Genesis 16

It seems like we have a little dejavu in Genesis 16.  Remember what happens in the garden when Eve convinces Adam to sin…..well here it comes again.  God has just told Abraham that he would have lots of children and had just given him the covenant promising him a whole bunch of land.  Nothing is happening and Sarai (Sarah) comes to Abram and pulls an Eve on him.  She suggests he sleep with her maid named Haggar.  Now God had just promised Abram kids and a covenant, and viola, short term memory loss must have struck because he does what Sarai suggests and sleeps with her maid.  Bad decision – no matter whose idea it is.  Maybe Abram didn’t share with Sarai the covenant God had made.  Maybe he didn’t share what God had told him about being the source of children numbering to the stars.  But it is no excuse for two people taking the future into their own hands and getting way off the beaten path God has for obedience.  Abram misses the mark here by following some very bad advice from his wife.  But there is a key couple words we can’t miss: “Abram agreed to do what Sarai said”.  Did you catch that?  Her idea but his choice.  That is a perfect description of how temptation and sin work.  Temptation is the idea, sin is the choice.  There is no sin without us making an active choice to be disobedient.  The enemy may tempt us incessantly, but until we make the choice to give in and choose to walk in disobedience, we are ok.  Once we cross that line though we are going to have to deal with sin which leads to separation from God and requires fixing.

Of course things go awry once Haggar gets pregnant.  Two women vying for the love and affection of an 86 year old makes for an interesting story.  Haggar gets snooty thinking she is the main event now that she is pregnant.  Sarai is ticked because she is the wife and feels like she deserves to be center of attention.  Haggar flees but God pursues.  God convinces Haggar to go back and a son is born – Ishmael.  Scripture tells us that he will be “always stirring up trouble, always at odds with his family”.  We are dealing with some of the results of this even today.  How different the world might be had Abram just waited on God rather than taking things into his own hands.  Do you run ahead of God?  Do you try and twist things to make it happen quicker and your own way?  Sometimes I am guilty and when I do that – I am choosing to sin.  No other way to say it – no simple thing to call it but what it is.  Anything less than obedience to God is sin.

Genesis 15

Genesis 15 is a record of a conversation between God and Abraham.  God first speaks to him in a vision and tells him “I’m your shield”.  God is our protector.  Do you pray for God’s protection from the enemy?  Scripture tells us clearly that he wants to “kill, steal and destroy”.  But God is our protector and we need to seek Him and ask for His protection.  I do that daily as I pray – that His hedge of protection will surround my marriage, family, businesses, small group etc.  God is faithful and wants to be our protector.  God also tells Abraham “your reward will be grand”.  Now Abraham has a bit of a struggle with that one because he has no kids.  He wonders how this can work out.  But God tells him his descendents would be “a big family” and points him to count the stars.  That is a bunch for sure.  So Abraham is old, hasn’t had any kids, and is wondering about the future.  But upon God’s word scripture says “and he believed!  Believed God!”  That is the picture of obedience we all need to get mastered in our lives.  God says it – we believe it – that settles it.  Why do we struggle with it so much.

After this discussion God gives Abraham a sign to seal their discussion.  He asks for an offering and it leads to the point where “God made a covenant with Abraham”.  God promised his descendents the vast land between the Nile and Euphrates.  It isn’t going to be immediate, in fact God says it will be 400 years or so before they get it, but it will be theirs and the promise was done with a covenant.  According to Baker’s Bible Dictionary, the word covenant means “a coming together. It presupposes two or more parties who come together to make a contract, agreeing on promises, stipulations, privileges, and responsibilities”. God gives His Word to Abraham here in Genesis 15.  He gives a picture of the future and makes it something that Abraham can rest upon.  It is interesting that marriage is a covenant by design as well – between a man and woman for life.  That relationship needs to be equally as strong and be treated the way this covenant was between Abraham and God.  Are you living in a covenant relationship?

Genesis 14

Genesis 14 talks of a bunch of kings and the battles they got into.  They teamed up and fought with each other – 4 kings vs 5 kings and on it goes.  There were some victories and kingdoms captured and it was going well for some of them until they captured the kingdom of Sodom where Lot lived.  They grabbed him and took “everything he owned”.  One of the fugitives came running to Abraham and told him what had happened to Lot who was his nephew.  Now remember they had split ways and were living in different parts of the land.  Abraham was living peacefully and very well and was unaffected by these battles.  But when “Abraham heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he lined up his servants, all of them….and chased after the captors”.  You catching this?  Abram and his servants probably were not warriors – they were shepherds and farmers and not really the guys that had much fighting experience.  It wasn’t their day job at all.  And he only took 318 of them so was woefully outnumbered.  Yet Abram never even hesitated.  He called his servants together and they took off in hot pursuit.  No arguing, no discussion, just loyal obedience. 

