Genesis 18:16-21 – Being God’s friend

When God had finished announcing the news of the son Sarah would bear a year later, He and the two angels departed to go down to Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham being the gracious host accompanied them on the way to send them off. This text tells us that Abraham had a special relationship with God. He was chosen by God to be the instrument through whom the rest of the world would be blessed. So God had a great purpose and plan for Abraham, and He wouldn’t hide from him anything that had to do with him. So here the Lord mused to Himself, asking, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? 

Abraham was a friend of God. And friendship with God is truly a wonderful thing. He wants to reveal His plan to His friends. And we have all become God’s friends when we make Jesus our Lord. As His friends, He will preserve us and give us the privilege to know His plan for our life. That’s why Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, God will reveal to us concerning His plan through His Spirit, the “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and  have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” What a privilege!

God had a desire for Abraham and his children. Verse 19 explicitly said what God’s intention for them was. He said, “For I have chosen him (Abraham), so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” God had great expectation for Abraham. He wanted him to teach his children to walk with the Lord, and to keep His ways. They must also act righteously and justly, so as to see the promise to him be brought into realization. Just as God expected of Abraham to do right, He will also want us to emulate him.

Nothing is hidden from God’s view. God is all seeing. He has a holistic revelation and He already sees the end from the beginning. So He knew exactly what’s happening at Sodom and Gomorrah. He is everywhere present, so He was already aware of Sodom and Gomorrah’s acts. The purpose of verses 21-22 is not to suggest that God must go down to the twin wicked cities to know what’s going on. It is to tell us that God never act unjustly without having full knowledge of what’s going on. He saw the wickedness of the twin cities from the very beginning. Just as God knew everything about Sodom and Gomorrah, God knows what’s going on in the world and in our life. He will bring justice to everything. It will do us well to heed God’s instruction through Paul in Ephesians 5:15-20. He said, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. …do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. …be filled with the Spirit…making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thank for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.”

Genesis 18:9-15 - Living in the rhythm of the miraculous

Abraham had shown great hospitality to the three men. One of them was a Theophany, that is, God appearing in human form, long before Christ’s incarnation. And the other two were angels that accompanied the Theophany. After the meal, they asked Abraham, “Where is Sarah your wife?” By this time it would not be a surprize that Abraham would have concluded that he was visited by the divine. Why do we think so? At no time did he introduce Sarah to them, yet they knew her name and that she was barren. And the Lord was here to address the issue of her inability to bear a child. So the Lord said to Abraham in the hearing of Sarah, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Though we are not told of Abraham’s response, we are given a glimpse to Sarah’s response. She was discreetly somewhere inside the tent because that was the position required of a married woman in their culture. Genesis 18:11 specifically tells us that she had past the age of child bearing, meaning she was already well beyond her menopausal age. Humanly speaking there was no way she could conceive, and she knew that well. On hearing what Abraham was told, she laughed to herself and mused, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord (Abraham) being old also?” Sarah was not sneering arrogantly at the news she heard. She was laughing to herself because she knew that her own physical condition, and Abraham’s age, would make the conception of a child impossible.    

Sarah probably did not expect God to know her silent response to the news, but He did. So the Lord plainly asked, “Why did Sarah laugh?” To laugh at the suggestion of something humanly impossible is not uncommon. In today’s setting there are still people, even Christians, who believe that miracles are things of the past. As Christians we worship and serve a miracle working God. He is still in the business of the miraculous. We must learn to live in the rhythm of miracles. The fact that we continue to breathe, and our hearts continue to beat every moment of the day, attest to our miracle working God. The different organs of our body that function perfectly and coordinately are in themselves God’s miracle in operation. Believe it or not, we are God’s miracle going somewhere to happen.

Sarah’s musing of disbelief brought about a statement by the Lord that must be etched indelibly in our heart: Is anything too difficult for the Lord? Whatever situation we each may face, be sure that our Lord is fully aware of them and He is working out the solution on our behalf. What we need to do is to collaborate with Him in obedience. There is nothing in life that God does not have an answer. The thoughts that Abraham and Sarah had were too human and too earthly. Their response to the news is a lesson for us to never question the ability of God. In Sarah’s situation the Lord emphasized again that “At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” With God there is no impossibility!

Sarah probably stepped forward, feeling embarrassed, as she denied that she laughed. The parting shot of the Lord to her was, “No, but you did laugh.” Nothing is hidden from the Lord. This underscores the necessity for us to be honest with the Lord. Surely Sarah would never forget that incidence. Why? For the son she was to bear and give birth to, would be named Isaac, meaning laughter. Henceforth, she would never forget the miracle of God every time she looked at her son. We serve a miracle working God, so let us live in the rhythm of the miraculous!

Genesis 18:1-8 – Resting in God

This account opens with Abraham resting at noon, a time when the sun was the hottest. He had pitched his tent by the shade of the oaks trees of Mamre. Here he was resting from the noontide heat at the entrance of the tent. And when he lifted up his eyes, he saw three men. Abraham probably did not know who these three men were. He was seeking to be hospitable as the custom of the day was. So he approached them humbly, falling on His face beseeching them to come to his tent and be entertained. Who actually were these three men? One of them was a Theophany, that is, God appearing in human form long before Christ’s incarnation. In the Bible we do read of several accounts of such appearances of God. He appeared to Joshua as the Captain of the Lord of Hosts. He also appeared as the fourth man in the fiery furnace with the three friends of Daniel seen by Nebuchadnezzar. Now He appeared to Abraham with two of His angels. Notice that while there were three men, Abraham was only talking to one, later recognized as Yahweh, the covenant keeping God.

