Year 1, Day 26: Genesis 27

Confusion About Good and Evil

Genesis 27 is one of those chapters that really puzzles me.  This chapter seems to be all about people acting deceptively and not only getting away with it but also prospering because of it.  But, I do think that it goes to set motive for Jacob – and we’ll get a few chapters here to see that unfold.  So if you read these chapters and feel like the people who are getting blessed don’t really deserve it because their motives are impure, just know that from my opinion you are reading it right and just hold that thought for a little while longer.

Isaac’s Role

So in the spirit of poor choices, let’s start with Isaac.  Now, I know the love of a parent is strong.  I know that a parent loves their children regardless of their choices.  So know that I am not talking about love here – I’m talking about blessing.  Esau has twice now proven to the family that he thinks very little about God’s ways by forfeiting his birthright and by marrying Hittite women.  Yet Isaac chooses to give him the blessing anyway.

I’m sorry, Isaac.  I know all about customs and tradition.  But when we put customs, tradition, and personal feelings above God’s ways it is always the wrong choice.  What is the first commandment?  “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.”  Isaac could have taken this opportunity to say to Esau, “I love you, and I always will love you.  But until you follow God’s ways before the ways of man I will not give you a blessing.”  It would be a hard thing to do, but it would show Esau how important God’s ways are.

I think this is one of the main problems in America today.  We have such a culture of acceptance and universality!  For the record, neither of which is inherently a bad thing unless pushed too far, as I believe we are headed in America.  That culture of universality and acceptance also means that we don’t stand up for what is important often enough.  So we accept people’s behavior because it might cause problems if we don’t.  That behavior can lead to problems.  When we accept people’s behavior without upholding the ways of God, we are headed down a poor path.

I’m not saying that we should be intolerant, of course.  There is a certain amount of acceptance that has to go on because all of us are human beings.  So we should not take our faith to mean we are intolerant, but neither should we take our faith and have us to be weak minded.  There should be a happy medium in there somewhere.  We should seek to always show love, but also make sure that we live as though God truly is the most important priority in our life.

Rebekah’s Role

So, now let’s move on to Rebekah.  What does Rebekah do here?  Rebekah is the schemer!  Rebekah comes up with the plan to deceive her husband.  Clearly this is not only wrong, but evidence of some unhealthy family leadership role modeling.  I cannot give Rebekah a pass on this one.  I’d really like to because I know that Jacob is the one that God chooses to carry through the line of Jesus, but I cannot. 

At the very least, I think she could have sat down with Isaac and discussed Esau’s choices and expressed concern over blessing Esau.  At the very least there could have been dialogue and possibly consensus.  But when Rebekah schemes, she follows in the pattern of Sarah when she points Abraham in the direction of Hagar.  Again we see evidence of the sins of one generation creeping into the life of the next.

In fact, not only does she scheme but she is the one who prepares the food, she is the one who grabs Esau’s garments to deceive her husband, and she is the one who encourages Jacob!  She is taking matters into her own hands and at the very least showing a lack of faith and trust in God and her husband.  That is unfortunate. It is forgivable, of course, since all things are forgivable with repentance.  But it is certainly unfortunate.

Jacob’s Role

Now we look at Jacob.  Jacob could have said, “No, mom, I don’t want to deceive my father.”  But instead he helps his mom scheme against his father.  He takes Rebekah’s plan and adds to it the thought “What about my brother’s hairiness?”  Jacob helps increase the deception against his father.  In fact, Jacob’s initial participation in the planning phase of the scheming turns into flat out lying before his father when he claims to be Esau!  So in Jacob we see even more sinfulness and poor family dynamics shown.  When sin abounds, people start playing behind the scene, people start having back-door meetings, and trust in God’s will is lost.

Esau’s Role

Then, of course, we turn to Esau.  At first we pity Esau.  At first we think of him as the abused one here.  He does his father’s bidding and is legitimately cheated this time.  Here, he has a cause to be angry.  Yet, let us not forget.  He is still guilty of forsaking God’s ways.  He is still guilty of thinking lightly of the things that he should think heavily about.  While that does not justify what happened to him in the least, we can see that he is not without guilt. 

Furthermore, notice how he reacts when he discovers he has been cheated?  He claims that this is twice that Jacob has cheated him, which is inherently a lie.  Esau sins because he is unwilling to see how his own poor choices have impacted him.  Yes, he was cheated and outmaneuvered this time.  But the issue with his birthright was his own fault in shallowness.  Unfortunately, Esau is not the innocent man that we might like to think if we took this story out of context.

Conclusions

So what can we say about all of this?  Well, little has changed!  We struggle with these same problems today.  Humanity continues to struggle with sin.  So I look around and don’t really believe the world is worse off today than we were 4,000 years ago.  Same struggles, same problems.  I think this is precisely why it is so neat to have a holy book that can remind us of this.

As we look forward, keep this in mind.  Sin that is not dealt with will continue to evidence itself.  Sin that is allowed to go unchecked will continue to haunt those involved.  We’ll see how this family dynamic of deception will continue to haunt Jacob until it is dealt with by God.  So the question that I am left asking today is – what sin am I aware of that is left unchecked and is rearing its ugly head over and over again?  Am I going to continue to allow it to do so or am I finally going to rise up against sinfulness and challenge it?  That is the question we should all ask more often. 

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Year 1, Day 25: Genesis 26

Repetition

Genesis 26 almost reads like a summary of Abraham’s life.  Did not Abraham deal with famine?  Did not Abraham get into a bit of trouble passing off his wife as a sister?  Did not Abraham make a pact with the Philistine kings about land use and being a sojourner? 

I don’t know if this really works the whole way or not, but it definitely reads in a “sins of the father / sins of the son” sort of manner.  I recognize that the only bad thing Isaac does in this chapter is try to pawn off Rebekah as a sister instead of a wife.  But whether for good or bad, I think it is worth contemplating how the decisions of parents affect the decisions of their children.  Good role models often – but not always – produce good products.  Bad role models often – but again, not always – produce bad products.  Here we get reality.  Abraham was a good role model for the most part.  So most of the things Isaac copies him in were likewise good decisions.

