DTOTD – Abram
” Now the Lord said to Abram, ” Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land I will show you. 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.”
Genesis 12:1-2
The Old Testament is a fascinating read.
Have you ever thought about that?
When you pick up your bible and turn to the Old Testament, have you ever thought…this is awesome?
Now, I might be weird, but I truly think the Old Testament of the Bible is one of the most fascinating reads you can read in your life. Not just because it is the Bible but because it has everything you could ever want in a book to read. It has love stories, sex stories, war, blood, confusion, anger, betrayal, praise, unheard of rawness, hope, heaviness, light, creation and so much more. That might be just in the first 5 books!
As we walk through the story of Abraham on Sunday morning @ Harvester CC, it was fitting to continue those conversations here. Because Abraham is a man full of interesting stories that we can all learn from. The timeline of Abrams story starts in an interesting way. We are only 12 chapters into the bible, in which we have already encountered creation, the fall, death, murder, chaos, a flood that wipes everyone out except for a few, humans create more people, then a big tower is built and God separates people and then we see Abram’s father Terah get to a certain point in the journey and just stop.
Abram then comes on the scene mainly as a nomad for the first little while. He is called by God to go to a land that God will show him. So Abram, packs his things and goes, along with his wife Sarai. They travel hundreds of miles and to multiple locations before we find them having to travel south to Egypt because of a famine.
As they approach Egypt, Abram makes a decision that leads to an interesting lesson. So Abram looks over to his wife, Sarai and says……your really good looking…..(brendon’s translation) and instead of telling people that you are my wife….because apparently Abram was not good looking???…..we are going to tell people that you are my sister so that they don’t kill me so that they can take you as their wife. And for some reason, Sarai agrees!
We can leave the obvious marriage counseling that is needed in this relationship aside, but in the grand scheme of things, Abram makes a decision to hide a truth about himself to other people to make sure he is ok. Even at the risk of losing his wife, losing his life anyway and possibly never being able to leave Egypt.
As the story continues, we see that Abram loses Sarai and she is taken into Pharaoh’s house and Abram is set somewhere else. But as time goes on, God takes matters into his own hands. While Sarai is in Pharaoh’s house, God sends great plagues towards Pharaoh(Gen. 12: 17). Pharaoh then goes and finds Abram, maybe Abram was not that far away. Pharaoh then brings Abram and questions him:
” What is this you have done to me? Why 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?” Gen. 12:18-19a
Abram has to feel rather embarrassed or maybe just idiotic at this point. Abram in an attempt to save his own life, gives up his wife and now is caught in an elaborate scheme to keep himself alive over the life of his wife.
Haven’t we all been there though?
Abram is in a place we have all found ourselves in at some point.
Abram is in a place where we either tell the truth or run and hide from it.
Abram is human.
He is flawed and weak just like anyone else.
Abram was afraid that he would not be welcomed because of the beauty of his wife.
You have been afraid that you would not be welcomed because of your clothes.
You have been afraid that you would not be welcomed because of your past.
We have all been afraid of not fitting in so we do things that everyone else is doing to fit in even if….we don’t want to.
We have all gone places that we don’t really want to go because that is where everyone else is going.
We have all made up stories to either keep ourselves in good graces with others or to feel accepted.
We have all had those facades come down in a very heavy way.
We have all felt the after effects of the stories that we have created.
We have all seen the effect that our decisions have on other people in the wake of our elaborate schemes.
Why do we do that?
There could be lots of reasons and some could be better than others.
What Abram in this scenario learns is that God sees him.
God sees Abram in his fear.
God sees Abram in his weakness.
God sees Abram in a place where he cannot get out.
God sees Abram in a way, that Abram cannot see himself.
There are times in our lives, when we need to be seen in this way.
We need to allow God to see us in our weakness, instead of bulding a facade that we are ok.
We need to allow God to see us in the place that we cannot get out of on our own but allow God to come and rescue us.
We need to be vulnerable enough with God to know He Loves You despite of our elaborate schemes.
Abram demonstrates to us a posture of…well just like you and me….a posture of performing when we need to have a posture of humility.
As you go today, think about the posture you have with God.
Is it one that demonstrates humility in needing God? Or could we be posturing in a way to make it look like we are something we are not?