"The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, 'Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.'" -Genesis 13.14-17
God makes a promise to Abram which results in a journey of faith. God spoke and Abram responded. Along the way he made some of his own decisions without seeking God, but because of God's faithful promise, God was with him. Now Abram is getting a glimpse of what God has promised him, and we see that the blessings of God are good.
God tells Abram to look around him in every direction, and to take in the view of the land that will be given to him and his descendants. I don't know exactly where Abram is standing, but Israel is not the most mountainous region, and from a high point on a clear day you can see a great distance. The land is good, it has the largest source of fresh water in that part of the world, it has coastal access, fertile valleys, and is the crossroad of the known world, connecting three continents. It is a good land, and God tells him to walk through it and see it's goodness.
Secondly, God tells Abram that his offspring will be like the dust of the earth, so great that they are unable to be numbered. Abram is old and childless, but God promises not only the land, but that the land will be filled by his offspring. Abram will be given a piece of ground, and those to pass it down to. God is giving him a legacy.
Both of these blessings are good, and they are good because they are from God. The promises of Genesis 12 are all about what God will do, and that message continues here. God will give the land, God will make numerous offspring. God gives good blessings.
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Peace be with you
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Thursday, December 22, 2016
God Will
"The Lord had said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.'" -Genesis 12.1-3
In Genesis 12 the focus of the story shifts. Up until this point the Bible has focused on humanity as a whole. The Bible starts with creation and then moves to man's ever increasing wickedness. God destroys the world with a flood, giving man a fresh start, but the corrupt and sinful heart of man has not been dealt with and so man once again falls into sin. In Genesis 12 God begins the specific work that will lead to the redemption of the hearts of men. Here God selects one man who will become a nation, and from that nation the Savior will be born.
In Genesis 12 God speaks to Abram, telling him to go from all that is safe and familiar into the unknown. God will show him where to God, and God will do many other great things for him. God will make one man into a great nation, and give him renown. God will bless him, and make him a blessing. God will protect him, blessing and cursing others based on their attitudes and actions towards him. God will make him a blessing to all the nations of the earth. God will do all of those things.
Abram has one job to do, to go. His only responsibility is to trust God and follow His leading. Everything else is up to God. The one making the promises here is God. God will show him the way, make him a great nation with a great name, God will bless him and make him a blessing. God will.
As I think about this passage, the command to go and the promise of God's presence I am reminded of another command to go. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt. 28.19-20)
Jesus is commanding His followers to go to an unspecified place and promises to be with them until the end of the age. In Jesus, a descendant of Abraham, all the nations of the earth will be blessed, and the Great Commission of Matthew 28 is the command to fulfill this final promise to Abram in Genesis 12. Jesus commands His followers to go, and as they are going to teach those around them to obey everything that He has commanded, and He promises to be with them always.
God will do everything that He says He will. The only role we have is to step out in faith and follow His leading. We follow and obey, God fulfills His promise. God will.
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Peace be with you
In Genesis 12 the focus of the story shifts. Up until this point the Bible has focused on humanity as a whole. The Bible starts with creation and then moves to man's ever increasing wickedness. God destroys the world with a flood, giving man a fresh start, but the corrupt and sinful heart of man has not been dealt with and so man once again falls into sin. In Genesis 12 God begins the specific work that will lead to the redemption of the hearts of men. Here God selects one man who will become a nation, and from that nation the Savior will be born.
In Genesis 12 God speaks to Abram, telling him to go from all that is safe and familiar into the unknown. God will show him where to God, and God will do many other great things for him. God will make one man into a great nation, and give him renown. God will bless him, and make him a blessing. God will protect him, blessing and cursing others based on their attitudes and actions towards him. God will make him a blessing to all the nations of the earth. God will do all of those things.
Abram has one job to do, to go. His only responsibility is to trust God and follow His leading. Everything else is up to God. The one making the promises here is God. God will show him the way, make him a great nation with a great name, God will bless him and make him a blessing. God will.
As I think about this passage, the command to go and the promise of God's presence I am reminded of another command to go. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt. 28.19-20)
Jesus is commanding His followers to go to an unspecified place and promises to be with them until the end of the age. In Jesus, a descendant of Abraham, all the nations of the earth will be blessed, and the Great Commission of Matthew 28 is the command to fulfill this final promise to Abram in Genesis 12. Jesus commands His followers to go, and as they are going to teach those around them to obey everything that He has commanded, and He promises to be with them always.
God will do everything that He says He will. The only role we have is to step out in faith and follow His leading. We follow and obey, God fulfills His promise. God will.
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Peace be with you
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
God's Will be Done
"The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.' So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth." -Genesis 11.5-9
The flood is over, God has re-issued His command for man to fill the earth, and yet again, man disobeys God. Rather than doing what God has instructed them to do, they gather together in one place and begin building a tower. Rather than spreading out, they gather together. Rather than filling the earth, they stay in one place. Rather than making God known to creation, they seek to make their name great. They have their plans for their own security and advancement, and neglect the will of God.
