Hi everybody!
As some of you know I’m working my way through the Bible on a project for the grandkids entitled:
LETTERS TO ZACH
This verse totally captivated me today:
Genesis 18: 19 - For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.”
So the first thing that hit me was the second part of the verse - count on me to be backwards - anyway…
I read the “so that..” and it hit me there was a cause and effect here. What brings about the promise of the Lord for Abraham is him “doing what is right and just”. Obedience. And pretty much from the get-go that’s what Abraham was about - obeying the Lord.
Sounds simplistic and something we’ve been told many times however it never spoke to me quite like this. We are participating with the Lord, which is way over my head, we obey so that the Lord will bring about what He has promised!! That’s how the Lord brings us His promises - He works His will through our obedience.
Abraham didn’t have the Bible on his nightstand. I doubt he was well-versed in doctrine because it didn’t exist yet. He didn’t participate with other people in debates on right and wrong or go to church on Sundays. Abraham had one mode of faith … he listened to and he obeyed the Lord. He didn’t try fifteen books on getting close to God; he didn’t have a mentor; he didn’t have a pastor; he didn’t have Christian friends. Now please don’t all write and tell me how necessary it is to fellowship and read the Word. I know that - but let’s take a look at the basic here in Genesis.
Abraham listened to God and did what He said.
He had conversations with God:
“What about if there are only 10 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah?”
“How do I know I’m going to have this land?”
“What do I do about my son Ishmael?”
And he obeyed. Tomorrow I’ll be reading about when the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. His only son. No one to bounce that off of … Abraham just went and got the wood.
The Lord hasn’t changed.
John 1:12 “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God - “
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Abraham’s journey started with hearing and believing God.
So does ours. Some of us out there haven’t really come to that belief yet… or we come there and stopped.
The Lord has made promises. Big - wonderful - huge promises.
He has things to give that we are literally dying to have: Salvation, peace, joy, love, kindness … the list goes on.
So let’s drop the fear of where the journey with the Lord may take us:
“What of my lifestyle will I have to give up?”
“Will God want my money?”
“Will I have to forgive my brother?”
Let’s go get the wood for the offering and go where it leads.
If anyone reading this blog has not yet asked Jesus to be their Savior and decided to believe what God says, please don’t wait another moment.
love, Bev