Genesis | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

The Spirit Helps Us Speak Creative Words of Energy and Life

Anita Mathias — Sun, 18 Jun 2023 19:29:16 +0000

The Spirit Helps Us Speak Creative Words of Energy and Life Matthew tells us: Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” Matthew 12: 22-24 […]

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God Saw the Light was Good, but He Left Darkness Too

Anita Mathias — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:28:34 +0000

In the beginning… God’s first recorded words in the Bible are “Let there be light.” And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. (Genesis 1:4) But he left darkness too. And so it shall ever be. On June 21, we have 16 hours 41 minutes of light in Oxford, England. But […]

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When, For a Season, God Himself Blocks You

Anita Mathias — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 11:09:50 +0000

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to save many lives,” Joseph quietly tells his brothers. (Genesis 50:20) Oh they did; they sure did, first throwing him into a disused well, then uncaringly selling him on for thirty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, not caring what became of him. And what […]

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Oh, Let it All End in Worship

Anita Mathias — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 21:36:01 +0000

And Jacob worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff (Gen. 47:31). And so it ends, Jacob’s long busy life of intrigue and wrestling. Ever has he schemed, manipulated and deceived to get the blessings which God intended to give him even before he was born (Gen 25:23). And his intrigues backfire–disastrously. Quite […]

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When Sarah snorted, but God had mercy on her, anyway

Anita Mathias — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 22:24:55 +0000

Arent de Gelder 1645-1727 Three white-clad men walk out of the desert, out of the shimmering sands. Calm holiness. Abraham, the Patriarch, “very wealthy in silver and gold, sheep and cattle and camels and male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants” runs to meet them, bows low to the ground, and offers him his most lavish […]

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Forgive, but Remember Graciously. With the Wisdom of a Serpent & Gentleness of a Dove

Anita Mathias — Mon, 26 May 2014 08:42:10 +0000

Woodcut by Gustave Dore I am reading through The Book of Genesis. Joseph’s ten older brothers hated him. Of course, they did. The favourite son with the ornamented robe, who told tales on them, to whom they bowed in their dreams–dreams they uneasily sensed were prescient. Eight brothers wanted to kill him. Reuben suggested throwing […]

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On Trusting our Work to God: Moving Upwards by Standing Still

Anita Mathias — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 09:20:47 +0000

Reginald Arthur, 1893, Joseph before Pharaoh Joseph is seventeen when he sees his sheaf stand up and his brothers’ sheaves bow down. When he sees the sun, moon and eleven stars bow to him. * * * Interestingly, God shows him his destiny, the end of his days, but not what he needs to do […]

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The Zigzag Ways of God’s Blessing

Anita Mathias — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 12:33:05 +0000

Joseph had a rarefied spiritual gift: God spoke to him through his dreams, and he could interpret the dreams of others. In the night, which belongs to the Lord, he sees his sheaf stand upright while his brother’s sheaves bow to it. He sees the sun and moon and eleven stars bow to him. He […]

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Who can Stand Before Jealousy?

Anita Mathias — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 08:01:03 +0000

Who can Stand Before Jealousy? (Prov. 27:4). If Joseph, whose story in Genesis I am re-reading, realised the dangers of provoking jealousy, he could have avoided 20 hard years. Joseph, his father’s favourite, given an glorious robe…. His brothers, of course, “hated him, and could not speak a kind word to him.” Joseph, whose dreams are […]

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In which there is Poetic Justice, for God is a Poet, but there is also Mercy

Anita Mathias — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 08:29:15 +0000

Even while Esau was out hunting his father’s favourite wild game, Jacob and Rebecca slaughtered and cooked two choice young goats. Jacob served these to Isaac, pretending to be Esau, stealing Esau’s blessing. A cruel deception. And, uncannily, years later, in his own old age, Jacob’s sons sold his favourite son into slavery, dipping Joseph’s precious robe in […]

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