Day 6 - God's promise passes to Jacob

"And they would be beautiful because He loved them" (JSB 74)

                        Ornament: Ladder

Scripture Readings: Genesis 28:10-22
Genesis 29:31-55; 32:22-32; 35:9-15
Matthew 1:2; 22:32
Acts 3:13

Verse:  Genesis 28:15

Christmas Song: Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendor

Hymn: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Big Picture Story Bible: God's People Grow (83-88)
The Jesus Storybook Bible: The Girl No One Wanted (70-75)

     One of my favorite things to hear is a daily conversation between my husband and 2 year old daughter. He begins, "you are lovely and beautiful. Do you know why you are lovely?" She replies, "Daddy, I wovewy because God wuvs me dearwy. You precious Daddy. I so precious daddy."  Jacob married Leah, the girl with the big cow eyes, and God used that convoluted mess of a marriage to two competitive sisters to show that He loves the unlovely. But God not only loved Leah, God also loved Jacob (Romans 9:13). I think we can all agree that Jacob is not a very lovely character in the Bible. He is full of deceit, lies, and trickery.

     But God pursued Jacob. God even changed His name to Israel. God met with Jacob, the self righteous and proud man. God wrestled with Jacob and basically crippled him just by touching him. God passed on His promise of blessing to Jacob. God did this, not because Jacob was lovely or worthy, but because God loved him. God goes to great lengths to dwell with His people. God sent Jesus, not because we are lovely, but because He is altogether lovely and altogether worthy. It is God who makes us lovely.
   

Tidings and tidbits:

• I chose a lesser known Christmas song today, because God I think it is good to meditate on this text of God leaving all His splendor and loveliness to come down to so much that is unlovely. Please don't disregard this text simply because it might be unfamiliar
• Today is St. Nicholas day. We have begun a tradition introduced to us from a dear family in Virginia. We will drive around with our children to deliver cookies to people. At each house, we will pause to pray for the family, leave the cookies, ring the door bell, and RUN! The cookies are given anonymously in honor of St Nicholas...a tag on the cookie plate explains this! We love to watch from a far the expression of people as they wonder who loved them enough to do this! We love making this day about giving to others, and so we will also give a box of our toys away to other children. It's a fun way for our family to continue to celebrate the season when God gave all for us.