Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
It’s either I start with this, or Lamentations 3:23, whenever I want to go ahead and ‘disconnect’ or ‘cleanse’ this noggin of anything else before I actually do some legitimate typing.
And boy, do we have a lot of typing to do. First off, I am aware that I haven’t been writing on the Bible passages and chapters I’m supposed to be reading daily. I haven’t been reading and collecting whatever came into mind ever since last Friday, so you could imagine that there’s a lot from Genesis and Matthew in particular that I have to go through.
With that said, that’s what I’m wanting to lay down today – however, I will state that next time around, if I will be doing these extended bouts of procrastination, I probably shouldn’t go more than 2 or even 3 days without reading and writing, only because there’s just so much to glean from just a couple of chapters, that you really can’t write all about it in a convenient pace, or within a reasonable amount of time in a day.
Today’s an example. The backload I have to cover ranges from Genesis 13 to chapter 19, while also taking a look at Matthew 5 and the first half of Matthew 6 – But there seems to be enough for my mind to ponder on from Genesis 13 to 17… and as I was turning the pages to get to Matthew 5, I remembered, that was his account of the Sermon of the Mount. Whoopee.
In a nutshell, Genesis 13 covers how Abram told Lot that they had to part ways because their herdsmen were fighting amongst each other – the way I understood it was that there were too much resources between the both of them, in such a small portion of land. Genesis 14 covers how after this ‘split’ (for lack of a better word that comes to mind), the ‘kings’ of the area were at war and Abram had to rescue Lot, who was caught in the conflict. This is also the chapter we all like to point out nowadays, the one involving the interaction between Abram and Melchizedek.
Taking a quick glance, Genesis 15 covers the second discussion between God and Abram (the first being after he parted ways with Lot, more on this later), where God made a covenant with Abram to assure him that he would inherit the land; this was also the same chapter where God warned Abram that his descendants would be taken to Egypt but would eventually escape. Genesis 16 covers… well, what transpires between Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and the son Ishmael (more on this later); finally, Genesis 17 covers the establishment of the covenant of circumcision, as well as the changing of Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sarai’s name to Sarah.
Through this selected text, we see God talking to Abram at least three times:
As mentioned, after Abram and Lot part ways, ‘The LORD said to Abram… “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” (Genesis 13:14-17)
After the kings’ conflict and after the events at Salem and with Melchizedek, Abram and God engaged in conversation:
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:1-6)
Later on in the same chapter, after Abram makes the offering of a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove and a pigeon, this happens: On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”(Genesis 15:18-21)
Note that I’m counting these two instances in Genesis 15 as one interaction between Abram and God, because there’s a third one later in Genesis that I’d like to pull up. But for now, what do we see? The Lord is actively telling Abram that He will give him two things: (1) the land (Genesis 13:14-15, Genesis 15:18-21), and (2) offspring (Genesis 13:16-17, Genesis 15:5-6); for the latter God even instructed Abram to make an offering, if only to serve as assurance that He will do as He says.
But now we come to the next Chapter, which, again, involves Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael. In spite of the promises God mentioned, and in spite of it being on record that ‘Abram believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness’ (15:6) this happens:
And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.“Genesis 16:2
Considering my personal moral standards, I could probably understand Sarai’s telling Abram to have a child by Hagar, her servant, and I could also understand that ‘Abram listened to (her)’… but I’m struggling to understand why, in spite of the promised God clearly communicated to Abram in the chapters before, she would still tell Abram that ‘the LORD has prevented me from bearing children’.
I could say more about the matter but I will say this… or rather, point out another passage. This may be a bit of a stretch, but reading this reminds me of 2 Corinthians 6:14: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
We go back to Genesis 15:6, because I think there’s something literal about it – or, consider that Abram was the ONLY one who believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness. For all Abram’s belief, when his wife told him (1) she didn’t believe, and (2) do as she says, he still listened to her voice.
Looking at this in all its entirety, I’m (again) reminded of the divine wisdom we need, for ourselves and for our partners. As I mentioned yesterday (actually, I need to write to get my thoughts together on that as well), we need to Trust in the Lord, especially in these times, and apparently, especially in our relationships.
But praise God. Because even after what happened here, no matter how we ourselves would react to it according to our knowledge and limited mindsets, we thank God. We say again, praise God, because in spite of all that’s happened, God was true to the words spoken by Paul to the Romans, so many centuries later: He was faithful to make all things work for the good of those who love Him, and we see it in His third interaction with Abram AFTER the events of Genesis 16:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”Genesis 17:1-8
BEFORE Genesis 16 Abram was already given promises, and he believed them, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. But AFTER he had Ishmael out of Hagar, the Lord comes back, with a more clarified vision pertaining to His promises, so much more clarified that his name was changed just to accommodate the blessing.
And that’s not all! I’m sorry to sort of cast a bad light on Sarai, but look! She was also so blessed, even HER name was changed:
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”Genesis 17:15-16
You can say that this was the end of the overall interaction, but apparently there’s more! See, even AFTER this display of grace, the Abraham formerly known as Abram ‘fell on his face, laughed,’ and gave what I think was a pretty sarcastic remark to the Creator of the Universe: ‘“Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”’ (Genesis 17:18)
And I’m pretty sure in the next Chapter, the Sarah formerly known as Sarai joins in the ‘fun’. But nevertheless, we see the great grace and goodness of God, as He still responds to Abraham:
God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” Genesis 17:19-21
I was recently engaged in conversation, and some points that came out were my age, and this other person seemed to imply that I had regrets, and asked me if I would do things differently. What pissed me off even more was that this person didn’t seem to detect that I was bothered by the line of questioning.
Of course, I said things like, I could have done better. And I also pointed out that though I do say the advantage of older people is that they definitely made more mistakes than I did, their mistakes don’t make their entire being. I responded with as much grace as I could muster… but I still left that conversation with a sour taste in my mouth.
Now, looking at this back and forth between Abram, Sarai, and God… I don’t know, I guess I just feel a little bit better about what’s been going on in my own life. I may not have any plans as all the gurus in the world would insist I have. There was a time I was given negative feedback about how I much preferred living in the now and in the present, and I would have caved into all the condemnation…. but looking at this part of Scripture just reminds me, God didn’t just have plans, but because of His great love of Abram and Sarai, He had ENDURING plans for them, no matter how they reacted.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I have a lot of regrets. I’ve broken people and things, and I myself have been broken. I may not be Abram, but sure as Christ died and rose again for me, and as sure as through Christ I am reconciled to God…
I can come as I am to my Father’s throne of grace, so close to Him so as to laugh as Abraham was laughing, knowing that my God’s faithfulness endures FAR beyond my tactlessness. He has plans beyond my own, and in awareness of the times, I say, now more than ever… that I trust in Him.
Until the next post, God bless you.
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