Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Joseph shows Character

January 1, 2012


Background Scripture: Genesis 37, 39
Lesson Passage: Genesis 39:7 – 21a

One’s character says who he really is. Some have said that character can be defined as who you are when no one else is watching. Others have said that character is what you do on your fourth and fifth attempts. Of course an English dictionary will define character as one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual. So character can imply both good and bad attributes. If one assumes that the word means good and not bad—as it is used in the title of this lesson—then the word implies moral excellence and firmness in a person. Perhaps as we consider today’s lesson, we should consider all of these angles as it relates to discussing Joseph’s character. In the situation involving Joseph in our lesson, there is the need for moral excellence and firmness but especially when no one else is around to grade us on it. Joseph’s situation was such that he had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Yet, he withstood the test. I believe that true character can only emanate from within without any pressure or persuasion from without. Although we strive to live up to the standards that God has prescribed for us, this only becomes a part of our character when we are the only one to judge and hold ourselves accountable for our own behavior and thinking. Or put another way, we have to grade our own paper as it relates to character.

Joseph’s character was truly put to the test. This did not just happen on one occasion but day by day did Potiphar’s wife persist. Not only did Joseph stand up for what he believed to be right, there is no record that he sought to expose the corrupt nature of Potiphar’s wife’s character. He stood firm on his moral belief without exposing the immorality of others. No doubt Joseph understood that he was in a difficult situation and it eventually led to his imprisonment. Joseph was in prison for at least two years. It seems as though he had loss everything again. Nevertheless, this did not sway him from his conviction. One of the lessons that we can learn from Joseph’s situation is that in spite of all the good that we may never be recognized or rewarded for in this life, it only takes one bad thing, real or alleged, to cause severe punishment. A better lesson to learn is that God was with Joseph in all situations. Although it may seem as though we stand alone at times, children of God are never alone. That’s God’s promise to us. We should strive to have the character of Christ—including not resorting to private pity parties when we are punished or otherwise persecuted for it. When we are put to the test, can we handle it and will our character pass with flying colors? In spite of a difficult situation, Joseph showed character and God was with him.


Robert C. Hudson
December 21, 2011

Monday, December 19, 2011

The Lord Keeps His Promise

December 25, 2011


Background Scripture: Luke 1:26 – 2:7; Galatians 3:6 – 18
Lesson Passage: Luke 1:46 – 55, 2:1 – 7

Jesus informed a group of Jews one day that Abraham had seen the day that God’s promise of a deliverer would be fulfilled and had rejoiced because of it. This of course led to many of the Jews being offended at the notion of Jesus having such personal knowledge of Abraham who had been dead for hundreds of years and Jesus was not yet even fifty years of age. This apparent conflict between God’s promise and how man looks at time seems to be repeated many times over in our lives. God’s word is absolute. Whatever God says is so. There is no room for error or deviation from the word of God. One philosopher stated it this way: Prophesy is a mold that history is poured into. The Lord keeps His promise. This statement is so obvious to all but the woefully uninformed that it almost need not be said. Yet, there are those who still wrestle with the possibility of God not being as absolute as He has revealed to us. If it were possible for God to make a promise and not keep it then His words would only be mere sound. If God’s words could be reduced to only that then not only would our existence not be possible but all that comprise the material world as we know it could not exist. For all things are held together by the power of God’s word. All that exist was spoken into existence by God. God spoke and God saw what He had spoken until everything was created. That is absolute. Why then are we so surprised when what God has said comes to pass? Certainly we are constrained by time and not able to comprehend that which we call eternity. In eternity, time becomes inconsequential. So a thousand years can be as one day or a watch in the night for God. When God says that he is going to do something, whether it happens at that moment or two thousand years later is inconsequential within the scope of eternity. But thanks be to God that I don’t have to understand all there is to know about eternity to embrace the truth that God is a promise keeper. Abraham is my witness that through the eyes of faith that which is beyond the scope of one’s lifetime can be plainly seen. Therefore, Abraham was able to see Jesus’ day and rejoice. In today’s lesson, Mary is able to see that the message delivered to her by the angel Gabriel is a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. The baby that she would bear and the nature in which all of it will occur showed her clearly that this was without doubt an act of God. This would indeed be a very special child. She was instructed to name him Jesus (Jehovah saves) because he would save his people from their sin. God promised Abraham that He would send a deliverer and Mary learned that she was the vessel chosen by God for such a special task. She would be used by God to fulfill a promise not just to the Jews but to the whole world. Over the pass two thousand years, many have continued to live in expectation while others have rejoiced at that which has already occurred, but all can rest assured that the Lord keeps His promise.


