Abraham: 12 A Great God Deserves Great People

How Christians live reflect on the reputation of God. If we do not believe in God, how can we expect others to believe in Him? If we do not live lives of value and character, why would anyone want to be a Christian? Abraham is honored because he did show the greatness of God in his life. Below is a summary of a devotion from 32 days with Abraham by Mark Etter. You can have the full devotion by clicking here. You can have a sample of three full devotions from the book and one of the Bible studies by clicking here. The whole book is available on Amazon.com as a softcover book or for kindle.

Focus Passage: Genesis 17: 1-14

There can be no doubt that we have an Almighty God. Yet, our world often doesn’t see Him that way. They see His church and it seems to them lifeless and empty. A great God will be shown to the world by great people. God reveals Himself to us as the one who is all sufficient and calls His children to show His greatness to the world. “I am the Lord Almighty, walk before me and be blameless.” (v.1)  Thirteen years before this, Abram and Sarai had tried to make God’s promises come true by their own hand. The time had come for God to show the world through Abram and Sarai exactly how great He really was.

God begins the revelation by reaffirming the promises made almost twenty-five years before. “As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations.” (v.4) Abram may have begun to give up on ever seeing the promises come true, but God had not forgotten them. God reaffirms the promise of a great host of descendants. Nothing that Abram or his descendants can do will change those promises. God has spoken. It will happen.

The promise of land was based solely on the grace and love of God. Yet, Abraham and the Jews would enjoy the land only if they were faithful to the Lord. “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.” (v.9)  A great God deserved a people willing to worship Him and show Him to the world. If they did this, they would enjoy the blessings that God had in store for them as His people. 

A great God deserves great people. Most of us can think of at least one Christian whose faith shines with character and love. These were people who reflected God. We admired them and wanted to be like them. What would your world be like if the majority of Christians you knew lived with values, character, and love? How would that impact the level of joy in the church, in their families and in their communities? How would it change the world’s view of God? Abraham is beloved in his day and in ours because he shows the character of the Lord. As you and I walk with the Lord and live with His character, we can show Him to the world and let them see why we believe in and love our God. We can let our world know just how great our God really is.

     What is one thing that you can do today or this week to strengthen your walk with the Lord?

Abraham: 10 Waiting For Heaven

How long would you wait for God to keep His promises? When do you give up and just feel that “God must not want this or that to happen?” Often times we give up when God doesn’t answer or prayers in a few days. Abraham gives up after 10 years and finds his own solution. It is a solution that brought him a lot of problems. Below is a summary of a devotion from 32 days with Abraham by Mark Etter. You can have the full devotion by clicking here. You can have a sample of three full devotions from the book and one of the Bible studies by clicking here. The whole book is available on Amazon.com as a softcover book or for kindle.

Focus Passage: Genesis 16: 1-4

Waiting can be one of the hardest things that we have to do as a Christian. We believe that the Lord has a plan for us, but it is hard to see an unseen God at work. It is hard to wait for a God who thinks in centuries when we think in hours or days. It has been ten years since Abram first came to Palestine. Yet, at the age of 85, we are told, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children.” (v.1)  I picture Abram praying and pleading with God for the promise to be fulfilled.

Sarai hatched a plan that would solve their dilemma. She makes the sacrifice and takes ‘her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.” (v.3). Hagar would bear the child that would fulfill the promises. All the promises that God had made to Abram could now come true. She will step aside in order that her husband may have his heir. Sadly, solutions that do not include God are often a formula for disaster.

Her plan has unintended consequences. The maid who has now become the second wife has an attitude. “When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.” (v.4) As the mother of the heir, Hagar felt like she deserved special treatment. She, not Sarai, would be the mistress of the household. Sarai, however, would not tolerate such feelings and pushed back.

Patience and trust are interlocked. Our struggle in life comes when we don’t believe that God is still at work on our behalf. We are waiting “at the gate” so to speak and the answer doesn’t seem to be coming. The household will be the place of an uneasy truce for years with bitterness as a constant companion. As you think of short-circuiting God’s plans because they don’t come soon enough, ask yourself what heartache you are creating for yourself in the years to come. 

·         As you look back on your life and ministry, when have you been tempted to make God promises happen faster?  What was the result?

Abraham: 8 Fear Can Follow Success

Have you ever waited for things to fail? Ministry is humming and life can’t get better and yet you just are afraid that things are going to fall apart. If so, meet Abram. He just won a major battle to save Lot and now he is afraid of what may happen. Below is a summary of a devotion from 32 days with Abraham by Mark Etter. You can have the full devotion by clicking here. You can have a sample of three full devotions from the book and one of the Bible studies by clicking here. The whole book is available on Amazon.com as a softcover book or for kindle.

Focus Passage: Gen. 15:1-6

  We used to call it “waiting for the other shoe to drop”. Things were going so well that we were just waiting for something bad to happen. Many of the biblical characters like David in the Psalms or Jeremiah in his prophecy shared honestly with God how they felt. Abram had those feelings. His heart was torn with fear and so God came to comfort him. The armies that he defeated were big, but God is bigger. “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield” (v.1) was God’s comfort. The world around you is big and dangerous, Abram, but you can trust your God to protect you.

