Now it gets interesting. Almost a soap opera… except God allows
nothing to happen without a purpose. Sarai does something that is just
NOT natural for any woman. Since it doesn’t look like she is going to
have an offspring soon, she tells Abram he should sleep with her maid.
That way, Abram will have a baby born in his house and thus, an heir.
We
all agree she is nuts. BUT… she thinks she is thinking of her husband.
She probably had good intentions. BUT she FAILED to wait on God. And
what about righteous faithful Abram? Abram listened to the voice of
Sarai. Just verses before he was believing God and had it reckoned to
him as righteousness. But I wonder… how much time had passed since God
made His promise? Did the waiting cause Abram to wonder? Was he
beginning to lose hope? To question what he heard?
Does the waiting cause YOU to wonder? Does it make you listen to a
voice other than God’s? And does that voice appear to have reason
because it makes sense in the natural? Do you try to find ways to help
God along like Sarai did? I do… and it usually ends up with me in a
disastrous and compromising situation.
Friends, never… ever… try to help
God along. Only be obedient to a specific word from Him. In Abram and
Sarai’s day, God was speaking directly. Often we lament and wish God
would still do the same today… but guess what… He DOES. We are so far
beyond their day. We have the written Word. We have His spirit within us
which we are told will lead us into all truth. We think God needs our
help. We do things that we think only make good sense. But we must
realize that God doesn’t work in the natural realm only… He words in the
SUPERnatural realm. What is unnatural to us is natural for Him. For
NOTHING is impossible with God.
Don’t get me wrong… there are steps we need to take in the
natural realm for certain things. We know God wants us to be in good
health. We don’t drink 10 cups of coffee, 8 bottles of soda, smoke 2
packs a day and eat a box of Pop-tarts and expect Him to keep us
healthy.
Back to Sarai and Hagar and Abram. Abram accepts Sarai’s suggestion,
and he takes Hagar as a wife. She conceives… and knowing she conceived
and that Sarai couldn’t gave way for pride to arise in her. “And when
Hagar saw that she had conceived, her mistress (Sarai) was despised in
her sight.” Now, you have two disgruntled women.
Sarai pleads to Abram. She vows she was wrong. She says “I gave my
maid into your arms…” How heartbreaking for her to even say those
words. To envision in her mind the nights Hagar spent with Abram. Now…
it’s coming to a horrible place. At this point, Abram tells Sarai “She’s
your maid… do with her whatever you think is good.” Instead of kicking
her out… Sarai keeps her around but mistreats her. She probably felt she
still needed to help God out, if only for the baby’s sake. Hagar can
only put up with so much abuse, however, and she takes off.
Here’s Hagar… pregnant and running away. She makes it only so far
when an angel comes to her and says “Hagar… where have you come from and
where are you going?” So much is unsaid in that question. Hagar says
“I’m running away… I’m fleeing… that’s where I’m going. From the
presence of my mistress, Sarai. That’s where I’ve been.” She had been a
maid… and being an obedient maid she went to Abram as his wife. Hagar
was undoubtedly a young, beautiful woman. She probably had other dreams
besides marrying an 80 year old man. But she was obedient to her
mistress… he boss. Yet when she conceived she allowed pride to come in.
It was her ruin.
Where have you come from Hagar? And where are you going?
If you ever want to sort your life out and get perspective… ask yourself
those same questions… and write out your answers.
Her answer was “to flee,” but God gave her another order. He said
“Return… and submit yourself to your mistress’ authority.” In other
words, humble yourself, go back to where you made your mistake, and make
it right. Oh how I would NOT have wanted to hear those words… and I DON’T like the lesson I must take away from them.
The angel of the Lord promises Hagar that her descendants will also
be “too many to count.” But with the blessing of a child will also come
heartache. “Everyone’s hand will be against him.” The baby’s name will
be “Ishmael, which means “The Lord has heard your affliction.” So she
returns, and bears her son. As far as we know she must have submitted to
Sarai’s authority because she’s still in the household some 15 to 20
years later.
