Tag: Abraham

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Genesis Devotions

Unintentional sins?

[Abimelech] said, “…I did this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I have not let you touch her.” (4-6)

It’s hard to fault Abimelech for taking Sarah as his wife. Abraham lied to him, after all.

But knowingly or not, he still sinned by taking Abraham’s wife, and it was only by God’s grace that he was kept from greater sin by actually sleeping with her.

It made me think of Paul’s words to the Corinthians.

For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Corinthians 4:4)

We’re not always aware of our own sin. That’s why it’s good to sometimes pray David’s prayer in Psalm 19. Honestly, I really ought to do it more. In fact, I think I’ll do it today.

Who perceives his unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins;
do not let them rule me.

Then I will be blameless
and cleansed from blatant rebellion. (Psalm 19:12-13)

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Genesis Devotions

To be a blessing

and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:3)

I was thinking about those words this morning. God ultimately fulfilled his promise to Abraham through Jesus, Abraham’s descendant.

Through Jesus, we all have been blessed. (Galatians 3:7-14)

But the thing that struck me today is that we, God’s people, are part of that fulfillment too.

That is, as spiritual descendants of Abraham through Jesus, we are meant to be God’s blessing to this whole earth.

God wants to bless this world through us. And as we touch those around us, God is continuing to fulfill his promise to Abraham through us.

That’s an awesome thing to ponder.

Father, continue to fulfill your promise to Abraham through me. As I interact with the people around me today, let me be your blessing to them. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Genesis Devotions

The Scriptures testify about me

Genesis

When Jesus said the Scriptures talked about him (John 5:38-39), I can’t help but think Genesis 22 was one of those Scriptures he was talking about.

God told Abraham,

Take your son…your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. (Genesis 22:2)

While God ultimately kept Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, God did not hold back his own Son from the cross.

And so the apostle John wrote these words,

God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice, for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

And again,

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

As Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain, Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

To which Abraham replied,

God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. (Genesis 22:8)

Many years later, John the Baptist would say of Jesus,

Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

As Isaac carried the wood of the sacrifice, Jesus carried the wood of the cross.

As Isaac “rose from the dead,” so too did Jesus. (Hebrews 11:19)

And now through Jesus, Abraham’s offspring, all the nations of the world have been blessed. (Genesis 22:18, Matthew 1:1-16)

Sometimes people wonder why we should read the Old Testament. The main reason is we see Jesus there.

So as we read the Old Testament, let’s look for Jesus together.  

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Genesis Devotions

I choose to believe you!

Genesis

After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield;
your reward will be very great…

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (15:1, 6)

I can’t help but think the writer of Hebrews was thinking of this story when he wrote these words:

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Abram had his doubts. He had his times of self-pity. (15:2-3)

At times, his faith would falter. (Genesis 16-17, 20)

But ultimately, the attitude of his heart was: “I choose to believe you, Lord.”

God can work with people like that. Those are the kind of people he seeks. And those are the kinds of people that please him.

Lord, I believe you are good. I believe you love me and desire my best. And so I say with Abraham today, “Lord, I choose to believe you.”

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Genesis Devotions

Blessed

Genesis

Abram is blessed by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and blessed be God Most High
who has handed over your enemies to you. (19-20)

A couple of days ago, I talked about how we as Christians are the spiritual descendants of Abraham and inheritors of God’s blessing. (Galatians 3:8-9).

And as I saw this verse, I couldn’t help but reflect on that truth some more.

As inheritors of God’s blessing, try reading the blessing of Melchizedek with your own name in there.

“<Your name> is blessed by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.”

We are blessed in so many ways. We have received so many spiritual blessings from God. (Ephesians 1:3-14)

More, through Jesus, we have the ultimate victory over our final enemy: death. (I Corinthians 15:26, 50-57)

The amazing thing about it, though, is that the God of all creation would care enough about us to bless us in this way.

Stop and think about that for a moment. Mediate on that truth.

And as we do, let us sing with David:

When I observe your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you set in place,
what is a human being that you remember him,
a son of man that you look after him?
You made him little less than God,
and crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:3-5)

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Genesis Devotions

Inheritors of God’s blessing

Genesis

I will bless you…and you will be a blessing…all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:2-3)

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner.

