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Clarity!

November 6, 2023 by areliablefaith

Thus far I have experienced many more positives from a cancer diagnosis than negatives.  I am feeling fine… okay at 63 I am feeling fine for being 63, but I have no real complaints.  The rallying of family and friends has been inspiring.  The peace which I know to be from the LORD even as we sit in this “bad news, but how bad” phase is simply amazing.  I am experiencing the “peace that passes understanding” that the apostle Paul talks about in Philippians 4:7 and it is wonderful.  But this morning I want to dwell on an aspect of blessing that is perhaps the most edifying, and that is clarity.

Today I am seeing and understanding my life’s purpose in high definition.  The LORD wants me to live in such deep friendship with Him that the joy, peace, and love that He has for me (and for you) spills over.  God has called me to love with His love.  The time I have left, whether it be 3 months or 30 years, is to be spent immersed in this experience of loving God with all my heart, soul, and strength and loving my neighbor as myself.

This past summer as I was sweating it out at the beach lugging way too much stuff from the beach back to our condo, I was pretty uncomfortable.  To battle my discomfort (and maybe a little frustration from lugging too much stuff) I was focusing upon ”reflecting” God’s love.  The Holy Spirit whispered to my heart, “I want you to radiate my love.”  What?  Not reflect?  As I let that sink in, I realized I was trying to put on a smile.  I was trying to think kinder thoughts even in the midst of frustration.  I was thinking about “doing” the right things to be nice even though I felt anything but nice. 

As I examined the difference between reflecting and radiating I realized in my instance it was the difference between doing and being.  If we consider the story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42), we get a picture of doing and being.  Martha was busy doing all the things necessary for everyone to be fed and cared for in her home as Jesus was teaching.  Mary was busy sitting at Jesus’ feet listening and learning.  She put the priority on being in Jesus’ presence before doing other things.

Now this is not an indictment of Martha, but it is making the distinction in priorities.  When my life’s priority is to draw close to Jesus, then the remainder of my life falls into place.  This is a daily thing.  This is a moment-by-moment thing.  As I spend focused time on Jesus, the Holy Spirit works this on-going transformation in me that brings about those characteristics that God has purposed for me.  I don’t have to work up the smile.  It just comes without effort.  I don’t have to work so hard to ignore the rude person, but kindness seeps to the surface of my thoughts.  I don’t have to try to be loving.  Love radiates out of me.

These outward manifestations come supernaturally, naturally.  God’s inner working in my soul is making changes in me such that the Holy Spirit has ever increasing sway on how I think and act.  It is less of God’s goodness shining on me and bouncing off and more of God’s goodness doing something miraculous in me that causes His goodness to radiate out of me. 

As I sit on this plane heading across the country, I think back to the mature believers who demonstrated this in my life.  I think of Sandy and Steve, a couple with three young children who took a 23-year-old new believer under their wings and nurtured him.  I think of Larry who encouraged me to go to this retreat and prayed for me to experience God in a deeper way.  I surrendered my life completely to Jesus that weekend.  There are John and Angelique who discipled me in the school of prayer for years as we met in the Prayer Tower in our small town in Tennessee.  I think of my beloved Lisa who put up with (and still puts up with) the person in the process of becoming who God created me to be.  These people and so many more demonstrated God’s love and care in marvelous ways.  And there is my faith community of today – dozens of beloved brothers and sisters in Christ who, like me, are in the process of becoming all God has created them to be.

I hope you will join me in this journey.  I believe in God’s sovereignty; therefore, He knows about this cancer battle and has allowed it for His good purpose.  That first wakeful night I felt the Lord give me a few “To Do’s”.  One was to journal this journey in a totally transparent manner and share it with others.  It is my earnest prayer that God meets you where you are and provides exactly what you need – whether it be encouragement, guidance, or perhaps even the first step in your journey of discovery with Him.

Until next time, be blessed my friend and be a blessing!

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Trials | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

A Minor Prophet with a Major Punch: Finishing the Old Testament in Malachi

September 30, 2026 by areliablefaith

This morning, over coffee, I read Malachi and finished the Old Testament for 2026. There’s something fitting about ending the year’s journey through Israel’s story with this book. It’s the last prophetic word before centuries of silence, and it leaves us leaning forward, waiting for what God will do next.