“
After these things… the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision…”
After what things?? After Abram was doing nothing more than being
faithful in his everyday life. He had gone back to the beginning… back
to where it all started. He had already been promised that he would be a
great nation. But God didn’t take Him to that promise immediately. He
was just living his life… raising and training his household… rescuing
his nephew. Abram was doing nothing more than being faithful in the
little things. He wasn’t even hearing big things from God on a daily
basis… but he remained faithful in his daily walk and how he lived his
daily life.
There are days when I don’t hear from God. When I don’t feel His
presence… when I feel like I’m wandering far outside His gates. Those
days I am tempted to hear my own voice… to make decisions based on the
fact that I feel God has left me. May I learn to be like Abram… to be
faithful in the mundane and hold fast to God’s promises.
God came to Abram in a vision… took him outside and told him to count
the stars… and that would be the number of his descendents. It was a
seemingly impossible promise in the natural.
And then comes beautiful verse 6: “THEN… he believed in the Lord….”
Why THEN? Well, what were Abram’s other choices? To say “Sure, I doubt
it.”? He could have… but instead he BELIEVED God… and it was counted as
righteousness on Abram’s part. He made a decision to stand firm and hold
fast to what God promised. The Hebrew word for believe, ” ‘aman, ”
translates “support, confirm, uphold, to be established, lasting,
verified.”
Oh if I could only BELIEVE God continually… in the
everyday trials of life. If I could just keep counting stars, instead of
counting the things that seem to be taken away.
So Abram believed God for his offspring… and God also tells him he
will possess the promised land. For some reason… Abram wanted a sure
sign from God that the land promise was true. At this point God makes a
blood covenant with Abram.
God made a covenant with you and Me as well… to let us know He
will remain true to His Word and His promises. The sacrifice for that
covenant was Jesus.
A rebellion broke out in the land… and the king of Sodom and the
king of Gomorrah fell into tar pits while fleeing. And the kings that
had been fighting against them took “all the goods of Sodom and
Gomorrah, and all their food supply, and left.” Oh… and they also took
Lot… and his possessions… and left. A fugitive, a refugee and a survivor
came to Abram and told him what happened. “And when Abram heard about
Lot, he gathered all his trained men – 318 – and set out to rescue him.
Now Abram had only 318 men, but he divided them up by night, and
defeated these kings.
The Word tells us “he and his servants.” Men that were simply trained
in Abram’s house. The 4 kings beat the original 5, but Abram and his
servants beat the 4! That is SO God. God used Abram’s household…
because Abram was diligent in his household. Men were trained. God had
already promised great blessing to Abraham, and that his name would be
great. God was going to take care of him. But Abram did not simply sit
on that promise. He tended to the business of the day. He was diligent
in all the ways of his household. Doing what needed doing. Staying
honorable before God.
How many times have we simply taken a promise from God… believed Him…
accepted it… and just sat and waited to receive it? We need to
continually tend to our lives. For it is in the details of the
“tending”… the minute moments of our lives… that God prepares us for our
promise.
So Abram brought back ALL the goods, AND Lot and his possessions… and the women… and the people.
The King of Salem… also known as Melchizedek, met Abram and brought
bread and wine to him. Melchizedek was the high priest of El Elyon (God
Most High), and is believed to be Christ. He blessed Abram… and Abram
gave a tenth of all he had. The tithe, and the blessing, were reciprocal
of each other.
And the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram… and asked Abram for the
people, and told Abram he could have all of the goods for himself. And
Abram took NOTHING… but said those famous words “I have sworn to El
Elyon (God Most High) that I will not take a thread… or a sandal thong…
or ANYTHING that is yours, lest you should say “I have made Abram
rich”.”
He wanted nothing or himself… but he allowed those who went with him to take their share of the goods.
What dedication. How sold out and committed to God he was. Yes… he
was rich already… But HERE his wisdom speaks. Abram was rich because He
knew God alone was his source. And he wanted nothing to do with anything
that looked like compromise… or that all of his blessing may be coming
from somewhere else.
Would we be willing to do that? When people look at us… and see we
are blessed… whether financially or in body… or health… do we point them
to God? When they say “What a great job you must have… do we remember
and say “No. What a great God I have?” Because every good gift and every
perfect gift comes down from the father.