Robert C. Hudson
December 19, 2011

Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Lord Provides

December 18, 2011


Background Scripture: Genesis 22:1 – 19
Lesson Passage: Genesis 22:1 – 14

The title of our lesson is a testimony for all who have ever recognized the need for God to move on their behalf and have sought Him earnestly in prayer for the same. “The Lord provides.” Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say: The Lord provides __________ . You can feel free to fill in the blank for yourself. We even like to quote the Hebrew phrase “Jehovah-jireh” that Abraham used after the Lord came to his rescue in the nick of time. This was not an exclamation statement for Abraham as we often use it but instead it was a naming of the mountain in honor of God’s deliverance of his son Isaac. This was no doubt the greatest test of Abraham’s faith in God. Abraham was tested throughout his walk with the Lord from the land of his nativity to the mountain in the hills of Moriah. In the beginning Abraham’s faith tests were about giving up those people, places, and things that he had before he met the Lord. In this passage of scripture, his test is about giving up the greatest blessing God had bestowed on him since he began his journey with the Lord. Here, as at other crucial times in Abraham’s relationship with God, Abraham made the right choice. His choice or decision was to listen to God and obey Him in spite of the difficulty he faced in complying with the Lord’s request. There is no doubt that Isaac was indeed a blessing to Abraham from the Lord. Sarah, his barren wife was well pass her child-bearing years and Abraham was said to be as good as dead in terms of fathering a child. Yet, in the midst of these impossibilities God provided a baby from these two unlikely sources. The psychology of God’s request would never allow Abraham to rationalize God’s request to him. No, his decision had to be one of faith not logic. If he put this child to death at God’s request, all of God’s promises to him would become null and void. God had made a covenant with Abraham that declared that the promises could not become null and void as long as the Lord lived. What would Isaac’s death accomplish or even mean in light of God’s promises? There is no wonder that the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews had so much to say about Abraham as an example of one who demonstrated an unusual faith in God. That writer came to the only theological conclusion available to justify Abraham’s action. Abraham knew that even the death of Isaac could not prevent God from fulfilling His promises to him. The implication of this shows an amazing advancement in God’s revelation of Himself to mankind through his relationship with Abraham. Abraham believed that God could raise a person up from the dead. Human death then is not final but a transition of existence. There is no way to come to this conclusion through logic. God used Abraham’s faith to convey this message to mankind. If death is no match for God, then certainly nothing in life could be either. Regardless of circumstances or situations, all children of God eventually come to this same belief in the extraordinary power of God. For God’s children, whatever the need may be, the Lord provides.