Though he did not recognize God and His angels, Abraham probably could sense that they were not ordinary people. Ordinarily, he would have gotten his servant to do the task. But here he took upon himself to entertain them personally. He even had Sarah made bread and cakes for them, while he went out and selected the best tender calf, and had his servant prepare the meal for the visitors. As Abraham stood there to watch them eat, it must have dawned on him that they were divine visitors. The author to the Hebrews picked up this story and urged us believers to be hospitable to strangers, for like Abraham we might be entertaining angels unknowingly. The point is this: we ought to be hospitable.

The best rest we can find is in God. He wants to connect with us to bring His plan into realization in our life. He always makes the first move as He did in Abraham’s situation. He came to Abraham while he was resting from the weariness of the day. But the best rest anyone can have is to find rest in Him. We must learn from Abraham and invite Him into our tent. We must offer Him our very best and serve Him with humility. Our fruitfulness in life come from our rest in Him. So let’s hear Christ’s invitation to us again from Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”   

Genesis 17:15-27 – There’s no impossibility with God

God had given circumcision as a sign of the covenant He had made with Abram and He even changed his name to Abraham. Circumcision as we know is irreversible. It speaks appropriately of the covenant God was making with Abraham. In that covenant, the new name Abraham was no longer only the exalted father but the father of many nations. God now turned to talk about Sarai, his wife. As He had renamed Abram, God also renamed Sarai. She was no longer to be called Sarai but Sarah. God then proceeded to reiterate the promise He had made to Abraham. And Sarah would bear a son for Abraham. And just as Abraham would be the father of many nations, she would be the mother of nations. From her one seed, many kings of people will come forth. 

When Abraham received the news, he fell to the ground and laughed. He was in disbelief, so he exclaimed in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” He was looking from the human perspective. To have a son at the age of 100 was impossible. Besides Sarah was 90 years old and well passed the ability to bear a son. Humanly speaking, to bear a child was out of the question. He was in utter disbelief so he laughed. And he remembered Ishmael. And told God that perhaps He should consider him. For he was a child of his also but through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian maid. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. God knew the human heart perfectly, so He did not chide Abraham for his disbelief. He knew it was impossible for him to see how it could happen in those natural circumstances. God assured him that He would do it.    

God was serious. He was bent on giving Abraham a son through Sarah. God had Isaac in mind. So He said to Abraham, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.” Isaac was to be the crux of His promise. It would be through him that the descendants of Abraham would come. He would be the one to bring about the promise of God’s covenant to Abraham. However, God did not forget Ishmael, his son with Hagar. He knew Abraham’s heart. So He declared to Abraham that though Ishmael was not the one through whom many nations would come, yet he would still be blessed. Ishmael would be blessed with a great nation and be the father of 12 rulers. God’s emphasis was Isaac. He would be the son through whom the covenant with Abraham would come through. God even gave a definite timing to Isaac’s birth. He told Abraham categorically that, “My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”  Having made His intension clear, God left.

We are not told what Abraham thought, of all the things God had spoken. But his action spoke loudly and eloquently. Abraham believed God categorically. That’s the point. Everything might not make sense humanly speaking, but he took God at His word. The very next day, He did all that God had instructed. Beginning from Ishmael, including himself, and all male servants, he had every male circumcised as told. He had the covenant with God ratified on his part. Abraham leaves us with an example on how we ought to respond to God. Like him, we must take God at His word even in what seems like the most unlikely situations. God is able. With God nothing is impossible. He can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever think or imagine. Let’s trust Him absolutely.

Genesis 17:9-14 – Circumcision - the sign of the covenant

What is wonderful in the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants was the fact that He would be their God. It was the best gift to them. In verse 7, God told Abraham saying, “I will…be your God”. Then in verse 8, He said, referring to Abraham’s descendants, “I will be their God”. Here, El Shaddai, the God Almighty, was giving Himself as a gift to them. It was the best gift anyone could ever dreamed of. God gave Himself to Abraham and His descendants. Isn’t this very like God? In the New Testament God again gave His very best. John 3:16 tells us, “He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….” Nothing can be better than to have God with us throughout life’s journey. And this was God’s promise to Abraham and to us, his descendants. And this is also Christ’s promise to us. This was what He said before His ascension, “Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the ages!”  What a privilege!  

Abraham couldn’t have fully understood the whole implication of the promise and the covenant God had made with him. The promise was not just about his physical heirs, but also all of us his spiritual heirs. Today regardless of what nationality, we can all become a part of that covenant through Christ, where God Himself will be our God and we, His people. But like all privileges, there is also a responsibility in being part of this covenant. It was imperative that Abraham and his descendants kept this covenant.  Verse 9 explicitly said it: “…you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.”   

As a reminder of the covenant, God gave them a sign – circumcision. Abraham himself was to be circumcised. This mark on Abraham’s reproductive organ was a permanent reminder that it was God who had given him his descendants, even while he had passed the age of child bearing. This clearly indicated that his son that would be born to him was a miracle of God. It was God who had granted him the success where his own human flesh had failed. God further instructed that any male child in the household would be circumcised on the eighth day. Bear in mind that his son and his future descendants were yet to be born. For now, all servants he had acquired and those born in his household must be circumcised. This shall be an everlasting sign of the covenant God was making with him and his descendants. It is interesting to note that God had chosen a sign that could not be reversed. It is intended to show the everlasting nature of the covenant. This was in fact a sign of a permanent bond between God and His circumcised people. The instruction to circumcise all male, even the servants, suggests that to God there is no class distinction. Even servants have a place in His plan. Remember circumcision wold mean nothing when faith does not exist.