Abram is wise in his approach as “his men split into small groups and attacked by night”.  They had to – they were far outnumbered so they had to fight smart.  The other side had just conquered about everything in sight – they were riding a bunch of victories and yet Abram goes after them and wins.  He frees Lot and recovers the plunder and sets things back the way they were.  Abram doesn’t take anything for himself from the kings he conquered except enough to eat and feed his troops.  He didn’t want to have anyone giving credit to his wealth or blessing other than what God did Himself.  Abram showed his love which drove him to immediate action.  He took no regard for self or showed no fear of others.  He just went and did what was right.  Do you take action to do the right thing no matter the odds?  Us plus God is always a majority!

Genesis 13

Genesis 13 talks about the process by which Abraham and Lot decided to part ways and live their own lives in their own lands.  They have been traveling together and as they come back to Negev, things are starting to get a little difficult.  “Abram was very rich….Lot was also rich” – both had a lot of stuff including sheep and cattle and tents.  They needed space and when together there just was difficulty in spreading out enough to allow everyone and everything to have enough room.  So there was some squabbling going on amongst their shepherds and I am sure others in their families as well.  God has blessed them significantly.  They have a lot of stuff.  So Abraham uses his wisdom and talks to Lot about it.  He asks this question: “Isn’t there plenty of land out there”?  I love that approach.  Rather than focus on the problem at hand, he drives the discussion to the truth and the solution.  There is not a shortage of a place to live and take care of all that God has entrusted to them both.  The problem is resulting from being focused on the same space at the same time and not looking up and out to what God has available.  They and their clans both had tunnel vision and a focus that was too small.

I often see this in the business community when people are worried about competition and fighting over the same set of potential customers.

 

Aren’t there plenty of customers out there?  Yep – more than enough and there is no reason why we have to be so defensive and narrow about how we look at the marketplace.  God owns it all anyway, so I get so frustrated when people call me and complain that so and so did this or that with a customer they believe they own.  We need to realize there is always more than we need in any area of life if we are walking with God.  There is no shortage in His economy.  Our little economy here in the US or even globally may be in a world of hurt, but trust me that God’s economy has never been better.  He has no shortages of anything in His universe.  When we get that attitude right – when we recognize it is all His and we are mere stewards that have been entrusted with what He allows us to take care of – then we can begin to experience what Abraham did.  Check this out: “Everything you see…..I will give to you……I’ll make your descendents like dust”.  Now that is blessing God’s way.  And God did what He said in Abraham’s life.  But the rest of the story happens at the end of the chapter as God again tells Abraham to get “on your feet, get moving”.  Once again Abraham didn’t waver or argue or stall – “Abraham moved his tent”.  He obeyed immediately and completely.  That is when blessing comes.  When we walk in God’s will God’s way!

Genesis 12

Genesis 12 begins the story of Abram (or Abraham as he is usually referred to).  Remember we learned he was of the lineage of Shem.  God tells Abraham: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home land”.  Now that is a pretty strong request.  God tells Abraham He will “make you a great nation and bless you” but there are no details on where Abraham is to go or what that really looks like.  So what does Abraham do?  Here is a key lesson for all of us – we see it in scripture over and over as we watch godly men live life.  “So Abram left just as God said”.  No arguments, no hesitation, no ‘let me think and pray about it’ excuses.  It is good to pray about things – it is essential we do that – but we should be doing it daily and we shouldn’t have to stop God’s plan for us and call a time out to stop everything and pray.  If we are walking with Him constantly moment by moment – when He leads we just need to follow.  Far too often I see believers want to stop it all and pray about it – sounds good and looks spiritual – but obedience is the only thing that is truly spiritual – that is the only response that is really doing it God’s way.  Do you stall because you don’t want to do what God wants?  Do you veil your disobedience in prayer?  Sometimes I see that happen and do it myself.  A God moment comes along and rather than walk with Him in obedience, I want to stop everything and pray to find out what I should do.  He has already told me – I just don’t want to obey.  That is far too often just a tactic to try and make my failure to obey look palatable.  Abram didn’t do that.  God called him to take all and move to a land far away – Abram didn’t even know where they were headed – but He knew God asked for action and he got up and went.  Not sometime after praying – he got up and went.  Remember that he is 75 years old at this point.  Not some young explorer type person.  He has been where he was a long time.  Obedience isn’t about what I think or want.  Obedience is about doing what God has asked me to do when He asks me to do it.  It is never about me.  It is always completely about Him!