Robert C. Hudson
December 9, 2011

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Lord Gives His Promise

December 11, 2011


Background Scripture: Genesis 15
Lesson Passage: Genesis 15:1 – 6, 12 – 18

In our previous Sunday School lesson we looked at some elements of Abram’s calling by God. In today’s lesson, we take a look at four elements of the promise God made to Abram as part of the calling. In today’s lesson, the Lord appears to Abram after Abram and his servants had waged war against four kings who had taken his nephew Lot and others captive from the cities of the plains. Abram and his company of three hundred eighteen trained and armed servants had prevailed in battle. Abram had given a tithe of the war spoils to God’s priest, Melchizedek, and he also refused to negotiate with the king of Sodom and told him he could have whatever was left of the spoils of war so that the king would not have grounds to boast about making Abram wealthy. So after the war was over and Abram had given all the spoils of battle away, the Lord appeared to him. The Lord told Abram the reason he had been successful in warfare is that the Lord had protected him and also provided for him. Now, Abram’s calling became a little clearer. As the called of God, Abram was protected by the Lord and rewarded by Him. Abram’s success was not a coincidence neither was it because of Abram’s strength nor that of his servants. Abram’s success was totally because of the relationship he had been called into by God. The Lord spoke of being Abram’s protector and provider in the present tense and not just as a past action. To this statement, Abram adds the question of why the Lord had left him without an earthly heir. God’s response was that He would provide Abram an earthly heir that would be his true descendant. This is remarkable considering that at this point Abram was without a child and he was about eighty five years of age. His wife Sarai was barren and she was seventy five years of age. This provides a third element of God’s promise to Abram; Abram who was without child would have an earthly heir even though he was beyond the expected age to be capable of fathering a child. The fourth element involved the extent of Abram’s heirs. Abram’s descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the night sky. Although he remained childless for the first eighty five years of his life, his descendants that would be born through his bloodline would seem innumerable.

For a person who spent the first eighty five years of his life childless, the Lord’s promise to Abram was filled with grace. He would have a son of his own, his descendants would seem more than one could count, the Lord would provide for him, and the Lord would protect him. And to seal the deal, God struck a blood covenant with Abram. The blood was the assurance to Abram that as long as the Lord himself should live, God would honor this covenant and its promise.

Robert C. Hudson
November 30, 2011

The Lord Gives His Promise

December 11, 2011


Background Scripture: Genesis 15
Lesson Passage: Genesis 15:1 – 6, 12 – 18

In our previous Sunday School lesson we looked at some elements of Abram’s calling by God. In today’s lesson, we take a look at four elements of the promise God made to Abram as part of the calling. In today’s lesson, the Lord appears to Abram after Abram and his servants had waged war against four kings who had taken his nephew Lot and others captive from the cities of the plains. Abram and his company of three hundred eighteen trained and armed servants had prevailed in battle. Abram had given a tithe of the war spoils to God’s priest, Melchizedek, and he also refused to negotiate with the king of Sodom and told him he could have whatever was left of the spoils of war so that the king would not have grounds to boast about making Abram wealthy. So after the war was over and Abram had given all the spoils of battle away, the Lord appeared to him. The Lord told Abram the reason he had been successful in warfare is that the Lord had protected him and also provided for him. Now, Abram’s calling became a little clearer. As the called of God, Abram was protected by the Lord and rewarded by Him. Abram’s success was not a coincidence neither was it because of Abram’s strength nor that of his servants. Abram’s success was totally because of the relationship he had been called into by God. The Lord spoke of being Abram’s protector and provider in the present tense and not just as a past action. To this statement, Abram adds the question of why the Lord had left him without an earthly heir. God’s response was that He would provide Abram an earthly heir that would be his true descendant. This is remarkable considering that at this point Abram was without a child and he was about eighty five years of age. His wife Sarai was barren and she was seventy five years of age. This provides a third element of God’s promise to Abram; Abram who was without child would have an earthly heir even though he was beyond the expected age to be capable of fathering a child. The fourth element involved the extent of Abram’s heirs. Abram’s descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the night sky. Although he remained childless for the first eighty five years of his life, his descendants that would be born through his bloodline would seem innumerable.

For a person who spent the first eighty five years of his life childless, the Lord’s promise to Abram was filled with grace. He would have a son of his own, his descendants would seem more than one could count, the Lord would provide for him, and the Lord would protect him. And to seal the deal, God struck a blood covenant with Abram. The blood was the assurance to Abram that as long as the Lord himself should live, God would honor this covenant and its promise.

Robert C. Hudson
November 30, 2011