I’ve lifted up the negative example of this, so now let me lift up a positive example.  We can look at the blessings.  God told Abraham that he would be blessed, but it was still up to Abraham to respond faithfully.  The same thing is true with respect to Isaac.  God promises blessing to him, but it is up to him to live faithfully with respect to God.  He does so, giving praise to God when things go well.  Isaac learned faith from his father.

The Green-Eye of Envy

I am also led to contemplate the Philistine’s approach in Genesis 26:12-16.  Notice that God prospers Isaac and the Philistines grow envious.  Logic would dictate that if they were smart they would become Isaac’s friends, try to glean off of his success, and hopefully see if they can learn to imitate what makes him successful.  In this case, it would behoove them to imitate his faith. 

However, human history tells us that human nature does not follow logic.  Human nature tells us when a faithful person comes around people run them off, abuse them, accuse them, or just downright kill them.  Think of Jesus.  Jesus was run off in more places than I’d care to count.  Ultimately, Jesus was killed.  Thousands saw miracles and even more ate food from miraculous preparations!  But when push came to shove they ignored Him, abused Him, persecuted Him, chased Him away, or killed Him. 

The world does not want to learn from faithful people because it implies work and it implies change.  The majority of the world would rather perpetuate their bad habits or laziness.  We see that here in the Philistines in that their habits are certainly not causing them to prosper like Isaac did. 

They don’t want to adopt practices that work.  God gives us free will to choose.  Follow the faithful or not, it is always our choice.

Esau Makes Life Bitter

Last but not least, let’s look at this concluding passage about Esau.  We know Isaac loved Esau.  Oh how his heart must have broken when Esau took wives from among the Philistines and not from among his own people as Abraham and Isaac had.  Oh, how Isaac must have grieved the rebellion that his son displayed.  Oh, how the love of parents endures great pain – yet continues to love.

How did Esau fall so fast with such good role models?  Abraham was not perfect – neither was Isaac.  But they were good.  Here again we see Esau showing little value for his “birth-faithfulness.” 

Remember the despising of his birthright yesterday?  He abandons the ways of his people as quickly and with as little thought as he abandoned his birthright.  But notice that he doesn’t just abandon it with respect to the origin of the wife.  Esau also abandons the practice of monogamy.  Esau takes two wives.  Esau takes an intimate bond of which God desires to be the third party and instead Esau makes his own threesome.  It is unfortunate when people undervalue God’s presence so readily.

Of course this doesn’t mean that God abandoned Esau – or even that Isaac does.  We will see in other places of the Bible where Esau is still remembered. Sometimes they will be good remembrances and other times they will be bad.  So God is filled with grace, even when people abandon God.  But it is still time to mourn.  Anytime people abandon God it is a time to feel sorrow, because it is often too easy to follow the thoughtless patterns of behavior that leads people away from God.  And that is sad.

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Year 1, Day 24: Genesis 25

Abraham’s Other Wife

Okay, so now for a completely random thought.  I don’t ever remember being aware that after Sarah dies Abraham takes another wife.  So it makes me wonder – why do some Christians have a problem thinking about a widow (or widower) getting remarried when their spouse dies?  I mean, certainly if the widow or widower doesn’t want to get married again that’s fine and a proper decision.  But why do some people feel it necessary to prohibit the practice?  It doesn’t seem to be negatively looked at here.

Abraham’s Death

For me, I think that today one important phrase that I should focus on is that Abraham was “gathered to his people.”  There is power in this phrase.  For several weeks our youth Sunday School class studied Matthew 10.  I think especially of the idea that Jesus gives us several times in that chapter: Spiritual bonds are the strongest bonds you can form, even stronger than family.  When we bond spiritually to another, that bond can last across great distance and time.  When spiritual people get together and talk they can pick up where they left off regardless of how much time has passed.

Clearly here the comment is not that Abraham went to be with his family – for only Sarah is in the tomb!  Rather, Abraham is said to be gathered to his people.  Who are his people?  Well, Abraham is first and foremost identified with faith in God all throughout Genesis (and the rest of the Bible).  I have no doubt here that this passage is reminding us of a very important point.  When we die, we will be gathered to the people who we are like while we lived.  If we live in faith, we will be gathered with others in faith. 

But if we are going to be gathered in faith after death, why not be gathered in faith while alive, too?

What Happened to Isaac’s Stories?

Genesis 25 gives us an interesting transition.  We would expect to go from Abraham to Isaac in the chapter where Abraham dies.  However, we actually go from Abraham to Jacob!  It should make us stop and ponder “why do we seemingly skip over Isaac?” 

Think about it.  The only story in the Bible in which Isaac is the central character is Genesis 26:19-21.  Rebekah is barren, Isaac prays for Rebekah, and she conceives twins.  That is the predominant story involving Isaac as the main character. 

So what does this story tell us?  Well, it tells us that Isaac was a man of faith who believed in God’s ability to answer promises.  It also tells us that Isaac was a man whose prayers God desired to honor.  But it also tells us that Isaac is only a small cog in a very large intricate divine design for salvation to come to this world.

Birthright

Having spoken a bit of Abraham and Isaac, let’s now turn to Jacob and Esau.  We know of the tension between them and that this tension started from birth.  But one thing I find interesting is the ESV translation of the last verse (and many other translations).  “And Esau despised his birthright.”  (Despised is found in the NIV, NRSV, NASB, and the Holman Bible)

But what does this Hebrew word really mean?  To translate it as despised makes it seem like Esau hated his birthright.  And that has never really made sense to me.  It was his right, why would he despise something like a birthright? 

