New Look at Genesis

In my reading of Genesis I've gotten a new fresh look at Family, Adam, Eve, Abraham and Sarah, down to Jacob and Joseph.  Before all I saw was treachery, deceit, lies and looking out for number one, now I'm not only seeing the mercy, grace, and love of God in all their stuff, which encouraged me greatly, but "types" of God's Love, Mercy and Grace, within their stuff. In spite of their faults, there were parts and facets of their character that reflected God back at me.

I don't know how people can think they’ve read the Bible once or twice and think they know it.  I've been doing this, reading God's Word though the entire year-sometimes using two/three reading plans at one time, and I still 1) don't get things, 2) discover things, and 3) rediscover things I thought I already knew but in a deeper level or from a wider perspective.   It is Amazing.  I know that the Wisdom of God trumps the greatest and wisest man on the earth who doesn't believe or depend on the wisdom of God.  

I will be going through the Old Testament looking at the "Favor" of God as a cloak, literally and figuratively, like the one given to Joseph by his father, Jacob.  The cloak that represented the favor of the Father, the cloak that said, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased,” the cloak that showed the world how the favorite is looked upon by the Father.  However, it is also the cloak that others in families, communities, and the world will try to strip from the favorite.  But when we remain steady, committed and obedient to the father, we will be given another cloak and a crown at the end.  Just like the coat of many colors Joseph was stripped of by his brothers, like the cloak he was stripped of when he went to prison, and like the cloak he was given when he became the second in command in Egypt. The cloak is a “type” of God’s Favor so the adventure continues.