March 19: Genesis 37-39; Psalm 13; Matthew 13

Matthew 13  Sometimes there are some wonderful books that are worth getting to know if you want someday to spend more time with a very important passage of scripture.  The parable of the Sower is one of those places, and the book is Robert Farrar Capon's Parables of the Kingdom.  
Psalm 13  This psalm has the classic "How long, O LORD?" form, and goes on to ask the other key questions of one feeling not-so-connected with God:

• "Will you forget me forever?
• How long will you hide your face from me?
• How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
• How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

As is so often the case, the psalmist is brutally honest about his doubts and discouragement, and then the comfort of God's presence seems to come.
v. 5:  But I trusted in your steadfast love [that lovely Hebrew word, hesed];
           my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
v. 6:  I will sing to the LORD
           because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Genesis 37-39  We move into the Joseph cycle.  What a great story!  
questions:  

• What happens when a father loves his children un-equally? (37:4)
• Is is more than coincidence that Joseph has trouble at Schechem? (37:12; Ch. 34)
• 37:32,33  What does it say about the brokenness of relationships that the brothers speak of "your son" and Jacob speaks of "my son" but nobody uses "brother" language?
• What can you find that is redeeming in the story about Judah and Tamar in ch. 38? (This passage interrupts the Joseph cycle.)
• How has the Potiphar's wife story been used to harm women?  What can we do about that?
• Finally--not really a question--notice how although Joseph's circumstances are very trying, we read" (39:21)"But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love..."