We need to DECLARE… to let people know… that NO man has made us rich… no job… no decision we have made on our own… only God.
Abram is now back to the Negev… or the south country. “Back” to
the place where his tent had been at the beginning… to the place of the
altar which he had made there formerly.. and there Abram called on the
name of the Lord.
(cairnhill.wordpress.com)
Abram lost time. Precious time because of his deception… and he ended
up right back where he started from. That… right there… is a huge
lesson.
Strife with Lot’s men and Abram’s men came to the camp. At this
point, the men knew they had to separate their cattle and servants or
there would never be peace. There was nothing directly between Abram and
Lot…they weren’t at odds with each other.. .but this is where that
added baggage comes in. The result of Abram’s original “partial”
obedience. And this is only the beginning of trouble with Lot. In
humility, Abram gives Lot the choice of which direction he wants to
settle in.
I’m not so sure I would be that gracious. I’m sure I would
have thought “Hey… I’m the one that was called.. so I get first choice.”
But Lot chose first, and he chose the plains. And Abram had to watch
him walk away.
(brentonbartsch.wordpress.com)
When Lot left, God comes to Abram and says “Now lift up your eyes and
look from the place where you are.” I love this. Isn’t that so like
God? Forget your previous journeys. Forget the mistakes you’ve made.
Forget that I told you not to bring Lot in the first place. “Lift up
your eyes and LOOK from WHERE you ARE….” God has the same message for
you. Don’t dwell on your past. Don’t dwell on your mistakes… on your day
of partial obedience. Lot is gone. Again… NOW lift up your eyes and
look from where you ARE!
Think how frustrated Abram must have felt. Here he was… back where he
started. The nephew he called “brother” left. He was materially
blessed… but that’s it. He had gotten nowhere on this journey that God
had called him to. His disobedience to the first command of God.. .and
his deception because of his lack of trust… cost him dearly.
If you’re like me, you think… “How could he not have trusted?”
Let’s go a little easy on Abe over this lack of trust thing. This was
a new God to him. He came out of UR, where they worshiped the moon. And
here is the one true God… that actually SPEAKS to him. Abram may have
heard stories of the one true God from Noah, as he descended from Noah’s
line and was 58 when Noah died. Word of this God may have been passed
down to him. But remember… Abram did not have scriptures to feed into
his spirit... like we do. He had few, if any, examples to go back and learn from. But we have them. He
did not have the Holy Spirit living inside... but we do. He did not have the written
promises of God to copy down and stick on his refrigerator door... but we do.
He had a
God… a new God to him… a strange God… that spoke audibly. But that was
all. WE have SO MUCH MORE. We have the Spirit of that same God dwelling
on the inside of us. And still… we find ourselves like Abram. Partial
disobedience… if not FULL disobedience. Getting ourselves into a pickle
because we haven’t learned to listen to the voice of God inside us… or
to what is written to us in His word. So… we’re gonna cut Abraham a
little slack here. No pointing fingers at him and saying “How could
you?”
It’s interesting to note in this chapter that every time God spoke to
Abram he built an altar to the Lord. He stopped and worshiped every
time he heard from God. How often does God give us a word… an insight…
and idea… and we let it go on by? We barely even take the time to write
it down, much less take time to stop and praise him and worship Him and
thank Him for taking time to reveal himself to us.
The next time God speaks to you… whether it is with revelation or a
gentle “I love you” whisper… stop and take the time to give Him praise.
And so it begins… God’s call to Abram. “Go from your relatives to
a land I will show you.” So Abram went forth. That’s it. He went
forth. He didn’t stand there and argue. He didn’t go ask his family what
THEY thought He should do. He didn’t debate. Verse 4 says “So Abram
went forth.” Are we that strong in our belief system, that we would just
go forth?
Abram makes on mistake here. He was told to leave his country AND his
relatives… but he took Lot with him. And even though he and Lot will
eventually part ways, Lot’s presence will prove to be a continual source
of trial for Abram.