Why did God choose circumcision as a sign? God wanted Abraham to remember that Isaac was a God granted miracle. The circumcision served to remind him that he had Isaac even though he had passed the capacity to father a child. Circumcision now also serves as God’s indication that the male reproductive organ that is subjected to abuse must be dedicated to Him. The whole course of bringing a baby into this world is the most creative physical act granted to man. It is perhaps the one process closest to God’s creative ability. Hence for a man to use his reproductive organ for sex outside of God’s designed purpose, will be a distortion of God’s intention for its use. This is a call to Christian men to ensure marital fidelity.        

Genesis 17:1-8 – Honoring a Covenant-keeping God

This scene opens 13 years after the birth of Ishmael, and Abram was now 99 years old. Time had really passed for Abram, and the promise of God seemed illusive. But God is faithful. He never fails in a single promise He had made. As it was for Abram, so it will be for us. In this account God appeared to Abram. How He appeared to him we are not told but He did and He spoke to Abram. He first declared to him that He is the God Almighty, the El Shaddai, the most powerful One.  Abram was not dealing with any ordinary being but the most powerful One in the universe. And He commanded him to maintain two things: to walk before Him and to walk blamelessly. God wanted Abram to live life sincerely and with integrity. That’s how we all should walk too. To live truthfully and honestly, especially before God, to whom nothing is oblivious.

God then affirmed the covenant and the promise He had made with Abram. He assured him that he would increase greatly. He would be the father of many nations. And indeed Abram is the father of many, all over the nations. Where there are people who exercise faith in God, we have a child of Abram. That’s why the Apostle Paul in the letter of Galatians referred to him as our father in faith. Here when God emphasized this promise, Abram fell on his face with great humility before God, showing deep reverence and utter respect to One who alone deserves all honour and awe. What an attitude! God made a personal promise to Abram that he would be the father of many nations. It’s here that God changed his name. He was no longer to be called Abram, meaning exalted father. He would be called Abraham from henceforth. That was because he would be the father of many nations. What a name!

Name in the Biblical culture was significant. It still is today for us. For Abraham this is a new milestone in his life. He would be the father of many nations. From his son, his seed, many nations would come forth from him. God personally guaranteed it. God promised to make Abraham the father of many nations, and kings would come through him. Of the kings that came through Abraham’s line is Christ Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Through Him this promise to Abraham had literally come to pass. God then promised him and his descendants the land of Canaan as an inheritance.  

The call to Abraham to walk before God and to walk blamelessly is something that we must also take to heart. We must be conscious that we have an all-seeing God. Nothing is hidden form Him. It behoves us to live circumspectly, to be wise and truthful. Let’s live to honor God.    

Genesis 16:7-15 – Trusting God in difficult moments

Abram did not consider carefully when he listened to his wife and had Hagar pregnant. What he had created was not a problem but a difficulty. We can solve a problem but difficulty cannot be solved. One can only live with a difficulty. So Abram had to live with this difficulty that he had produced, Ishmael. Hagar not being able to bear with the ill treatment of Sarai decided to run away from her mistress. She was probably heading to Egypt where she came from. But providence would have it that she was stopped in her track by an angel of the Lord. Notice how the angel addressed her. The angel called her Hagar, Sarai’s maid. This is a reminder to her of her position. She had a duty to Sarai even if she disliked how she was treated. She had to be responsible. There is a need to differentiate between one’s duty and who one is serving. We may not be in agreement with a person, but we should not run away from the duty we are expected to do. What Hagar did also tells us that people do have the tendency to be escapists. The first thing we want to do when we have a difficult boss is to seek another employment. We do realize that a difficulty can strengthen our fortitude and resolve in life, as we seek a way to deal with it.  

The angel put her in her place and reminded her of who she really was – Sarai’s maid. Her place was in Sarai’s tent serving her. She has no right to be wandering in the wilderness. She was told to return to her mistress and do the right thing i.e. submit to her authority. As Sarai’s maid, it’s her duty to serve her mistress and be at her command. Here the angel of the Lord representing God further promised that her descendants will be numerous. And then told her that she had indeed conceived a son and he was to be named Ishmael. This name means God hears. Truly her cries of misery was heard by God and He responded to her cries. The angel of the Lord further told her that Ishmael would be as wild as a donkey, indicating that Ishmael and his descendants would be living a nomadic existence. And his life would be geared toward hostility and conflict. We can only surmise that this could be pointing to what we see in the Middle East conflicts today.  

Hagar called God, “The Lord who sees.” How true this name is. Just as God saw the affliction and struggles Hagar went through, He also can see ours too. There’s no difficulty in life that God will not help us to deal with, when we seek his help. Personally we will find it hard to endure but with prayer and obedience, all difficulties can be overcome.  Hagar then called the place Beer-Lahai-roi meaning “the well of Him that lives and sees me.” It was a special place, a place where the Lord saw the needy of a desperate maid and stretched out His helping hand.  So Hagar bore Abram Ishmael when he was 86 years of age. Ours is a caring and gracious God. He not only sees but also would respond to our cries in time of needs. He is ever ready to deliver and help us deal with our difficulty in life. We can trust Him! 

Genesis 16:1-6 – Don’t deploy fleshly method to do God’s will

God never vacillates in His promise. He has a time and season for everything. Therefore we must be patient and continue to trust that, in His good time He would bring every promise to pass. It had been quite a while since God has promised Abram that he would have a son with Sarai. These six verses show us how they tried to help God out. What they did was in the energy of the flesh. We wonder why Sarai could conceive such a scheme. We need to understand that it was allowable in ancient practice, that when a woman was unable to conceive, she could have her maid take her place to help produce a child on her behalf with her husband. We can understand the plight of Sarai. She was barren and was disturbed by her inability to conceive. It could well be that she felt she was a burden to Abram rather than an asset. So she tried to help by offering her maid Hagar to take her place. This Egyptian maid, as we have earlier said, was a gift given to Sarai by the Pharaoh for attempting to violate her but was halted by God.      

