A Little Slow on the Uptake

"The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you ... Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran." - Genesis 12:1, 4

The words "had said" gives a little insight about Abram (later called, Abraham). He wasn't as quick to respond as we like to think. God's call had come earlier, perhaps much earlier. When Abram finally responded he was 75 years old.

What do we learn from this?

God is patient, and being a bit slow on the uptake doesn't disqualify from success with God and in life.

It tells us that while breathing it is not too late to say, "Yes", to God and his call.

Don't feel condemnation over a late response or missed opportunity say, "Yes", now. It is not too late to walk with God and receive his blessing.

- fritz

What Love Gives

After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. - Genesis 15:1

God told Abraham, "I am your reward".

Love always gives, but what does it give? Itself.

And that is enough.

- fritz

Alternate Righteousness

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. - Psalm 32:1-2

For those who can't measure up in their own righteousness there is an alternative.

"Imputeth" literally means to "weave", to "fabricate", to regard as so - like when a large debt is owed but the owner decides to forgive the debt and regard it as paid; or like when a child draws a picture of "Mommy" and she considers it the prettiest picture in the world!

Abraham, described in the Bible as the father of all the faithful,¹ was actually a disobedient liar and a deadbeat dad but he found an alternative, imputed, righteousness.

God had told him, who had no legitimate children, his descendants would be as numerous as the stars² and that one of them would be the Messiah³ who would pay for his sins. Abraham believed God's word and God call him righteous. When Abraham asked God to prove it God took an oath. That was good enough for Abraham and good enough for God.

If Abraham found it so can we!

Those of us who just can't measure up can choose God's alternative. We can choose to believe God's word in spite of what we are told by others or what we have always thought. We can believe Jesus paid for our sins with his sacrifice. We can become an actual part of Christ's body, like my finger is part of mine, and legitimately claim that promised lineage of God's blessing.

"Those words ("God accepted Abraham's faith") were written not only for Abraham but also for us. God will accept us also because we believe in the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Jesus was given to die for our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God." - Romans 4:23-25

What a wonderful opportunity!

- fritz


^{1 - Romans 4:11
2 - Genesis 15:5-6 and Romans
3 - John 8:56}

Time with God now

"Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD ... Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide ..." (Genesis 19:27, 24:63a)

Men and women of God, from Abraham and Isaac through the centuries to today take time to get alone with God.

Abraham's time was in the mornings at a scenic overlook; Isaac's in the evenings in the fields. It's not what time or where that is important but the consistency and privacy.

Suzanna Wesley, unable to leave the house because of responsibilities for her 19 children (John and Charles being two of them), sat in a chair with her apron over her head - all because there must be time alone with God for every believer.

Jesus said to go to the closet to pray in secret.¹ Your closet may have four wheels and your time may be on the way to work, but take time every day to get alone with God.

- fritz

^{1 - Matthew 6:6}

The Church Clock

"Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless." - Genesis 16:16-17:1

A pastor friend of mine had a clock with a steeple on top and a little man underneath. The figurine would continuously pull up and down on his little rope and every hour the clock would "ding".

I commented it was cute but he said it was more than that, it was a representation of life - a whole lot of pulling for one little "ding" each hour!

We think every effort should result in a "ding" but it doesn't work that way, even for the faithful. Look at Abraham - the bible records a 14 year period after the birth of Ishmael where there was nothing recorded, still Abram kept faith.

We, as spiritual children of Abraham, are called to be stay faithful, active, and confident day in and day out knowing God is still at work and that at the right time there will be another "ding!"

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." - 1st Corinthians 15:58

-fritz

God in the Circumstances

And [God] said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. - Genesis 15:7

Abraham lived in Haran when he heard God's call on his life.¹ Terah, Abraham's dad, had years before moved the family there from Ur, about a thousand miles away.² As far as Abraham was concerned his faith adventure started in Haran, but not according to God.

Ur was from where God said he brought Abraham from, not Haran.

The circumstances and events in our lives are not random events until we find Christ; from our very beginning, God is actively involved orchestrating our character, composition, and desires to bring us to himself.

"God ... separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace" - Paul (Galatians 1:15b)

- fritz

^{1 - Genesis 11:31-12:3
2 - Link: Where was Abraham's UR?}