Tag Genesis

A Scurry of Ebenezers

Todd R 7 Comments

What is an Ebenezer?  In the Old Testament, an Ebenezer was a “stone of help,” a kind of monument to times God helped His people.  These markers were a reminder of God’s faithfulness, providing strength for the present and future.  Sometimes in the Bible, these moments where God intervenes are noted by the phrase “but God” followed by a change in the direction of the story.

Ebenezer (pictured) is also a squirrel, and this blog’s mascot.  He represents these “but God” memorials in the Bible.  As a squirrel suddenly and unexpectedly draws our attention, Ebenezers draw our attention to reminders of God’s influence on history and our lives.  If so, a “scurry” of squirrels, as a group of them is called, should get our attention even more!  In the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis, Ebenezer (“but God”) appears multiple times:

  • Genesis 45:8 – “So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
  • Genesis 48:21 – “Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers.”
  • Genesis 50:20 – “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
  • Gen. 50:24 “And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’”

The story of Joseph is long and complicated but is really a story of extreme sibling rivalry and jealousy being turned by God into a story of salvation for all of God’s family.  God intervened in many ways.

Joseph was favored by his father over his brothers, and when he shared his dreams that his family would one day bow down to him, his brothers despised him more and sold him into slavery in Egypt.  Joseph’s brothers directly were responsible this, “but God” accomplished much for Joseph in Egypt, according to Genesis 45:8.  The result of one “but God” is that Joseph had risen to a position of great power.

In addition, Joseph’s brothers hated him enough to not only sell him into slavery, but they also lied to their father, saying Joseph had been killed by wild animals.  “But God” not only used these evil intentions and acts to raise up Joseph, but through Joseph God also “meant it for good,” as Genesis 50:20 says, keeping many people alive.  Joseph had been placed in charge of the distribution of food in Egypt during a long famine.  When Joseph’s brothers came from Canaan to buy food, Joseph concealed his identity and tested them, but eventually revealed himself and gave them a new home in Egypt, providing food and a livelihood for them for years.  God made something great out of the evil of Joseph’s brothers.

There are more bad events in Joseph’s life that God overcame, without a direct “but God” reference.  Joseph had been wrongly accused of attempted rape by the wife of his earlier Egyptian employer, Potiphar.  While spending time in prison on this charge, Joseph also suffered an extended sentence because the cupbearer, who promised to advocate for Joseph to Pharaoh, forgot about him for 2 years.  All of these things Joseph overcame, with God intervening all along the way.

One last example.  Joseph also prophesied another “but God” in the future, in Genesis 50:24.  While Egypt initially welcomed Israel with open arms, giving them land in a choice area of Egypt, as the nation of Israel grew, they were eventually bound in slavery when a Pharaoh saw their size as a threat.  Joseph knew Israel would be delivered from this slavery, and “God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”  The people would return to Canaan.

What does this mean for us?  That God is always intervening in our lives in more ways than we know, or probably could even comprehend.  Sometimes our lives can seem out of control and overwhelming, “but God” intervenes in our past, present, and future.

Every moment, we are surrounded by a scurry of Ebenezers, including many we are not aware of.

“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” – John Piper

Ebenezer in a Dream

Todd R 2 Comments

In the ESV Bible, the phrase “but God” appears in the narrative 43 times, changing the direction of the story.  Ebenezer the squirrel, the blog’s mascot, represents these memorials of God’s intervention in the world and in our lives.  As a squirrel can unexpectedly draw our attention, I write about these moments to draw our attention to God as a reminder that adding God to our circumstances can change everything.  One of the times the words “but God” appears is in Genesis 20:3, which says:

“But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, ‘Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.’”

This “but God” Ebenezer comes during Abraham’s sojourn in Gerar, where Abimelech was king.  Similar to an earlier story from Genesis 12, Abraham lies and says his wife Sarah is his sister in order to stay out of trouble.  In this case, Abraham explains his reason for lying as: “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’”[1]  Ironically, Abraham inadvertently here proved there was no fear of God in his own life at this moment, by prioritizing an assumption he had made about Abimelech’s character above the absolute knowledge of God’s character, who does not lie.  Be careful about what you’re certain of.  It might be wrong.