We can understand where Sarai was coming from. But we cannot understand why Abram, a man of faith could succumb to this suggestion. This is where we see the truthfulness of God’s Word again. The flaw of Abram was not covered up. Here we see Abram’s faith being tested again and he did not do so well. He acted in the flesh without thinking of the implication. He had entirely forgotten what God told him when he proposed that Eliezer should be his heir to the nation God promised him. God explicitly told him that it was to be a son with Sarai. To listen to Sarai now was unbelief on his part. Again he relied on his own strength. Here is a reminder to us not to capitulate on the will of God and resort to worldly device to fulfil God’s purpose and intent. When we do that we will inherit a mountain of problems.

As it is, we see the trouble starting here in verse 4. When Hagar, the Egyptian maid knew that she was pregnant, she became prideful. She must have entertained the idea of an elevated position and would be given more attention by Abram. So she held Sarai in contempt and became haughty.  Sarai could not stomach her prideful attitude and put the blame on Abram for how Hagar had despised her. Like Sarai, we can also be oblivious to our own flaw and start pointing fingers. We must learn to own up to our own flaw because the first step to change is to recognize our own flaw. As believers we should not resort to finger pointing. It will cause further misunderstanding.

Abram of course made it clear to Sarai that she had every right to deal with Hagar as she deemed fit, for she was her maid.  She was in a position of authority and had the right to exercise whatever she felt right. Sarai then made Hagar’s life so miserable, to the point that she could bear it no longer. So she ran away from Sarai instead of living in submission to her mistress. It’s never right to run away from a problem. When one take this course of action the problem will remain unsolved, and the animosity would continue. It will escalate tension to an unbearable situation. We should never capitulate from a problem but seek to responsibly resolve it amiably, no matter how difficult it may seem. Remember, faith does not only seek understanding, it also seeks to be responsible!  

Genesis 15:12-21 – There’s no impossibility with God

In cutting a covenant, both parties would normally pass in between the sacrifice cut int0 half, divided and lined on two sides. In this case, Abram went into a deep sleep and God Himself passed through the sacrifice. The sleep that Abram had was not a common sleep. It was not due to weariness. Why? The things that he experienced while asleep tell us that it was not an ordinary happening. Something divine was taking place. God was making known to him what would happen to his descendants. It was a further assurance of the certainty of the promise of descendants. God was foretelling Abram what would happen to his descendants before they would finally possess the land.

Abram was foretold that his descendants would become strangers in a land not theirs, and be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. And we know that God was pointing ahead to the time of the Israelites’ slavery in the land of Egypt. God would judge Egypt and deliver the descendants of Abram. They would leave the land of oppression with mush possession. From the account in Exodus, they indeed did leave Egypt with much material goods given to them by the Egyptians. But Abram was promised that he would not be part of the oppression, but would die peacefully at a good old age. He would be buried in Canaan, the promised land.   

God’s promise to Abram would come true for the fourth generation of his descendants. The fact that it would take such a length of time before God would bring them out of Egypt into the Promised Land was to demonstrate the patience of God. The Amorites, the descendants of the sons of Canaan would be occupying the Promised Land at that time. God’s patience would be tested by them. When their iniquities reached a pitch where it had become intolerable, it would be 400 years of God’s patience toward them. Oh, how long is the patience of God! That’s why we must not test the patience of God. We should keep short accounts with Him. We should not persist in a sin, ignoring our conscience quickened by God, till we become numb to His bidding.   

God enacted the covenant by Himself, through a smoking oven and a flaming torch, passed between the pieces of the sacrifice. This could be the symbol of God’s presence, just as He would guide the Israelites with the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. And God pledged to give them the land “from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” He had outlined the land and the different people that were in the land they would possess. Notice that God alone passed through the pieces of the sacrifice. Abram was asleep. It’s a covenant where God Himself enacted to ensure its certainty. What a God!   

God showed great patience working with Abram to bring him from his pagan upbringing to be a giant of faith. What He was doing with Abram to enable him to come to where he would be able to appropriate God’s promise would require much trust of many years. The ownership of the land Abram was promised would only be realized after his death. Here Abram was getting to an age when his ability to bear a child is quickly diminishing. It would take faith to believe that he could still bear a child, and he needed greater faith to believe what’s appeared to be improbable to him. But our God takes what seems impossible and makes it possible. There is no impossibility with God. What’s our biggest faith struggle today? Remember, with God all things are possible to them that believe!  

Genesis 15:7-11 – Covenant with God

Abram believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. God now reaffirmed His promise of the land to him. God reminded Abram that it was He who had brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give him the land. Abram than wanted to know how he would possess it. The question he asked was “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” Abram was not doubting God’s ability to give him the land. In fact he was seeking to know how this would come about so that he could be assured of its certainty. We need to bear in mind that at this point he still did not have a son. He was probably anxious for he could not see what’s ahead. What would happen next was unknown to him. It did not help that what he was experiencing seemed to contradict what was promised. Abram did not doubt God’s word. He sought to understand it. And we know that faith is not a leap in the dark. Faith seeks understanding. Our faith must rest on God’s Word. An untested faith is not worth embracing. So Abram sought to understand.     

