The Obedience of Abram
12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you.
12:2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you,
and I will make your name great,
so that you will exemplify divine blessing.
12:3 I will bless those who bless you,
but the one who treats you lightly I must curse,
and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.”
12:4 So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) 12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) 12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. 12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.
The Promised Blessing Jeopardized
12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe. 12:11 As he approached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman. 12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. 12:13 So tell them you are my sister so that it may go
well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you.”
12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife was taken into the household of Pharaoh, 12:16 and he did treat Abram well on account of her. Abram received sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Here is your wife! Take her and go!” 12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.
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Humble Obedience. Humble Obedience.
ReplyDeleteBetween reading about Noah, and now Abram, and per discussions I have had with Stef this morning and Derek yesterday, this seems to be a common theme right now. Surely most of us struggle with complete obedience, yet it is obvious that not only does God provide for those who obey, but he “blesses and makes great” those people who follow His will. Even yesterday’s sermon spoke of talking about God to others, and doing what He is calling us to do.
So what is God calling us to do? I know he loves the fact that the ladies are raising our families, and they do everything they can to provide a loving home for all of us. I am confident He is happy with Stefan’s ministries motivating us all to read the Bible, and improve self. I know He loves my work with youth. And let us not forget our love for each other, our children, our families, our friends…God loves love!
Maybe it’s not what we do, but how we’re doing it? Are we spending every day focusing on His will, serving with our whole heart, persevering through the trials of life, fighting against whatever temptations the enemy is throwing at us? Tough questions for me to answer yes to…
Just some thoughts to throw out there…I love Jesus, and am so glad we can speak freely with one another about Him!
Abram. The man to be the father of many nations, father of the future nation of Israel, King David and finally Jesus. He was promised great things from God himself (openning verses). Then a few verses later God appears to him and gives him the promised land. Not a chapter later but only 5 whole verses, one being a description of how beautiful his wife was (good bonus points), and he doesn't trust God and lies about his wife being his sister. I am sure I would have folded after two verses. What a great story in which the hero and father of the future nation of Israel was too chicken to trust God and tell the truth about his wife for fear of death.
ReplyDeleteIf God is for us, who can be against us? RM 8:28-31
Powerful lesson and great example of the truth in Bible.