This Hebrew word for despise - “bazah” – can also mean to think lightly of or to think something has little value.  Now that makes sense.  We don’t see Esau as one who “despises” his birthright but rather as someone who just doesn’t “get” what it is all about.  Esau doesn’t value what it means to be the firstborn child of the descendant of Abraham, whom God promised an incredible lineage in order to eventually bring about Jesus Christ.  Esau doesn’t see the big picture.  Rather, he’s simply focused on getting what he desires right now.

There is a lesson here.  How often do we miss what God is doing?  How often do we let our own agendas get in the way?  How often do we value our own immediate desires and totally miss the boat on what God wants us to be about?  How often do we give up our spiritual birthright?  As Matthew 28 says, we have a birthright to “go and make disciples.”  How often do we trade that birthright for something else … anything else?

Value your birthright.  Go, make disciples. 

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Year 1, Day 23: Genesis 24

Faith of Rebekah

I have a few things to say on Genesis 24 that I think will be worth your time here.  First, let’s start with the incredible faith of Rebekah.  No wonder God blessed her!  I wonder, how many of us would even be willing hear someone come and say “I prayed to God and asked Him to do something and behold he did, so with that as evidence I ask you to follow me and leave your family and everything that makes you safe?”  How many of us would even be willing to hear it – much less follow them? 

How many of us are only willing to follow when God does something that really makes sense to us?  If that is the case, then I can’t help but wonder about another question.  If we only follow God when it makes sense to us, then who is really the disciple?  Can I be a disciple if I only follow when it’s advantageous to me?

Rebekah gives us a shining testimony of what it is like to be a true disciple of God.  She lives by the Spirit.  When she senses the Spirit, she acts.  When she hears a man of God speak words of God and discerns them to be true, she has no regret in following them.  You want to learn from a person of faith?  Learn from Rebekah!  I know I certainly can!

Rebekah’s Hospitality

Now let’s also take a look at her hospitality.  You know what struck me as I read this passage?  She not only draws water for the servant of Abraham, but also for his camels.  Let me say that again with the proper emphasis.  She draws water for his camels.  Do you know what camels are most known for as their prized trait?  Do you know why they were used to travel across the desert?  They could consume huge amounts of water and store it!  Rebekah looks at the camels and doesn’t bat an eyelash.  Genesis 24:10 tells us that the servant of Abraham had 10 camels – and these camels had just made a long journey across some land that wasn’t known for its plentiful water!  I’ve got to believe these beasts were thirsty.  Drawing water for 10 camels until they had their fill couldn’t have been an easy task.

Rebekah’s hospitality here is absolutely amazing.  When she offers to draw water, we’re likely talking about several hours of hard work to satisfy these 10 thirsty camels.  Remember that they don’t have pneumatics and faucets to draw the water up from the well.  But she does it anyway.  She proves herself worthy and hospitable.  She proves herself willing to do the work that was necessary.  She proves herself to be faithful to God’s own demonstration of caring for us.

Rebekah’s Purity

Furthermore, I admire Rebekah for her action when she meets Isaac.  I know cultural norms were different back then, but look at what Rebekah does when Isaac comes out to meet her.  Rebekah covers herself.  Isn’t that unique and special?

How often does our culture focus on women “luring men in” by the way the dress and flaunt their sexuality?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be sexist here and I am certainly not placing the blame at the feet of women.  In truth, if men would stand up and respond more to a mature presentation and less to a sexual presentation I think our culture would gradually stop promoting sexuality as the primary means for men to meet women.  Ultimately, as a man I still come back and lay the blame at the feet on men.  If men didn’t respond more to the woman who dresses seductively and less to the woman who presents herself properly, then our culture would be in a better place!

So again I lift up Rebekah as a model for all of us.  She presents herself well with her modesty, her faith, her hospitality, and her wisdom.  She proves herself to be a good choice for Isaac.  She demonstrates herself to be a servant of the living God – a woman after God’s own heart.  We all can learn something from Rebekah.

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Year 1, Day 22: Genesis 23

A Commentary on Death

I read an interesting commentary on death.  A woman whose husband had recently died was told by a friend “I’m sorry you lost your husband.”  The woman replied to the friend, “When you are confident in the fact that your loved ones are in God’s hands, they are never lost.”

I’ve always liked that story.  Yes, it does take a shallow view of a sincere sentiment first offered up by the friend.  But there is an important aspect of the story as well.  God gave us the ability to cry and the ability to mourn.  Both of those things are signs of our love for a deceased person.  But as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “Do not mourn as those who have no hope.”  We are to mourn in confidence that God is in control and will not only console us who mourn but also restore to eternal life in Him those who are in Christ.

Abraham’s Mourning

I see that very confidence in Abraham here.  Abraham mourns Sarah’s death.  But he does not give us the impression of losing control here.  Rather, Abraham gives us the impression of a person who mourns with genuine faith.  There is sorrow in his life, but he does not allow his sorrow to drive him into inconsolable grief that interrupts his life.

Testimony of the Hittites

Through this, I think we should also look to Abraham’s testimony among the neighbors.  They look to Abraham and call him a “prince of God among them.”  Although God had told Abraham that the land was his, Abraham certainly lived in the company of others.  He could have claimed divine right to the land and made himself an adversary to his neighbors.  Instead, Abraham treats them with respect and honor.  In doing so, Abraham fully lives in faith with God while also being sure to demonstrate his faith to his neighbors.  They see the testimony of God living through him.

This is how it should be with us.  We are nothing more than sojourners in this world, really.  We might like to think we own material possessions and land while belonging to various human organizations.  For a while, that is most certainly true.  But eventually we will die.  Our possessions will become someone else’s possessions.  Our homes will become someone else’s home.  Our church will become someone else’s church.  It is not truly ours.  Possession is only an illusion that we tell ourselves. 

