January 12, 26: Genesis chapters 29-30; Luke 12

Welcome to the January 13th episode of the Daily Radio Bible. Today, Hunter and Heather continue guiding us through our year-long journey in the Scriptures, marking day 13 of our reading plan. In this episode, we step into the stories of Genesis chapters 31–33, witnessing Jacob’s struggles and transformation, before turning to the teachings of Jesus in Luke 13.

We reflect on how seasons of uncertainty, hardship, and joy invite moments of divine revelation—epiphanies that open our eyes to God’s presence and purpose in our lives. Through Jacob’s journey, we see what it means to walk by faith, empty ourselves, and wrestle with God, ultimately finding ourselves changed and ready to embrace a new future. In Luke, Jesus’ parables and healings remind us that even the smallest act of faith—like a mustard seed—can reveal God’s grandeur.

Join Hunter and Heather as they lead us in scripture, prayer, and reflection, reminding us that togetherness and God’s love are at the heart of our walk of faith. Whether this is your first day or you’ve been with us from the beginning, you’re invited to journey deeper into the story and discover that you are truly loved.

TODAY'S DEVOTION:

A walking stick and a mustard seed. Have you ever thought about what God can do with something small, something seemingly insignificant? In today's reading, Hunter points us to Jacob, a man who left home with nothing but a walking stick. Yet by God’s faithfulness, he returned with more than he could have imagined. In the same breath, Jesus describes the kingdom of God as a mustard seed—so tiny at first that you can easily overlook it, but once planted, it grows into the largest of all the garden plants.

A walking stick and a mustard seed—both are symbols of faith, reminders that God delights in showing his greatness through what is humble and small, revealing his strength through what is weak. The journey of faith is not always triumphant in the ways we expect. It can often feel more like a wrestling match than a victory march. You’ll wrestle—with your flesh, with your past, with the uncertainty ahead. There are hidden idols, hidden fears, secret shames—things that our earthly fathers can’t see but our heavenly Father does. In the end, we must let them go.

This life with God is a wrestling match above all with God himself. When we truly wrestle with him, we are changed—marked by the encounter. There may be a limp, a hitch in our step, a reminder that walking with God is not about our own strength, but about being emptied—so that Christ may live within us. Just as Jacob emptied himself, sending everything he had across the river, facing the night all alone—so, too, are we called, at times, to empty ourselves, to surrender, to cling desperately to God’s blessing. It’s in that emptiness, in surrender, where we receive a new name. Jacob became Israel. We, too, are promised a new identity, a new future, a new hope.

Let him lead you across that river into what he has promised. Don’t despise small beginnings or fear your frailty. When we are weak, he is strong. When our hands are empty, he fills them. And in wrestling, surrender, and faith, he makes us new.

That’s a prayer that I have for my own soul. That’s a prayer that I have for my family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that’s a prayer that I have for you. May it be so.

Let us walk by faith, embracing the weakness and the smallness, knowing that God is in them and will show his strength through us. May we, too, be changed by meeting him face to face.