As Lot went back to Sodom, it became apparent that Lot would never be the heir that God had promised. Abram confesses to the Lord his second fear “I remain childless” (v.2). Abram was getting old and the child had not yet come. How would the promises be fulfilled? How would his descendants inherit this land or make him a blessing to the whole world if there was not even a single son? In an act of love, God does not rebuke His servant. He simply reminds Abram that the promise is still intact

What is the key to defeating Satan when he wants failure to follow success? “Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.”(v.6)  Open yourself up to the Lord as Abram did and believe the promises that God has made to you in His word. We are not saved by making promises to God, but by believing the promises that He has made to us.

How would life change if your fears changed to faith? You would spend less time worrying after a great success about what could go wrong. The joy of the Lord is stronger than the worries of the evil one. Like Abram, our weapon against worry is to listen to God. Read your Bible and let your loving God speak to your fears. Pray about them like Nehemiah, David or others have done so that your Lord can comfort you and push Satan’s worries away. It is natural to fear. It is harder to have faith.

·         What are you worrying about right now? What help could seek from God for those worries? 

Abraham: 6 Who controls your Fate?

One of the greatest determiners of your future is who you associate with. We often think that we can live a wild life and never pay the penalty for it. Abraham’s nephew lot shows us the folly of such ideas. Abraham has to rescue him from himself. Below is a summary of a devotion from 32 days with Abraham by Mark Etter. You can have the full devotion by clicking here. You can have a sample of three full devotions from the book and one of the Bible studies by clicking here. The whole book is available on Amazon.com as a softcover book or for kindle.

Focus Passage: Gen. 14:1-13

Your friends determine your fate. If you don’t believe it, look at your kids. The friends that your children choose determine their future. Let a child get in with the wrong group and you will have nothing but trouble. It really is no different for adults. Adults who frequent the bars or hang around with people who have trouble holding down a job will be pulled down by their friends. This is the first battle mentioned in the Bible. Its importance is its strong connection to Abram and Lot. The five cities of the plains rebel against their masters, the four cities of the east. “the king of Sodom . . . marched out and drew up their battle lines.” (v.8) The conquering army takes the goods and food of Sodom and Gomorrah as they depart. Such bounty was used to pay for and feed their troops.

Lot had moved from outside the city (13:12) to moving into the city (14:12). Now he would share their fate. “They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions.” (v.12) He would pay the price for their loss because he had now become one of them. He had thrown his portion in with Sodom and now was reaping the fruit of his choices. The capture of Lot demonstrates that you will share the fate of those who you call friends.

At first, while the battle is raging in the valley below, Abram is living safely up in the hills of Palestine. “Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite.”(v.13) The battle never threatens his flocks or his people. Having never allied himself with the people of Sodom, he and his people were safe up on the hill and were unaffected by the battle below. He had cast his portion with the Lord.

Who do you associate with? No one can enter the house of the worldly and not be untouched. Their fate will affect your work, your family, and your life. They may lure you in with their riches or excitement, but you will also share in their destiny. We cannot expect God to protect us from harm when we try to live in the wild animal’s den. We do have a choice. We can live safely in the hills with God or dare to live in the midst of evil. As you think of your own life, consider how it would be blessed if you sought out Godly friends who could nurture you and help you draw closer to the Lord. 

• ·         Which of your friends tend to bring out the best in you? How could you develop those relationships so that they lift you even higher?

Abraham: 4 Humble choices

How do you keep money from dividing friends and family? How do you counter a family member’s greed and selfishness? The costs can be great when a family divides over money. Abraham shows us how to overcome disaster by making humble choices. Below is a summary of a devotion from 32 days with Abraham by Mark Etter. You can have the full devotion by clicking here. You can have a sample of three full devotions from the book and one of the Bible studies by clicking here. The whole book is available on Amazon.com as a softcover book or for kindle. For more information on the book, click here. 

Focus Passage: Genesis 13: 1-13

Money can wreck a family. I have watched children fight over their parent’s inheritance even before the funeral is over. I have seen husbands and wives fight over the checkbook. All of us have seen a child pout when he can’t have a toy he saw on television or in the store. It is all about selfishness. Abram and Lot left Egypt as wealthy men. The pharaoh had given them flocks, servants, and camels. When they returned, their success caused a new problem; “the land would not support them.” (v.6) The land simply could no longer handle their combined wealth. The great wealth has caused a rift in the family and a dispute that just won’t go away.

1. Abram is determined to be a peacemaker. The family was obviously important to Abram and Lot was his only family member. He tells Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me.”(v.8)  . Instead of dividing the land and ordering Lot and his men to take the share he gives them, he humbly lets Lot make the choice of how the land will be divided.

2. Lot seized the opportunity and grabbed what he considered to be the better land. The text says that “Lot looked up and saw that the plain of the Jordan was well watered . . . like the land of Egypt.” (v.10) His heart was centered on wealth and the prospect of a better life. In his eyes, the valley looked like the Nile valley of Egypt that he had left behind.

3. Abram thinks of the family, but Lot thinks of himself. When anyone thinks like Lot, it leaves everyone broken. Lawsuits are threatened and relationships are damaged for a long time. The miracle of our Lord is that it takes just one person, like Abram, to live humbly and diffuse the situation. What if we change the future of our families by sharing instead of fighting? Family unity would be preserved and the others would be amazed at the love shown by this Christian family. God would be honored and the family would be stronger. Godly humility can change the future.

• Who have you quarreled with recently?  If you could ask God to change one thing in that relationship, what would it be?