Today’s devotion comes from Genesis 35:9-15. The next devotion, God willing, will be next Tuesday, September 17, 2012; I am going on a long weekend vacation to Michigan.
“9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 10 God said to him,
“Your name is Jacob;
You shall no longer be called Jacob,
But Israel shall be your name.”
Thus He called him Israel. 11 God also said to him,
“I am God Almighty;
Be fruitful and multiply;
A nation and a company of nations shall come from you,
And kings shall come forth from you.
12 “The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I will give it to you,
And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”
13 Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. 14 Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.
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We tend to want to be blessed by God to get things or to be delivered from troubles. Those can be good prayer requests, and we see those type of prayers throughout Scripture. But, I just loved the much better reason why the Psalmist wanted to be blessed in the following Psalm Chapter 67.
“1 God be gracious to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah.
2 That Your way may be known on the earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy;
For You will judge the peoples with uprightness
And guide the nations on the earth. Selah.
5 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
6 The earth has yielded its produce;
God, our God, blesses us.
7 God blesses us,
That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.” Psalm Chapter 67.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 