As Abraham travels and follows the Lord to wherever He is leading, a
famine comes upon the land. In order to survive this famine, Abram finds
it necessary to go into Egypt. But here’s the kicker. Apparently Sarai
is a very beautiful woman, and Abraham is afraid that when the Egyptians
see how beautiful she is… they will kill him and keep her for
themselves. So Abram devises this plan to keep himself alive… and it
involves lying and saying that Sarai is his sister.
Help me here. Abram trusted God enough to let Him lead him out of his
home country, into the unknown. Yet, when famine came to the land he
headed to Egypt. That isn’t the part that troubles me. What I find
interesting is that Abram had great faith to follow a fairly unfamiliar
God into the unknown… yet he had to devise a plan… a lie… to keep
himself alive while in Egypt? Just a little white lie. What would it
hurt?
Well… I’m sure we all have done that at some point. We try to fix
things ourselves… instead of giving God time to work. Instead of
believing He has our best interest at heart. Why do we do that? Do we
not trust Him? Do we not believe He will deliver us? Do we sometimes
feel that since His eye is on the sparrow, He may be distracted and not
see our dilemma? Do we feel that the Christians who are being martyred
all over the world take His attention away from us and our piddly littl
problems?
Rest assured, that He DOES see those that desperately need His
presence… and He is there. He sees al that is going on in your life and
what may be a petty problem to you is HUGE for someone else… and vice
versa. And if it weighs on your heart, it weighs on God’s also.
Abram was quick to make a decision according to his flesh. He
convinced Sarai to go along with his lie and say she was his sister.
Being the brother of the beautiful Sarai, the Pharaoh treated Abram
well… giving him cattle and gifts and servants. Abram responded only to
the problem his eyes saw immediately before him. And though it may look
like it was beneficial…it was costly. Costly to those he lied to… as
God struck Pharaoh with leprosy because he took Sarai into his house to
be his wife. At that point… somehow… Pharaoh figured it out and sent
Sarai back to Abraham.. and sent them away out of Egypt.
I DO marvel
that Abram left Egypt with great wealth. I wonder how he was blessed in
that situation. So… you’re thinking… all’s well that ends well? No..
friend. God delivered Abram and Sarai… but His will to show Himself
strong was forever lost in this situation. How differently Genesis 12
might have ended for us, had Abram trusted God. And NEVER assume God
will let you out of your lie. Never tempt God to play His hand.
Humanity has once again settled in on the earth. Some have
settled on the coast lands, according to chapter 10, but now in chapter
11 we are still with Nimrod’s group. It has been years since the flood,
and now, all of a sudden they feel the need to make a name for
themselves. There is no mention of strife, or fighting, or wars at this
point. Yet for some reason, man feels the need to be seen… to be
recognized for something. So they decide to build this tower…. to reach
the heavens. I wonder… is it just instilled within the fallen human
spirit to want to be noticed? To be better at something than someone
else? To be like God? It happened in the garden… and now it’s happening
again.
God recognizes this in us.. and he recognized it in the people
building the tower. Pride. Pure and simple. What I find most interesting
in the account of the Tower of Babel is God’s reaction. He sees the
people banding together… he sees the tower going up… and He says… “Check
this out… look what they can accomplish when they join together.
NOTHING will be IMPOSSIBLE for them. We need to put a stop to it.” So
God says let US go down there and confuse them. And suddenly everyone
spoke different languages and they separated from each other and were
scattered across the earth. (Some believe a ruined ziggurat that sits
along the banks of the Euphrates river is the remnant of the original
Tower of Babel, while other archaeologists and historians state that the
Tower had to be built in the Upper Khabur River triangle where Syria is
today.)
It’s amazing what God says is possible in unity. Ponder that. Not
everyone building the tower was the architect. Not everyone carried the
bricks to the top. Not everyone mixed the sand and tar and made the
bricks. They united together for one common purpose… each one with a
different job that was as important as the other.