However, if we think of ourselves truly as sojourners in a world that is not truly our home, we can see ourselves in the same shoes as Abraham.  We can go through this world and think of ourselves as relating to the people as Abraham did here.  If we treat them with respect and honor, denying the physical possessions and instead claiming the eternal home, we can show them what God has called us to show them.  Although we may not be of this world, we can still interact meaningfully with the people of this world and demonstrate God’s ways and God’s love to them.

I think this is especially amazing about Abraham considering that all of this takes place in a time of mourning.  Abraham could have been distraught.  Abraham could have acted strangely and out-of-character.  But no, in the midst of his sorrow Abraham is still able to interact with his neighbors in a way that demonstrates his faith in God.  Every stage in life – joy, sorrow, or any other stage – can be a time where our relationship and our faith in God can shine through.  When we are sojourners in a foreign land and awaiting our time to come home, what is a little sorrow along the road?

Tombs

Let’s talk a little bit about the tomb before I end.  Abraham’s testimony is that he deals more than fairly in the purchase of the tomb.  But since I’ve already spoken about Abraham’s testimony to his neighbors in this blog, I’ll spend this space on something else.

Isn’t it neat that this is technically the first piece of land that Abraham has purchased?  Abraham’s first purchase is a tomb.  Yesterday we saw how Abraham finds his identity in God when God provides a sacrifice in place of Isaac.  We were reminded of God providing the sacrifice for us in Christ.  Today we hear of Abraham’s first need for land being a tomb and again we are reminded of Christ’s.  This time, we are reminded of Christ’s burial in a tomb that he did not own at the time of His death. 

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Year 1, Day 21: Genesis 22

Confession

Genesis 22 has never been one of my favorite passages.  I don’t think it is because it is over-done … because certainly some of my favorite passages are the typical ones (John 3:1-21 for example).  I think it because inevitably every time I hear someone speak on this passage they always focus on poor Isaac who had to carry the wood for his own sacrifice.  Of course, never mind that it wasn’t for his sacrifice in the end.

Moriah

So, I will try to go another route – and trust me, there is plenty in this passage to bring out.  First, I did a search for the word Moriah.  {No, this has nothing to do with my love for Tolkein}  And I found out something interesting.  The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land gives us this interesting tidbit, which I think somewhere I knew but couldn’t recall:

Moriah (Or land of Moriah): “The land that was designated to be the place of sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22:2). It is also the hill where God appeared to David and where the House of God was to be built by Solomon (2 Chr. 3:1).”

That’s pretty cool.  Here in this passage Abraham takes Isaac up to the future Jerusalem and discovers that God provides an alternate sacrifice.  If this isn’t a foreshadowing of Jesus going up to Jerusalem to be sacrificed and take the punishment that we deserve, then I don’t know what is!  I especially like that Abraham calls Moriah – future Jerusalem – the place where “God will provide.”  God provided a ram for Abraham; God provided Jesus for us.  It’s stories like this that makes scripture very cool.  It’s stories like this that removes any doubt at all that God is at work in this world.  You can’t make this stuff up.

Sacrifice

So I’m also pondering this idea of sacrifice.  Abraham was willing to give up everything he had been promised through Isaac to follow God’s direction.  Yet at the same time, Abraham also had the promise that Isaac would begin God’s chosen line through Abraham.  At the very least, there is plenty of room for confusion within Abraham.  He goes forth trusting God but unsure of what the future will actually look like.

As I ponder this idea of sacrifice, I also must ponder myself.  What am I willing to sacrifice?  What “sacred cows” in my life have I established as off-limits to God?  Will God truly be willing to use me so long as I hold onto those sacred cows?  Does not God demand that He be first?  When God gives the 10 Commandments to Moses doesn’t He say that we are to have no other gods before him?  What do I let get in my way of following God?  Salary?  Property?  Possessions?  Relationships?  Fame?  Renown?

You see, I have a vision for the churches in which I serve.  Wherever I go I have a vision for this congregation to become a disciple-making congregation first and foremost.  Above all else I want the focus to be on making genuine disciples of Christ who are not conformed to this age but transformed through the renewal of their mind. 

At the same time, I also know that in order for that to happen God expects us to put Him first.  God expects us to put all of our trust in Him – He will provide.  Only then will we ever have a chance at becoming a disciple-making congregation.  Sacred cows need to be taken to the altar.

When we put anything before Him, we will not be making disciples for Him.  Instead, we will be making disciples for whatever we put ahead of Him.  I think that’s why Isaac’s sacrifice is so important.  When Abraham places God before Isaac, God knows that He’s got Abraham.  When Abraham clearly demonstrates that nothing comes before God, God knows Abraham understands relationship with God.  Only when I genuinely demonstrate willingness to give up what I have in order to follow God’s direction will I truly say to God, “You have me.”  And only when He truly has me will I be able to make true disciples.

I love the line in Genesis 22:16 where God says, “Because you have not withheld your only son.”  This is such a great theological line.  Because Abraham did not withhold his only Son, God will use Abraham’s lineage to bless the world by not withholding His only Son.  But I think it’s deeper than just a foreshadowing of Jesus.  Because Abraham truly is centered on God, God can use him.  Nothing – not even family – comes between Abraham and God.  Now that’s a close relationship with God.

Closeness to God

So I wonder, what have I used to close the door on God as He asks me if I am willing to follow?  What have I told God I was unwilling to do that is preventing me from truly being His disciple?

Forgive me if this ending of this passage sounds mournful, but I think that is my current state of mind.  I think I am mourning because of all the stuff that I have as an American Christian.  How much of it gets in the way of truly following God?  Like the rich man before Jesus, I think of all the stuff I am unwilling to sacrifice.  I cannot help but think of all the things that I allow to come between God and me and it pains me as I write this.

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Year 1, Day 20: Genesis 21

The Meaning of Abraham

Here I am reading through Genesis 21.  I find a thought that I knew, but never crossed my mind.  Abraham’s name literally means “Father of a multitude.”  But wait a minute.  Abraham is the father on one – well, as we will be reminded of in a second – two.  But either way, one or two is not a multitude.  Can you imagine what people thought when they met Abraham, knew what the name meant, and then realized he had two kids?  Oh, Abraham, how people must have laughed behind your back.