God then instructed Abram to bring Him “…a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” These animals the Lord asked Abram to bring for the sacrifice were three years old, meaning these were grown animals at their peak, and could provide their best service. Symbolically God expects us to give Him our best. We want God to have the golden years of our life, not the fainting ashes of our hearts. We don’t want to run the world’s errand and then labour up the heavenly hill with slow and weary feet. God must be given the very best part of our life.    

Abram prepared the covenant ceremony. He probably knew what to do based on what was common to covenant making in his culture. Animals that were cut into halves and divided, and placed on two sides, were part of covenant formation ceremony. Both the parties making the covenant would then walk between the animals that were cut in halves. Jeremiah 34:18 tells us that this was how a covenant was made. This was done to affirm one’s commitment to the covenant. Symbolically a person who walked between the animals that were halved would be saying, that he would be like the cut animals if he broke the covenant. Let’s not only give God our very best but also seek to keep our promises to Him. Take into heart what Jesus said, “No one, after putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

In verse 11, we are told that Abram drove away the birds of prey that came upon the carcasses of the sacrifice. Perhaps the coming of the birds of prey is symbolic of the enemy forces that would come to disrupt and threaten the covenant God had with Abram. The birds of prey were symbols of enemy forces that would come and attack His descendants when they fail to keep the covenant. The solemnity of the covenant must be upheld. We must not allow whatever that is not in keeping with the expectation of God to come and disrupt our relationship with Him. We must seek “…not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”    

Genesis 15:1-6 – Putting faith in God

Abram was a man of great faith. His obeyed God explicitly. While in his pagan background he heard God spoke to him. Without hesitation, he had the courage to move at the instruction of God. He was promised that he would not only be blessed personally but through him all people everywhere would be blessed. So risking everything, Abram trusted God categorically. Leaving Ur at the instruction of God, for a land he knew not where, was simply monumental.

Though he slipped in Egypt, the promise of God remained sure. He picked up, corrected himself, and showed great courage in the rescue of Lot, his nephew. The last we discussed of him was his encounter with the king of Sodom and Melchizedek, the king of Salem. Both dealt with Abram differently. Melchizedek brought bread and wine and a blessing for Abram. And like Abram, he was a believer of the God most high, the possessor of heaven and earth. But his encounter with Abram made him aware that this God was also a covenant making and keeping God. Abram called Him LORD God most high, possessor of heaven and earth. Melchizedek knew that Abram’s victory over the coalition was granted him by God. What this king of Salem said to Abram give us a hint that the courageous expedition to rescue Lot was an act of faith. He trusted God to bring the victory. Abram gave Melchizedek a tithe of everything he had. In that, he acknowledged the priest-king of Melchizedek.

In Genesis 15:1-5, we see the human side of Abram surfaced again. In the aftermath of the victory over the coalition, he wondered how God would fulfil His promise to make him a nation, and give him a great name since he was still childless. While he was pondering the matter the faithful God spoke to him in a vision, assuring him of the certainty of the promise. Abram offered Eliezer, a servant born in his household, as the answer to the promise of God. How human was Abram! But that’s not God’s will nor was it His plan. So to assure Abram, God implicitly told him it would be from an heir out of his loin. God brought him out into the open, told him to look up to the sky and count the stars. As numerous as the stars of heaven that Abram could see, that would be how numerous his descendants would be. That left Abram speechless. Here in verse 6, we have the landmark verse of Abram’s journey: “Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Interestingly, the root word for “Amen” comes from the same root word we get the word believe. In other words, Abram said “Amen” to the promise God had just made to him. This was faith. And God reckoned to him as righteousness. Can’t imagine how Abram must have felt that night. But he certainly was strengthened. He must have arose full of vigour and ready for the next phase of his life. Abram’s faith made possible the impossible. He left us an example to emulate. We need to put our faith in God and anticipate great things in and through Him. Let’s learn to say “Amen” to the promise of God for our life.  

Genesis 14:17-24 – Giving to God

When Abram returned from defeating king Chedorlaomer, he was met by two kings at the Valley of Shaveh or the King’s valley. They were the king of Sodom and the king of Salem, or ancient Jerusalem. These were Canaanite kings. Each of them approached Abram differently. Viewing Abram’s victory from human perspective, the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.”  To him it was a business transaction. He was saying to Abram, “You can have all the goods but return the people to me.”  That was quickly met by Abram’s crude response given as an oath to God. Notice, He added the word LORD to the declaration Melchizedek had made. He made it known that personally, he would not take a thing that belonged to Sodom or the wicked city. He would not be associated with that wicked city. What he had taken were what his men had eaten for sustenance in the battle and what was due to his men. As for himself he would have nothing of Sodom, less his God-given blessings be seen as ill-gotten.

Melchizedek, on the other hand was different. He viewed Abram’s victory from divine standpoint. He brought bread and wine and a blessing for Abram. He recognized the hand of God on Abram. He knew Abram’s victory was God given. From his blessing upon Abram, we surmise that like Abram he knew God. However, he would also soon know from Abram’s dealing with the king of Sodom that this God is none other than Yahweh, the LORD, the Covenant making and keeping God. Though Melchizedek was a Canaanite king, he was a unique figure. By being king of Salem he was symbolically the king of peace, for Salem means peace. And his name Melchizedek means righteousness, so he was also king of righteousness. And this king of peace and righteousness came with a blessing for Abram. On the part of Abram, he recognized Melchizedek’s blessing as spoken by God and he knew that, like him, this Melchizedek was a man of faith. So he honoured him by giving him a tithe, a tenth of everything.  In this act, Abram validated Melchizedek’s role as priest of God.