How I Used to Read Malachi

For most of my life I’ve read Malachi through two lenses.

The first is the tithe. Malachi is blunt: “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me” (Malachi 3:8). The people were holding back from God, and He challenges them to bring the full tithe into the storehouse and put Him to the test, to see if He will not open the windows of heaven and pour down a blessing until there is no more need (3:10). Our tendency to shortchange God and His promise to bless faithfulness have always stood out to me.

The second is the ending. Malachi prepares us for John the Baptist, the messenger who would prepare the way (3:1), the Elijah who would come before the great day of the Lord (4:5–6). The Old Testament closes by pointing ahead.

Both of those are true and important. But this time, reading Malachi as a whole, I saw much more in these four short chapters.

A Minor Prophet with a Major Punch

Malachi is classified as a minor prophet, but he delivers a major punch. Point by point, he exposes how hollow religious practice falls short of what God has called His people to.

The book opens with God saying, “I have loved you.” The people answer, “How have you loved us?” (1:2). That pattern repeats throughout the book. God speaks of His love, His calling, how He set them apart and blessed them, and the people push back with questions and excuses. They offer blemished sacrifices. The priests grow careless. They grow weary of worship and even say, “It is vain to serve God” (3:14).

They were doing religion, but they weren’t getting it.

Duty or Relationship?

I think getting it is where we cross from religious duty into relationship with God.

Religious duty is, sadly, the main way people approach God. It’s why the world has so many religions: each is a human attempt to build a road to God. Even people who recognize that there must be an intelligent designer behind creation often set up their own process for acknowledging Him and reaching Him.

But God has already made the way. That’s what Malachi keeps pressing toward. God calls His people to repent and to trust Him with everything. The tithe is part of that trust. Obedience to the law is part of that trust. But the heart of it is a turning of the whole person toward God.

That’s the same message Jesus proclaims when He steps onto the scene: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Malachi sets the table, and Jesus picks up the call.

The Book of Remembrance

The part that moved me most today is Malachi 3:16–17. In the middle of a people arguing with God, there is a remnant whose hearts are soft and tender toward Him. They grieve over the evil around them. They talk with one another about the Lord. And God hears.

“Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. ‘They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession.'” (Malachi 3:16–17)

Throughout the Old Testament there are long lists of names: priests and Levites serving in the temple, families returning from exile, genealogies that most of us are tempted to skim. It’s remarkable that all those names were recorded. And here Malachi shows us why. God keeps a record. He knows His people.

Let’s drill into that. He knows us intimately. He loves us as individuals, and He relates to us as people He loves. We are His treasured possession.

What an astounding thought. The Creator of the universe, the One who cast the stars into place, who designed the atom and how protons, neutrons, and electrons hold together to form all matter, knows you. Not just humanity in general. You. And He loves you enough that He sent His Son to die for you, and He recorded that saving plan across the pages of Scripture, beginning long before Bethlehem.

I’m blown away by that.

The Sun of Righteousness

Malachi’s last chapter includes one of my favorite promises:

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” (Malachi 4:2)

The word is sun, S-U-N. But every time I read it, I hear S-O-N. I can’t help it, because that’s who the entire Old Testament has been looking toward. Every sacrifice, every prophet, every promise, every list of names has been leaning forward to Jesus.

Looking Ahead

After Malachi come roughly 400 years without a recorded prophetic word before Jesus arrives. A lot happened in those years, and maybe that’s a conversation for another day. For today, I want to sit with how Malachi closes the Old Testament: summing up Israel’s long story of God’s faithfulness and His people’s struggle, and pointing straight toward God’s great climactic act of sending His Son.

God isn’t looking for hollow religious performance. He’s looking for tender hearts that turn to Him, trust Him, and know they are known.

So here’s my question for you: Are you approaching God out of duty, trying to build your own road to Him, or have you stepped into the relationship He’s already made possible through Jesus?