But this comment tells me something.  We know in hindsight what those people living with Abraham couldn’t know.  God did make Abraham the father of a multitude.  Abraham is the father of all those of Isaac’s line as well as all those of Ishmael’s line.  That’s no small multitude! 

I am reminded at first here that we should trust in God’s timing and God’s provision.  How seldom do we actually know what God is doing until He does it?  Then we sit back, smack ourselves in the forehead, and say, “Of course it makes sense!” Yet, we know full well that at the same time we couldn’t have possibly seen it coming.  So, we learn from Abraham.  God will make all things make sense according to His perfect will according to His perfect time.

Ishmael

The passage about Ishmael is very telling.  God loves Ishmael.  God cares for Ishmael.  God is compassionate when He hears Ishmael’s cry.  Ishmael may have been the product of a sinful attempt to bring about God’s promise in a way that God did not have in mind, but that does not mean God cannot love Ishmael.

At the same time, that does not mean that God is going to lift Ishmael up to the same level as Isaac.  Isaac is the one brought about by God’s power.  Isaac is the one born out of God’s power in a barren woman.  Isaac is the one who will ultimately lead to Christ.  Isaac is the one of destiny because of what will come from Isaac.  Yet, this doesn’t mean God loves Isaac more than Ishmael.  God loves His creation – even those parts of creation that are born out of sinfulness and not righteousness.  Isaac is special because of the ultimate destiny that Isaac’s line will establish on this earth, but God still loves Ishmael.

Love

I think that is important for us to hear.  So often we as Christians only want to focus on the “one true path” or the “holiest way.”  I do believe there is only one way to God – and specifically through Jesus Christ and His death on the cross.  But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t love other people, too.  I have no excuse for devaluing anyone because they are not in God’s “ultra-specialized plan for salvation.”  God loves Ishmael for who he is, that is, a part of His creation.

Now, I need to be very careful here.  I don’t want anyone reading these words thinking that I’ve gone into the realm of universal theology – or worse, universal salvation.  As Paul says, “Let it not be so!”  There is one path, one Christ, one death that paid it all.  So when I say we should love all people, I meant literally that much.  We should love all people – even the ones who do not follow Christ, perhaps I should say especially the ones who do not follow Christ because they need that love the most!

But in loving them, we should be careful to love the person and not their worldview, theology, or sinfulness.  I guess perhaps what I am trying to say is that we should remember Luther’s advice: love the sinner, hate the sin.  God loved Ishmael regardless of the fact that he was a product of Abraham knowing Hagar in a way God did not intend.

Abimelech Revisited

As we did yesterday, let’s briefly turn to Abimelech.  The word Abimelech is a title rather than a name, and that’s something new for me today.  It is actually a title of the Philistine kings.  The word means “the (divine) king is my father.”  This makes complete sense as a title in a society where the right to rule was a product of one’s genealogy.  Unfortunately, this is just a neat tidbit of information rather than a significant portion of the story.

Abimelech comes to Abraham, who by this time is becoming quite prosperous.  Abimelech says “God is with you in all you do.”  Now there’s high praise!  Oh that all of God’s children would so obviously reflect the character that God is with them in all that they do! 

Abimelech and Abraham make a treaty.  This treaty is likely two-fold.  Abimelech may see Abraham’s wisdom and may want to set up a relationship where he might be able to tap into this wisdom.  Second, there is no doubt that Abimelech sees Abraham’s growing power and wants to make sure that he is on the right side of that, too.

Either way, there is a lesson here.  Walk with God, follow his ways, repent when necessary, and people will see God in you.  Lead firmly in the faith, and people will want to align with you because you will be seen as wise, fair, and trustworthy.  That’s good advice regardless of who you are!

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Year 1, Day 19: Genesis 20

Faithful Behavior

I’ve spoken in the past few chapters about Sarah’s lack of faith and her desire to take matters into her own hands.  As I read through this chapter – especially when we hear Abraham explain himself in Genesis 20:13 – I think we can see the break in the armor of Abraham’s faith, too.  I don’t say that to denigrate Abraham or to think any less of him.  Indeed, who am I to judge?

Actually, I say this because it makes him a flawed hero.  If God can love a flawed hero as much as He loved Abraham, there is no reason to think that God can’t love a flawed human like me or you.  If God can turn a flawed Abraham into a hero in faith, He can turn us into flawed heroes as well.  Faithfulness is about God’s character, not ours.  God made Abraham faithful in spite of his flaws.

Abraham’s Flaw

So where is this chink in Abraham’s armor of faith?  Well, we’ve been talking for a while now about how Sarah was barren and God was powerful enough to combine an old man with a barren woman and after many generations bring about the salvation of the world.  That’s the long term point of view given from a perspective of being generations after Christ.

For a moment, contemplate what happens if Sarah were to have had sex with another man.  Would not doubt be cast on whether Sarah’s child was Abraham’s – and thus God’s – doing or the product of the other man?  You see, by allowing his wife to act as though she was his sister, Abraham is displaying that he doesn’t fully get what God is doing, either.  While He is certainly faithful to God, he doesn’t get God’s long-term plan.  He is willing to compromise God’s long-term plan for his own short-term survival.  If he understood God’s plan, he would know enough to protect the sanctity of Sarah’s womb.

You know what?  That is completely the grace I need to hear today.  How many times can I look back on my past and say, “If I only knew then what I know now – if I only knew what God was up to – then I would have made other choices!”  I can say that repeatedly for my past! 

But here’s the cool thing.  When God finally brings about Isaac and explains to Abraham what’s going on, Abraham no doubt feels the same way!  God loves Abraham, who typically only gets His plan after God fully explains it.  If that’s true, then God can love me and you when we struggle and make mistakes and only “get it” after God demonstrates clearly what He is up to.  Now there’s grace – even in the Old Testament!