And in this passage, we see one of the first “Christmas promises.”

God told Abraham that in him all the peoples on earth would be blessed. That was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, who was a descendant of Abraham.

And we are inheritors of that blessing. (Galatians 3:8-9; Ephesians 1:3-14)

But like Abraham, we are not called simply to receive God’s blessing. We are to be a blessing to others. We are to shine the light of Jesus into their lives so that they too might receive the blessing we ourselves have received.

So as Christ’s church, let us go out into this world and be that blessing to the world.

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Galatians Devotionals

Losing our blessedness

Galatians

What then has become of your blessedness? (Galatians 3:15, ESV)

That’s a good question.

Many Christians today have lost their blessedness. Why?

They’ve forgotten who they are. And they’ve forgotten how they came to be what they are.

What do I mean?

The thing that you see time and again in this passage is Paul trying to pound into the Galatians’ heads, “You are already God’s children.”

Certain Jews were trying desperately to make these Galatians think they had to become Jews and follow the Jewish law in order to truly become “children of Abraham,” and thus, “children of God.”

But Paul says, “No. there is no difference between you and the Jews. For that matter, there is no difference between male or female, slave or free; you are all one in Christ.”

Unfortunately, however, the Galatians had bought the lie and were trying to attain by works what they had already attained by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.

And in doing so, they had lost their sense of blessedness.

They lost the blessedness that comes from a right relationship with God, just like Abraham had.  The blessedness that came to Abraham not because of anything he had done, but because of what God had promised.

More, they lost the blessedness that David talked of (and Paul quotes in Romans 4) when he said,

How joyful is the one
whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered!

How joyful is a person whom
the Lord does not charge with iniquity. (Psalm 32:1-2)

But many Christians today don’t feel that blessedness. Instead, they constantly feel condemned because of their own sins. They feel that somehow they need to work themselves out of the pit they find themselves in.

But Paul says,

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish?

After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh? (Galatians 2:2-3)

We were not saved by our own efforts to be good. We came to God confessing our weakness and inability to save ourselves.

And God in his grace poured his Spirit upon us, washing away our sins by the blood of Jesus. When he did so, the Holy Spirit cried out with our spirit, “Abba, Father!” confirming us as God’s children.

Nothing changes once we become Christians. We don’t deal with sin in our lives by our own efforts to be good. We deal with it by coming before God, confessing our weakness and inability to save ourselves. (Does this sound familiar?)

And when we do, God in his grace, continues pouring his Spirit upon us, filling us with himself, and and washing away our sins. And the Spirit confirms to us once again, we are God’s children.

We don’t have to earn our status as God’s children. We already are God’s children.

And though we struggle with sin, God will not stop working in us until we are completely remade into the image of his Son.

That’s the blessedness of a child of God.

How about you? Have you lost your blessedness?

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James

How true faith expresses itself (Part 3)

Works vs. Faith

We said yesterday that it’s not simply enough to say, “I believe in God,” in order to be saved.

Nor, for that matter, is it enough to say “I believe that Jesus died for my sin and rose again” in order to be saved.

True faith always leads to a changed life, and that first and foremost expresses itself in love: love for God and love for others.

A “faith” that never grows to express itself in that way is not true faith at all. It’s merely empty words. As empty as saying to a needy person, “I hurt for you. God bless you,” and then walking away without doing anything to help them.

James then says,

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do. (James 2:18)

It’s difficult to know how to take this verse, especially since we don’t know where the quotation marks should be. (There are no quotation marks in Greek.)

One way this could be read is that the “someone” mentioned is an outsider, a non-Christian, who looks at the so-called Christian who claims he believes in God but shows no love or compassion to those around.

And this someone is saying, “Why should I follow your God? You have your faith, but I’m a much better person than you.”

The other way it could be read is that James is that “someone” and that all those words should be in quotes.

Either way, James is saying, “Do you really have faith? Prove it. Talk’s cheap. You say that you really believe in God, but how do I know? I can’t see your heart. All I can see is your deeds.