Melchizedek and Abram’s declaration concerning God was a declaration of dependence on God. They both saw everything as belonging to God. What’s significance in Abram’s declaration was that this God, the possessor of heaven and earth, was his covenant making and keeping God. He added the word LORD to Melchizedek’s declaration. Abram knew that he would not have anything that did not come from God. We also need to see our God from Abram’s lens. All that we have, and potentially can have, come from God. Whatever we offer to Him comes from Him in the first place. If we know this, giving to God no longer becomes a difficulty but a delight. Let’s offer all that we are and all that we have to God. Let us give our life in sweet abandon and total surrender to Him. He deserves it!   

Genesis 14:13-16 – Magnanimity in display

Lot was in a predicament. He went to live in Sodom by choice and was caught in the mayhem. Worst still he, his family and possessions, were all taken by the coalition force of King Chedorlaomer. One of those who escaped from the skirmish came and reported to Abram concerning Lot’s trouble. It would have been easy for Abram to do nothing and say “serves him right” for his choice. After all it was his decision to go and live there. But no, not Abram. He was loyal to his kin. So he selected 318 men and went to rescue his nephew. Notice these 318 men were trained men from his household, probably his servants. They were born in his household therefore were loyal to him.  

This account tells us how magnanimous Abram was. He did not let the past become an obstacle to what he could do for Lot. He took action right away and didn’t even consider his own security. He didn’t think too much; he just did what he felt was right at that moment. So we see the gentle peaceful Abram became an aggressive fighter. He and his force of 318 went after the coalition of the east as far as Dan.

Here we also see Abram as a strategist. He divided his forces so that they could attack the enemy from different fronts. He even attacked them by night which must have been taken by surprise. They did not expect to be attacked, since as far as the coalition forces of the east knew, everyone was taken. They did not anticipate Abram and his 318 men. Hence they were defeated and everything they took from Lot was reclaimed.  

Abram was successful and therein lies a test. Success can get into one’s head easily. He could be led into becoming self-reliance and be over confident in himself. This success could make him less dependent on God. Isn’t this true of successful people? They suddenly feel that it was their own cleverness or ingenuity that brought them the success. Hence they become more self-centred and less reliance on God. Besides, by this time his name must have spread all over. After all the force he defeated was not a small one. The 318 men was probably much smaller in comparison to the huge coalition of king Chedorlaomer.

What would become of Abram? We shall find out. In this episode, Abram could have refused to do anything, but he didn’t because he was a loyal friend and uncle. In what he did he showed how magnanimous a person he was. So like Abram, let us be magnanimous and forgiving, and dwell on a wrong and become vindictive. Be careful but don’t be vengeful!

Genesis 14:1-12 – A wrong move can be costly

Abram was a different man from the one who was self-serving in Egypt. There he tried to preserve his own life at the expanse of Sarai his wife. So he deceptively made Pharaoh think that Sarai was his sister and not his wife. God protected Sarai and his deception was uncovered. He and his entourage was then expelled from Egypt. But when we come to his dealing with Lot, we see a very different man. He showed great magnanimity and even gave Lot the first choice to the land, in order to prevent conflict and misunderstanding. Hence they parted way peacefully. How magnanimous can one get? Abram then settled in Hebron where he built an altar to God. Obviously he led a worshipful life making God central in all he did. Lot, on the other hand, pitched his tent near Sodom. And in his pursue of prosperity, according to verse 12, he went to Sodom and lived there.

In 2 Peter 2:7, Lot was said to be righteous. This could be true while he was with Abram and was rightly influenced. But in pursuant of prosperity, he was blind-ended by his ill-conceived love for wealth. He departed and went to stay in Sodom. He was clearly oblivious of the danger lurking in that city. He was exposed to all kinds of wicked and insidious influence and he did not even know it. Like Lot, Christians can also live life wearing a blinker. Instead of seeking the plan and purpose of God, Christians would put their focus on the things of this world and riches, and become hedonistic in the process. It pays for us to be careful.

Lot made a wrong calculation, and he lived to regret it. He came to live in Sodom which was a city that was part of a group of five cities, each ruled by a king. For twelve years these confederation of five cities had been paying tribute to a coalition of four kings from the east. But on the 13th year they rebelled and refused to do what they would do annually. So a war was provoked with the coalition of four who were seeking what they felt was due to them. To cut he long story short, the invasion led by king Chedorlaomer captured the five rebellious city. We are told in verse 12 that Lot, Abram’s nephew, was captured as well. Whatever he had, became the spoils of war of the coalition of four led by Chedorlaomer.  

Surely when Lot was with Abram, he must have seen how God had blessed his uncle. And he must have also known that he was blessed because of his association with Abram. Now by a wrong move, Lot chose to try to make it big without his uncle. So he went to Sodom chasing his dream. But alas, his dream brought him to danger that he did not want. He settled in the sinful city and was sucked into the mire of wickedness. This account of Lot serves as a reminder to us that seeking God and following Him to fulfil His plan for our life is paramount. Never be upended by a love for riches. We can never be any richer than when we are in the protective hedge of our loving Lord. Here’s a warning from 1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

Genesis 13:14-18 – Faith enlarges our soul

So Abram and Lot parted way. And after the separation God spoke to him reaffirming the promise of the land to him and his descendants. God told him to “…lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.” So Abram heard the promise of God audibly even as he gazed at the land from where he was. God’s promise to Abram was not only unconditional, it was forever.

In verses 15-16, God made mention of Abram’s descendants three times. He promised that Abram will have descendants as numerous as the dust. Just think that Sarai was barren at this point. And wherever there’ll be dust, they would be reminded that that’s how numerous their descendants would be. So wherever they went, whatever land their feet stepped upon, he and his barren wife would be reminded that they would have descendants that would become a nation.  

