WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: We speak thousands of words each day and conversations line our lives with memories and feelings. Bring to mind now friends, colleagues or family members who have spoken encouragement and blessing into your life and thank God for them. Raw emotion Jacob has nearly reached his destination. Commissioned to find a wife, he nears his uncle’s home and encounters a group of shepherds. Eventually Rachel appears on the scene and emotionally Jacob reveals his identity. So many words, so many conversations and it could all have so easily been stage-managed. His manipulative mother sent him away to escape his brother’s murderous clutches. An arranged marriage seemed the ideal solution. Yet this story reveals raw emotion. Jacob kisses his future wife and weeps aloud. His uncle proclaims their visceral connection. God’s grace This story is a condensed version of Jacob’s life: collusion and murky relationships against the backdrop of God’s loving purposes. This pattern will play out time after time in this complex young man. God’s grace in our lives looks much the same. He has no illusions about our goodness but has committed himself to loving us and forming Jesus’ image in us. Respond: You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know thoroughly everything I do’ (Psalm 139:2,3). Present yourself to your Father in heaven and honestly articulate the messiness of your motives. Realise again that there is mercy for you as you confess your sin (1 John 1:9). http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-07-17