“And your deeds, particularly your lack of love for God and others, make me seriously doubt that you really have faith in God at all. Because if you really knew God’s love, it would eventually start to flow out from your life.”

And this, I think, is how we deal with the seeming contradiction between James and Paul.

Paul says we are justified by faith apart from works (Romans 3:28). James says we are justified by faith and works. (2:24)

We are justified by God by faith alone, but we are justified (or “proven”) as true believers before people by what we do. Why? Because God can see the heart. People can’t.

The interesting thing is that James and Paul use the same person and passage to prove their points. James says,

Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. (21-22)

The question is, who was he considered righteous by? By God?

To an extent, yes. But more importantly, his outward actions proved to the people around him that he truly believed in God. They couldn’t see his heart. For all they knew, he was a total hypocrite.

In fact, his previous actions may have made them think just that.

After all, he had had so little faith earlier that he slept with his wife’s slave (with his wife’s permission) in order to have an heir.

Why? Because he had started having serious doubts that God would give him an heir through Sarah like He had promised.

But when Abraham later was willing to sacrifice Isaac on the altar, even though Isaac was the one through whom God had promised Abraham’s family line would continue, it showed everyone around that Abraham really did have true faith.

He had grown from the man who wavered and sometimes acted hypocritically into a man who truly lived out his faith.

That’s what James meant when he said,

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. (James 2:23)

When did Abraham believe God and have it credited him as righteousness. Before the sacrifice of Isaac? Or after? Well before. In fact, it was before Isaac was even born. (Genesis 15:6)

God knew his heart right then and there. He knew Abraham believed him, and so he justified him on the basis of that faith.

But that faith came to maturity and completion when Abraham put Isaac on that altar.

Like I said yesterday, maturity and completion of faith may take time. It may be a struggle, and it may be painful at times.

But where there is true faith, there will always be progress, and eventually people will be able to see it.

What kind of faith do you have?

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Hebrews

A faith that sees beyond

Hebrews

This earth is not our home.

Most Christians know this. But how many actually live this way?

Abraham did. The writer of Hebrews said of him,

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)

For Abraham, the land he would receive as his inheritance was Canaan. For us, it is a new heavens and new earth.

Abraham made his home in Canaan, even though it really wasn’t his yet. And until its “transformation” into the land God promised him, he lived there as a stranger in a foreign country.

In a land that was filled with paganism and sin, he lived a life that was pleasing to God.

In the same way, this world we live in now will someday be transformed and we will inherit it as God’s children. But until that day, it is filled with sin and the worship of things that are truly not gods.

So here we live, not as citizens of this present world, but as strangers in a foreign country, looking forward to the day when all things will be made new.

So how should we live? We should live doing all that God asks us to do even if we don’t see all the results in our lifetime.

For Abraham, God promised to make him a great nation and to give him many descendants that would inherit the land of Canaan.

And so Abraham left his father’s household and his very country to go where God directed him. But when he died, he only had one son and the small plot of land he had purchased in order to bury his wife Sarah.

The same could be said of Isaac, except he had two sons.

And the same could be said of Isaac’s son Jacob, except he had twelve sons, and he died in Egypt where God through his provision kept him and his family alive in a time of famine.

Each of them followed God’s will. But none of them saw the promises completely fulfilled. And the writer of Hebrews says of them,

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.

If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

God always keeps his promises. He did make Abraham into a great nation. And though nations have come and gone over the millenia, Israel still stands.

And the day will come when all Christians, both Jews and Gentile will stand as one great nation, pointing to Abraham as our father.

But until that day, do the things God has asked of you.

You like Abraham may not receive everything God has promised in your lifetime. But you will see his promises realized in the end.

And even on earth, your children and your children’s children will reap the benefits of your faithfulness.

Moreover, remember that this world is not your home. If you’re always looking back at your old life, you will have opportunity to return. But in doing so, you’ll lose all the good things God had planned for you.

So keep longing for your heavenly home and be faithful, knowing that God has prepared a city for you, and that one day he will come back for you and make all things new.

Remember what Jesus told his disciples,

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.

