You Don't Have to Be Rich to Have a Great Home in Heaven

You Don’t Have to Be Rich to Have a Great Home in Heaven

(This is a sequel to the blog “What’s God Got Against Barns?”)

The incident where Jesus was hanging out with His disciples across from the Temple treasury in Jerusalem where people deposited their tithes and offerings gives the cue.  When a widow woman whom He said only had two small copper coins amounting to one cent to her name placed them in the coffer He remarked, “That woman has given more than anyone else, though some had deposited large amounts.” (Mark 12:41-44)

Jesus made it clear that our gift is measured more by how much we keep than by how much we give.

What's God Got Against Barns?

What’s God Got Against Barns?

Luke 12:13-21

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” 

¹⁶ And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷ And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ ²¹ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Someone might read this and think, “Why is Jesus so upset with this guy who simply has great crops and needs a place to store them?  Why doesn’t He commend him for being responsible?”

The guy’s problem was that all he could see was his wealth and the security he associated with it.  Jesus gave this illustration when He was teaching about the false security associated with greed.  This life is a brief blip in comparison with eternity, and yet people will treat it like it is forever, while missing opportunities to do what Jesus taught us to do which is to give to Him first--right off the top, and be generous with others, thus laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven where there is no risk of loss or need to worry about storage.

Where is your security?  Where is your treasure being laid up?

There is a parable-type fable about a man who dies and finds himself in heaven being led to his dwelling there.  On the way to it many jaw-droppingly beautiful homes are passed.  However, when they arrive at the place designated for this man it is small and shabby.  He is shocked.  The angel, seeing the dumb-struck look on the man’s face tried to comfort him by saying, “I'm sorry, but we did the best we could with the funds you sent ahead.”

If there is any truth in that story, what’s your place going to be like?

What is Secular?

What is Secular?

“Secular” is a word often used to distinguish material things or issues pertaining to the natural or physical world from “spiritual” things.  But the fact of the matter is that inasmuch as God is maker of all things and His involvement extends to every aspect of His creation, to distinguish some things as “secular” is in essence to suggest they don’t belong to God or His governance.

What would you think if I were to come into your house and suggest that some of the things there are yours, but others are not, and are free for my use or taking?  I think I know your response to that.

According to Scripture, all things are ours because we belong to God, our Father, and all things belong to Him.  So what’s the point for a child of God to consider anything as “secular”?  That is a term for someone who does not belong to God or recognize His Lordship and ownership of every thought, every physical thing, every moment, and everything that exists.  He is Lord of all!

“So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”  1 Corinthians 3:21-23

INSECURITY---What a BUGGER!!!

INSECURITY comes from trusting in ourselves or others, or any temporal things such as health, wealth, family, friends, employment, world peace, …..anything but God Himself and His eternal, unchanging, unfailing word.

Insecurity originated in the Garden of Eden when man chose to question God’s character (truthfulness, benevolence, sincerity, faithfulness) after listening and giving consideration to suggestions from a lying source.  The questioning led to the choice to believe lies and place their hopes, relationships, and very security in what they attempted to gain for themselves by partaking of the forbidden fruit. 

What they gained was knowledge—that God was true and the serpent was a liar.

What they lost was practically everything else—open fellowship with God was lost. And its place they got all the selfish, prideful, angry, fighting, deceptive characteristics of soul which are opposite the nature of God.

In rebelling against God man gave up the complete security in God that had been his before, and opted for “I will do things my way and take care of myself in a world full of sinful people on a damaged earth.” 

This condition fuels the insecurity that drives fear, defensiveness, competition, strife, anger, hatred, greed, hording, pride, materialism, boasting, and an unwillingness to lay all these things aside and fully trust in the benevolence, wisdom, power and promises of our Creator and Savior.

The key question for humans is and always has been, “Who are you going to trust?”

Whose word are you going to live by?  Your own? Your culture’s?  Your wife’s?  Your parent’s?  Your boss’s?   Your buddy’s?

            Whose approval do you seek?

            What is the source of your confidence?

It’s sad that some people have such low self-esteem that they are desperate to curry the favor of people who don’t like them and agree with their self-estimation.

If “God” is the the One whose word we want to live by, then His assessment of us and of everything else in this world will become our assessment as well. 

But to the degree others are the source we look to for approval and confidence we will be at the mercy of their false and fickle valuations and miss out on the joy, peace and confidence that can only come from our Creator and Savior.