Just like each of us, even the heroes of our faith are not perfect and seek their own means of finding prosperity apart from God.  How God deals with them therefore reveals His grace with real people, and also has lessons we can learn from.  In response to this “but God” dream, Abimelech returns Sarah to Abraham to avoid sinning with her.  The dream revealed the power of God to Abimelech, who “took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him.”[2]  Abimelech even gave Abraham 1,000 pieces of silver and told Sarah it was “a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.”[3]

Ebenezer, the ‘but God’ squirrel, is behind more than you know.

Although Abraham ended up shamed by this situation, God ended up glorified.  God was always in control, even when Abraham was faithless.  Of this story, the Life Application Study Bible notes: “How many times has God done the same for us, holding us back from sin in ways we can’t even detect? We have no way of knowing—we just know from this story that he can. God works just as often in ways we can’t see as in ways we can.”  In other words, there are often many Ebenezers we are not even aware of.  We may benefit from “but God” moments in the lives of others, as Abraham did with Abimelech.  Therefore, next time you see a squirrel (or the next 100 times), thank God for His many mercies toward you that you haven’t even noticed.

“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” – John Piper

[1] Genesis 20:12
[2] Genesis 20:14
[3] Genesis 20:16

Don’t Ignore Ebenezer Today

Todd R Leave a comment

Reminders of God’s word can guide our daily lives, but only if we follow those reminders.  Earlier, I introduced the blog’s mascot, “Ebenezer, the ‘But God…’ Squirrel.”  Ebenezer is a reminder that however difficult or frustrating our situation, if we actively and intentionally inject God into the situation, He can and will show us the best way forward.  However, what if we try to say “But God” but take the wrong path anyway?  If we do, we are not alone.

Ebenezer, trying to get your attention.

A search of the exact words “but God” in the ESV Bible gives 43 results, and the first one is found in Genesis 3:3, which says “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”  This verse occurs when the serpent in the garden questions God’s word that Adam and Eve were limited by God in what they should and shouldn’t do.  Eve, the speaker in the quote above, responds rightly that God had been specific about what not to do.  As most of my readers will know, even though Eve knew God’s word, the serpent was able to convince her to ignore it.

As they say in the financial industry, “past performance is no guarantee of future results,” but I will guarantee anyway that today and every day every one of us face temptation to do something God wants to protect us from.  I also am confident of the words “but God…” that “If you recall them daily and live by them, they will transform your life completely,” as I quoted earlier from James Montgomery Boice.  But we must live by them to be transformed by God, not just quote them.

Today, pray that we all would be distracted by God’s word as easily as we are sometimes distracted by a passing squirrel when we are tempted to ignore His voice in our souls.  And if God delivers you from temptation today, make a note, a perpetual “stone of help” that God’s word is good!

Keep an eye out for Ebenezer as an ongoing series here, covering the 43 direct “but God” references, but also others.

The Last Enemy is Death

Todd R 2 Comments

In life there are many difficult questions, and two of the hardest are also common objections to Christianity: 1) Why doesn’t God do anything about the evil in this world? and 2) Why do bad things happen to good people?

However, the Bible does not leave Christians without hope in the face of these questions.

First, part of what God is doing about the evil in this world is the fact that everyone dies.  The Bible teaches that every bad thing in this world is a result of sin – people deviating from God’s purposes – and that because of that sin the world is cursed[1].  Not only do people hurt each other, but the creation itself, including human nature, is not in its ideal state.

