Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Year 4, Day 22: Genesis 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here 


Discipleship Focus: Character

  • Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

 When I look at the story of Sarah’s death and burial, I see in Abraham a man of great character.  Here is a man who has lost his wife of many years.  She was a confidant to him.  She occasionally had played the role of counselor.  She was the mother of his only son, and in that act she had become the object of a miracle from God.  A rather significant portion of his life ended the day that she died.

Yet, when I look at how Abraham acts in this passage I am struck by the image of a man who is composed.  He has the internal character to act appropriately.  He mourns and grieves, but he mourns and grieves as one who has hope. 

Furthermore, Abraham is not a nuisance to his neighbors.  Abraham knows that Sarah needs to be buried.  He comes and bargains for land.  We can see in his interactions with the people around him that they respect him.  Even in this time of mourning when he could have been irrational, Abraham is lifted up as one who is welcome in the midst of the people.  Abraham has the interior character from God that allows him to dwell among the people and be a blessing among them.


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