A Covenant
Question of the day: When was the last time you laid down outside and just gazed at the stars?
Good morning class. Today is a bit of a challenge. We are going to try to get through almost 3.5 chapters. Crazy I know.... but here we go.
Today's lesson is from
Genesis 15-17
So last week we ended the passage with Abram refusing any of the spoils from battle because he says God alone must get credit for his wealth.
Chapter 15
15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.
I want us to just ponder this for a minute. I know we have a lot to get to but wait...
Do you have days where you would give anything to hear God say this to you?
What are you afraid of?
What do you need to be shielded from?
What rewards are you seeking after that are leaving you empty and running in circles with no real reward?
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Can you imagine being taken outside by God and shown the stars.... Star gazing with God... Wow!
Let that sink in.
Abram had that kind of relationship. We walked outside and looked at the stars with God as he then continued to tell him what he had in store for him.
The last time you went outside and gazed at the stars was it with God?
I can remember as a young girl, loving to lay down in the grass and stare up at the stars and just sink it all in. I could and would talk to God. Somehow no matter how many people were around me, once my eyes were skyward, it was just me and God....
Here Abram is having an experience with God. He isn't just hearing the words, he is experiencing the sights and sounds, it is an experience.
I was asked this last week if I will come and speak at a church for a Women's Sabbath. Their title is.. "Is God Real?" and they want it answered with my personal story, my experience with God.
When we experience God there is an easy answer to that question, and here we see that Abram also believes now. He has experienced God and so he believes Him.
I know head knowledge is important. I know study and understanding is vital, but so is experience. God himself was telling Abram what was up, but it was adding the experience that brought him to the place of belief.
All is well now right.... not exactly.
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”Seriously Abram, how long has it been since you believed? Can't you just take God for His word? Does he sound like anyone you know... maybe yourself?
How many times do we believe God to just then question him again, on perhaps a slightly different point, but we still are questioning. Then this gets weird. Or wonderful depends on your perspective. I wish Pastor Ryan could tell this part of the lesson, but I will do my best. Let's read it together.
9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites,Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
So here is the deal. This is basically a covenant that Abram would be very familiar with that was done between a Superior or King and someone of inferior standing. So the first thing here is that their is an imbalance of power. The powerful or King would state what they would do for their subject, and then animals were cut in half and the less powerful person would walk between the dead animals and it was to make it clear if they didn't hold up their end of the bargain then they would be like the animals. Essentially they would pay the ultimate price if they didn't hold up their end.
Here is the beauty in what happened in this story...
There is an imbalance of power.
There is a covenant.
There are slain animals cut in half.
But then that is where the similarities end.
Here as always God turns it all upside down. Instead of Abram walking between the animals it is He. God himself.
What is He saying here?
Do you see the redemptive story?
Oh how sweet our God is!
Chapter 16
In Chapter 16 the story shifts to how Sarai is doing.
A few things to note about this part of the story.
1. This was a normal and accepted tradition. If a woman couldn't conceive a child then she would have her servant conceive for her, and the child would be considered hers.
2. Too many times we look at this story with Western eyes and we understand it from that perspective. Example: Of course Sarai was going to have an issue when her slave gets pregnant. Jealousy will creep in as it should. A woman shouldn't be okay with someone else having her husbands baby. However, if this was common place, and if Sarai choose it, then are we assuming too much with our western eyes?
3. Perhaps we need to try our best to stop looking at it from our vantage point. We might even miss the most important points.
- First, instead of looking at this story like we do, perhaps we should see this as we do surrogacy for this time and place. Accepted surrogacy. It was Sarai getting old and tired of waiting and deciding to come up with a solution that would work. It is even quite remarkable that she didn't try it earlier.
- Second, Abram quickly agreed, and soon a baby is on the way. This actually seems to be going quite well.
- The first sign that this isn't good?
- This part of the story is not about using a surrogate and how bad that is.
What "lessons" or points we can take away from this chapter?
- We must be willing to wait on the Lord.
- Our ways may not be his ways.
- Have faith in the waiting.
What else do you see here?
Perhaps one of the most beautiful passages is right here in this chapter. It isn't said to or from Abram, it isn't said to or from Sarai but it is a quote by Hagar. Hagar is an interesting part of this story. She was a slave and doing as she was told, and then when she became pregnant she became a challenge, and then was mistreated. She is not in a good place. She has fled her master, and is pregnant. Then she reaches out to God.... right? NO!
An angel of God comes to her. Meets her by a stream and has a conversation with her.
WOW!
Once again our God turns the tables upside down.
He comes to her and then this is her response....
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”There are a lot of names that we know God by, but this one is really special.
Have you ever felt unseen?
Lonely?
Rejected?
Abandoned?
Simply not heard?
Wronged?
Or a failure?
Can you imagine, for this slave, who was brought in to sleep with the master, then gets an attitude, is mistreated, and flees pregnant and alone. There is not much hope for her at this point. I'm sure in any other situation her life would essentially be over. But instead, God himself comes to her, and she gives him a name.
In other religions, other god's, you could even say her god's would wouldn't come to her. Even if they were real, they require the person to give gifts and to come to them, but our God. He isn't like any other God. He is the God who "sees me."
Chapter 17
The story goes on....
1. At the end of chapter 16 Abram is 86 years old. (When Ishmael is born.) In the 1st verse of chapter 17 we see that Abram is 99 years old. So that means that Ishmael is already 13.
2. God is once again telling Abram what His covenant is with Abram.
3. God does agree to bless Ishmael.
4. God changes Abram and Sarai's names.
5. Makes it clear Sarah will have a child by this time next year.
6. Abraham and Ishmael and all other males are circumcised that very day.
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to himand said, “I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”Have you ever felt like you kept hearing the same thing from God, but nothing was happening?
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram[b]; your name will be Abraham,[c] for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan,where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
How many times do we question "coming soon," or "I have called you," or whatever God's message to you you has been?
It is easy for us to forget that Abraham was now 99 years old. I am currently 49 years old, and I sometimes struggle with God seemingly not following through on what I believe he has told me. Has that ever happened to you?
Waiting is so hard.
Why did God make Abraham wait?
What do we do in the waiting?
How do we stay faithful?
Let's review....
In this covenant, God says "I will be the one to lay it all on the line. I am the one to go between the cut in half animals. NOT YOU!" Custom and the way of the world is that the subordinate is the one who lays it all on the line, not the King. He is not an ordinary King! He doesn't make ordinary covenants.
Spend sometime experiencing God this week. Sunday we will have sunshine for a brief moment.... go soak up some rays. Let the sun soak into your skin for just even a few moments. Stand in the rain. Take quiet moments in your worship to listen for Him to speak. Listen to an old hymn or a new song, with your eyes closed and let it wash over you. Take a walk alone. Pick a daffodil and bring it inside. Memorize a passage of the bible. Experience God!
When we try to run ahead and not trust God, we make a mess of things. Waiting is tough and bring us to the place of doubting God, but He will fulfill His promise!
Even when we have made a mess of things, even when we are the lowest of the low. When we are the servant, who has run away, He comes to us! He see's us! He is the One who see's me!
Today, not tomorrow, not next week, but today will you be willing to do what God is calling you to do? Without hesitation even if it hurts, will you be willing to do your part even if God is seemingly not holding up His end?
Know Love.
Live Love.
Share Love.
God is LOVE!
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