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Posted in Bible Study, God, Jesus Christ, Priorities, worldview, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Unfinished Business

September 29, 2026 by areliablefaith

This morning my spirit rose as I read of the dedication of the rebuilt wall in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12). Two great choirs processed around the top of the wall, trumpets sounding, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. I could picture it, because I’ve been in rooms like that: thousands of Jesus followers, hands lifted, faces turned upward, rejoicing in the salvation Jesus bought with His blood.

Then the story turns. Nehemiah goes back to the king in Susa, and when he returns he finds the people have already slid. The Levites haven’t been paid and have left for their fields. The Sabbath is a market day. The people have intermarried with the nations around them. An enemy of God’s people has been given a room inside the temple itself. Nehemiah is furious, and he cleans house. Yet the book ends not with triumph but with a prayer: “Remember me, O my God, for good” (Nehemiah 13:31).

It struck me that Ezra and Nehemiah both end this way. Two godly men made bold, faithful attempts to lead the people back to the law, and both saw only partial success. Which is to say, the people could not keep the whole law. And neither can we.

Consider where things stood. The Jews were back in the promised land, but few in number. There was a temple, but when its foundation was laid, the old men who remembered Solomon’s temple wept aloud (Ezra 3:12). It was a shadow of the former glory. And the presence of God, the cloud that filled the first temple so completely the priests couldn’t stand to minister (2 Chronicles 5:14), never came down on this one. Ezekiel had watched the glory depart (Ezekiel 10). Scripture never records it returning to that second temple.

But God had not forgotten His promise. Through the prophet Haggai He had said of this humble house, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former” (Haggai 2:9). And Malachi, prophesying to these same backsliding people, promised that the Lord they sought would suddenly come to His temple (Malachi 3:1). Then heaven went quiet for four centuries.

And one day, a young couple carried their baby into that temple, and old Simeon took Him in his arms and said, “My eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:30). The glory had returned, not in a cloud, but in flesh. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory” (John 1:14).

That’s why Nehemiah’s story ends unfinished. Walls, reforms, and renewed vows could not fix the human heart. Nehemiah could chase merchants out of the gates, but he could not write the law on anyone’s heart. Only God could do that, and He promised He would (Jeremiah 31:33). The unfinished business of Nehemiah was finished at the cross.

Psalm 126 gives voice to that longing: “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream… Restore our fortunes, O LORD.” It’s a psalm sung by people who had tasted restoration but were still waiting for more. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. The returned exiles sowed in tears. We reap in Christ.

I recognize myself in Nehemiah’s people. I have stood in worship with my heart ablaze and then, a few weeks later, found I had quietly let the Sabbath slip, let other things take the room reserved for God. My reforms don’t hold either. Thank God my hope isn’t in my own wall-building, but in the One who dwells in me by His Spirit and will finish the good work He began (Philippians 1:6).

Where in your life have you been relying on your own reforms and resolutions, when what you really need is the presence of the One who alone can finish the work?

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Consistency, Not Perfection

September 19, 2026 by areliablefaith

Areliablefaith Reflection

A few days ago, on a beach in Marina di Ragusa, Sicily, I found myself staring at a McDonald’s. Not because I wanted a hamburger, but because of where it was sitting — right on the water, in about as prime a location as you could ask for, surrounded by genuine, family-run trattorias that had clearly been there for generations. It struck me as strange. How does an American fast-food chain end up on a stretch of coastline like this? And more than that — would it even survive next to businesses built on real family history and craft?

That question sat with me for a couple of days, and it pulled up a memory from a book I read a long time ago: Tom Peters’ In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. McDonald’s was one of the companies Peters studied, and one line from it has stuck with me for years. He observed that McDonald’s never set out to make the single best-tasting hamburger in the world. What they pursued instead was consistency — a hamburger that tasted the same whether you bought it in the U.S., in Canada, in Japan, or, apparently, on a beach in Sicily.

Lisa and I ended up going back to that same McDonald’s — not for the burgers, but for a cappuccino and, of all things, a croissant, which is not exactly a McDonald’s staple back home. And as I drank that cappuccino, I realized it tasted exactly like the one I’d had in Michigan a few months earlier, and the one I’d had in South Carolina before that. Different continent, different culture, same cup. That’s not an accident. That’s the entire business model.