Abimelech

I’d also like to look at Abimelech.  Abimelech technically comes first in the story, but today I needed to get those thoughts regarding Abraham out first.  So here is Abimelech.  He takes what he knows and acts according to his legal right.  He thinks Sarah is available and he takes her.

However, God intervenes.  God intervenes to do what Abraham does not: to protect the sanctity of Sarah’s womb.  But there is more.

God also intervenes to protect Abimelech from getting caught in Abraham’s lies.  One of my favorite quotes is “God protects the fools and the innocents.”  Often I am more the fool than the innocent, for the record.  But God protects Abimelech in spite of his ignorance.

So what can we learn here?  Genesis 20:6 tells us quite clearly that God knows Abimelech’s innocence in this matter.  Therefore, we can trust that even when we stumble into the trap of other people’s sinfulness God can sort out the truth.  If we are innocent and if we are pure, God knows.

Conclusions

On this day I am given two messages that I desperately need to hear.  

• Message number one is this: Go and do what God has called me to do.  If I fall and stumble into other people’s sinfulness along the way, I should trust God to sort out the details. 
• Message number two is equally important: Don’t ever stop trying to fully grasp what God is doing, and don’t ever work my own path in order to accomplish what I think God should be doing.  He’s already doing it and I need to be patient.

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Year 1, Day 18: Genesis 19

To Know

You can’t start a blog on Genesis 19 without a discussion of the word “know.”  So, I looked up the word in Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary.  Here is what I found:

“Knowledge in the Old Testament connotes an intimate acquaintance with something. This is not so much knowledge “about,” in the sense of an objective, mental apprehension. Rather, a personal relationship is implied between an individual and the object, whether a spiritual relationship as between worshipper and deity (Ps. 135:5; Isa. 1:2–3; Hos. 5:3), a social relationship between two people (Gen. 29:5), or a sexual relationship between husband and wife (Gen 4:1; 1 Sam. 1:19).”

So when the good folks about Sodom come to Lot and ask to “know” the young men who had come into the town, they are not asking to “see” them, or to “speak to them.”  Rather, they are asking for Lot to provide them with a time where they can gain an intimate acquaintance with them.  It need not be automatically sexual in nature, but it certainly would not be out of the use of the word, either.  Of course, given that Lot offers his daughters to them it is more than fair to imply that the sexual understanding of the word “know” is actually the preferred understanding.

That bothers me.  If you look at the last part of the definition, we look at the reference in 1 Samuel 1:19.  It is the verse about Samuel’s parents.  In that verse it talks about the couple going to worship the Lord and then Elkanah and Hannah “know” each other.  Samuel is born, given to Eli, and ultimately becomes the last judge of Israel.  But in the passage from 1 Samuel not only do we see that “know” can have a sexual connotation but we also see it connected with an activity that God highly approves of: worship.  Knowing someone intimately – whether as a social relationship (non-sexual) or as a spouse (sexual) – is an activity that is rooted in our relationship with God. 

To return back to Sodom, these people are taking something that should bring us closer to God and corrupting it.  They are taking a bond that should draw us together with God and completely ignoring that God is a part of it!  That is what is despicable about the behavior of the folks at Sodom.  Not only do they long to commit a homosexual act, but they do it with such reckless abandon and deny God’s involvement in “knowing” other people.  Here we clearly see how all sin – especially sexual sin – destroys our relationship with God and allows us to dwell on our own needs and desires instead.

Result of Not Desiring to Know in a Godly Manner

Then God destroys the city.  But take note of Lot’s actions before it.  First, the angels honestly had to drag Lot and his family out of the city.  In spite of the sinful pattern Lot had witnessed as well as the impending doom that had been promised, Lot seems to be in no hurry to leave the world.  Unfortunately, Lot seems all to comfortable living in the land of sin.

This witness about Lot is born out in the discussion about where Lot should go.  God’s angels tell Lot to flee civilization and dwell in the hills.  But where does Lot want to go?  Fleeing civilization would be too hard; Lot wants to go to another city.  He wants to go to Zoar.  He’s too attached to the world to truly trust God.

On the other hand, we have a small story about Abraham in the midst of it.  Lot and his family couldn’t turn around and look back upon Sodom, but you’ll notice that nothing serious happens when Abraham looks upon Sodom.  Abraham sees the smoldering ruins of the whole area.  Here we see faith contrasted with a person caught by the call of the world.  Abraham can look upon sinfulness and remain in tune with God.  Lot couldn’t; he was told to flee and not look back.

Lot and His Daughters

Notice here that we have a story similar to Noah’s drunkenness, although at least with Noah there was no indication of sexual sin.  Drunkenness leads to corruption and perversion of God’s ways.  In this story, what leads to drunkenness?  The daughters hatch their own plan rather than trusting in God or even going to God for direction!  The daughters take matters into their own hands, get Lot drunk, and incest occurs. 

Isn’t it sad how easy it is to see how sin is really about humanity “going it on our own.”  Sin really is about brokenness with God.  When we value something in our life more than our relationship with God, we are broken and sin is sure to ensue.  When we value our own plans more than God’s ways, we are broken and sin will surely ensue.  Drunkenness and sexual sins abound when we value our own desires more than God’s desires.  Truthfully, this is true about all other kinds of sin.  It really is a sad commentary on humanity on just how quickly truth can be perverted into sin when we value our ways over God’s ways.

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Year 1, Day 17: Genesis 18

Genesis 18.  These are two of my favorite Old Testament stories because they are so iconic. Her we have the story where Sarah laughs and the story where God argues with Abraham about whether or not to save Sodom.  So, let’s look at Sarah first.