We need to learn from this in the Kingdom of God. The building of the
tower was done in pride and arrogance… but God noted that anything the
people united to do together COULD BE DONE. Imagine the great things
that could be done for the Kingdom if we joined together for the purpose
of winning souls, helping the poor, the brokenhearted… and just
encouraging each other in the Lord. People would WANT to join us. If we
grouped together for JESUS…. nothing would be impossible to us.
So God scatters the people… and life moves on. Years come and go and
we have another dry genealogy list. At least now, in this list, the
writer finds it appropriate to say that “so and so had sons AND
daughters.” And since Eve… it’s the first time another woman is
mentioned in the Bible… Sarai. In verse 26 we are introduced to our
patriarch, Abram. And in verse 29 Abram takes a wife… Sarai. And Terah,
Abram’s dad, and Lot, Abram’s nephew, along with Abram and Sarai leave
their homeland of UR… and relocate to Canaan. They made it halfway and
settled in Haran.
(worldreligions.psu.edu)
A lot of history needs to be acknowledged here. Abram grew up in the
land of Ur, which is known for its worship of the moon god. Today, the
land of Ur is located in Iraq, and the ziggurat still stands in southern
Iraq. It was uncovered by archaeologists in the 1920′s. When Abram and
his family moved on to Haran, it was also a place of idol worship. He
was surrounded by idol worship…. was he an idol worshipper himself
before he was called?? If you look carefully at the dry stuff
(genealogy) you will see that Abram was in alive when those who had been
close to God were. He was a close descendent of Noah, and was 58 when
Noah died. Although he was surrounded with idol worship… he must have
also heard stories of the ONE true God… a fact that is pivotal to the
next chapter.
If you don’t enjoy dusty, dry, genealogy chapters then you have
probably skipped over chapter 10… just as I was about to. Forcing myself
to read it I asked God to show me SOMETHING I could take away. After
all, if it’s in His Word it is there for a reason.
Unfortunately, the first thing that hit me about the chapter was its
obvious lack of women. The earth is being repopulated after the flood,
and I sat through lists and lists of the men that Noah’s sons produced. I
found my old feminist thinking rising up in me. What about the WOMEN?
These men didn’t have these sons on their own. They also had WIVES and
DAUGHTERS that gave birth to these men. But my chastising of God did not
give me an answer. Instead I sat in my snippy silence. Hmpfff. And on I
read. I went back to verse 8 again. “Now Cush became the father of
Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter
before the Lord…”
Suddenly, I realized there was a lot being said about women in this
chapter, even though it wasn’t being pointed out. Nimrod “became a
mighty one on the earth.” Nimrod didn’t do that alone. Nimrod had a mom
that probably nursed him to health on sick days… patched up a skinned
knee… tickled him just to hear him laugh… and gently pushed hair away
from his face as he fell asleep in her lap. Nimrod… who became a mighty
one… had a mom. She didn’t receive accolades… in fact she isn’t even
named… but she helped raise a mighty one.
(wikipaintings)
Nimrod became a great hunter “before the Lord.” He didn’t write a new
constitution for the land… it isn’t recorded that he performed an act
of great faith… but God noticed that he was great at what he did… which
was simply hunting.
Days come and go and I feel as if my work doesn’t matter much. I
think “Someday I will do something great for God. SOMEDAY I will write
something that will change how people view Him… maybe even something
that changes the world. Then God will notice what I do … and maybe even
promote me.” But you know what? Just as God noticed Nimrod’s diligence
as a hunter… He notices my daily routine. He notices my struggling to
get an article in before deadline. He notices if I am being disciplined
in my work… or a slacker. My work is not lost to him. And no matter how
trivial you may feel your “work” is… your work is not lost to God
either. He isn’t preoccupied with the great evangelists and
missionaries… He notices you and what you do. Whether it’s wiping runny
noses… making coffee at an office… picking up after others… digging
ditches or washing windows… He notices. Just as He noticed Nimrod’s
diligence in doing something as common as hunting.
We hear only one more thing about Nimrod… he went on to have a
kingdom. Several kingdoms, actually. He started small… but God expanded
his reach and his territory. He started out doing all he knew how to do…
hunting. NEVER think God doesn’t notice you. Never stop believing that
you may have kingdoms to come. Be diligent where you are.