It got me thinking about my own walk with God.

God isn’t asking me to be the spiritual equivalent of the “best-tasting hamburger” — spectacular, polished, impressive from day one. What He seems to be after isn’t perfection out of the gate. It’s surrender, and it’s consistency — showing up again and again, letting Him shape the heart a little more each time.

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 1:6

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” — Philippians 3:12

But here’s where I have to be honest with myself, because I’ve recently caught myself twisting that very idea. I’ve been using YouVersion to read the Bible daily, and somewhere along the way, “consistency” quietly turned into “streak.” I started feeling real stress about keeping a number going, rather than about actually meeting God in the text. The goal was never a badge or a counter. The goal was to see Him in His Word and let it inform my heart. Somewhere along the way, the tracking became the target.

It’s not a new problem. It’s the same thing Jesus called out in Matthew 23 — people who were relentlessly consistent in the letter of practice while neglecting “the weightier matters.” Or Isaiah 29:13 — a people whose lips were near God while their hearts stayed far away. Discipline is not the same thing as devotion. It’s possible to be perfectly consistent and still miss the point entirely.

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” — Isaiah 29:13

The consistency worth pursuing isn’t the visible, countable kind — the streak, the box checked, the record kept. It’s the invisible kind: returning to Him, again and again, not because a number depends on it, but because that’s where life actually is.

A Question to Sit With

Where in your walk with God has faithfulness quietly turned into a performance metric — and what would it look like this week to return to the relationship instead of the record?

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Downward Spiral

March 30, 2026 by areliablefaith

Judges 1-2. Having read through the Bible multiple years now, when we hit Judges, the life of the nation of Israel becomes one or two steps forward and two or three steps backwards. The Bible is one unified story that points to Jesus. But to do that, it also has to describe the reason for Jesus’ coming which is our absolute need for a savior. This is true of us as a society. It is true of me and everyone else individually. As Paul says in the seventh chapter of his letter to the church at Rome – “Woe is me… the good I would do, I don’t do; and that which I know not to do, that is what I do… who will save me from this wretched condition?” The answer is Jesus. What Paul cries out about is demonstrated through Israel in the book of Judges. Israel demonstrates this up and down nature of our humanity through a series of slides into depravity followed by subjugation leading to crying out to God for help. God raises up a leader to rescue them, followed by relative peace that eventually descends into depravity again and the whole process starts over.

There is another layer to the stories in Judges that we might easily miss. In these first two chapters, the narrator gives us a list of all the areas where the Israelites did not drive out the Canaanites who were living there. The people living in the land worshipped other gods. They sacrificed their children. They included various immoral practices into their “worship” such as cult prostitutes. The Lord had clearly said the existing inhabitants must be removed from the land or they would become a snare and trap for the Israelites. We will see this play out in ever-increasing ways through Judges.

There is a direct correlation to the life of a person when they come to Christ. We are to consistently drive out the sin habits that we have developed over our life prior to entering into the saving relationship with Jesus. It is not clean your act up to be saved. It is totally the fact that we are a new creation, and we are to live like it. Through the forgiveness we receive in Jesus and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit living in us, we can live a different life. We are to crucify the flesh or the ways of the old nature.  Every area that we do not deal with will become a foothold for the enemy. Left unaddressed, the foothold becomes a stronghold. Before long, our life will be one of domination by God’s (and ours) enemy because we didn’t deal with the sin habit when the Holy Spirit first revealed it to us.

The solution is simple. Paul shouts it out in Romans 8… Thanks be to God for Jesus! Jesus broke the power of Satan, of sin, as well as the fear of death. Starting with this reality which Jesus purchased for all humanity at the cross, we look to Him and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we reject and pull down every thought, every sin habit that we might once have embraced. We do not let them live and have dominion over us.

