Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis chapter 31 for Our time of study in the word this morning, we're doing a verse by verse study through the book of Genesis, and as we continue in our study of this book, we come This morning to Genesis 31:22, and my goal this morning is to cover verses 22 through 55. Let me begin with this, about a decade ago, I was experiencing heart palpitations that concerned me enough that I eventually went to the doctor to get the problem checked. the nurses, when I arrived, ran some tests and took some blood, and then eventually the doctor sat down with me when the results came in. And he told me that everything looked fine from a physical standpoint and that he had no immediate explanation for why the heart palpitations were happening.
It was then that the doctor said to me, what do you do for a living? I told him the truth. I said, I'm a pastor. And then he said, is there something going on right now at your church?
And I said, yes. A major relational conflict had developed between me and a person in our church caused by an intense situation that left a huge fracture in our relationship and a whole lot of pain. I was angry and I was hurt. And this other person was angry and hurt.
I kept just hoping that the situation would go away. And improved, but we're seeing evidence week by week that it was growing worse. Yet I had been too fearful to move into the hard conversations that were needed. And it was as if the doctor saw right through me....
