Genesis 20: In League with God

At the end of Genesis 16, Abraham had to be feeling low. He had followed Sarah's advice to father a child with Hagar, which led to problems between Sarah and Hagar, and Sarah and Abraham. In Genesis 17, God spoke with Abraham, and reconfirmed His covenant to give Abraham a son, through whom all the promises would come. The lesson we learn from that is that God forgives sin, He incorporates the effects of our sin into His plan, and He confirms His covenant with us. He keeps us in His plan.

God reiterated His plan for Abraham in Genesis 18, once again promising a son. Abraham prayed that God would deliver Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and we see the spirituality of Abraham was once again on the rise.

However, in Genesis 20, Abraham fell again, committing one of the oldest sins of which he was prone. Fearing his life, he told the people of Gerar that Sarah was his sister. This led to a repeat of the situation that happened with Pharoah in earlier chapters. Sarah was taken from Abraham and given to Abimelech to be his wife, but God intervened, and Sarah was given back to Abraham.

The more you study the life of Abraham, the more you learn that Abraham was far from perfect. His faith wavered. On two separate occasions, he said Sarah was his sister instead of his wife. He did that because he feared for his life. He was afraid that the people would kill him and take Sarah. He also violated God's plan for marriage by fathering a son with Hagar (Genesis 16) and fathering children with concubines (Genesis 25:6). Despite his failures, God still forgave him, and continued to work in his life. God kept His promises to Abraham.

When we fail, God forgives us and re-establishes His covenant, His plan with us. He calls us to repent, and calls us out of the sin we in which we trapped ourselves, but He restores us all the same.

God is with us, even when we fail. Abraham failed. He told the people of Gerar that Sarah was his sister. He also compelled Sarah to lie and say she was his sister. While this was actually half-true (verse 12), the aim was to deceive, thus it was a lie and a spiritual failure.

That failure came from a lack of faith. Even though God made promises to Abraham about his future and heritage, Abraham still feared the people of Gerar would kill him to take Sarah as their wife. (Sarah was nearly 90 years old at this time, which was still old back in that day. She must have been a looker.) The result is that Sarah was taken from Abraham and given to the king, Abimelech, as a wife. (They didn't know they took Abraham's wife, they thought they took his sister.)

Nevertheless, God was still with Abraham. He protected Sarah from Abimelech (verse 6), He confronted Abimelech, and He told Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham. Abimelech obeyed.

If you know Jesus Christ as your savior, you are in league with God. He stays with you, even when you make the wrong decision. He'll discipline you, but He'll stay with you. He will also restore you from that bad decision, if you know Him as Savior. He will get you back on track. God does not cast you aside, withdraw from you, revoke your salvation, or throw you away. He will lovingly discipline you, and get you back on track. If God can not get the wayward Christian to repent, He calls them home.

God calls heathens to repentance. Abimelech was a pagan king. He had multiple wives, but was basically a good ole boy. However, he didn't fear the LORD. God used the occasion of Abraham's failure to reveal Himself to Abimelech. He warned Abimelech to return Sarah, and promised healing and life for obedience. God gave Abimelech space to repent. Abimelech responded by obeying God.

God calls the lost to repentance. He confronts them for their sin, calls them to repent and believe, and gives them time to repent. Have you repented and believed in Christ? Will you, if you haven't?

God wants us to be a blessing. At the end of the chapter, Abraham prayed for Abimelech, and God healed Abimelech and his people. God identified Abraham as a prophet, which means that Abraham spoke for God. Abraham was God's representative. God's will for Abraham was for him to pray for Abimelech. Abraham did. God healed Abimelech, and God revealed His power. By praying, Abraham was a blessing.

God wants us to be a blessing. We are God's ambassadors on Earth. Represent God well. Present God to the lost, evangelize, and pray for the lost. Be a blessing.

If you are a child of God, that is, if you know Christ as your savior, you are in league with God. God will work through your life. He will work around your shortcomings (possibly incorporating them into His plan), and forgive your sin. Whatever happens, God is still with you. His hand is still on you.

May God bless you in a special way today.

Genesis 15:1-6 - Abraham's Faith is Rewarded, But Not How Many Think

In Genesis 14, Abraham rescued Lot after he was kidnapped by foreign invaders. Again, this all happened because Lot set his sights on earthly things, and allowed the pleasures of this world to lure him away from Abraham, and God's influence, into the unGodly city of Sodom.

Anyway, Abraham returned to the area with the rescued captives and all the goods and valuables stolen by the enemy raiders. The king of Sodom offered to reward Abraham by giving him all the goods and valuables he repossessed from the invading army, but Abraham refused, wanting God to get the glory for Abraham's prosperity, not the king of Sodom.

It is on this occasion that the conversation between God and Abraham took place in Genesis 15. God told Abraham that He was his shield and reward. Verse 1 says "After these things, the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying fear not, Abram. I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."

God had made many promises to Abraham. He had promised the land of Canaan as an inheritance... and not only the land of Canaan, but just about the entire fertile crescent. God promised Abraham a son, a seed, through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. He also promised that Abraham would be the father of many nations.

However, Abraham's reward was not all those things God promised. Abraham's reward was God Himself.

The LORD said "I am thy shield." God was Abraham's protection, and God fought Abraham's battles for him. How is it that Abram took 318 of his trained servants, and defeated a foreign military power? God must have been fighting his battle for him.