I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2-3)

Amen. Come soon, Lord Jesus.

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Galatians

What the law is and isn’t. What the law does and doesn’t do. (Part 2)

Law

We talked yesterday about what the law does not do, namely, it doesn’t replace the covenant God made with Abraham.

God’s covenant with Abraham was a one-way contract solely based on God’s promise, not on anything Abraham or any of his descendants did. Because of this, nothing could ever supersede it.

Paul continues this theme on why this is so in verses 19-20. He said,

The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. (Galatians 3:19-20)

When Moses went up the mountain to get the ten commandments, the people were so frightened by God that they told Moses,

Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. (Exodus 20:19)

And so while Moses approached God, the people stayed at a distance from God. (Exodus 20:21)

All the words God spoke to them had to go through Moses.

God spoke to Moses, saying “Tell them to do this, this, and this. If they do, they will have life. If they don’t, they will die.”

And Moses passed on all this information to them.

But think about this a minute. Why did God need a mediator to pass on any information at all?

It was because the law was a two-way contract. Both sides had their part to fulfill. And if the Israelites did not keep their part, all the blessings promised to them in this covenant would be void.

Ultimately, that’s what happened. Because they repeatedly broke the covenant, God did away with it. It was an utterly fragile covenant.

Paul then says, “But God is one.”

That is to say, God is only one party and the only party responsible for doing anything in the covenant he made with Abraham and his descendants. Abraham didn’t have to do a thing to obtain his blessings.

So the covenant with Abraham was totally different from the covenant based on law. It was totally unbreakable because it wasn’t dependent on what we did, but on what God did.

In short, a fragile, breakable covenant can never supersede one that can never be broken.

What, then, was the purpose of the law? (Galatians 3:19)

Logical question. Paul answers,

It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. (Galatians 3:19)

In other words, it was a temporary way to deal with sin until Christ came.

Hundreds of years passed between the time of Moses and the time Christ came. And God needed a way to deal with sin until then. The law was that way.

But in saying that, Paul makes something very clear. He asked,

Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? (Galatians 3:21)

Put another way, “Is the law then an alternative way to salvation?”

Answer:

Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. (Galatians 3:21)

Paul’s saying here that the law is not an alternative way to salvation because if it were, there would have been no need for Christ. All we would have needed to do is keep the law.

But the truth is, no one can keep the law, and so it has no power to give life to anyone in itself. Rather, all it does and is meant to do is lead us to Him who can truly save us from our sin.

How does it do that? We’ll continue on this theme tomorrow.

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Isaiah

The legacy we’ve inherited

Isaiah

Some Christians don’t like going through the Old Testament.  Sometimes, they wonder why it’s even worth reading. 

I have to admit, this is the longest period of time I’ve spent in the Old Testament for my quiet times. 

I believe it’s been about a year and a half that I’ve spent here, and it could be another year and a half before I get to the New Testament.  If I’m lucky.

But here, God tells the Israelites to look upon the legacy they inherited from their forefathers, to Abraham and Sarah who started the Israelite nation. 

And he says,

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord (Isaiah 51:1)

I don’t believe God is just talking to the Israelites here.  He’s talking to all of us who are seeking the Lord.  What does he tell us?

Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. 

When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.  (1-2)

While Abraham and Sarah were the literal father and mother of the nation of Israel, we have our own spiritual connection to them as Christians. 

They were the first to illustrate a life of walking by faith.  Of a righteousness that comes by faith. 

This is not to say that no one before them ever walked by faith.  But when the New Testament talks about those who were made by righteous by their faith, it always starts with Abraham. 

Paul wrote of Abraham, quoting the Genesis account,

Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.  (Romans 4:3)

Why do we read the Old Testament?  We’re looking at the rock from which we were cut.  Where our legacy of the righteousness that come by faith comes from. 

Not only that, we see the God they put their trust in and his faithfulness to them.

Isaiah writes of Him, recalling his redemption of Israel from Egpyt,

Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?  (10)

He also recalls how God was the one who brought all things into being, saying,

For I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar– the Lord Almighty is his name…

I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’   (15-16)

And so as we look back on who God is and this legacy of faith by people such as Abraham and Sarah, God charges us,

Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts:  Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults. 

