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January 16th
Our reading for today is Genesis chapters 12,13,14,15.
Im excited about the next days of Bible reading. The stories of God’s activity and Abram’s responses are extremely inspiring to me. Scripture teaches us that Abram was the Father of the “full of faith”. The apostle Paul told the Church at Galatia that they who believed in the Lord Jesus were sons and daughters of Abraham...for as Abram’s faith in the Lord was counted unto him for eternal righteousness, so our faith is counted unto us for righteousness...that is, a right standing before God. Wow...That’s good company!
Continuing in the text...God was getting His people where He wanted them...from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan. But Terah and his sons stopped halfway...at Haran...where they settled for quite a few years. Terah would die there. Then God spoke...to Abram...” Go from your country, your kindred, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
This is where the story of Abram’s faith begins. He said “yes” to God. That is where faith starts. Faith starts with a commitment to God’s words. Before He ever speaks to us, we have already said, YES. So whatever He does say, we believe it and we act upon it. That’s faith.
Did you notice, God didn't tell Abram the destination. Can you imagine telling your wife and kinfolk that you're leaving the homestead shortly...maybe forever...and when they ask you where you're going...you say, I'm not sure yet...God said He would show me. Now that’s the kind of faith I want to walk in.
I'm so impressed with how God spoke and Abram listened. I was told years ago by one of my spiritual heroes, Henry Blackaby, that hearing God speak (through His Word by the Holy Spirit) was crucial to my Christian life. So when I have hit the proverbial “spiritual wall” in my Christian life, I know that I must get back to listening....with open Bible and no deadlines and absolutely no conditions...just YES!
God spoke promises to Abram to build hope and greater faith in his heart toward God. The first promise mentioned in the passages that we’re reading today is God telling Abram that He is going to make of Abram a great nation. God says, “I'm going to bless you and make your name great. I'm going to make you a blessing to all the families on the earth. And I'm going to give your descendants a land.” And by the way, God has fulfilled all of those promises...just like He promised in Genesis 15 by way of the “blood path” ceremony...”I'm going to be Your God and you're going to be my people...And if I'm not faithful to you, you can kill me like the lamb whose blood covers this path. And if you and your descendants are not full of faith toward me, then you can kill me in the same bloody way the other lamb was slain.” (I'm going to be your God and you're going to be my people...**fast forward to the cross of Christ...” the blood path ceremony” prophesied in today’s reading...Jesus, the lamb of God that was slain for us... for our sin...for our unfaithfulness to God...that we who believe can have God’s eternal life.)
There’s much more to be heard in this reading. It’s the rest of the story...be encouraged by it.
