Radically Happy

family idols… folly… addiction… God’s chosen… trickster is tricked… wrong gods… years of anger… cruel exploitation… wise request… witness heap… Yahweh watching… emotional integrity… blessing…

send away… smooth-talker.. not trust… deliberate duplicity… pagan magic… cuts both ways… bad taste… divine intervention… providence… divine conception… resentment… cycle of connivance… tangled web

second wife… hated… desperation… Lord beheld… affection… heard… intimacy… praise… rivalry… maid… judgment… wrestling… polygamy… host… blessedness… humbling… hire… stud… dowry… do more… all the wrong places.

right place, right time… prove to Rachel… irony… wept… running… two daughters… romance… seven years… behold,Leah… at what price?… despised… cherished… eight-cow wife… a stand-in

Haran… promise… blessing the clans of the earth… beyond Abraham… house of God… responds… returning home.. won’t trust Yahweh until… character or lack thereof.. disappointing… a price

wife… grief of mind… earn the blessing? …mission impossible… skewed relationship… skilled liar… poor mimic… pay off… money, power, protection… missed birthright… rebellion… missed the point…

a famine… again… the promise… tied to obedience… father’s lesson… passed down… sniveling… no shame… diverge… envy… resented… parting… strife… make peace… reconciliation… bless the peoples… living water…

again Abraham… another woman… inheritance… happy ending… his own people… intreating Yahweh… children struggled… enquire of the Lord… heel-holder… takes advantage… birthright… folly and cruelty…

son’s marriage… senior slave… God’s promise… intriguing plan… testing God and the girl… hits the jackpot… on his master’s behalf… running… Yahweh… doesn’t name himself… hurry… blessing… rejoices…

Sarah died… desolation… a tomb… permanent place… roots… gift giving… capitalism… everyone happy… recorded in detail… promised land… generations… strengthen relations… transformational economics…

famous test… only son… responds faithfully… extreme versus everyday… still small voice… life-changing… clung to promise… two irreconcilable truths… what faith is… together… nothing to lose… rewarded… integrity

honoring Sarah… forgive and heal… laughter… mocking into mirth… to mocking… insecurity… dysfunctional family… no option… trusting God… water ran out.. promise and a well… water oath… everlasting God…

Abraham heads south… like last time… didn’t learn… still a babe… sense of propriety… slay righteous nation… blameless and lawful vs. moral… chance for redemption… Sarah’s feelings… Abraham’s intercession… restoration…

two angels to Sodom… Middle Eastern hospitality… fears… homosexuality… violence towards strangers… courage or cluelessness… can’t live an isolated but righteous life… cinematic moment… consequences…

death of Sodom… An odd question… staged for Abraham’s benefit… negotiating with God … to instruct Abraham… relational… interpretative framework for understanding God… postmodern commentary…

Yahweh making house calls… a rich welcome… something was up… “Sarah thy wife shall have a son”… biological realities… laughable… neither ordinary biology nor extraordinary faith… God choosing…

… new name for God… from God… from personal to descendants… extends the covenant… cutting close to home… Sarah is included… beyond skeptical to laughing… God will get the last laugh…

…shameful…Sarai, barenness, Hagar… against God’s design… stupid idea… Abram’s fault… male responsibility… wife’s reckless scheme… God intervenes… hears affliction… listening and watching…

the word of the Lord… vision… exalted father… mockery… does not chastise, corrects and comforts… Abram believes… radically centered… right relationship… judges everyone by the same standard…