Along the way Abram does stop to make sure he is on the right page.  He builds altars and prays to God.  But those things happen after he has started down the path of obedience.  He didn’t do it as a precursor to being obedient.  He does it along to way to make sure he remains obedient.  Obedience is a process – an ongoing activity where we have to stay tuned in to God so we stay on His path and follow His plan.  We have to be continually connected to obey. Abraham models that as he goes.  He lays hold of God’s promise that “I will give this land to your children”.  He doesn’t get to stop there as the time was not yet right so he keeps moving in obedience to God. When Abraham enters Egypt to escape the famine, he does make a poor decision.  He tells his wife Sarah, who is very beautiful, to tell all that they are brother and sister so he is not killed to take her.  She is taken to live with Pharoah and bad things happen because she was Abram’s wife.  He tried to do it his way rather than trust God that the plan he was following was under control.  We have to be careful not to think obedience can be manipulated to be our own plan.  It is God’s plan done God’s way in God’s time.  That is the only way we can live in obedience!

Genesis 11

Genesis 11 is the story of the Tower of Babel.  Seems that when the boys came off the ark they were all speaking the same language.  They headed east to the land of Shinar and decided to “make ourselves famous” and built a “city and a tower that reaches Heaven”.  Why is it that we always want to try and do things our way and become like God?  He wasn’t humored by this effort which appears to be all about them and their pride in their ability to build this massive tower.  So God takes action and “garbled their speech so they won’t understand each other”.  I knew there was a reason I struggle with this.  I always thougth it was because I didn’t listen well enough, but maybe it is a spiritual outcome of this chapter.  J  Certainly I struggle with understanding speech from females, particularly my beloved bride on certain days.  Probably can’t hide behind this chapter though – that is more of an aptitude issue I need to fix in my life – how about you other guys?  So why did God take action?

“No telling what they’ll come up with next – they’ll stop at nothing” is what God says.  He has seen this before.  Man wanting to be like God or to become God.  So he kaboshes that right away.  “God scattered them” and they had to “quit building the city” because they lost communciation and connection.  I don’t think the fact they wanted to build a city or tower was the real issue here – it is about their motive and the way they went about it.  God wasn’t the center of the project – He was the end goal.  They wanted to reach Heaven and become famous.  It was a pride thing.  It was an all about “me” thing.  God resists the proud.  The balance of the chapter is about Shem and his lineage which leads to Abram.  I notice that the early descendents live 600 years, then 400 and then 200….pretty quick decline in lifespan.  You probably remember some that were over 900 right after creation.  Didn’t take long for that timeline to get a lot shorter.  That will be an interesting question to ask God when I get to heaven.  Pride seems to be the problem here, and God deals with it swiftly and harshly.  We are still feeling the effects of babbling today…….

Genesis 10

Genesis 10 is a whole list of genealogy of the sons of Noah.  Ham, Shem and Japeth each had their own families that grew and became the world as we know it today.  I don’t claim to understand how it all worked out, but I do know that each lineage is unique and has someimpact even today.  These brothers who rode in the ark for so long with their dad became the fathers of different people groups.  It is interesting that as the list goes on, there is a pause at Nimrod, one of Ham’s descendents.  He is called the first of the great warriors.  Sort of reminds me of the list where Jabez is called out.  Name after name and then a pause – Nimrod is called out as someone special and unique.  He also is called a great hunter before God.  Nimrod stood out.  He was called out as someone special.  Does God see you that way?  Are you a man or woman of God who stands out, who is different and unique and a person that God knows as someone special.  The chapter ends this way: “This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood”. 

Ever thought about the impact of these boys and their dad.  Four men who are the fathers of all nations.  The power of legacy are never seen any more clearly than in this chapter.  God created generations to come through the lives of these three sons.  We have the opportunity to create a legacy as well. In fact, we do create one whether we intend to or not.  We leave our mark on the generations that follow and we create a path that others will tread.  It is important that we learn to lead the way God leads us.  We have so much we can do to cause the future of the world to go God’s way.