For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. 

But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations…

I, even I, am he who comforts you. 

Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction?  (Isaiah 51:7-8, 12-13).

If there is anything that can undermine faith, it’s fear.  Fear of the future.  Fear of others and what they think of us or what they might do to us if we follow God. 

But the same God who watched over Abraham, Sarah, and the others who followed in their legacy of faith, watches over us. 

The same God who created us and saved us from our sin, is strong enough to deliver us from those who would destroy us, even the Enemy of our souls.

So let us remember the legacy of faith we’ve inherited.  Let us remember the God who has given us this legacy.  And let us put our trust in Him. 

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Genesis

No turning back

Genesis

When I came to Japan, I had no idea how long I would stay here. My initial plan was to stick it out for two years, and see how I felt after that.

During that time, I started visiting a church in Kobe, and in my second year, there was a seminar on small groups. In one of the seminars, however, the pastor gave a talk on being a missionary in Japan.

During the talk, he said something that’s always stayed with me. He said, “If you’re going to be a missionary in Japan, don’t come with a plan B, only a plan A.”

What he meant by that was to come to Japan with the intention of staying permanently. Don’t come to Japan with the back door of returning available in your mind.

The reason was that in Japan, it takes time to build relationships, and those relationships are vital if people are to become Christians.

Many times, people would say to the pastor, “I’m interested in what you’re saying, but how long are you going to be here? I don’t want to become a Christian only to have you abandon me later.”

I’ve never forgotten those words, and it was shortly thereafter that I made the decision to stay in Japan permanently.

I thought about that as I read the passage in Genesis today. Abraham wanted to find a wife for Isaac, but didn’t want him to marry one of the Canaanites. So Abraham sent a servant back to where his relatives were to find a wife from among them.

But when the servant asked what to do if no one was willing to come back with him, Abraham was adamant that Isaac not go back to live there. Abraham’s last recorded words were, “Don’t take my son back there.”

Why was Abraham so adamant about this? Because God had commanded him to leave his old life behind, and to start a new life with God, and Abraham didn’t want his children to abandon the promises that God had made to him.

Also, Abraham was confident that God would take care of Isaac’s need for a wife, if he would just follow God’s commands. He saw no need to go back.

This was much different from his earlier attitudes when dealing with Pharaoh, Abimelech, and in waiting for Isaac to be born.

Abraham had finally matured in his faith, and his face was set forward to what God had planned for him and his descendants. He refused to look back.

In Hebrews 11, it says,

If they (Abraham and his descendants) had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. (15–16)

God wants us to be the same way.

Sometimes when the Christian life gets hard, or things don’t go as we hope, it’s easy to look back to our old life and say, “I might as well go back to my old way of life. It’s so much easier to do things my way than to do things God’s way.”

And as long as we’re looking back, it’s easy to slip back into our old way of life.

Personally, if I were always focused on my old life in Hawaii, it would be easy to get homesick, and just give up on my life in Japan.

But God doesn’t want us to look back. He wants us to look forward. And he wants us to press on along the path he has for us.

It’s not necessarily the easiest path. But in the end, we’ll find that it is the path of the greatest blessing.

I don’t know about you, but that’s the path I want to take. As the apostle Paul said,

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12–14)

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Genesis

Letting go of “My way”

Genesis

Abraham faced a difficult choice after the birth of Isaac. Sarah caught Ishmael mocking Isaac, and demanded that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away.

It seemed pretty harsh. After all, Abraham was still Ishmael’s father, and even in their culture, it was a definite no-no to send them away. It just wasn’t done.

Yet God told Abraham to let them go. Why?

It’s possible that even after Isaac was born, Abraham would have been tempted to give the rights and privileges of the first-born to Ishmael.

It’s not likely that this would have happened, I admit.

However, we already saw earlier in Genesis 17 that he had asked God to give Ishmael that right. And after 14 years or so of being Abraham’s only son, I’m sure Abraham was still very much attached to him.

But God made it clear that this wasn’t his will.

Even more important, though, was what Ishmael symbolized: a life of doing things “my way.”

