Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Genesis 12 Through 14

Abram, later Abraham, great man of faith in God. What's the first thing recorded that God said to him? "Go." He didn't even tell Abram where to go, he just said to "a land that I will show you." How often do we want God's plan laid out before us? And how often is that totally not God's way?

Close to my temporary home here we've got the earthly birthplaces of Calvary Chapel and Cornerstone church. You think God showed Chuck Smith or Francis Chan the whole plan up front? Ask them. The answer is a resounding no. Great works of God don't start with some well thought out plan and system to make it happen, but godly men and women following the prompting of Spirit and stepping out in faith. Our command is not "know", but "go."

Next verse. Look at why God says he blesses Abram -- so that he will be a blessing. When we think "there's no harm in enjoying the blessings of God," we're right -- unless. Unless our enjoyment of God's blessings becomes a hindrance, something that comes between us and him. Remember how Jesus said things like "What's greater, the gold on the temple or the temple that makes the gold sacred?" So what's greater? The blessings of God or God who gives them? The more we think the former, the more we hoard and keep for ourselves, building up our own little kingdoms. The more we think the latter, the more we give and share with others, building up God's universal kingdom.

God told Abram that through him all the families of the earth shall be blessed. I just noticed something I never paid attention to before -- the inclusion of the word families. I get that. I am definitely blessed myself through Abram, for through his line came my savior Jesus Christ. But my wife and children are also blessed, through their own faith in Christ, but also through mine -- as much of the crap in my sinful past that beat down my wife and kept the light of God from my kids is gone. Sure I'm a huge work in progress still, but I'm going in the right direction. Likewise, I am also blessed through my wife's own faith and shared purpose, as she encourages me, inspires me, and is used to show me my own sinful failings and directions for improvement. The way I see it when God saves an adult in the family, either the family is going to get fairly screwed up and possibly split apart, or the family as a whole is going to move closer to Christ. Maybe that's not true, but it sure seems like it, especially in light of verses like "believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your whole household." The salvation of one person in the family doesn't mean the others are automatically saved, but it sure provides a good opportunity for the others to have the light of Christ and turn to him.

I like how when Abram gets to his promised land, there are people in it. How often do we expect God's plan to be completely free of obstacles? What a great opportunity to exercise more faith in God! What? You raise an eyebrow and that and don't believe it? If that's the case, I know why. It's because you're like me. When I run into this sort of thing, I typically I cry out to God, complain to God, argue with God, counsel God, reason with God, and so on, rather than just trust God.

Do you like how Abram lies? I do. This great hall-of-faither fails to trust that God has his back and comes up with his own plan. I love it. I love it because it encourages me. If Abram had this lack of trust at times, yet is spoken of so well in the Word, it gives me some peace -- as Abram, like Elijah, was a man just like me.

Refer to what I said about about God's blessings and then look at Abram and Lot. These two had a lot of material blessings from God -- they had so much stuff they had to split up. Look at what we can see of Abram and Lot's hearts -- Abram gave up the decision to Lot because he didn't want there to be any trouble, but Lot went in the direction that would give him best land and opportunity for profit for himself.

Let's also be careful when we look to biblical heroes like Abram and use them to justify statements like "God wants me to be rich." Balance the riches God gave to people with Jesus' words "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" There's nothing wrong with riches, unless. And we have a very, very, difficult time seeing that we're in the "unless" side of it.

Remember that Lot's greedy decision brought him closer to the sinful city of Sodom, even though he himself did not engage in the wicked practices of the city. Even so, when the battle came, he was swept away with the rest. Let that be a lesson to us about flirting with sin -- if we try to get so close to it, yet not do it, we're just going to get taken away by it also. So often we try to draw this line in the sand and ask "how close can I get to the line and still be good with God" when the right attitude we should have is found in our hero Joseph, who ran away from sin.

Melchizedek popping into the picture is a bit interesting. There's some speculation about Melchizedek, but a big take away from this I think is that Abram and his family were not the only people worshiping the LORD at this time in history. What we have recorded in the Bible is the path from Adam to Christ; details of other believers frankly are not relevant for telling that story. In the same way, in the New Testament, we have some accounts of the gospel spreading like wildfire through parts of the ancient world -- but those accounts are only a sliver of the big picture of the spread of the gospel. I think that indicates an important question to ask might be "why these particular accounts?"

I love how Abram rejects the king of Sodom's offer to take some of the spoils -- so that there is no way anyone else could say Abram's success was their doing. It reminds me of the story of Gideon, where God helped Gideon to win a battle with so few men that the victory could only come from God. It's the same thing all throughout the Bible -- God using weak and ordinary people to do crazy things that the people could in no way do own their own. It may be a bit cliche by now, but "God doesn't call the equipped, but rather he equips the called" still applies!

Grace and peace friends.