Sarah Laughs

God promises that Sarah will be pregnant with a child in a year’s time, and Sarah laughs.  Before we jump all over Sarah, let’s face the facts.  If someone came to me today and told me that a woman who was well past her time to produce a child was pregnant, I’d laugh, too.  I’d think that the diagnosis was wrong, the doctors were loony, or that something in the news reporting had gotten horribly screwed up.  So I cannot fault Sarah.  I am sure I would laugh, too.

Yet, God certainly can fault Sarah.  This is now twice that Sarah has not trusted in God’s promises.  First Sarah hatches a scheme in which she tries to bring an offspring to Abraham through Hagar.  That didn’t work out so well.  Now she laughs at God’s promise to produce an heir legitimately through her.  Sarah is not proving herself as a person who is capable of long-term trust and faithfulness.  However, on the grace side of the issue, God does still honor his promise to Abraham.  Not only does He continue to use Sarah but He also teaches her a lesson along the way.

I really enjoy God’s response.  Is anything too hard for the Lord? God reminds us of remnants all throughout the Bible.  Just to name a few, remember Elijah in the cave, the Hebrews in the Babylonian captivity, and Joshua and Caleb out in the exodus.  God can work through many small things.  Is anything too small?  As I said yesterday, if God can work through a barren woman and through an old man, what can’t God do?

God, Abraham, and Sodom

Let’s turn to the conversation about Sodom between God and Abraham.  Here we find the first Biblical example in contrast to Noah’s experience in the flood.  God comes to Abraham and says, “Sodom is an evil place, I need to destroy it.”  Abraham is not even a part of Sodom and he argues with God asking for God to relent!  Here is the heart of a saint for sure! 

Abraham is ultimately arguing for Lot’s sake, but he does argue for the whole town.  Abraham knows that if they are destroyed then their time to repent of their ways and come back to God is over.  Abraham argues God down to saying that if there is only 10 righteous people then God will not destroy the city.

I find much to respect about Abraham in this story.  He could have easily said, “Absolutely, God.  These people are evil indeed.  Smite them and be righteous in doing so.”  He could have taken the position of Noah and not argued with God and just gone about God’s business.  But he doesn’t.  Abraham finds a way to not question God’s righteousness while staying engaged in discussion with God about his wrath. 

A few weeks ago I was in discussion with a pair of friends about people who say “Lord, I’m ready for Jesus to come again and judge the earth.”  My friend made a comment that I wholly endorse.  I can’t quote it exactly, but the friend said that they don’t buy into that manner of thinking.  That way of thinking doesn’t sound like a person whose heart is faithful to God’s calling for the Gospel to go out to sinners.  My friend argued that people who call for Christ’s immediate return are ultimately putting the ease of their struggle above the need for lost sinners to repent.

Of course, that got me thinking.  How low must a Christian have to sink in order to put their own ease ahead of a sinner’s permanent judgment!  Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve been there.  I’ve made that comment and had that thought.  But I’ve also grown to see that thought as selfishness.  It is ugly self-centeredness at its worst.

Thoughts against which my friend was arguing certainly aren’t thoughts like this one we get from Abraham in favor of God’s relent from Sodom!  I can understand being worn down by the world and longing to be with Christ.  After all, does not Paul tell us that we would rather be “away from the body and at home in the Lord?”  But at the same time, we should not let our desire to be with the Lord overcome our desire for a fallen world to likewise be saved.  We are first and foremost called by God to go into this world and wrestle with it, argue with and on behalf of it, and always strive to help bring it into relationship with God.  That is precisely what I see Abraham doing in this passage.  He is not prepared to abandon the world to God’s righteous judgment without putting up a case for it!

I find the position of Noah – “Yes, Lord, judge the world and start over with me” – too easy to fall into.  For that matter, is it not also the position of Jonah?  Jonah doesn’t want to go to Nineveh because he doesn’t think they deserve to hear God’s Word proclaimed to them.  No, we are to be like Abraham: accepting of God’s righteous judgment but always on the lookout for a time to argue for the sake of our fallen brothers and sisters of humanity.  That is a very hard line to follow.

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Year 1, Day 16: Genesis 17

Capable of Doing Anything

I’d like to talk a little bit about God here.  Genesis 1 clearly talks about God the creator.  A few chapters ago when Abraham marched out to make war and rescue Lot God came to Abraham and was called Abraham’s shield.  Here God comes to Abraham and is called “El Shaddai.” 

We’re not entirely sure what that means specifically in the Hebrew, but we know in general it means “Almighty” or “One who is all-sufficient and capable of doing anything.”  Today as I read this passage and studied it a bit I thought it was important to focus on the character of God.  When the world needed a creator, we got one.  When Abraham needed a shield, he got one.  When Abraham needed a God who could make a 100 year old man help a barren woman conceive a child, he got the Almighty.  God is what we need when we need him.

What Is Circumcision

I find it remarkable here that in the place I am least looking for it I find something for which I am desperately searching.  As I read through this chapter, I found a place where God speaks about relationship.  And in these verses, it’s not always about “me choosing for myself.”  Let me explain a little bit below.

God calls Abraham into the covenant of circumcision in which primarily children – but certainly also adults – are brought into relationship with God.  Certainly circumcision did not “save” Abraham’s offspring as we heard a few chapters ago that faith is credited to Abraham as righteousness.  Furthermore, certainly the vast majority of people throughout the ages do not choose to be circumcised – rather, their parents choose it for them.  So what is circumcision?  

It is a promise that the parents make to bring the child up in the ways of the Lord.  It is a promise that the parents make before God on behalf of the child.  It is a declaration that the child shall be in relationship with God.  It is certainly not a declaration of absolute irrevocable salvation.  Rather, it is a declaration that this child will grow up hearing the promises that God made to Abraham. 

I think this is a very significant story in terms of Christianity, our relationship, and even baptism.  The same can be said of baptism as is said here of circumcision.  Surely water baptism does not save a person regardless of what age they are and regardless of whether they chose it or their parents chose it for them.  Salvation comes alone through God and His promise to us is sealed by the Holy Spirit.  So what is water baptism?  It is the point in which the person being baptized is told that they are a sinner, in need of repentance, and that in spite of their sins God loves them and sent Jesus to offer the gift of salvation to them. 