Abram was challenged to arise and walk the length and breadth of the Promised Land.  And as Abram walked the land, the word of God’s promise must have cascaded through his soul. His faith was affirmed. And he was seeing the unseen in reality. When Abram completed his tour of the land we are told he came to Mamre, he pitched his tent and settled there. And as he always had done, he built an altar to the Lord. As we have said earlier, his life revolved around worship.  

Abram’s way of life was a great contrast to that of Lot’s. The latter chose according to his flesh. He saw and lusted and then went for them. Abram on the other hand looked with the lens of faith. He saw the unseen, heard the voice of God and found deep peace and great assurance. His faith in God helped him to clearly see the promise God had made to him. There is nothing that could pose as a threat to faith. No wonder he fearlessly allowed Lot to take the first choice of the land.  

Abram’s life challenges us to live ours through the lens of faith. Like him, we must learn to trust God as we make our journey with Christ. How Abram dealt with Pharaoh and how he dealt with Lot were markedly different. One was self-serving while the other was self-giving. The two ways of Abram remind us how we would often act in our walk with God. Like Abram, we could be acting in total trust at one point, yet vacillates into distrust mode at another. Our faith journey is a mixture of trust and distrust. Not to trust is utter foolishness but to trust is heavenly. How we would act is often dependant on our capacity to trust God. When we fail to trust God we will end up with a small and selfish heart. But when we trust God and His word, we find something within us arise like a mighty giant. We become magnanimous. We are not afraid to let go and let God!

Genesis 13:8-13 – The danger of living by sight

Be sure that everyone’s faith journey with God will be tested. Abram’s tells us so. He was tested first by a famine, so he went to Egypt without checking with God. There his self-serving act led to his expulsion from Egypt. His second test came in the form of misunderstanding. Lot, his nephew and his herdsmen, and Abram’s herdsmen were jostling for space to manage their livestock. Being the uncle he should have had the first choice to decide which area he wanted. But Abram was magnanimous. He chose to give way, saying to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.” 

Abram had an abundance mentality. He believed that there’s enough for everyone. One of the problems with the world is that there are many of Lot’s kind of people, even Christians. They have a scarcity mentality. This kind of mindset believe that if someone has something, others won’t have any. Hence they become jealous, and scheme and fight to have them. But Abram was a broad minded person. He took the initiative to deal with the issue before it exploded into an unmanageable proportion. This teaches us to always take the initiative to deal with a potential misunderstanding before it becomes a full blown fight. That will be a discredit to the community, and will bring the same to the Lord. Notice how Abram put it to his nephew. He was almost pleading with him. Twice he used the word please. What a changed man he was. Not like the calculative, scheming, self-serving man who tried to save his own skin at the expanse of Sarai, his wife. How amazing! No wonder God could trust him. He was confident that God would give his descendants what rightly would be theirs. With a renewed vision, he placed his future in the hand of God. Instead of trusting his sight, he chose faith. He saw everything through the lens of faith.

Herein lies a principle stated by Paul in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Abram look away from himself. He gave consideration to Lot his nephew. So he chose to let him have the first choice of the land. So Lot, who lived by sight, chose what he thought was the choice land. Verses  10-11 tell us that “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.  So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan….”  Where Lot had chosen seemed to be choice land. It was well watered and a perfect place to raise his livestock. He…chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and ...journeyed eastward.

What Lot did was exactly what Cain did, he moved eastward to the enticing dazzle of Sodom. He chose what he thought was a route to prosperity. He did not consider that the route would lead to ungodliness, and so made the biggest mistake of his life. He moved his family to the edge of the wicked city. Verse 13 tells us that “…the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.” He was courting trouble. He probably knew it and to think that he still made that city his choice. Like him, many believers today preferred wealth and prosperity over godliness and spirituality. Either way, it begins with a choice. And we must adopt the right choice - seek to live by faith and not moved by sight. A wrong choice will lead to heartache and failure even!     

Genesis 13:1-7 – Testing of faith is part of the deal

Abram’s self-serving experiences in Egypt and with Pharaoh serve to remind us that doubt in God could lead to needless troubles. He knew that God had called him into this journey and he would be going to the Promised Land of God. Yet momentarily, his trust melted into distrust. We see here the genuineness and truthfulness of God and His Word. There is no makeover even for the man God would use. His life, success and failure, was an open book for our learning.  

As Abram retraced his steps to the God pleasing life and journey, he had an excess baggage. It is none other than Lot his nephew. In the three words “Lot with him” in verse 1, we can sense that there was already some estrangement between the uncle and nephew. We get the idea that Lot just tagged along. Here we see Abram returning to Bethel where he built the altar earlier, and there he called upon God again. Here he rededicated himself and renewed his connection to God again. How needful it is in our own life to constantly come back to God to renew our connection with Him. Especially when we know that we have faltered in our walk. In our life of faith we begin at the altar of sacrifice where Christ gave Himself for us and we give ourselves to Him. But there must be many altars of rededication. We must determine to live a consecrated life. Abram’s life revolved around the altars he built for God. We will see later in this account that he ended up building another altar to God at Hebron. Abram’s life revolved around worship and so must ours be.   

