyed the Lord, who didn't ask much of him, but apparently was not very deliberate in teaching his sons about the Lord.

Passage Read: Genesis 29-32 Meditation Verses: 32:9-12 After all Jacob had experienced, how God had preserved him through all of Laban's schemes, yet when he prepared to face his brother, he feared for his life and the lives of his family. He knew what God…

Passage Read: Genesis 33-36 Meditation Verses: 33:18-20 Jacob had been with Laban twenty years. After seven years he received his first two wives, so he had all his sons and daughters except Benjamin in about 13 years, then he returned to the land of Canaan.

Passage Read: Genesis 37-40 Meditation Verses: 40:14-15 Joseph saw a chance to get free of his imprisonment, perhaps correctly discerning that this was a way the Lord might use to free him. And he would be correct, except that the time was not yet ripe…

Passage Read: Genesis 41-44 Meditation Verses: 44:33-34 The brothers didn't think about their father when they got rid of Joseph. Now that they had lived so many years with the lie that Joseph was dead and seen how gravely it affected their father, they were…

Passage Read: Genesis 45-48 Meditation Verse: 45:5 For how many years was Joseph a slave and then in prison? He had been raised up over Egypt for nine years at this point, and all his years of anguish we're gone to him, forgotten. He knew…

Passage Read: Genesis 49 - Exodus 2 Meditation Verse: Genesis 50:19 As highly exalted as Joseph was, he didn't consider it his place to exact revenge on his brothers. More amazingly, he doesn't seem the least bit bitter about what they did. It brought amazing…

Passage Read: Genesis 1-4 Meditation Verse: 4:9 Adam and Eve hid from the Lord, but when confronted, they confessed what had happened. People like to say they shifted blame, but they told the truth about what happened, which is useful if someone wants to identify…

Passage Read: Genesis 5-8 Meditation Verse: 8:21 Though God destroyed all men except Noah and his family, He didn't eradicate the wickedness in men's hearts. He acknowledges here that the intent of man's heart remains evil from his youth. So the flood didn't fix man,…

Passage Read: Genesis 9-12 Meditation Verses: 12:14-16 By Joseph's day, the language of the Israelites and Egyptians was different enough to require a translator. The languages were changed at Babel, before Abram was born, and Abram was from another family, whose language likely was different…

Passage Read: Genesis 13-16 Meditation Verses: 13:8-10 Lot was far better off remaining with Abram, though he didn't know that yet. But when he separated from Abram, he chose the river valley because it looked so good for supporting his flocks. He didn't seem concerned…

Passage Read: Genesis 17-20 Meditation Verses: 18:32-33 Sodom and Gomorrah are exceedingly wicked; complaints about them have reached heaven. People want justice and God is sending messengers to confirm the complaints. They stop at Abraham's place and God explains what He's about to do. Abraham,…

Passage Read: Genesis 21-24 Meditation Verses: 21:12-14 Abraham doesn't want to give up Ishmael, but Ishmael is not the son of the promise, so God tells Abraham to send him away. God promises to take care of Ishmael and multiply him, but he must go.

Passage Read: Genesis 25-28 Meditation Verses: 27:1-2 Isaac had to be at least eighty, and he would live at least another twenty years, the time it took for Jacob to pay his debts to Laban and return. He had gone blind and felt his age,…

Passage Read: Genesis 29-32 Meditation Verses: 31:11-13 If it ever occurs to Jacob to leave, he didn't do it, not until the Lord tells him to. Though he is oppressed by his uncle, he keeps his word to serve, even though there was no time…

Passage Read: Genesis 33-36 Meditation Verses: 34:2-4 This appears to be the culture in Canaan and beyond: Take the girl you want, then negotiate with the father (or brother). It happened to Abraham twice, Isaac was warned about the same thing possibly happening, and now…

Passage Read: Genesis 37-40 Meditation Verses: 39:10-14 Surely the other men of the household, the other slaves, knew what was going on. They surely had seen and heard what Potiphar's wife was doing to Joseph. But what could they do? As slaves they couldn't argue…

Passage Read: Genesis 41-44 Meditation Verses: 42:21-22 It is no small thing to hate a brother so much you'd consider killing him, even though in the end you only sold him into slavery. Who knows what would become of the brother you sell into slavery?…

Passage Read: Genesis 45-48 Meditation Verse: 48:11 No one ever tells Jacob how Joseph really got to Egypt. Joseph and his brothers know, and his brothers probably live in fear that Joseph will tell on them, but he never does. It hangs over Joseph's brothers…