Ishmael came as a result of Abraham trying to do things his own way.

Abraham and Sarah had wavered in their belief of God’s promises, and when God didn’t fulfill his promise when they expected, they became impatient and tried to make things happen on their own.

But they were wrong. Their way was not God’s way.

And basically God told Abraham, “It’s time to let ‘your way’ go. I’ll take care of Ishmael. He’ll be okay. But it’s time to let go of Ishmael and your own plans, and totally commit yourself to me and my plans.”

And so Abraham obeyed.

God asks the same thing of us. So often we battle between doing things our own way and God’s way.

Sometimes we get impatient with God’s timing, and try to make things happen on our own as Abraham did.

Sometimes we try doing things God’s way, but things still don’t seem to be going well, so we just give up and go back to doing things our own way.

But God says, “Let go. Trust me. And I’ll take care of the rest.”

We are to trust him in our relationships, in our job situations, in our financial situations, in everything.

And as we do, we’ll start to find his blessing.

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Genesis

No excuses

Genesis

“But I didn’t know. I have a clean conscience.”

Those were the words of Abimelech when he took Abraham’s wife to be his own.

And he was right. Abraham and Sarah both lied to him, saying that she was Abraham’s sister. So Abimelech took Sarah as his own wife.

But God confronted Abimelech saying, “You’re a dead man because you’ve taken another man’s wife as your own.”

And while Abimelech truly didn’t know, he still had sinned, and his sin needed to be atoned for.

How often do we sin, and not even notice? Probably a lot more often than we think.

That’s why it’s a good idea at the end of the day to ask God to search your heart. Because if you don’t, you may find a block between you and God, and you won’t even know why.

David knew this and so he prayed,

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19:12–13, NIV)

In another prayer, he said,

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23–24)

Lord, how often do I do things that put a block between you and me and don’t even know it? Please forgive me.

Make me more sensitive to your Holy Spirit so that when I sin, I notice it and can confess it to you.

As David prayed, forgive my hidden faults. See if there is any offensive way in me. And keep me from willful sins in my life that would damage my relationship with you.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Genesis

It may be normal, but is it right?

Genesis

I was chatting with a middle-aged English student recently, and he talked about how he met his daughter’s boyfriend recently.

While they were chatting, the boyfriend mentioned that he and the daughter would be going off on an overseas trip together.

My student said, “I was surprised, but I said okay.”

I guess he thought he was being an understanding father by saying this.

I suppose that the couple might actually reserve separate rooms, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.

In our culture today, it just seems like a “normal” thing for couples to sleep together even though they’re not married.

Recently my sister mentioned overhearing a mother talking about her kid’s 16th birthday party at a hotel, saying, “Well, I took away the vodka from them, but I let them keep the rum.”

I suppose this mom thought it was just “normal” that teens drink at their parties.

A lot of things seem “normal” in our cultures, but the big question is not if it’s “normal,” but if it’s right.

Abram faced the same problem in his day.

God had promised him a son, but after 10, perhaps even 20 years of waiting, Abram still had no children. Sarah was getting up in age, she was already 65 by this point, and there seemed to be no way for her to have children.

Culturally, this was a terrible situation.

In those days, it was considered the worst thing in the world for a family name to die out.

But in their culture, it was perfectly natural for a wife with no children to offer her servant to the husband. The servant would sleep with the husband, have a baby, and that baby would become the heir.

So, going along with the culture, Sarai did just that. And it was considered perfectly normal in that day. But was it right?

No. God had promised to give Abram a child through Sarai, but instead of believing God’s promise and waiting for his timing, they got impatient and tried to force things to happen on their own.

They succeeded. Abram and Sarai got the child they wanted. But their choice also brought about problems they didn’t anticipate.

When Sarai’s servant Hagar got pregnant, she started mocking Sarai and despising her.

That led Sarai to get upset and caused marital strife with Abraham. “This is all YOUR fault!”—totally ignoring the fact that it was her own idea in the first place.

Their decision had long-term consequences as well, as the descendants of Hagar’s son Ishmael (the Muslims) have had a long-standing feud with the descendants of Sarai’s son Isaac (the Jews).