The Bible here tells us that Abram was very rich. He had plenty of livestock and silver and gold. Lot his nephew also had livestock. Lot became rich because of his association with Abram. However, the uncle’s riches was more substantial. Abram’s herd, together with Lot’s herd and those of the Canaanites and the Perizzites made the land where they were sharing very clamp. Dispute was inevitable. Soon conflict arose. It’s ironical, but riches and wealth do separate relationship. But we believers must never allow money and wealth to separate friendships and relationships. Especially our relationship with God. In these seven verses, more than depicting the conflict, the Bible wants us to see the reality of the faith journey. We are reminded again that trails are part and parcel of the faith life. The first time Abram built an altar at Bethel, he was confronted with the first trial - the famine in the land. Now when he had returned to the altar at Bethel again to rekindle and reconnect with God, he experienced a second trial – misunderstanding with Lot, his nephew. Like Abram, our faith will be tested time and again by circumstances, by relatives and friends, by our bosses or colleagues and associates. The more important issue is how we should resolve the conflict. We shall learn from Abram how he did it in our next post.   

Genesis 12:17-20 – Divine Intervention

What Abram went through underscores how important it is to seek God’s direction in life! He made a wrong move and ended up living with anxiety. There was nothing he could do except to wait and accept what Pharaoh would do. But God who called him to embark on this journey would not let him down. So we read in verse 17 that “The Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.” The plague Pharaoh and his household had, was probably a strange skin outbreak but Sarai was not harmed. What followed is easy to imagine. Pharaoh must have interrogated Sarai and found out the truth that she, in fact, was Abram’s wife.

Assuming a high moral, Pharaoh chided Abram for not telling him the truth and quickly returned Sarai to him. Abram and his entourage were then expelled from Egypt. For not trusting God he was left with a bad experience. And he could not do as he had done previously: to build an altar to God there.

We surmise that Pharaoh quickly bundled Abram off with all his belongings. Abram, however, inherited much trouble from one wrong move. We will see later that his gain from Egypt brought much dispute between his herdsmen and those of Lot’s, his nephew. Years later, he would also have some trouble with Sarai’s maid Hagai, who was an Egyptian, probably given to Sarai by Pharaoh.

 

Abram started so superbly but stumbled in humiliation and embarrassment. He did not anticipate the famine. What he had to go through tell us that trails are part and parcel of the Christian life. They are there to shape us into the mature people God wants us to be. Abram stumbled because he resorted to his own scheme and devices and left God out of the equation. This often happens to us believers when we try to scheme and manipulate, and then find ourselves in a sticky situation. If not for the grace and mission God had for Abram, he would be living in misery. God would not allow that to happen.

The message for us is clear. Like Abram, we must expect trials on the journey with God. But trials are not there to stumble us but to build us. God does not want us to give up and fold up. He wants us to get up, move on and grow up. So let us respond to the trials we face in life with perseverance. We become more patient through the trail. And patience, character, and character, hope that will not fail us.  Let us persevere in the race so that we will finish the race gloriously.  

Genesis 12:10-16 – Lean not in our own understanding

Walking with God and trusting Him in the journey does not mean that we will forever live a life free of trouble. While God guarantees security in Him, He did not say we will not have pressures from life. We did not expect Abram to encounter a famine, for, after all, he was walking with God. Yet the first test Abram encountered was famine. Faith Journey does not equal clear blue skies all the time. Famine and trials are part of a growing process in the life of faith. That’s why James in his letter said that we should count it all joy when we encounter various trials. For trials have their purpose in our life. When we endure them patiently we will be complete and lacking nothing in life. So we see Abram got hit by the first test and was confronted by a famine so he traveled to Egypt.  

He must have intended to stay in Egypt till the famine was over. Abram did not intend to abandon the Promised Land. If that was on his mind, he would have returned to Ur. Being in Egypt was a natural response because the River Nile ensured food in times of famine. The big mistake in this response was in the fact that Abram did not seek God concerning this matter. Fear must have arisen in him and he responded to his fear without reflecting on God’s will for his life. Perhaps it would be quite different if he had sought God. Though not a huge sin, we surmise that Abram took his eyes off God momentarily. Like him, we often respond to a problem in life without factoring God in our decision. We forget how great our God truly is. How easy it is for us to go into survival mode in life’s tough moments!   

The issue that confronted Abram going to Egypt was the fact that Sarai was stunningly beautiful. Abram knew it long ago. Perhaps it was her beauty that captured his heart in the first place. So before he came near to Egypt, it dawned on him that his wife’s beauty could pose some problem for him. We are told here that Sarai’s legendary beauty was eventually affirmed by the Egyptian princes. So they told Pharaoh about it. Abram chose to act in deceit for fear of his own life. He chose to tell a half-truth concerning his relationship to her so as to preserve his own life. It was true that Sarai was his half-sister, but she was also his wife. So by just not saying she was his wife, he reckoned he did not tell a lie. We can be certain that he did not intentionally put Sarai’s life in danger. He was just stalling for time and must have thought it was a smart move. But that’s not an act of faith. He had totally forgotten the promise God made to him, to give him a nation and to make him a great name. So Abram stumbled and he did not even suspect it.

Yes, in the deception he managed not only to preserve his life, but he was also given plenty of material goods because Pharaoh wanted to add Sarai to his harem. To the Egyptian king, this must be a great trade-off. He was so pleased to have captured such a beauty that he made Abram a very rich man. So Abram prospered at the expanse of Sarai. He was given plenty of “…sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.” But his act of deceit was an act not characteristic of a man of faith. He was lavished with plenty while the love of his life spent anxious days and restless nights in Pharaoh’s harem. 

Before we become critical of Abram, let’s put a hand over our heart and know that we must consider our own personal unworthiness. We must see this as a call to factor God in all the decisions we make in life. Remember God will never lead us to where His grace cannot sustain us. We must trust him in all situations and not try to take matters into our own hand. When we act in the flesh, we will reap carnality. We always reap what we sow.  So be careful!