            Jesus said: "NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS"---much less 3, 4 or 8!

Security is: Knowing I am unconditionally loved and accepted by the One whose knowledge of me is total and whose judgment of me is both just and merciful.

The One Who knows me best loves me most!

IT'S JUST NOT ABOUT THAT!!!!!

(John 9) Reading about Jesus’ healing the blind man by putting muddy spit on his eyes and telling him to go wash in a particular pool, and especially doing it on the Sabbath day, shocked the people then, and still causes people to wonder why He did that.  I believe Jesus was using every means available to show the people He was God and the needs of their lives were not to be met by outward religious political correctness, but by looking to Him alone in simplicity and sincerity.

Our personal and corporate challenge today is still to avoid religiosity with its empty pride, judgmentalism, guilt and hypocrisy, and instead look to Jesus as our teacher, helper and Lord.  He got plain and simple when He called Himself the bread of life and the living water that satisfies all thirst.  To put it in our modern context we might say, “Away with junk food, artificial ingredients, preservatives, and costly nutritional supplements!  Let’s just eat the living bread and drink the water of life!”

What did you eat today?

The prophet Isaiah (55:1-3) forecast it well when he wrote:

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
“Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;

CAN YOU TRUST HIM AS KING?

As Jesus came proclaiming the present availability of eternal life in the Kingdom of God to all who would believe Him, His words were not well understood and the level of trust in Him that such Kingdom living would call for was not easy for most folks to come to.

In reading the 5^th and 6^th chapters of John I see people believing in Jesus on two levels.  One level is that He heals bodies, calms storms, walks on water, and feeds people when there seems to be no food available.  Pretty cool!  A great guy to have around and to follow after.  Believing in His miracles and enjoying them isn’t hard because they are right now and the benefits are immediate. 

But Jesus’ goal is that they see by these miracles Who He really is, and be willing to trust Him completely as Lord.  While the miracles should be adequate to prove He is like no other human and has credentials to be God, their giving Him full control of their lives could mean that He has some other plans for them that aren’t necessarily picnics on the hillside or wonderful healings.  He was known to talk about loving enemies and being faithful to wedding vows.

Then, when He really got into talking about things they couldn’t yet understand and sounded weird to them, like eating His body and drinking His blood, many of them quit following Him.  If they couldn’t make sense of everything they weren’t going to keep following Him, even though there had been obvious benefits and amazing events.  When He asked the 12 whether they were going to leave too, they wisely, but perhaps weakly, said, “Where else can we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  That was good thinking, and they made the right choice.

Similarly, in reading the Old Testament we see a lot of turmoil at times that involves the judgments of God on despicable idolatry, child sacrifice, and degrading practices He had forbidden people to engage in.  It gets pretty ugly at times.  And yet by contrast, there are also glorious promises of restoration, faithful love, and ultimate salvation.  It’s about as overwhelming and confusing to us sometimes as Jesus’ talk of eating His body and drinking His blood must have been to those who heard Him, until after He had died on the cross and risen from the dead.  Then what had seemed crazy and improbable became an obvious spiritual reality.

What starkly stands out in the midst of Old Testament prophecies of coming judgments are clear professions of unconditional trust in God and confident allegiance to Him no matter what.  As I read and consider such passages, many of them have become my favorite scriptures and ones which I have determined will be models for my faith regardless how the circumstances of my personal life or of the world around me turn out to be at times.  One of my favorites is in today’s Life Journal reading.  I pray this passage encourages your heart to trust God as it does mine—whatever we may be going through or may face in days to come.

Habakkuk 2:17-19

Though the fig tree should not blossom

And there be no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,

And makes me walk on my high places.

Our Easiest Mistake is Our BIGGEST Mistake

What might that be?  Simply stated: trading places with God

That might sound like an unlikely thing to do, but we do it without considering that it’s going on.  It happens whenever we think we understand something about God from reading Scripture, hearing a teaching, or from life experience, and what appears to be true about God is unpleasant, inconsistent, unfair, unmerciful, or in some other way not what we think God should be. 

Rather than holding to the position that God is holy, which means He is flawless and perfectly faithful, we question His character or power.  What results from that is we feel free—even responsible to trust our own judgment and make our own independent decisions, at least until we get our concerns about God satisfied and become assured that God is better than we currently perceive Him to be.

