https://esv.literalword.com/?q=genesis+12
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Wednesday, 13 November 2024:
Note: Here is a short video overview of Genesis 12-50 — https://youtu.be/VpbWbyx1008
Genesis 12:1 — Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
One of the “ways of God” revealed throughout the Bible is that God calls His servants to “Go” without showing them exactly where they are going. He knows His total plan for His servants, but He usually doesn’t completely reveal it to them. He will act the same way in your life. God expects His servants to walk in faith and total obedience. We always want to know exactly what God is doing in our lives, and when you think about it, our constant desire for answers is motivated by a lack of faith. Sometimes we are called to just go and see what God is going to do. And when God tells us to do something, it is quite often something we cannot do, because God intends to show us and the world what He can do, not what we can do. Again, it takes faith. The Bible says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” Have faith.
“The most dramatic changes in your life will come from God’s initiative, not yours. The people God used mightily in Scripture were all ordinary people to whom He gave divine assignments that they never could have initiated. The Lord often took them by surprise, for they were not seeking significant mandates from God. Even so, He saw their hearts, and He knew they were trustworthy.
The Lord spoke to Abram when He was beginning to build a nation dedicated to His purposes. Through this nation would come the Savior. God appeared to Moses at the very time He had purposed to deliver Israel out of slavery in Egypt. God found in Jesse’s youngest son David a godly man who could lead His people. God surprised Mary when He told her she would be the mother of the Messiah. God’s Son selected the twelve disciples, all ordinary, uneducated men, when He was ready to take the good news of His salvation to the world. Through the ages God has taken the initiative in the everyday lives of people to accomplish things through them that they never could have imagined.
The Lord may be initiating some new things in your life. When He tells you what His plans are, trust Him, and walk closely with Him. Don’t let the business of your present activity keep you from experiencing all that God has in store for you. You will see Him accomplish things through your life that you never dreamed possible (Eph. 3:20).” (Henry T. Blackaby)
Genesis 12:2 — And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
“Big assignments require big characters. God will give you a responsibility in proportion to the size of your character. In Bible times, a person’s name represented his character; to know someone’s name was to know what the person was like. That’s why God changed the name of some when He transformed their character. For example, the Lord wanted to bless all the nations of the earth through Abram, yet Abram’s character was too weak for such a great task. God said He would make Abram’s name great so that He could make him a blessing to future generations. Then over the next twenty-five years, God developed Abraham’s character to match the name He had given him. God sees your life from His eternal perspective. He will take whatever time is necessary to grow your character to match His assignment for you. If you have not received a divine commission lately, it may be that your character needs maturing. Are you impatient to begin your work before God has refined your character? A small character will fail in a large responsibility every time. Don’t be too hasty to get to the work. Character-building can be long and painful. It took twenty-five years before God entrusted Abraham with his first son and set in motion the establishment of the nation of Israel. Yet God was true to His word, and thousands of years later people continue to be blessed by the account of Abraham’s life and by his descendant, Jesus. How is God building your character? Do you sense He has a than task for you that will require a far greater man or woman you presently are? Will you yield to God as He works in your to prepare you for your next assignment?” (Henry T. Blackaby)
Genesis 12:8 – And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
One of the signs God is working in someone’s life is their motivation to pray, worship, and glorify God. Abram’s response to God’s activity in his life was to build alters to the Lord and to call upon His Name more and more. This took time and effort away from Abram’s travels and work, but He was compelled to do it. Notice that along his way, Abram didn’t build alters to himself, and he wasn’t celebrating his accomplishments. He was proclaiming what God had done, leaving markers for his family that they would never forget.
Genesis 12:10 – Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
God gave Abram a vision of greatness and then immediately led Abram right into a terrible famine where Abram’s faith was tested. To accomplish God-given objectives, God will seek to build in you a godly character. Character is built through adversity and challenges. You must learn to be faithful through all circumstances. Start seeing your challenges from the perspective of who God is, who you are as His child and commissioned one, and what He has promised for you. Whatever is happening is God’s plan for you. Stop viewing your circumstances negatively. In Christ, it is not happening to you, it is happening for you; and if it isn’t working for you, it is working on you to build you up in Christlike character. Embrace your current situation, trusting God, and make the most of the opportunity at hand.
Genesis 12:11-18 – When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
God gave Abram a promise, but Abram’s lack of faith in God tempted Abram to sin terribly, causing Abram to fail in His life assignment of glorifying and serving God, and causing harm to others around him. God had promised to protect Abram, to protect those around him, to build his character, and make him the father of a great nation. (Genesis 12:1-3) In great faith, Abram stepped out on that promise with a commitment to serve God. However, when Abram was face with adversity (famine) and threats (Egyptians), Abram doubted God and believed he had to sin to be safe. He chose self over God and others, defying God’s ultimate command of love. Abram become unloving, and he was willing to sacrifice others to his god of self – “It’s you and me until it is you or me.” Abram’s selfish decision-making is blatant and obvious in this story, but how often do we do the same thing, failing to obey God’s commands because they don’t seem expedient or satisfying to us? We sin because we don’t trust God.
Notice Abram’s sin started with anxiety – he imagined what might happen, so he preemptively sinned to protect himself. Anxiety takes God out of the equation when calculating the future. It assumes God isn’t faithful to His promises, perhaps because either He isn’t sovereign, or He isn’t loving or good. Anxiety is simply fear of the future, which is a lack of faith and hope in God’s perfect providence and provision. What does the Bible say? “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Do you trust God’s faithfulness enough to be faithful when things are clearly out of your control?
Genesis 12:18-20 — So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
Unfortunately, there are several places in the Bible where unbelievers respected God’s standards more than God’s people did and “feared” God more than God’s people did. Unfortunately this happens regularly within the church today. May this never be! We are called to image Jesus in the environments in which God as placed us, to be His ambassadors, and to be “priests” and “saints” in the world today. Having said all that, Abram’s relationship with God reminds us that we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, not because of our faithfulness. Abram was a mess, but He was God’s mess by God’s choosing. He loved Abram because He loved Abram, not because Abram was loving or lovable. Trust God to be faithful in order to reveal God to others, but also trust God with your failures, not resting in your failure but repenting and pressing forward to increasing holiness.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 13 November 2024: Walk in faith and faithfulness today. Trust God with your circumstances and with your obedience, and trust Him with your repentance. Press forward wholeheartedly in your pursuit of Christlikeness, which is God’s purpose for you. (Romans 8:29)
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 