Genesis 16

Not a shining moment for the future patriarch.  Listening to the voice of his wife (be careful boys! women can be very influential and not always in good directions), Abram agrees to take a new "wife" to get children, rather than wait on the Lord.  And this chapter comes right after that amazing covenant ceremony where God once more affirms all His promises to Abram.

What really catches my attention is how God shows special concern for Hagar, a simple servant girl (and a bratty one at that.)  At this first reference to "The Angel of the Lord", my commentary says that when "The Angel of the Lord" appears in the Old Testament, it is probably Christ Himself ("The Angel of the Lord" doesn't appear after Christ's birth.)  Hagar certainly thought it was God and called him "The God Who Sees", or "El Roi" in Hebrew.   And El Roi tells her to name her son Ishmael, which means "God hears".

How astonishing that God himself would "see" and "hear" her affliction; however, notice that Hagar's circumstances don't really change.  God doesn't direct her to a new luxury tent or give her a handsome new master.

He tells her to go back.  Go back and submit to your mean mistress, who will probably give you a beating for running away and your elderly master, who obviously doesn't care what happens to you even though you carry his child.

But He also gave her a promise.  He gave her the promise of a nation of descendants, which would have been astounding for someone in her position; but think about it....a promise that she would never see fulfilled in her lifetime.

This is such a great reminder that God always sees and hears my cries for help and gives me many promises of love and faithfulness in His Word, but often, my circumstances do not change.  God wants me to rest in His plan for my life, and trust that all things really do work together for my good (Romans 8:28).  This is hard.  I do not like being uncomfortable.  Like Hagar, I don't like living in difficult circumstances.  But God's promise to her, His very presence, was so life-changing that she obediently went back.

He does that for us too....any time we go to His Word, seeking fellowship with Him.  And unlike Hagar and other Old Testament believers, we don't have to hope for one special visitation from God.  We have the Holy Spirit living in us every day....His presence is assessable 24/7.

"I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my supplications.  Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live."  Psalm 116:1-2

Living it today:  I will remember that the Lord sees and hears my prayers even if my circumstances don't change.

Living it yesterday:  Fellowship with God is such a cool think...I even think better.  New ideas were coming to my mind all day for my up-coming classes.  And I had the opportunity to share with two other moms on the soccer field some truth the Lord was bringing to mind, and I think it was helpful for them.

Genesis 15

The Lord tells Abram in verse 2, "I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."  I wonder if Abram had any clue what God was about to tell him?   I wonder what Abram was thinking?  I have an exceedingly great reward???  Isn't is awesome when something wonderful unexpectedly happens to you?  Can you imagine hearing that you have won the lottery and then waiting with growing excitement to find out how much you won?  Abram truly hits the jackpot and so do we....

I first learned about the concept of "covenant" and Old Testament faith in this chapter so it is really special to me and reminds me of many amazing truths.  God officially makes promises to Abram which include an heir, descendants that would be as numerous as stars, and a prime piece of land.  All things that would have brought great joy to Abram, an old man living as a nomad with no children. And Abram "believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."  This should have seemed like an impossibility to Abram,  but he believed in the future promises of God which is what "saved" him.  God counted his belief/faith as "righteousness"....Abram was made righteous because of his belief that God would do what He said.  Paul refers to this verse often when he discusses that salvation is by faith, not works (Romans 4:3,9, 22; Galations 3:6)  He goes on to say in Romans 4:21 that Abram "being fully assured that what He (God) had promised, He (God) was able also to perform."  What a great definition of FAITH!  So Old Testament people (before Christ) were saved by believing in the promises of God, specifically, the promise of a Savior.  Just to be clear....to be made righteous....right before God....one believes, trusts, puts faith in God.

After Abram declared his belief, God "sealed" His promise with a covenant ceremony that was common in ancient days.  When two parties came to an agreement or made a contract, they would take an animal, cut it in two, lay the pieces on the ground, and walk through the pieces together in a ceremony.  Symbolically, they were saying may God do to me what we did to this animal should either of us break this contract.  In verse 18, it says "the Lord made a covenant".  The Hebrew word for "made" is "karath" which means to cut, and "covenant" in Hebrew is "beriyth" which is "an alliance of friendship" when the reference is between God and man and also "a divine ordinance".

So God cut (literally and figuratively) a divine (everlasting) alliance of friendship with Abram with the terms dependent only on Himself.

Abram was put to sleep and only God, represented by the smoking oven and burning torch, walked through the pieces sealing the deal.  This is an incredible act....God promises not only descendants and land but that He will be Abram's friend.  Simply as a result of his belief, God will honor his end of the bargain.  This would have been incomprehensible in ancient times....that you could be the friend of the supreme deity, Jehovah..."the existing one".  But it is incomprehensible today really.....that we can be called God's friend??  Yet, that is exactly what Paul describes in Romans 4....that God did this not just for Abram's sake, but "for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."  Like Abram, we become God's friend.  I love the words, "reckoned", "reconciliation", "reconciled" that Paul uses throughout the next chapter; all words that show we are no longer "enemies of God" (Colossians 1:21), but we have been brought into rightness with Him.....friendship.

Living it today:  No matter what happens today, I will remember that I am a friend of God.  That as my best friend, I will obediently follow Him in the way He leads me today.  I love you guys so much....please make Him your best friend, too.  He is so worth it.