God Makes a Covenant with Abram

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Genesis 12 (click the link)


KEY VERSES:
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 

2        “I will make you into a great nation,

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.
3        I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3, NIV)

 

REFLECTIONS:
Just as in the beginning of creation, God's powerful word creates something new. Against the backdrop of utter barrenness, by dramatic summons, hope for the future is born by God's speaking. God graciously calls Abram into relationship… and life with God begins anew. The LORD graciously initiates a relationship with Abram and promises to bless him and to make him into a great nation that will be a blessing to the whole world. Known as the Abrahamic Covenant, this promise made by God is one of the foundational texts of the Bible. 

There are two parts to this interaction between the LORD and Abram—the command and the covenantal promise. Both aspects of this interaction are vitally important. But, due to the constraints of time and space, I'll focus only on the command today. When it comes to the practical aspects of our walk with God, there is much that we can glean from this call to obedience.

Abram was commanded to do three things—leave his country, his people, and his father's house. In a spiritual sense, this is the exact same command that comes to every person who hears the call of the gospel today: We are called to leave our country—the place where we have been living, our residence since birth. I'm not speaking of our physical residence, but rather the old life with all its ambitions, its loyalties, its worship of money and fame and power, its imagined independence which is really slavery—all that we have been by nature since birth. There comes a command in the gospel to leave our country. This is clearly a picture of the world—organized society with its satanic philosophies and value systems. 

Abram was also told to leave his relatives. In the spiritual sense these are the moral forces that shape our lives. Just as blood relatives affect us greatly on the physical level, so these moral forces at work today change our lives constantly and color all that we think and do. The opinions of others, the traditions of men, the pressures from family and friends, the attitudes of our employers and others around us—these are the people we must be willing to forsake when we hear the call of God. When God confronts us with his call, these are not to count any longer. We are to renounce this concern about what others think and be preeminently concerned about what God thinks.

The third thing Abram was to leave was his father's house—that is, the ties with the “old man.” Our father, in this sense, is Adam, the father of us all. What theologians call our “Adamic nature” is the father's house in which we all live. We are called to leave this, no longer put any dependence upon our looks, talents, or any of our normal resources, but to begin to walk in dependence upon another to do through us what we cannot do ourselves.

This is where a man stands when he first hears the gospel. He may have grown tired of the land of Ur, for it is a land of darkness, of weariness of soul, of spiritual hunger and death. Yet when the call of God comes to him, there is much that seems desirable in the old life. He hesitates to leave, feeling the pull of these things upon him. Undoubtedly, Abram felt this hesitancy. The land to which he was called was unknown. It could not be known until it was experienced. But he could not deny the reality of God, and he could not evade the clear command: “Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you.”

Have you heard this command of God in your own life? Have you heard the Living God, the God of glory, say to you, 

“You must no longer depend upon what you have been depending on—the opinions, the attitudes, the philosophy in which you have been reared. These are wrong. They are based upon the lies of Satan and you must not live on this basis any longer. You must learn to accept the truth reflected in the Word of God, though it cuts right across the philosophy of this world. You must, above all, leave your father's house, that is, dependence upon yourself.” 

It is a simple but vital decision—you cannot stay in the land of Ur and go to the land of promise at the same time.

 

The promise that follows assures Abram that when God gives such a radical command, he journeys forth not alone, but with God, who is leading him. The promised blessing includes what we still seek today: a place to live and thrive, the security of community, prosperity and prominence, and influence in the lives of others for their good. The text reminds us that these blessings are not acquired by our own doing, but are gifts from God—divine grace, divine blessing.

 

 

POINT OF PONDER:

As you seek God's presence today, reflect on the commands God issued to Abram? In what ways have you been called to leave your “country,” your “people,” and your “father's household”? Have you fully obeyed God's call and command in your life?

 

As you seek God's presence today, reflect on the covenant God made with Abram. How has God blessed you and your family? In what ways has he blessed you in order that you might be a blessing to others?

 

 

PRAYER:

Father God, so often I prefer to dwell on everything in my life that I would like to change rather than thanking you for all of the blessings you have given me and my family. Thank you, Lord, for the tremendous gifts you have given each and every one of us, and especially for the greatest gift of all—that you journey through life with us. Grant me and my companions the courage and strength to trust you and to walk in obedience to your call upon our lives.

 

 

WHO AM I?

I am Tres Sansom, and I have been loving this year's NFL playoffs. Virtually every game has been a back-and-forth battle with a dramatic ending. Since the Cowboys stunk up the joint and missed the playoffs (again!), I don't really have a horse in the race. But I've loved the intensity and the drama of the games, nonetheless. I'm sad for my friends from the great Northwest, sorry that their beloved Seahawks lost. I had cheered for their team, and hoped that the ‘Hawks might make it to the big game. But, now that they are out, I'm now going to have to do something I never thought I'd do—cheer for my wife's favorite team, the Patriots. Ugh. Just another sacrifice in order to keep the peace in our home. :)