As we live into Holy Week this year, we see and we model Jesus’ focus on the Father and the Father’s good plan. Painful though it was, Jesus knew it was God’s way, it was the only way to save us… to save me… to save you. And as His children, He has a good plan beyond our salvation, as good as that is. He wants to sanctify us. He wants us to live in peace. He wants our lives to point to Him. So, we will set our face towards the Father, and we will drive out anything and everything in our life that would turn us away from following Him faithfully.

Help us LORD to crucify everything that is not of you. We desire to live lives surrendered. And we say yes to the active part of surrender… laying down our lives and all lesser loves to embrace you and your ways. To you be the glory faithful Lord, you who entered into Jerusalem knowing what lie before you, knowing that you did not deserve to die such an ignominious death. But you did it for us. You did it for me. Thank you Jesus.

Posted in Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Holy Week, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Father | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Choose, Cling, Witness

March 29, 2026 by areliablefaith

Joshua 22-24, The progression here is the plan for every believer and follower of Jesus. We are to choose the Lord. This is not a one-time activity. It is a recurring choice we get to make over and over. This is the essence of faith, choosing the Lord and following Him every day until it is the only thing we know to do.

Now choosing Him is easy when life is good. Life isn’t always good. In fact, there are many times when life is hard. It is in hard times when it is essential that we cling tightly to the LORD. When our children were little, a game they loved to play was to sit on my foot and wrap their arms around my leg while I walked. I remember their giggles and squeals as I would walk around asking my wife if she liked my new shoes. If they did not cling tightly though, they would fall off. This picture comes to mind when I think of clinging. There is such a close personal nature to clinging when I think of this. God is a good, good Father who desires that we hold onto Him, hold onto His promises, hold onto His way of living such that the third word comes into play.

The reality is our lives will be a witness to something. The question is what do we bear witness to? Do we just blend in with the world and its brokenness… its misplaced faith… its fears… its corruption? Or do we bear witness to the living God who is at work transforming our lives day by day, well-made choice by well-made choice. As we choose and as we cling, our lives will reflect the love and goodness of God more and more.

Today is Palm Sunday. Jesus rode into Jerusalem to lots of external fanfare, yet He knew what lie before Him. He saw the cross looming on the near horizon. Living in Roman occupied territory, Jesus had certainly seen the gruesome displays of Roman justice, so He had no illusions about what was coming. Yet He chose to obey. He chose to ride into the coming maelstrom. And He did so clinging to the Father, trusting His plan, trusting His heart. And today, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are the central point of all history, a glorious witness of God’s love and desire that ALL mankind might choose, cling, and bear witness to Him.

Blessed LORD, we choose you today. We cling to you today. LORD, make our lives a faithful witness to your love and goodness to each and every person we meet today. In Jesus’ Name!

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, God, Holy Week, Jesus Christ, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Trials, worldview, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Promises, Promises – God the Promise Keeper

March 28, 2026 by areliablefaith

Joshua 19-21. It was drilled into me at a young age that a person’s word was their bond. A promise was sacred and could not be broken. As I grew and experienced the world I came to realize that such a belief was not all that widely held. Lawyers proliferate partly to try and hold people to their promises and partly to try and get people out of their promises. Joshua 21:45 says, “Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” God is a promise maker. God is a promise keeper!

We are about a quarter of the way into reading the Bible in a year. It was way back in the early part of Genesis that God made the promise to Abram that He would give to his descendants the land of Canaan. That was about 600 or so years prior to today’s reading. Needless to say, some of God’s promises have a long timeline. Fortunately, they also do not have an expiration date. We most often think in terms of days, weeks, and years. The LORD, who exists outside of time, but created time for our sake, moves on a grander and more spectacular scale when time is concerned. There is a term used for Jesus’ birth that captures God’s use of time… “in the fullness of time”. When all the conditions had been met, it was time for God’s ultimate promise to be met.  Jesus… God in the flesh… God walking among humanity… God demonstrating how to live… and how to die… Jesus our redeemer kinsman… Jesus, our Lord and our God! Jesus, the ultimate promise keeper. The ultimate promise kept.