God see what is happening and knows what has to be done. He confuses their language and scatters them over the whole earth. Man was given the whole world to care for and rule over, make God's name known, and yet they find a place where they can gather together and exalt themselves. It doesn't get much more contrary than this, everything God has commanded they are doing the opposite of. God will not stand for this. God's will must be done.
God comes down, steps in, and confuses the language of the people so they will spread out. He causes their world to fall apart so that they can fulfill the purpose they were meant to fulfill. I believe God still works this way today. God is sovereign, take than in for a moment. He is the creator and king of the Universe. Not a country, not the world, but the Universe. I'm going to get side tracked for a moment (I usually do when I get on this subject because space fascinates me) but we don't know how big the Universe is and the Bible says in Isaiah that God measures it in the span of His hand (Is. 40.12). He holds the Universe that so far we haven't found the edge of, in His hand. That means three things, one the universe is finite, two God is really big, and three, God is in charge.
God has a plan and His plan is perfect. He made the world and everything functioned as it was intended to. There was no sickness, pain, or death, and man disobeyed, had a desire to be God, and messed it up. God sent the flood, destroying evil on the earth, giving man a sort of fresh start, and again, man disobeyed and messed it up. After the initial fall, God set His ultimate plan of redemption in motion, a plan that will be further unfolded in Genesis 12.
Here in Genesis 11, man is once again trying to be sovereign, trying to exalt himself over God. Because God is God, He is the only sovereign and must be exalted, and so He makes man's plans crumble and sets him on the path that obeys God's will. I realize this may sound like God is a tyrannical dictator, as I've been writing this I've found myself deleting and re-wording a lot of things, but I'm now at the point where I can't avoid this issue. God has a plan, and His plan is what is best for us. We do have the choice to obey or not, disobedience brings punishment and consequences. Every time man seeks to be God, to be exalted above God, there is punishment that puts man back in his proper place. Man was cut off from the tree of life, the source of eternal life. Man's language is confused, cut off from fellowship and community. Sometimes your world needs to fall apart so that you can finally get on the path God intended for you to be on, and sometimes even that doesn't work.
God's plan is perfect, and it brings blessing and fulfillment. Apart from His plan are hardship and isolation. Let God's will be done.
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Peace be with you
The flood is over, God has re-issued His command for man to fill the earth, and yet again, man disobeys God. Rather than doing what God has instructed them to do, they gather together in one place and begin building a tower. Rather than spreading out, they gather together. Rather than filling the earth, they stay in one place. Rather than making God known to creation, they seek to make their name great. They have their plans for their own security and advancement, and neglect the will of God.
God see what is happening and knows what has to be done. He confuses their language and scatters them over the whole earth. Man was given the whole world to care for and rule over, make God's name known, and yet they find a place where they can gather together and exalt themselves. It doesn't get much more contrary than this, everything God has commanded they are doing the opposite of. God will not stand for this. God's will must be done.
God comes down, steps in, and confuses the language of the people so they will spread out. He causes their world to fall apart so that they can fulfill the purpose they were meant to fulfill. I believe God still works this way today. God is sovereign, take than in for a moment. He is the creator and king of the Universe. Not a country, not the world, but the Universe. I'm going to get side tracked for a moment (I usually do when I get on this subject because space fascinates me) but we don't know how big the Universe is and the Bible says in Isaiah that God measures it in the span of His hand (Is. 40.12). He holds the Universe that so far we haven't found the edge of, in His hand. That means three things, one the universe is finite, two God is really big, and three, God is in charge.
God has a plan and His plan is perfect. He made the world and everything functioned as it was intended to. There was no sickness, pain, or death, and man disobeyed, had a desire to be God, and messed it up. God sent the flood, destroying evil on the earth, giving man a sort of fresh start, and again, man disobeyed and messed it up. After the initial fall, God set His ultimate plan of redemption in motion, a plan that will be further unfolded in Genesis 12.
Here in Genesis 11, man is once again trying to be sovereign, trying to exalt himself over God. Because God is God, He is the only sovereign and must be exalted, and so He makes man's plans crumble and sets him on the path that obeys God's will. I realize this may sound like God is a tyrannical dictator, as I've been writing this I've found myself deleting and re-wording a lot of things, but I'm now at the point where I can't avoid this issue. God has a plan, and His plan is what is best for us. We do have the choice to obey or not, disobedience brings punishment and consequences. Every time man seeks to be God, to be exalted above God, there is punishment that puts man back in his proper place. Man was cut off from the tree of life, the source of eternal life. Man's language is confused, cut off from fellowship and community. Sometimes your world needs to fall apart so that you can finally get on the path God intended for you to be on, and sometimes even that doesn't work.
God's plan is perfect, and it brings blessing and fulfillment. Apart from His plan are hardship and isolation. Let God's will be done.
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Peace be with you
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