As I mentioned before, this chronological study of the Bible is going to hit the high points. Today's study focuses on Abraham and Isaac, and completely skips over references to Abraham's other family members. I hope God piques your interest enough to bring you back to study Genesis sometime soon.
You will want to read the chapters in the Bible before reading my blog each day because I am just writing thoughts and questions I have about the text. I hope you won't be disappointed that I am not writing complete descriptions of the stories. I want you to read it for yourself. Each morning I have my Bible open beside me and my laptop in my lap, and I am writing as I read. If you don't have your Bible handy, open a second browser tab for www.biblegateway.com and read the chapters there.
Genesis 12 Was Abram excited or fearful, full of anticipation or dread? "Leave . . . and go to a land I will show you." He didn't even know where God was taking Him! I'm a map reader, and I want our trip completely planned before I pack my bags. Was Abram's wife Sarai a willing traveler?
Genesis 12:3b "and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Great promise! God reiterates the promise in Genesis 22:18.
Can you believe what Abram put Sarai through when they came to Egypt?? He does it again in Genesis 20!! Talk about an interesting marriage . . . .
Genesis 15:1b "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." God is our reward, ladies! We must stop chasing after material blessings and realize that all we need is Jesus.
Abram is worried since he and Sarai have no children, and a servant in their household will inherit the estate. In verse 5 God takes Abram outside and says, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be." And Abram had faith even though he would not see evidence of the promise for years to come. His son Isaac was not born until the year after Abram and Sarai receive new names (Abraham and Sarah) at the ages of 99 and 90.
I love the story in Genesis 15 of God's covenant with Abram. In one of Beth Moore's studies (was it in Believing God??) she goes into great detail about covenants. So interesting.
Genesis 22 Can you even imagine God calling Abraham to sacrifice his only son? Abraham did not tell Isaac the plan, and I'm guessing Sarah wasn't clued in and invited along either!
In verse 8 Abraham expresses faith that God will provide the offering for the sacrifice. Yet, Abraham is obedient to what God had told him, and he binds Isaac and places him on the altar. Can you put yourself in Abraham's sandals? I would have been questioning God the entire time, and I'm not certain I would have even made the trek up the mountain. Because of Abraham's obedience, however, God does miraculously provide a ram for the sacrifice. Because of Abraham's obedience, Abraham comes to know God personally as "The LORD Will Provide." How many blessings of God have I missed out on because of my lack of faith in His provision?
This story always seems to leave me wondering what kind of person Abraham must have been.... courageous,fearful,spiritual,those are just a few I think of. I want to live everyday of my life leaving that kind of an impression on my children.I want them to see this kind of obedience from me.God will provide no matter the cicumstance no matter what his expectations are from me God will provide what I need! Praise the power of our Savior!!
ReplyDeleteI think Abraham must have been a very charismatic guy to have such a following of servants. He must have been quite a smooth talker to convince his wife and the rulers of Egypt and Gerar to go along with his deception. At the same time, God points out Abraham as a model of faith that you and I should follow. That is encouraging to me that even when we screw up, God can still use us!
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of you, Hilary for striving to be a godly example to your family. Our children will learn to be godly ONLY if we are intentional about training them. Yesterday at Bob Barry's funeral, his brother paid him the highest compliment when he said, "Bob's Bible never got dusty." That's my goal, to have others notice that I read my Bible and that it impacts my life and the lives of everyone I meet.
Abraham believed that God was who He said He was, and that He was going to do what He said that He would do.... and it was accredited to him as righteousness. Just because he had the faith to believe he was justified by faith and not by works. That is how we believe also... but there are too many out in the world who have a "show me" attitude. And I think that hurts God, he wants us to come with childlike faith, but we have to make it so hard sometimes, we get away from the very basics.
ReplyDeleteI will tell you a story, that alot of people in Texas thought that Frank and I were Crazy!!
When we came here to Colorado, we came as Church Planters. And we were going to work out of Frank's Mom and Dad's church there in Deer Trail. Frank's parents came to Texas and moved me and the kids and some of our heavier items. Frank came with the truck a week later, we did not have a place to live. Frank's mom and dad had looked and could find nothing before we got there. So we lived with them for 2 weeks. God opened up a rent house right across the street from them. Also, when we moved here to Las Animas we lived in our Travel trailer for 2 months until we found a house. God provided the perfect one, we just had to wait on Him.
The journey in our lives has been wonderful, and I know it is because, even though we have made stupid mistakes at times and tried to help God out and left Him out altogether, we have not gone very far.
God is in Control, and He always knows and does the best for our lives.
I wonder what Abraham's son thought when he asked where the lamb was to sacrifice. Im not sure if he would of guessed that he would be the one to be sacrificed. And how would you feel if your dad was tying you up on the wood. I would lose all hope in believing or trusting my dad. But then again he knew that God and the angel was talking to his dad and leading him through it. It makes you think! How many chances have we blown and not waited for God to help and just done it ourselves.
ReplyDeleteGood job, girls! My favorite thing about God's Word is that it can speak directly to our hearts. When you put yourself in the place of the Bible characters and start to wonder how they felt, you are making a connection with the God of the Universe. Absolutely awesome!
ReplyDeleteThree things that came to life for me in these passages of scripture was Abraham's belief in God. God did not require anything of Abraham. Abraham believed and God counted it as righteousness toward him. Even when God was cutting the covenant with Abraham he caused a deep sleep to come over him. Again, it was nothing that Abraham did on his own to cause God to do this. This was God wanting to do this for Abraham and for Abraham's decendants. Can you imagine?!? So it is with Jesus, God's gift to us, His covenant to us, our free gift of salvation if we believe! Because of Abraham's belief in God, his obedience seems to come naturally for him.
ReplyDeleteI have always been amazed with Abraham because of his belief and wonder why I struggle so with my belief at times. I am one that questions everything like Dana pointed out. I want to know all the details before saying yes to something. But the Holy Spirit pointed out to me that Abraham did nothing to earn God's favor just as there is nothing that I can do to earn God's favor. I just need to learn to accept/believe what God is telling me or where He is leading me and stop asking so many questions.
Thank you, Cindy. God gave you great insight, and I'm glad you shared it with us because I needed to hear it today.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to get caught up on reading. So, here are my thoughts on these verses. I think it's amazing how God didn't give Abraham his son until later after he had already failed in trusting God's plan. He countinued to tell others that Sarah was his sister and didn't trust that God would take care of him. However, he did trust God enough to get up and go when God said to Get Going. At the right time, God gave him his son and then at the right time tested his faith by saying sacrifice your son for me and he trusted God at that time. It helps give me some comfort to know that God knows how much to test me at exactly the right time. And if I keep messing up, he will just continue on and wait for me until I get it right, just like Abraham. Thank you Lord!!
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