Podcast (daily-devotion): Play in new window | Download | Embed
[expand title=”Devotion Text”]Genesis 37:1-2
Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
Sir Walter Scott wrote, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” I don’t know if he was thinking of Joseph’s brothers, but he could have been. Jealous of their father’s favorite son, the brothers threw Joseph in a cistern and then sold him into slavery. In order to cover up the deed, they dipped Joseph’s multi-colored robe in goat’s blood and told Jacob that his son had been torn to pieces by a ferocious animal. A pretty busy day for the brothers!
“Sin” is bad enough in the singular, but it normally shows up in the plural. One sin is added to another to cover for the one before it. When we play the sin game, we dig deeper and deeper into a dark hole.
But even if you are living in the lonely sin-hole of your own digging, you don’t have to stay there. “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love” (Psalm 145:8). Don’t run from him; run to him! God promises that if we confess our sins, he “is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). It’s time to come out of the darkness into the wonderful light of God’s grace.
Father, give the person living in the dark, lonely pit of the hole they have dug the courage to cry out to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[/expand]
Read through the Bible this year:
[maxbutton id=”4″ url=”https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis+37-40&version=ESV” ][maxbutton id=”5″ ]
Today on The Journey Broadcast:
0 Comments