One of the big issues on which we don’t have satisfactory understanding and which causes us to hold God in question is, “Is God really fair?”  i.e. What about people who have never heard of Jesus?  What about people who are raised in abusive, dysfunctional circumstances and are given a distorted view of God?  Why do good people suffer and evil people sometimes seem to thrive?  Why are there birth defects, accidents, diseases, natural disasters, etc.?  Several other questions stem from reading passages of Scripture which are difficult to understand or seem to say things contradictory the image we want to have of God.

Someone said, “God created man in His own image, and man returns the favor.”  Without even being aware that we are doing it, we easily slip into the judgment seat and put God on trial.  While hesitating to condemn Him, we have a hard time releasing Him until more evidence gives us confidence to determine the proper outcome of His trial.  I think many people live most of their lives in suspension of trust in God.  We are willing to ask Him for things, and do it almost with an attitude of giving Him a chance to prove Himself by giving us what we want.  But obeying His commands when they aren’t what we want to do or when they seem very difficult is where we often get stymied.  We just don’t have the faith in Him that full obedience calls for.

So, what’s to be done?  More on this to come in another blog.

LET MY CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE

This reversal of the counsel “Let your conscience be your guide” is exactly what Romans 14 was written to address among the Christ followers of Paul’s day.  It is human nature to believe that our own judgment is superior to that of others, and our own standards of right and wrong are more biblical, realistic, honorable, and in every way defensible than the standards of those who disagree with us.

But Scripture is very clear that we are to respect others who differ with us, but not judge them.  We will each stand before God as individuals, and only His judgment will ultimately count.  Therefore, we should seek His truth, His counsel, and walk in His grace with a conscience thus trained, rather than simply complying with or rebelling against the traditions, truth claims, and the counsels and judgments of others. 

If the history of man shows anything, it shows that humans have a hard time navigating the middle of the road.  We go from one extreme to the other, over-correcting the perceived excesses of the previous era.  Legalism and libertarianism are both excesses which each seem necessary and noble when pointing out the flagrant errors of the other.

While these battles of liberalism vs conservatism in political and social issues or legalism vs libertarianism in spiritual issues rage throughout history, and can in a free society generally co-exist without too much danger or social disruption, when these battles arise within a denomination, a local church, a family, or particularly a marriage, they can become excruciatingly divisive and harmful. 

Women judge men from their point of view, and men do the same toward women.  Older folks judge younger folks and vice-versa, each believing they have the more accurate perspective on life.  On and on with various issues we find ourselves taking a side in opposition to another.

Acknowledging that these things are so obviously doesn’t change them.  But if as individuals we can humbly embrace that we each are biased by nature and none of us sees everything with clarity—perhaps nothing with complete clarity—then at least we might be able to show respect and appropriate tolerance for those who sincerely differ from us in what they understand and practice as true and right.  We can let their conscience be their guide, and our conscience be ours.  We can have civil discourse about issues without descending into demeaning criticism.  This can save the harmony of marriages, families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and societies. 

We have a hard time tolerating, much less showing respect for people whose values or lifestyles greatly differ from ours, but ultimately the realities of life and the laws of sowing and reaping reveal what is best or worst, true or false, what works and what doesn’t, and become the catalysts for changing how people think and live.  Our judging and fighting them doesn’t accomplish the same.

It is interesting and should be instructive to us that though Jesus lived on the earth under very corrupt political, religious, and social systems, He ignored those issues that might have ensnared Him in controversy (give to Caesar what is Caesar’s) and focused attention on His credentials as God’s Savior, and instructing each person to look into their own heart to right the wrongs which they know to be there.  (Remove the log from your own eye before trying to find a splinter in your brother’s.)  Wouldn’t He do the same thing today?  Then that should be how we deal too.

It's All Yours!

“What would you think if I were to come into your house and suggest that some of the things there are yours, but others are not, and are free for my use or taking?  I think I know your response to that.

"Secular” is a word often used to distinguish material things or issues pertaining to the natural or physical world from “spiritual” things.  But the fact of the matter is that inasmuch as God is maker of all things and His involvement extends to every aspect of His creation, to distinguish some things as “secular” is in essence to suggest they don’t belong to God or His governance.

According to Scripture, all things are ours because we belong to God, our Father, and all things belong to Him.  So what’s the point for a child of God to consider anything as “secular”?  That is a term for someone who does not belong to God or recognize His Lordship and ownership of every thought, every physical thing, every moment, and everything that exists.  He is Lord of all!

“So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”  1 Corinthians 3:21-23

The ramifications of this truth make good food for prayerful thought.