In that respect, water baptism and circumcision have a great deal in common.  Like circumcision, water baptism is not a means to salvation.  Rather, circumcision and water baptism are both a means to a relationship with God.  Salvation comes only from the shedding of blood – specifically the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Sons of Abraham

I think that it is important to take a good long look at Ishmael and Isaac before we move on.  It is possible to see this passage as if God is playing favorites.  God likes Isaac better than Ishmael, right?

Actually, this is not necessarily true.  The difference in how Isaac and Ishmael interact with God’s plan comes out of their birth.  Ishmael was the fulfillment of a fallen human plan.  Isaac is the fulfillment of God’s plan. 

Ishmael is actually shown great love here.  He is told that he will be the father of a great many people and many princes will come from him.  God does not abandon him; but neither does God assume that he has to be a part of God’s divinely instituted plan to bring salvation into the world through Jesus Christ.  Ishmael is a man, and if we read the words in this chapter he is actually a man for whom God displays a great deal of affection.

Isaac, on the other hand, is the one who brings humanity one step closer to salvation in the God-man of Jesus Christ.  Those are two very distinct descriptions, and they have nothing to do with the character of the persons themselves.  Rather, they have everything to do with God’s perspective and God’s plan.

In the end, God shows love to both Isaac and Ishmael.  The difference is that Isaac has an added layer of meaning.  Isaac is God’s chosen line.  Ishmael and Isaac are Abraham’s offspring and both are loved by God regardless of how they came into existence.  Yet Isaac came about because God willed it.  That makes him special – but it need not make him special in a way that degrades Ishmael.  It is special because God has added a divine layer of importance to Isaac.

God’s Impossible Work

This makes me think about God’s work.  God knew from the very beginning that the world was going to need a savior.  God knew from the very beginning that this savior would have to come from Himself.  God started the plan by completely removing the human element.  God starts with an old man and a barren woman.  He starts with the most precarious of events so that we all recognize that when God wants to do something amazing, He can do it with only the smallest chance.  God doesn’t need strong humans and good odds.  God can take weak people and miniscule odds and save the world.

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Year 1, Day 15: Genesis 16

Sarah’s Action and Abraham’s Follow

Sarah takes matters into her own hand.  She goes to Abraham with a plan.  And that plan succeeds.  Abraham is able to conceive a son with Hagar.  Sarah gets her way regardless of how much or how little planning was involved on her end.

Even though this plan is not God’s will, God does not prevent it from happening, either.  God has a plan for all of us, but He certainly does allow us to make our own mistakes along the way.  I think for me this is one of the biggest understandings that have come my way as I mature in faith.  God is big enough to allow us free-will and to allow our mistakes to come to bear on our lives.  God doesn’t force the evil in our life; rather He has granted each of us the ability to have free will and bring evil into our own lives as well as into the lives of others.

In reading Warren Wiersbe’s “Be Obedient,” he makes a great point that I think is worth quoting.  He says that there are four characteristics of faithfulness:

• Patience in allowing God’s plan to happen on God’s time
• Concern about bringing glory to God
• Seriousness about obeying God’s Word
• Being filled with God’s peace and joy 

I think those four elements are worth remembering and using as a litmus test to whether we are being faithful to God in our thoughts, words, and actions. 

For as much as we have said about Abraham being faithful in prior blog entries, this is one chapter where Abraham does not pass the test.  Neither he nor Sarah was patient.  Neither he nor Sarah was concerned with the glory being God’s; rather they were concerned with having offspring.  Neither he nor Sarah was serious about following God’s Word.  Certainly the event itself does not bring about a time in their life where they are concerned about God’s “peace and joy” given all the infighting that occurs.

Infighting

Now let’s talk about the infighting.  There was an easy solution to the infighting: admit fault, accept consequences, and move forward.  Nobody – not Abraham, not Sarah, and not Hagar – does any of these things.

Let’s look at Hagar.  She sleeps with a man who is not her husband at the direction of a married couple.  She looks down on Sarah’s barrenness.  When trouble arises, she runs away.  How often are we guilty of simply “following orders” without checking if it is in the Lord’s will first?  How often do we look down on people who are not able to do what we can do?  How often are we guilty of running away rather than dealing with our problems?

Now let’s look at Sarah.  Notice what she actually gets upset with?  She’s actually not upset that Abraham got Hagar pregnant!  How could she be, it was her idea!  Rather, Sarah is upset that Hagar looks down on her because she is barren.  Sarah begins to mistreat her.  How often are we guilty of lashing out against those who abuse us rather than confronting those people and making sure they understand they are wrong and outside of God’s will first?

Finally we turn to Abraham.  Here’s a man who listens to the ideas of his wife without testing them with God’s words.  This is not a judgment against Sarah as much as a reminder that we should always test the words and ideas of another regardless of who the other person is!  In Abraham we see a man who rather than advising Sarah and Hagar to deal with their problems he instead advises Sarah to “do whatever she wants with her own servant.”  Abraham should have been the spiritual leader of the community, but he abdicates all authority and allows people to do what they want.

God’s Response

This is a dark blot on Abraham and his community.  Yet, notice that in the end God does not abandon this community in their dark hour.  God comes to Hagar and gives her hope – at the very least tells her that her problems are heard and being dealt with.  She bore the son and Abraham named the son, so clearly Abraham accepted Hagar back into the community and things moved forward from there. 

The community has a dark moment, but the community understands that moving forward with God in spite of sin is far more important than allowing sin to derail our relationship with each other and God.  God’s message is clear.  Go in peace, sinners of His own redeeming.  Go back into your relationships and plow forward towards restoration in spite of whatever sin may exist.  Deal with the sin and move on!  Sounds like advice I can take myself, too.

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