My Online Faith Journal

    I was thinking this morning about Joseph and what it must have been like for him in the Old Testament story to be sold into slavery by his brothers.  It doesn't tell us much about his faith in his teenage years, but it does appear that he believed even then in God.  I wonder if he felt discarded and abandoned when his brother sold him off to go to Egypt?  How did he feel when he got thrown down a well.  Then when they dragged him back up, it wasn't to help him, but to sell him.      Yet, the story never tells us that God abandoned Joseph.  Actually, it says the opposite.  It says that God was with him and that each part of the journey Joseph learned something, so that years later he could save the entire region from starvation.  Which leads me to say that Joseph learned something about growing where you are planted.  Joseph even told his brothers in the story that they meant it to harm him, but God meant it to bring about a deliverance.      I've been guilty of not a

   In Genesis 20, there is a story of Abram and Sarai where Sarai is taken in Abimelech household because he thinks that Abram and Sarai are brother and sister.  God comes to Abimelech in a dream and tells him that he is a dead man because he has taken Sarai to be his wife.  It is interesting that God tells him to give Sarai back to Abram and that Abram will pray for him that he might be forgiven for this.  God describes Abram as a prophet.     This is something that happens at least three different times over two generations in the book of Genesis.  Where Sarai nearly becomes another man's wife because of this lie that Abram tells others.  Abram appears, in contrast to his other great faith filled moments, to be very human and very fearful of others.  In a way, it actually encourages me, that God can use others even when they are very imperfect.       Really, if you look at the disciples and some of the other great saints in the Old Testament you see the same story.  David had

     As I have started reading through the Bible chronologically, one of the first books we read is the book of Job.  That is because many scholars believe that it is the most ancient of Old Testament writings.  Most of the events in this book appear to have happened  before Abraham or Moses.  Most likely it was a story that was passed down verbally for many years, perhaps hundreds of years,  before it was written down.       One of the things that makes Job enduring is that it deals with the question of the unfairness of life and the problem of evil.  Here is Job who worshiped God and put him first in his life and God allows Satan to take everything except his life.  For many chapters, Job has to struggle with the idea that it appears that God abandoned him.  To make matters worse, he lived in a time when it was assumed that if a person was rich or blessed with material things that he was in God's favor.  So, his illness and the disasters that occurred to him make it appear to J

  This year I am in a group that is reading the Bible chronologically.  Today, we are in Job 6-9 where Job is confronted by his friends about his situation.  Job has had everything except his life taken away from him.  From what his friends are saying to him, it is implied that he sinned somewhere along with way, so that God has taken everything from him.  It is interesting to read Job's reply to them in Job 6    "For the despairiing man there should be kindness from his friends; Lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty" Job 6:14    Then Job goes on to compare his friends to a wadi.  A wadi is a dry river bed in the desert.  It would fill with rain when it did rain and other times remain dry.  Job says that these friends are like a river bed, that travelers see in the distance and are hopeful that it has water.  But, when they arrive all their hopes are dashed to pieces because it is dry.    Job is insistent that he is innocent of doing anything against God.  He so