But that’s what happens when we stray from God’s way to follow the way of our culture.

Cultures change. What was normal in our culture 100 years ago is not normal now. And what is normal now will probably not be normal 100 years from now.

But God’s ways and his Word never change. And when we stray away from his ways and his Word, we do so at our own risk.

Unwanted pregnancies. Abortion. Teenage moms without husbands. Poverty. Alcoholism. Drunk driving accidents. Marital strife. Divorce. The list goes on and on.

So we have a choice. Are we going to follow culture? Or are we going to follow God?

Sometimes, there’s no difference between the two. But when the two come into conflict, which do we follow?

When Joshua led the people into the promised land, he said this:

Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.

But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:14–15)

The Israelites had to decide whether to leave behind the cultural practices that they and their ancestors had followed in Egypt, or to continue in them.

They had to choose whether to follow their culture or to follow God.

And we have the same choice today.

May we make the same choice Joshua did: “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

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Genesis

Believing God

Genesis

Sometimes, believing God can be pretty difficult. We know God’s promises. We know what he has said. And yet, our circumstances can sometimes make it difficult to hold on to these things.

In Japan, for instance, the population of Christians is very small, less than one percent. And the ratio of female to male Christians in Japan is highly disproportionate in favor of the women.

This is great for the men, I suppose, but a big problem for women who are looking for someone to marry.

They know God’s admonition not to marry a non-Christian, but with the choices so limited, it’s sometimes difficult to believe God will provide someone, especially if they’ve been waiting a long time.

And so I know a number of Japanese women who just gave up and married a non-Christian.

Unfortunately, many of them find that while they’ve solved one problem, they’ve invited a number of other problems into their lives as they deal with living with a man who is not following Christ, and all the pressures and struggles that come with it.

Abram faced a similar choice. To believe God or not. God had promised him that if he would leave his land and go where God told him, that he would become a great nation. But at this point, he was in his seventies, and he still didn’t have a son.

Now God comes again and says to him, “I am your great reward” (NIV) or “Your reward will be very great.” (NASB)

I tend to think the latter translation is better, considering Abram’s response.

Abram basically answered, “How can you say that? I don’t have any kids. I’m getting up there in age. Everything I have is going to be inherited by my servant? How can you say my reward is going to be great? Where is the blessing that you promised me.”

God answered, “This man won’t be your heir. Look at the sky. Count all the stars in the sky if you can. That’s what your descendants will be like.”

That must have been tough to swallow. “I have no kids. My wife is getting older. And my descendants are going to be like the stars in the sky?”

But Abram made a decision. What was it?

“I’m going to choose to believe God.”

Abraham was not perfect. He failed many times in his life. There were many times he didn’t trust in God.

His failures with Pharaoh and Abimelech were just two of them. But at this place, and at this time, he said, “I’m going to choose to believe God.”

And that pleased God.

More than anything else, God wants us to trust him. It was what he asked of Adam and Eve.

“You can eat from any tree in the garden, but don’t eat from that tree. Trust me. I’m only looking out for your best.”

And it was broken trust that led to their broken relationship with him.

In Hebrews 11:6, it says,

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Most of us believe that God exists. But do we really believe that he is looking out for our best? Do we really believe that he will reward us if we trust him? That’s the key question.

For many of the Japanese women that married non-Christians, the answer was no.

It’s hard to condemn them because loneliness is a difficult thing. And when you’ve been waiting a long time with no end in sight, it gets very hard to believe anymore.

Even Abraham had trouble believing under those circumstances as chapter 16 bears out.

But if we want a close relationship with God, we need to settle this one question in our heart. “Do I believe him?”

Maybe you have failed in the past. You didn’t trust him, and you made bad decisions as a result.

Take heart from the life of Abraham. He also made bad decisions because he didn’t trust God. But God didn’t give up on him. And he won’t give up on you.

If you want to get right with God, all you have to do is come to him and say, “God, I’ve failed. I’m sorry. But I come to you today, and I just want to say, ‘I believe in you.'”

And just as God credited Abraham with righteousness for his faith despite his failures, he will do the same with you.