Genesis 9

Genesis chapter 9 starts with these words: “God blessed Noah and his sons”.  You may be wondering about that.  They were locked up in an ark for many days and nights with a boatload of animals.  They now have moved off the ark to a new land that is basically empty – it has been totally destroyed by God to clean up the evil that was upon it.  And God starts handing out their new job as the boat is unloaded by saying “You’re responsible for them”.  Whoa – that is a pretty big responsibility.  Not only were they asked to take them 2 by 2 onto the ark to save them, but now they are out of the boat they are still their responsibility.  I really like what God tells Noah and the boys their role is: “You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully”.  It really goes along with what Jesus tells us when He walked on this planet – “I came that you may have life abundantly”.  God doesn’t intend for us to just get by.  He doesn’t intend for us to live life a little bit.  It needs to be full and bountiful and abundant, and that is His plan and desire for each of us.

God also gives us a promise that He will never again destroy the earth when He says “never again will everything living be destroyed”.  That is a promise He makes clear to us even today with the reminder of the “rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant”.  God still hates evil, but He no longer is going to use the clean slate approach to dealing with it.  It will be a personal work to help us rid self of evil.  Sin still has to go, it has to be dealt with because of the very nature of God, but it will be done personally between me and God.  That is why each of us has to deal with the solution to sin personally as we decide what to do with Jesus.  He is the way for us to experience God’s grace and mercy – a personal relationship with the Savior is the solution.  No one can make that happen except you or me personally.  It isn’t our parents, our spouse, our kids – it is between you, or me, and God.  I am grateful He has given us the promise not to wipe the earth due to evil.  I fear our days might be short without that.  But I am more grateful He allows each of us to deal with the sin problem in our lives through a personal relationship with Jesus.  What are you going to do with Jesus?

Genesis 8

Genesis 8 deals with the aftermath of the flood.  The water has covered the earth for quite some time and Noah sends out a dove three times before he determines that things have dried up.  I noticed this little detail: “In the six-hundred-first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground”.  Noah is a pretty old guy now.  The flood has gone on and on for months.  Now he is 601 and God frees him from the ship on the first day of the first month.  Nothing like starting over from scratch.  God really doesn’t miss many details does He?  Noah is commanded to leave the ship and to get after repopulating the earth. 

 

So how does Noah re-enter the world?  “Noah built an altar to GOD…he offered burnt offerings on the altar”.  He has been couped up on the ark with a bunch of smelly animals for months, and the very first thing he does is build an altar.  He never lost sight of God and what God had done.  And he immediately spends his time worshiping the God who allowed him to live.  God says this about man: “I know they have a bent toward evil from an early age”.  He knows us pretty well doesn’t He?  We do tend to drift toward evil unless we make the choice to walk closely with our God.  We do tend to struggle with right and wrong and need to focus on what God commands us.  But even with the knowledge that we tend to sin, God makes this promise “I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done”.  That is a promise we need to cling to.  God may get angry and need to clean things up on earth, but He will never do the clean sweep He did with Noah.  We serve a loving God.  We need to keep in mind just how much He loves us and how lucky we are to be alive!

Genesis 7

Genesis 7 captures the events leading up to the big flood. Noah had built an ark even though they had never seen rain before. He gets this commendation in scripture: “Noah did everything God commanded him”. Now that is a great thing to strive for to be written on our tomb stone….do everything God commands. I miss that on occasion, ok – a lot. But Noah didn’t. I hadn’t really noticed before that God tells him to take “seven pairs of every clean animal….one pair of unclean”. I always thought he took one pair of each. But he loaded the boat and the rains came. Noah was 600 years old plus a couple months and 17 days – who said God isn’t into details. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights and the water covered the earth for 150 days. But before the rains came, I was grabbed by this: “then God shut the door behind him”. I hadn’t thought about how Noah would have closed the hole in the side of the boat. It had to be pretty darn big because he had to load the big animals through it. They didn’t have winches and pulleys and motors then. I wonder if Noah had figured out how to get the door shut when he built the boat. Anyway, God shut it for him. “The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered”. This was no little rainstorm. I am sure many of you have seen the majesty of the mountains God created. There are some tall ones out there. The amount of water needed to cover those mountains would be unimaginable. “Everything died”. That is pretty complete. “He wiped out the whole works”. God was really pretty ticked. He really can’t tolerate evil. He created it all and in one fell swoop he wiped them out. Not most, but all. Only Noah and his three sons and their wives are spared. This is a big indication of just how seriously God takes how people live. It isn’t ok to assume God will just overlook our sin. He won’t. He can’t. He has to deal with sin. Fortunately He has. Jesus came to set us free from that sin. But we have to accept that gift! Have super day in your world!