Jesus gives an up close and far away timeline of the realities followers of Christ will face. Calling believers to be on guard and faithful to Him, no matter the cost or opposition they may face from those closest to them.

Jesus enters Jerusalem and heads to the Temple for a series of interactions with the religious leaders of Israel.

We finish our series on King by looking at the ways Hezekiah and Josiah pursued devotion to God.

The history of the northern kingdom of Israel in 1 & 2 Kings is a long line of unfaithful leaders. Kings who did not trust God for provision, protection or salvation, but instead turned to other nations and other gods to assuage their fears and deal with their biggest concerns. Many centuries later, we do the same thing–we struggle to trust that God alone is sufficient.

To what are you devoted?  This week we continue our series in I and II Kings by studying what Solomon, Jeroboam, and Rehoboam were devoted to, and why those objects of devotion divided the Kingdom of Israel.

The surprising hesed (lovingkindness) of God brings the story of Ruth to a close.

A widow whose life has been so horrible she wants to be identified as Mara (bitter) instead of her given name Naomi (pleasant). But God will not allow her to live into her felt experience. The narrator continues to call her Naomi. There is a grander story of hesed love that she is a part of even if she doesn’t feel it or believe it herself. Eventually she does see it; bitterness is not her true identity, goodness and joy are.

And the person farthest from the covenant community of Israel–Ruth (a foreign woman from despised Maob) becomes the mother through whom God’s blessing comes to her family, the community, and eventually all Israel and the human race. Boaz, the faithful blesser, agrees to redeem Naomi’s lands, marry Ruth and have children. The son born to Ruth is Obed, the grandfather of King David, and great great great….grandfather of Jesus. Ruth is story of God’s surprising love in-grafting a foreign widow into His redemptive plan for all of creation.

Ruth and Naomi are in Bethlehem during the barley harvest. In need of food, Ruth, the young widow goes to “glean” in the fields–collecting what the harvesters do not gather. This is a dangerous endeavor, but Ruth demonstrates loyal lovingkindness to her mother-in-law Naomi, sacrificing her wellbeing for their survival. But, by God’s lovingkindness, she ends up in the field of Boaz, a faithful man who offers her protection, extra provision and the LORD’s Blessing. The God who blesses his people invites her into the blessing.

A drama in 4-acts, Ruth tells the story of tragedy and loss, of bitterness and grief and the faithfulness of God to an unlikely outsider of the people of God. Ruth chapter 1 constantly calls from the Lord to his people–return, return, return to me. But God chooses takes a foreign-born widow and daughter-in-law who demonstrates faithfulness and sacrificial love to reveal his own lovingkindness and plan of redemption to the chosen people.

At the end of Genesis, Jacob, the one who grasped for blessing his whole life, finally rests in the lovingkindness and blessing of God so that he can rightly offer blessings to others–to his sons. He invites us to receive the abundance of God’s blessing in our own life and to freely offer it to others.

The story of Jacob’s life is the longest of the patriarch’s of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet Jacob’s life is filled with downs and ups, but more downs. He is a deceiver and schemer, he lies and steals, and he deals with consequences. He wrestles with everyone for what he wants–with his brother for supremacy, with his uncle for his wife and his wages, with his father for love and blessing. But mostly he wrestles, even unknowingly, with God–until he actually does wrestle with the Lord. And when he meets the Lord face to face–he realizes God’s “Hesed” – his lovingkindness – has been with him all along.

Trusting in God to provide, very late in his life, Abraham calls his servant to go to the land of his kinsman to find a wife for his son Isaac. The servant goes, faithfully obeying Abraham and fully trusting the Lord to provide. And at a well, the scene of Ancient Near Eastern betrothal narratives, Rebekah, of the clan of Abraham’s family, appears and demonstrates generous hospitality, willing service and a fearful spirit. She is the chosen too, the one through whom the promises of God will be realized.

East of Eden, Adam and Eve begin a family, first Cain is born, then Abel. In the course of team they grow, enter vocations and bring their offerings to the Lord God. But Cain’s offering is not accepted as Abel’s. Why? Who was Cain actually worshipping and serving, himself or God? God confronts Cain’s displeasure warning him to repent and turn from the sin crouching at his door, but he does not, and he murders Abel his brother. But God raises up another son for Eve–Seth, who is the seed of God’s promise. Seth is the line of those who begin to call on the name of the Lord. Who admit their weakness and see their need of God. But Cain’s progeny is Lamech a man of power, violence and revenge. Who’s way will we walk in – those who assert ourselves and ignore God or those who admit their weakness and worship God?

To know who we are and what to do (how to live), we need to know what story we are in. Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the account of the creation of the world in poetic verse as the author, God, reveals himself. The story begins as God calls the world into being (Genesis 1-11) and then calls a people to himself (Genesis 12-50). He forms the universe and then fills it with his creation: order out of chaos; life from nothing; his word speaking creation into existence and inviting us, the pinnacle of his creation, into relationship with him, our Creator and God.