Death was not originally part of this world, but came in to the world as a result of sin and is a constant reminder of it.  In Genesis chapter 5, there is a genealogy from Adam to Noah.  The phrase “and he died” is repeated over and over again and is a reminder that this world is not perfect.  God created a consequence for the sin of mankind: death.  While the Bible doesn’t explain why there was a snake in the garden or why Adam and Eve sinned, it does describe what God is doing about it.  When we ask why bad things happen, we acknowledge that bad things exist, that they shouldn’t exist, and that they can happen to anyone.  God isn’t doing nothing about the evil in the world – we all die and that is part of the judgment.

So, the two objections to Christianity (Why doesn’t God do anything about the evil in this world? and why do bad things happen to good people?) end up being contradictory because part of what God does about the evil in this world is that bad things (death) happen to everyone.

However, the Bible teaches that there are two deaths: a physical death and a spiritual death.  In the first, our soul is separated from our body and our body dies.  In the second, our soul is separated from God eternally and our soul dies but exists forever away from God’s presence and blessings.  A second thing that God is doing about the evil in this world is that the first death is universal, but the second death is not.

Fortunately, judgement and death aren’t the only things God is doing about sin.  What does this mean?  Note the second half of God’s curse on the serpent from Genesis 3:15 –

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
            and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
            and you shall bruise his heel.”

Who is being bruised here?  In the last phrase, Satan is injuring Christ through the crucifixion, but it’s described as a wound to the heel because it is not fatal.  Jesus was raised to life eternal.  On the other hand, Christ shall bruise the head of Satan – a fatal blow that he will never recover from.  This was determined from the beginning.

While judgement comes to all in physical death as a result of sin, through Christ there is a way out from spiritual, eternal death.  Jesus has paid the price for our sin and has conquered eternal, spiritual death as a result.

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” – 1 Corinthians 15:26

Praise God!

[1] See Genesis 3:19 and 3:22

Sodom and Gomorrah’s Selfishness

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah from the book of Genesis is well-known even to many who aren’t religious.  Genesis 18 and 19 describe the two cities as extremely wicked, specifically mentioning homosexuality and rape.  The English term “sodomy” even comes from the name of the city of Sodom.  In the Genesis story, Lot and some of his family escape based on Abraham pleading with God for them, “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.  And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.”  (Genesis 19:24-25).  This is the most well-known part of the story, and some explanations of why the cities were destroyed found on the internet and elsewhere say Genesis has the “full account” of the story.  Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for their excessive sexual sins.

However, there is more.

Ezekiel, a prophet to Jews captive in Babylon centuries after Sodom was destroyed, said: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.”  (Ezekiel 16:49-50). Ezekiel was describing the sins of Judah to explain why they had been sent into exile from their Promised Land and said they don’t compare favorably even to Sodom.  Surprisingly, Ezekiel doesn’t even mention any sexual sins in this description.  Not that these sins were irrelevant, but in Ezekiel’s view, Sodom would have been destroyed even without them.  Sodom’s other sins were also abominations.

What’s the point?  I can’t say it any better than the Life Application Study Bible, which notes on Ezekiel 16:49: “Sodom was destroyed because of its pride, laziness, gluttony, and unconcern for the poor and needy. It is easy to be selective in what we consider gross sin. If we do not commit such horrible sins as adultery, homosexuality, stealing, and murder, we may think we are living good enough lives.”

We can’t pick and choose which sins are more or less deserving of God’s judgement, because in His holiness and justice, He must and will judge all sin.  While “lifestyle” sins without repentance may be more dangerous to a church or congregation, even sins we may not consider extreme are dangerous as well.  Ezekiel’s point is that selfishness and a disregard for those in need should be repented of as much as any other sin.  Ezekiel wrote, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it,” but he also wrote that Judah would be restored by a coming Messiah, the Christ.

That restoration comes through Christ’s sacrifice for all sins, and anyone can have salvation through faith, which drives us to confession and repentance.  As John wrote in 1 John 1:8-10, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

At the end of our journey, all of God’s people will be cleansed of all of their sins, not just the most noticeable ones, because “he is faithful.”  Not because any of us are less sinful than others.