ENTRY THREE – JANUARY 5, 2008

3 – The Story of Abraham Genesis12-23


This entry highlights such topics as hating/fleeing sin, loving righteousness andobedience, thinking positive from the Christian perspective, and family advice.

By the way, this covers six daysworth of reading, so no rush!

Gen 12 God called Abraham. Later, "Abraham called on the nameof the Lord." He was carrying on a tradition that was first mentioned in4:26, which said, "and men began to call on the name of the Lord."Abe, like Enoch and Noah before him, had a heart for God, a spiritual sensitivity that set him apart from others. He also had a soft conscience. Thisdesire to know God didn’t make him “perfect” or “sinless”, but it set him onthe right course. In our lives, we will make many mistakes, but if knowing God and obeying him is our number one value, if it is the basis on which we makeour decisions, if it is the “North Star” (to borrow a concept from HOPE worldwide’s Positive Choice Program) by which we set our compass, than we will be all right. Who knows? We, too, may have an impact that lasts through the generations!

Gen 13 Despite a major slip in ch 12 (calling his wife his sister!), Abraham still had the courage to trust in God -none of this self-pity stuff where he feared that God would never listen to him again. He exhibited trust and humility by building an altar and letting Lot choose the best land. Perhaps that is why God chose Abraham in the first place– because of his high “AQ”, or “Adversity Quotient”. You may struggle with forgiving yourself or being down on yourself. Good news - Emotional intelligence experts tell us that we can grow in our emotional intelligence, including our ability to change our outlook. Psychological experts tell us that we can learn to change our negative beliefs, which in turn will change our negative thinking. The bible says that we should take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ (II Corinthians 10:5), that we should set our minds and hearts on things above (Colossians 3:1-4), that we should renew our minds daily (Romans 12:1-2), and that we should think of positive things (Philippians 4:8). If you struggle with being able to do any of the above, seek help from an older Christian of someone you respect. Perhaps your family background was difficult, or you have had some negative experiences in your life that have effected your outlook – do not be embarrassed to go for counseling (but check out the counselor first to make sure that he/she will not try to blame all your problems on your belief in God!) A helpful counselor may help you actuallyget to the root of your negative self-talk and lead you to be more like Christ– Amen!

Gen 14 Abe showed an early understanding of what the corporate world today calls, "Best Practices". God calls it "integrity". If this scene were a movie, I can see Abraham being played like the Mel Gibson character in “Patriot” or Dennis Quaid in “Frequency”, otherwise gentle and loving family men who would stop at nothing to do the right thing to save their families.

Gen 15 Abe's faith was still increasing, and he already had a lot! Do we build our faith in the good times?When we are doing well spiritually, do we continue to push forward? Do we continue to grow more, knowing that one day we will need to draw on our spiritual reserves? Or do we get slack, and then wonder why we gave into temptation when the going got rough? What about when we face doubts? When our prayers aren’t answered as quickly or in the manner in which we think they should be answered? Do we still go to God like Abraham, or do we get discouraged and escape?

Gen 16 The morals in this story:

NO marriage relationship has ever been helped by polygamy, whether it was/is legal or illegal. Good grief, what a can of worms!

When wives get fearful, they make emotional decisions that they later regret!

When we take things into our own hand and demand our own timeline for God’s blessings, disaster usually follows!!

Gen 17 God reassured Abe again and again - even giving him a name change as assurance. INTERESTING that circumcision is instituted as a way of Abe keeping HIS side of the covenant and that Isaac is only born AFTER Abe was circumcised. Think about how you keep your covenant with God.

Gen 18 Abe pleaded with God boldly, but God decided when the conversation would end. Sodom and Gomorrah are a microcosmof the moral filth of the 21st Century. Kinda makes you wonder what an angel would do if he visited one of our cities today... Manhattan, Manchester or Mumbai…I wouldn’t want to be downtown at midnight…

Gen 19 Lessons from Sodom:

1. Lot was seduced by the sin of Sodom possibly because -

a) he liked the comfort and materialism of the city

b) he liked the prestige of sitting at the city gates (the position of an "elder")

2. Lot was ready to sacrifice his daughters to maintain peace in the community.

3. Lot was slow to leave.

The Sodom residents were NOT ONLY out for pleasure at others' expense, they also immediately hated Lot for not joining them and accused him of being Judgmental. Boy, doesn't this sound familiar! Things haven't changed much in 4000 years!!

Lessons from Lot:

1. Don't hesitate to obey, cause hesitating may bring death.

2. Don't hesitate to do what is right, cause waiting may bring disaster.

3. Don't hesitate to flee the world, cause you only get one chance (or should I say, 18 fleeting years) to be a role-model for your family. They suffer when you love the world. Look at Lot's daughters - they didn't have godly role-models.

4. Begrateful for friends who save you. Don't get mad or feel sad if your friend schallenge you - feel sad if they don't!!

Gen 20 "There's enough sin to go around", as my friend, Gloria Baird, says. In other words, don’t gossip about others and DON'T BE JUDGMENTAL!!!

Gen 21 Sarah laughingly had a baby at 90+ and, following God's orders, named him, "He Laughs" (Isaac). God has such a sense of humour!!

Abe was so excited, he thought of a new title for God - "The Eternal God". Think about your views of God and meditate on this chapter…

Gen 22 Ishmael had to leave so that Abe would be free to regard Isaac as his "one and only son". Then God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac! How bizarre! Of course, God stayed Abraham’s hand, but I believe he was teaching the ultimate parenting-for-Christians lesson: does God come before our kids?? Another lesson – Abraham had put his hope in Isaac, his dreams for the future were wrapped up in his son. So, are we willing to sacrifice our dreams for our children if that is what it takes to obey God? And lastly, for all Christians, are we willing to sacrifice our DREAMS for God’s dreams? These are convicting lessons…but Abraham’s life shows that when we do (put God above our kids, sacrifice our dreams, etc), our lives turn out better in the end anyway! So, TRUST GOD! And Abe named the mountain, "Mt The Lord Will Provide" (as opposed to Mt Kinabalu or Mt Everest). Do you have such a mountain? What is it? (By the way, God asked no less of himself - he sacrificed his one and only for me and you on the cross.)

Gen 23 Here is a beautiful story about marriage. Abe was devoted to Sarah. We all dream of a husband like that, but let’s remember what kind of wife Sarah was to him – see I Peter 3:1-6!! Convicting! The bible holds Sarah up as an example of a woman who wasn’t afraid to follow her husband, but we saw back in chapter 16 that she did get afraid once, and it caused major consequences. I figure the good news here is that God is very forgiving, and one or two mess ups doesn’t ruin your overall track record! Also, for married couples, let’s try to be Sarah and Abraham for one another – the dream husband and the dream wife, at least most of the time. Remember “for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health…” (Next entry on Jan 11th)

karenlouis@seachurches.org