Steve Hunter Bible Study

God's emotion does not incapacitate Him.  Don't allow yours to incapacitate you or cause you to make an error in reaction.  Most people simply react to confront or escape without a long-term purpose incorporated in their momentary behavior.  Lay your burden upon the Lord.  When you feel the pressure, it's time to pray, consult scripture and release in a healthy way through & to Him.  Then your response will be according to & in synchronicity with scripture...  Ultimately, in alignment with God.  We cannot always determine other people's reaction, nor should we be bound by it.  We can however carefully fine tune our internal and external reaction by the infinitely wise and omniscient words of God.

Spiritual problems and their "unfriendly friends." Genesis 31:1-2 shows how Envy changed Laban's relationship with Jacob. Envy comes with several friends: 1) strife, 2) division, 3) self-seeking, 4) various sin issues and likely many more close associations. To help someone with spiritual issues, look deep for the root of the problem not just treating the symptoms (the friends). Even if these friends go away, they will either pop back in from time to time or the root will make new friends...and the root isn't very discerning when selecting them. They all end up bad! Look for the root of the spiritual problem . At one time, this root found good soil and fertilizer for growth in hurt, rejection or insecurity and now has a nice big healthy stalk feeding it every day. Chop away at that root to fix the spiritual problem in your own life.

At first, a person who is familiar with Daniel 9:24-27 "sevens" might assume that "fulfilling the week" in Genesis 29 is referring to the Hebrew grouping of 7 years.  A "seven" = 7 years.  That is what I instantly assumed.  I assumed incorrectly.  Fulfilling the week referred to in Genesis 29:27-30 refers to the Hebrew marriage week.  In Hebrew tradition of the time, the marriage was consummated on the first night of the marriage week of festivities, a 7-day week. Here are a couple examples of this wedding week still practiced later in the book of Judges... Judges 14:12  "Let me tell you a riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. Judges 14:17   She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day, he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She explained the riddle to her people. Jacob ...