The temptations of this world (Genesis 34)
Gen 34:1-31 Shechem Biblical stories are rarely didactic telling us exactly what to think. Rather, they describe a complex reality of people’s actions and motivations and encourage us to develop a nuanced way of thinking about God’s truth. Thus, the…
In the world but not of it (Gen 33:18-34:7)
Gen 33:18-20; 34:1-7 In this post, I tackle the rape of Dinah in Genesis 34. If this is a difficult topic, please feel free to skip the post. One of the hard questions of the Christian life is how we…
How to make true peace (Gen 33:1-17)
Gen 33:1-17 The pastor of the church I grew up in was a born-again Christian but his ambition to get ahead in the Communist era led him to denounce a talented fellow pastor as politically unreliable. Consequently, this other pastor…
Wrestling with God (Gen 32:22-32)
Gen 32:22-32 The story of Jacob wrestling with ‘a man’ is both mysterious and evocative. Who is the man? Is he an angel? God? But how can a mere mortal wrestle with God? And how can the opponent not prevail,…
Will God come through for us? (Gen 32:1-21)
Gen 32:1-21 When I went to study for a PhD in the UK, finances didn’t look good. My earlier savings went into my undergraduate studies in the UK, my church in Hungary was not interested in supporting advanced study and…
Resolution to conflict and God’s grace (Genesis 31)
Gen 31:1-55 We all know people who are of the ‘what you see is what you get’ type. They are often outspoken, sometimes thoughtless even offensive in the way they express their opinions, but at least there is no hidden…
The unstoppable ways of God (Gen 30:25-43)
Gen 30:25-43 A woman from a controlling religious group married someone in the same group and they moved to the husband’s country. As she awakened to her husband’s manipulation, she began to plan her escape. She used to put aside…
God’s grace: powerful to achieve its goal (Gen 29:31-30:24)
Gen 29:31-35; 30:1-24 A former colleague desperately wanted a family, so much so, that she divorced her husband when he categorically stated that he would not have children, ever. She married someone else, but ironically, her second husband turned out…
What it takes to shape our character (Gen 29:1-30)
Gen 29:1-30 I recently read the survivor story of a woman who was sexually abused as a young child by a cousin, then later by another cousin. When she finally told her parents, they did not believe her. She ended…
The surprising nature of God’s grace (Gen 28:10-22)
Gen 28:10-22 When he was encouraged to confess his sins on his deathbed, Voltaire, the famous French philosopher, allegedly said, ‘God will forgive me, that’s his job’. Many today imagine God this way and are outraged by the idea that…