What is the ABUNDANT LIFE?

John 10:10 "...I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly."  

The abundant life Jesus promised His followers was not the American Dream nor what some TV preachers and popular speakers have proclaimed to American hearers.  As is obvious from many Scripture passages as well as our daily news life on this earth has many dark and difficult experiences for everyone.  The promised abundant richness of life in Jesus comes directly from His abiding presence in our lives now, and the confident expectation of eternal living with Him at His place.  His present graces and promises of future rewards are enough to sustain even the most afflicted soul.  Perhaps the peace, affluence and pleasurable comforts we have enjoyed for so long in the U.S. have contributed to a general confusion between what living in the Kingdom of God is about and what living in the U.S. at this time is about.

Note in the following passage of Jesus’ teaching the ease with which He promises danger and even death in consonance with the Father’s love and care for them.  It seems many Christians in this present time in America see suffering and persecution as antithetical to God’s love and protection.  Someone advised, “Never confuse a clear view with a short distance.”  Unless our thinking has eternity in view our outlook is at all times quite distorted.

Matthew 10:16-22, 28-31 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; ¹⁸ and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. ²⁰ For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

²¹ “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²² You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.

²⁸ Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.³¹ So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.  (See the whole passage for even more examples.)  (Also, 1 John 3:1-3 speaks to how an eternal view affects our day-to-day living.)

PRAY WITH SOMEONE TODAY

Your neighbors, your family, your friends, and our country's leaders need God's will to be exercised.  Will you contact someone and together ask the Lord to intervene and carry out His good will?  Will you pray for His will to be done in your life and fully obey Him?
Matthew 6:9-13
2 Chronicles 7:14
Proverbs 14:34
God, help us!

PRAYER FOR OUR COUNTRY

Lord, as we think of our country there are many needs and many crises that come to mind.  But if we consider the roots of our problems they all stem back to ways in which our populace and our leaders have in large measure contradicted your teachings and violated your Laws.  We pray for correction to come to our nation.  Help us to see the errors of our ways and change our thoughts and actions.  We pray for Dr. Ben Carson and others who genuinely revere you and who have platforms from which to communicate to our nation.  Give wisdom and grace as well as protection to those who will speak accurately for you, and give a spirit of humility and discernment to our populace to recognize, value and support what is right.  Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in the USA we pray.  Thank you for Your abundant mercy and your available grace.  May we be of a mind and heart to accept them both.  Amen.

WE BELIEVE JESUS IS ALIVE! SO WHAT IS OUR MESSAGE?

What is the gospel message you represent?

Re-phrased: What does being “Christian” look and sound like to those who know you, but who don’t know too much about Jesus by first-hand investigation or experience?

One more re-phrasing: If you were given one minute to explain what it means to be a Christian, what would you say?

1 Peter 3:15 says: But make sure that in your hearts you honor Christ as Lord. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope you have. Be ready to give the reason for it. But do it gently and with respect.

There are a lot of widely variant concepts and attitudes about who Jesus is, as well as what Christians are about.  What concept and attitude does your life and testimony produce in others?

Beginning this Sunday we will be talking about why people believe or don’t believe, and what is the real message of the Gospel.

INSECURITY - Man's Greatest Stumblingblock

Insecurity originated in the Garden of Eden when man chose to question God’s character (truthfulness, benevolence, sincerity, faithfulness) after listening and giving consideration to suggestions from a lying source.  The questioning led to the choice to believe lies and place their hopes, relationships, and very security in what they attempted to gain for themselves by partaking of the forbidden fruit. 

What they gained was knowledge—God was true and the serpent was a liar.

What they lost was practically everything else—trading open fellowship with God for all the selfish, prideful, angry, fighting, deceptive characteristics of soul which are opposite the nature of God.  Yes, and so much more!

In rebelling against God man gave up the complete security in God that had been his before, and opted for “I will do things my way and take care of myself in a world full of sinful people on a damaged earth.”  This condition fuels the insecurity that drives fear, defensiveness, competition, strife, anger, hatred, greed, hording, pride, materialism, boasting, and an unwillingness to lay all these things aside and fully trust in the benevolence, wisdom, power and promises of our Creator and Savior.

The key question for humans is and always has been, “Who are you going to trust?”