As we enter Holy Week, I will deviate from posting about the daily reading through the Bible to look at Jesus and Holy Week. This week is the annual remembrance of the penultimate week in all of history. From Genesis 3:15 through the last verses of Malachi in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was inspiring the writers to point to Jesus and this week that occurred some 2000 years ago. And since that time, all of history has been shifted because of the resurrection and the reality that death has been conquered, the Holy Spirit has been given to the Church, and Satan’s domination of humanity has been broken. Many of the LORD’s great promises have been fulfilled. And we rest in the sure and certain knowledge that those that remain are coming. For it is true… not one word of all the good promises that the LORD has made will fail to come to pass. God is a promise maker. God is a promise keeper.

Come Lord Jesus. Use us to keep your promises. Inspire our words and actions to perfectly align with you and your good work in the world. Transform hearts, minds, and lives through your Holy Spirit and your people walking in a living faith. Jesus, it is in your Name that we pray!  

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Crossed Arms

February 24, 2026 by areliablefaith

Genesis 48-50, Crossed Arms. Throughout Genesis we see the “expected way” to be upended. The Law of primogenitor stated that the inheritance, birthright, and double portion of blessing belong to the firstborn male in the family. It was the accepted rule in the time of the Patriarchs and still exists today in many societies. Yet in Genesis, we see this “law” broken in almost every case. The list of firstborn sons who did NOT receive this place of preeminence is longer than those who do. Cain, Ishmael, Esau, Reuben, and today Manasseh are all passed over and a younger sibling is given the leading role.

Jacob is old and almost blind when he “adopts” Joseph’s two oldest sons – Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob is a younger brother to his twin Esau. We remember that Jacob used deception to steal his father’s blessing for the oldest son. Today in pronouncing blessing upon the two boys Jacob crosses his arms to intentionally bless Ephraim, the second son, with the blessing reserved for the older.

Two things struck me. First, the LORD has blessed me far greater than I deserve. The relationship He has drawn me into with Himself is truly life-giving and joy-inducing. Yet so many of God’s answers to my prayers have been different from what I expected. My prayers early in my walk included a good bit of instruction to God on how to meet the need I was praying about. God would answer, yet the path to His blessing was completely different than what I expected. And it was always better because of this. Second, the Bible refers to Jesus as our older brother, the firstborn from the dead. We know He truly exists in preeminence. Yet He passes on blessings to us, His younger siblings, in portions far beyond our merit. Grace, God’s unmerited favor, rests upon us because of Jesus’ death, resurrection and life.

Father, thank you for blessing us richly. You are no respecter of persons in the sense of entitlement. But you are the Lover of our souls, and you are at work wooing, training, and surprising us with grace upon grace. May we live to pass on your blessing to the people you bring into our lives… family, friends, and even the stranger we meet as we go through life.

Posted in Bible Study, Genesis, God, God Stories, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Greater Blesses the Lesser

February 24, 2026 by areliablefaith

Genesis 46-47, The Greater Blesses the Lesser. When Jacob and his family arrive in Egypt, Joseph brings his father in to meet Pharoah. Pharoah is the king of Egypt, the highest office in the land. While he has elevated Joseph to the highest administrative role in all the land, ultimate authority still rests with Pharoah. Yet when Jacob enters into Pharoah’s presence it is Jacob who blesses Pharoah… twice. From our perspective millennia later, we know that the relationship between Israel and Egypt has been a tumultuous one with slavery, genocide, war and general distrust, but in this case honor and blessing are given. It seems incongruous that Jacob is the one doing the blessing in the context of Israel needing deliverance from the famine and Egypt being the place of that rescue.

But in the bigger picture, God is already at work implementing His amazing act of cosmic deliverance. Through the cruel acts of Israel’s sons, Joseph was sent to Egypt to prepare for the famine. Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams and his wise accumulation of resources prior to the famine saved Egypt and Israel. God was working through Jacob’s family to deliver the Pharoah and his people. And God, who had wrestled with Jacob many years prior, spoke to Jacob at Beersheba, He was directing him to settle in Egypt in preparation for His next cosmic move. We know God’s work through Abraham’s descendants was just getting started but already we see worldly powers recognizing and submitting to God’s blessing through His people.