God also said, "(I am) thy exceeding great reward." All the stuff God promised to Abraham was not Abraham's reward for faith. Those things promised were things with which God would bless Abraham, which would be used to fulfill God's plans. The land would become home to the nation of Israel. The son would father Jacob, who would go on to become known as "Israel." Israelites, also referred to as the children of Israel, are descendents of Jacob. One of those descendents would be the seed through Whom the nations of the earth would be blessed. That Seed is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Abraham's reward was the LORD... having the Lord defend him, provide for him, and having an eternal relationship with the LORD. Abraham had faith in the LORD, and having the LORD as his reward was his heart's desire.

Hebrews 11:10 says "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Abraham was not as interested in the earthly blessings God promised as much as he was interested in the eternal blessings... entering that city to be with God... and entering into God's kingdom. Hebrews 11:16 backs this up by saying Abraham and Sarah "Desire a better country, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city."

Notice how this is in stark contrast to Lot's values in life. Lot looked at the plain of Jordan and decided it was a place he could prosper. He looked at the wicked city of Sodom, and saw a place he could rise in prestige. He was looking at earthly things. Abraham, on the other hand, is fired up about heavenly things. He trusts God, and looks forward to the day he enters God's city.

God's people should get excited about having the Lord as their reward, and quit being so distracted by the things of this world. Preaching faith for prosperity is a multi-million dollar business, with many people paying money to prove they have the faith it takes for God to bless them on this earth. God never intented to reward His people in this life. The blessings of this life are temporary.

The rewards God offers His people are eternal. His reward is eternity with Him in His Kingdom. The golden streets and pearly gates of Heaven aren't even the point. The point is that one day, we'll sit at the table and commune with our Lord. Our relationship with Him will be like Adam's relationship with Him in Genesis 2, before man sinned. The sad truth about spirituality in America today is that it is next to impossible to get people fired up about this fact. You can motivate people with promises of earthly riches. You can motivate people with promises of golden mansions in Heaven. But motivating people with promises of sitting down and talking with Jesus is increasingly difficult as our culture grows more secular.

After God defines Abraham's reward and makes more promises concerning Abraham's son, Abraham defined faith by believing God.

In Genesis 15, Abraham was an old man. He was beyond the age when men fathered children, and he was beyond child-rearing years. His wife, Sarah, was beyond child-bearing years. Even in her prime years, Sarah was unable to have children. Yet, the LORD promised Abraham a son.

Verse 4 says "And behold, the word of the LORD came unto him saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir." Here, God is promising the impossible, but Abraham believes God.

Verse 6 says "And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it unto him for righteousness." Verse 6 was used in Romans 4 to prove salvation by grace through faith apart from works... and the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, rightly applied that verse. What is important to remember is that verse 6 describes Abraham's faith in the context of being promised the impossible. God promised something impossible, and Abraham believed Him. Abraham trusted Him. God was pleased with Abraham's faith.

Having faith means trusting God. Trusting God means taking Him at His word. Do you take God at His word? Do you believe His plan of salvation by grace through faith apart from works because Christ died on the cross for your sin? Do you trust Him to save you? Do you trust His word for child-rearing? Marriage? and the principle of sowing and reaping?

The Bible is not an archaic book of a dead religion that is no longer relevant. It is God's word, and its truth still holds up in modern society. Do you trust the Bible? Do you trust God's word?

In Genesis 15, God promises Abraham the impossible, and Abraham believes Him. In Luke 1, God promises a priest by the name of Zacharias the impossible, the birth of a son named "John the Baptist." Zacharias didn't believe, and was disciplined. Who would you rather be? Abraham? Or Zacharias?

Take God at His word. Believe the Bible. May God bless you and guide you on your journey of life.

Is it a sin to... ?

Anyone who has been in ministry any amount of time has been asked questions that begin with, "Is it a sin to...?" Such questions range from, "Is it a sin to drink a beer?" to "Is it a sin to watch R rated movies?" "Is it a sin to get a divorce?" "Is it a sin to listen to (country, pop, rap, rock, etc) music?"

While I understand the motivation behind these questions (I even asked some of them myself when I was younger,) the fact is that if these are the questions we are asking, we are approaching our Christian walk the wrong way. You see, just about anything can be made a sin in man's eyes (whatsoever is not of faith is sin) and almost anything can be justified in man's eyes (all things are lawful unto me, but not all things expedient.) While these questions may be asked with pure intentions, often they can spark endless and futile debate.

The question is not, "Is it a sin to...?" or "Am I allowed to...?" but rather, "What does God want me to do?"

Ephesians 2:10 says "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

We are God's workmanship, which means that God created us. Not only did He create us, but He hand-crafted us. That's what workmanship is, it is hand-crafting. Every year, Detroit creates millions of cars, but they are not hand-crafted. They are not workmanship. God created the heavens and the earth, but He spoke them into existence. The heavens and earth are not God's workmanship. However, Genesis 2 says God formed man from the dust of the earth. He hand-crafted man.

Not only did he hand-craft Adam, the first man, but he forms all people in the womb. (Isaiah and Jeremiah both speak to this, specifically Jeremiah 1:5).

God created us, He created all of us, and He created all of us with a purpose.

We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. What this means is that God created us with a purpose, and once we are in Christ Jesus (meaning, once we know Jesus as our Savior), we can know and follow that purpose for which God has created us, and He expects us to follow that purpose.

So, while moving to California and renting a two-room flat in L.A. might not be a sin per se, doing that if God wants you to go to New York is a sin. The prophet Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh. Jonah opted to go to Tarshish. Jonah's decision, seeing that it was the opposite of what God wanted, was a sin. Not following God's will for your life is a sin.

So the question is, "What does God want me to do?" Good question. That's the one you should be asking, not whether it is a sin to consume high fructose corn syrup.

"How do I find out what God wants me to do?" Prayer, spend time studying your Bible, and take time daily to meditate on the Lord and His Word.

God bless you as you seek God's will in your life.