Nothing's Changed

In reading Acts 17, it struck me that what was true of the Athenians in Paul's day is just as true of many Americans in ours.  vs. 21(Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)  The Athenians believed all sorts of things about their various gods, yet were ignorant about the God who created all things and revealed Himself in Jesus and validated His deity by resurrection.  
You'd think that today, with the perspective of 2,000 years of history since Christ, and the impact of Christianity on the world, educated people would realize that the claims of Christ and the message of the Bible are valid and timeless.  The situation raises many issues such as "What is the state of education?" and "Who is really educated?".  Also, "What factors of spiritual blindness and willful disbelief also infect the human condition, hindering belief or adherence to the gospel?"  There are complexities to the matter, to be sure.  But on the surface it seems ironic that 2,000 years ago people were just as fascinated and preoccupied with "the latest thing" as people today with new apps and technological toys or with New Age ideologies and theories about the meaning of life and what happens after death.  Apart from gaining the knowledge of the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, mankind continues to simply spin his wheels through history.  "ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" 2nd Timothy 3:7

This Changes Everything!

Moses said, "This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord." Exodus 16:8

 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, Philippians 2:14-16

Grumble, grumble, complain, resent, despise, blame, criticize, argue, defend, accuse, sputter, gripe, …you get the idea.  We have lots of words for the things we so easily do, but aren’t supposed to do.  If we truly believe our lives are in God’s hands and He has a worthy purpose for everything that He allows, then we ought to handle everything with a prayer, “How do you want me to respond in this situation, Lord?” And, “May You be glorified in me.”  When we think we are just dealing with people we can easily get frustrated, judgmental, offended, etc., and go to grumbling quietly or audibly.  But when we include God in the equation of our lives, that changes everything!

Please Pray About Arguments in Court This Wednesday

School’s Sweeping Ban on Student Speech to Be Argued in Court Tomorrow

January 20, 2015

***Media Contact: Brad Dacus - 949-422-0395***
 

Seattle, WA—A federal court in Seattle will hear arguments Wednesday in a closely-watched case that tests the limits of a school’s ability to restrict student expression. 
 
High school senior Michael Leal is challenging rules of the Everett Public Schools that ban virtually all student distribution of literature on campus.  Attorneys with Pacific Justice Institute, who represent Leal, have been surprised both by the degree of restrictiveness in the rules and the school district’s bold claim to the court that the Supreme Court’s most famous school speech case does not apply. 
 
The district limits student literature distribution to campus entrances and exits, before and after school.  PJI is arguing that this rule is a clear contradiction of the Supreme Court’s most-repeated holding in its landmark 1969 Tinker decision that students’ constitutional rights do not end at the schoolhouse gate.  The district rules go even further, however, by requiring that students only distribute literature written by themselves or other students.  This prohibits students from distributing copies of the U.S. Constitution, the religious tracts Leal seeks to distribute, or the types of pamphlets that have shaped American political history.  Making matters worse, the district allows for exceptions to its literature distribution rules in the sole discretion of the principal, with no written standards to guide that decision.  
 
PJI attorneys do not believe that any court in the country has upheld restrictions as sweeping as those at issue in this case.  It also does not appear that any court has previously accepted the argument being advanced by the district that the Supreme Court’s Tinker decision “does not apply” to a student First Amendment case.  
 
PJI President Brad Dacus commented, “This case has significant implications for students across the country.  If the court endorses these sweeping restrictions, we will undoubtedly see more districts moving to enact similar bans.  It is therefore very important to students and advocates of all ideological and political persuasions that we succeed in invalidating these rules.  There are a wide variety of ways in which school officials can maintain order and discipline in schools.  Closing off the entire interior of a large campus to literature distribution—even during lunch and non-instructional time—is not one of them.” 
 
Oral arguments are scheduled in Leal v. Everett Public Schools on Wednesday, January 21, at 1:30 p.m. before Judge Thomas Zilly in the federal courthouse in Seattle.  PJI attorney Kevin Snider will be presenting oral arguments on behalf of Leal and will be available to the media immediately following the hearing.  PJI is being assisted locally in the case by Seattle attorney Conrad Reynoldson.

SCARED TO DEATH

What do you do when it looks like you’re in big trouble?  Jacob found himself there when it appeared his brother Esau was coming after him with an army.  What Jacob did then was recall the promises of God and appeal to Him for protection.  The best preparation for tough and dangerous times is to know the Word of God and to know God Himself.  He is loving, faithful, and omnipotent.  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1 Jacob didn’t have the Psalms to re-assure him, but he believed what he knew God had said.

Genesis 32:9-12 Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,' I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For You said, 'I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.'"