Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Does God Give Second Chances? | Torah | Genesis 28:10-22

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

Does your failure stop God from using you? Is your brokenness an obstacle for God? Do you feel like you're all out of chances to be right with God? In today's episode, Patrick looks at Genesis 28:10-22 to understand God's forgiveness toward his people (even after they fail). Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Genesis 28:10-22 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're going through the first book of the Bible, Genesis. When I was in college, I took a trip with a group of friends to go backpack and canoe at Voyager's National Park in Minnesota. We left really early in the morning. We all piled into my friends Buick-Lessaber. So if you were wondering, we were driving in geriatric style. But after about four hours into our trip, disaster struck. The car just stopped running out of nowhere. At the time, we were on an interstate, and we're quickly losing speed, and my buddy's frantically pulling the Buick over, and we get out, we check the engine, and something is obviously

wrong. So we call a tow truck, and it takes us to the nearest Buick dealership, which is in Mason City, Iowa. You probably never been to Mason City. It is in the middle of nowhere. After we sit and wait for a little bit, a mechanic comes out and he tells us that the Buick's transmission is toast. We're going to need a replacement. But because we're in the middle of Nowhereville, Iowa, getting a replacement was going to take more than a day. And it wasn't going

to be cheap. And so the three of us were all just groaning because we know where we wanted to go. We wanted to get to Voyager's National Park. We wanted to have our backpacking adventure. But of course, now we have no idea how to get there. We've got a broken transmission and a bill that we can't pay. I think it's really easy for something similar to happen in the Christian life. We know where God wants us to go, but things happen that knock us off course. They knock us off his mission. And it makes that final destination that we know he's calling us to. It makes it feel like it's impossible. We will never get there. Jacob had to feel the exact same way, too. God told Jacob's grandfather, Abraham, that he wanted to bless the nations through Abraham's family. And somehow, through Abraham's

descendants, God was going to reboot Eden. He was going to restore the world to be what he meant it to be. But somehow, in the time between Abraham and Jacob, the transmission on this family, it broke down. The family was stuck. Isaac and Rebecca, their entire family is torn apart by rivalry and deception. In the darkest chapter, Jacob steals his brother's blessing. And now Jacob is actually on the run because he thinks that his brother, Esau, will try to kill him if he stays. Seriously, is this the family that God's going to use to establish his kingdom on the earth. God gives an answer to that question while Jacob is still literally on the run away from his brother. Just as he's about to leave the land which would one day become Israel, God appears to Jacob in a dream. And this is what we read,

Genesis 2812. And he, Jacob, dreamed. And behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth. And the top of it reached to the heavens. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and desulting. on the ladder. And behold, Yahweh stood above it and said, I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I'm with you, and we'll keep you. And will keep you. And we'll you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this land, for I promise not to leave you

until I have done what I've promised to you. Apparently, according to God at least, human failures, broken families are not an obstacle. They are not an obstacle to the living God. He's still committed to working through Abraham's family. He's still committed to working through Jacob, who was a thief and a deceiver. It doesn't matter that the transmission has dropped out on this family, that they are stuck in place, that they don't know how they're going to reach the end goal that God has set before them. God hasn't given up. So often what knocks you off God's plan for your life is your own sin. And if you're like me, you begin to think that maybe because of your lust, your gossip, your greed, your anger, your deception, you're finally beyond

hope. It's kind of like, hey, God gave me a shot and now I've blown it. And because I've blown it, the transmission is out. I'm stuck in place. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. Maybe your failures are leading you to a divorce or to a bad breakup, to a lost job, to a broken relationship. I don't know where they're taking you right now. But if they're taking you to a dark place, you probably feel like you're stuck in Mason City, Iowa, nowhere'sville, Iowa, without any hope of ever reaching the place you know God wants you to go.

But Jacob's story shows us this is never actually the case. Your sins are no match for the love of God. your failures are no match for God's grace. He will see you through to the end. When my friends and I got stranded in Mason City, again, we literally didn't know what we were going to do. We didn't have $2,000 to replace the transmission, and so maybe we're just going to take a bus back home.

But my friend, he called his dad just to tell his dad what had happened, and his dad did something surprising. He said, look, don't worry about it. I'll pay for it. I've got the money. I can cover this one. I'll pay for it so that you and your friends can get back on the road and get back to backpacking and do this trip that you've been wanting to do. At the time, I don't think I appreciated it enough.

But in retrospect, I went back on this and I realized how generous that really was. We weren't high schoolers with moms and dads footing the bill for everything. My friend definitely didn't expect his dad to help out. But his dad just did without even being asked. He was essentially telling his son, I know you've been knocked off course, and I know you're bummed, and I know you don't know how you're going to get out of this. But don't worry, son, don't worry, I've got you covered. The next day, the car was ready.

And four hours later, we were backpacking past beaver dams and pine trees and the most crystal clear water you have ever seen. My friend's dad gave us a few thousand dollars. Again, that was so generous. But do you know what God's given you? God's giving you his only son. Jesus paid the penalty in your place so that your sin, your failure, never need sideline you on God's mission.

so that when the transmission drops out, Jesus said, I paid the cost, I've paid the price, I've got this one covered. Don't buy the lie that you've had all the chances that God's going to give you, that you've just shot your chances with God. Your chances are never shot when you worship a God whose forgiveness and grace are as infinite as he is. Back to Jacob's story. When he wakes up from this dream, he does something that might strike us as being more than a little bit strange. Verse 16, then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely, Yahweh is in this place, and I didn't know it. And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven. So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head for a pillow, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on it.

So what's happening here? Jacob is building an altar to Yahweh, which is strange to us because most of us, aren't in the altar building business. But in the ancient world, altars were more common. And altars were envisioned as places where heaven and earth overlapped. They were kind of like sacred Wi-Fi routers. And they signify that if you come to this spot, you can connect to heaven. You can connect to what God is doing. It's almost as if Jacob was saying this. My family in this moment, even though the transmissions dropped out, my family has finally reconnected to God. And now it's my job to make my life a place where heaven and earth are overlapping. The same is true for you. God forgives you, not just so that he can set you back on your journey.

God forgives you so that your life would become like that altar, so that your life would become a place where heaven and earth are overlapping, so that your life would be a living altar, so that wherever you go, people would experience the love, kindness, grace, and forgiveness of your heavenly father, the same that he showed you. Does your life feel like it's stalled out on the side of the road right now? God will replace the transmission. He'll give you what you need. And when he does, let that love fuel your love, your love for your neighbor, your love for your spouse, your coworkers, your friends, your siblings, your teachers, your whatever.

Because the moment he reached down to heal you, he made you into a place where heaven and earth overlap, the place for his mission and his love for all people. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.