We are called to continue God’s blessing into the world we live in. We are not called to be uninvolved observers, but rather active participants in God’s redeeming work today. And we do that from the place of staying close to the Father and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

LORD, you have blessed us richly by drawing us into relationship with you. Teach us and lead us into divine conversations where you bless through our words and actions. May your mercy, grace, truth and love flow from our lives in such a way that others come to know you. Jesus, be lifted up. Jesus, be exalted. Jesus, be glorified in us and through us today.  

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God’s Sovereignty and Changed Lives

February 24, 2026 by areliablefaith

Genesis 43-45, God’s Sovereignty and Changed Lives. This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible, particularly what this demonstrates about God’s overarching sovereignty and how He changes lives for the good. Joseph says more than once that what his brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. His riches to rags to riches story did an amazing work in his life. I cannot imagine that He could easily see an outcome this good as he served his master Potipher or while he sat in prison. We get a sense that he had a hopeful perspective simply from the fact that his actions stood out even in these dark places such that he was elevated to leading roles. But nothing but the dreams God had given him could have prepared him for the dramatic turn of events that placed his brothers squarely under his control. Yet, after making his brothers squirm for a relatively short period, Joseph rescues them. Forgiveness and rescue by the one who had been wronged. A foreshadowing of Jesus.

But we see a similar transformation in Judah. In Genesis 38 Judah is shown to be less than honorable. And in Genesis 37:26, it was Judah who suggested that they get rid of Joseph and make a profit from him by selling him as a slave. Yet 22 years later, it is Judah who offers himself as a substitute for his little brother, Benjamin. He is willing to face slavery or possibly even death in the place of another. Did guilt and remorse drive him to this? I’m sure they played a part. The real point is that his heart had changed and instead of putting himself first, he was more concerned for the welfare of his father and brother. A drastic change of heart indeed. Judah’s willingness to suffer in the place of another is yet another foreshadowing of the One who offered to suffer in our place on a cross many years later.

Father, whether we experience a dramatic turnaround like Joseph or we simply enjoy your presence in calmer ways, the reality is you are in control and you are at work changing us to be like you. We want this, Lord. Help us to desire it so deeply that the old manner of thinking and living dies away and the new life of living for you and for others becomes totally natural. Blessed be the Name of the LORD who loves us into new life.

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Time and Waiting

February 24, 2026 by areliablefaith

Genesis 41-42, Time and Waiting. Being a person inclined to activity, I have not always appreciated waiting. In fact, choosing between waiting quietly or finding something TO DO while I am forced to wait is not really a choice. The term “killing time” was invented for people like me. Yet, I recognize that I have not exactly aligned with God’s best in this. While God exists outside of time, He was intentional in placing us into the context of time. Much of what God desires to do in us is framed by time. In fact, much of His most consequential work is a product of His grace experienced over time. In today’s reading we see God’s use of time in the lives of Joseph, his brother’s, and even for the people in the ancient near East in Joseph’s day.

If God had not given the dream to Pharoah, had Joseph interpret the dream, and given seven years of abundance to prepare for the seven years of famine, the entire region would have suffered. As it was, there was grain enough for Egypt and the surrounding areas because the seven years of abundance was wisely used thanks to Joseph. This theme of using time wisely is subtle but important in Joseph’s story.  Joseph had been separated from his birth family for at least 20 years by the time his brothers came seeking to buy grain. In that time God had raised and blessed Joseph to the second highest official in the land of Egypt. We must remember that for 13 years of that time he was either a slave or a prisoner. That would be waiting of a rather mean and challenging sort. But God’s work in the intervening years also did a work in Joseph’s brothers. There seems to be real remorse on their part for what they did to their brother.

As I ponder and pray this morning, my mind goes to many wonderful things God has done in my life over time. Thankfulness flows naturally. Then I consider the things I am still waiting for. Joseph’s story helps me to recognize that God is at work even when I don’t see immediate results. He is there in the midst of my waiting. He is ever present and He is at work. My faith is stretched in waiting. Knowing He has heard my prayers and met my needs before, I know I can trust Him with those that are still to be seen. And for this, I can wait.

Thank you, faithful LORD. We wait on you today.

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