faithful and obedient

For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.
Genesis 18:19

The personal elements of the covenant are interesting to see in this passage. God did the choosing of Abraham. There was no merit on Abraham's part to earn the "right" to receive the covenant. It was God's choosing of him that gave him the covenant. But there was responsibility in the covenant. Abraham was to begin a dynasty of faithful obedience and walking with God. He was to command his children and household to follow God and to doing what the Lord said was righteous and just.

The result of the choice and of the obedience was that the covenant would be honored by God. He would bring Abraham what He had promised. This personal relationship with God just keeps being explained and exemplified in the life of Abraham.

What is really interesting in this passage is that Abraham, through the normal practice of hospitality, winds up entertaining God, Who gives him further insight into the events that would transpire. Once again, Isaac is predicted to enter Abraham's household. It is clear that God will continue to honor the covenant through this child of promise. God is clearly doing the heavy lifting in the covenant. Abraham is just remaining faithful and obedient.

a twist in an overall direction

But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.
Genesis 17:21

This is what a journey with God looks like. It twists and changes while remaining constant in its overall direction. Abraham had taken matters into his own hands by fathering Ishmael through Hagar. God makes it clear in this context that this was not what He had in mind. God would make Ishmael a nation (actually nations) of people, but a unique covenant would be established with the son of Abraham and Sarah. Abram is now Abraham and Sarai is now Sarah. By renaming this struggling couple, God was confirming that now their lives would never be the same. At ninety-nine, Abraham would father a child. At ninety, Sarah would bear that son. And laughter would follow in the wake of this wild promise.

What happens in Genesis is a natural "thinning of the ranks" as God prepares to enter a unique covenant relationship with Israel. And grace is given all the way. God is gracious to allow Abraham's son Ishmael to thrive and become a great race of nations. God is gracious to continue to bless Abraham and Sarah despite their struggles in faith. God will graciously give an infant to the aged. And God will establish his covenant with their son.

Abraham firmly believed this. He struggled. But with each new conversation with God, the faith of the patriarch becomes more firmly entrenched in the literal promises of God. A son would come to represent a future nation. A tent in Canaan would hold on to the promise of a land for all his vast descendents.

Stumbling through faith.

15    And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16    Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Genesis 16:15-16

God's patience never seems to amaze me. When I read Genesis 16, I am struck at how quickly Abram could reason away God's promise, or at best re-negotiate the terms of it unilaterally, which is what happened here. Sarai had not born him a son. And the longer he waited, the more improbable it seemed to be that it would happen. I don't think Abram and Sarai were thinking some sort of biological miracle could happen. They were evidently TRYING to have a baby (and the thought of a couple in their eighties planning for the nursery is really a bit ridiculous!), and Sarai decided to appeal to custom over faith.

It was customary for wealthy people to name an heir. And it was also customary for those without a son to name to attempt to surrogate an heir through a household servant or concubine. It was socially acceptable. it was not, however, part of God's decree. And the "logical move" on the part of Abram added to the difficulty he would face, almost immediately. As soon as Hagar got pregnant by him, the fireworks started at home.

But God graciously chose to honor some of Abram's promise even with a child who was not the child of promise. Hagar's son, Ishmael, would himself be the father of an innumerable nation. We know them as Arabs today. And they proudly trace their lineage to this moment. But even this lack of  faith would be used by God.

For Abram, God would clarify that Ishmael would not be the son to inherit all the benefits of the covenant. Sarai would bear a son to Abram and the waiting, even after this attempt of their own, would make the prospect even more outlandish, pointing clearly to the power and promise of God and not the planning and cunning of a human answer. Through it all, God does not give up on Abram, even as he stumbles through the content of what he truly believed.

And, God help me, I am the same. I stumble through what I believe, not always responding as I should and hoping I can plan my way to something that I must trust God to bring about. That is why I need to read more of this story. It helps me know how to trust the God Who is wisely working His will in my life as well.

Faith as righteousness.

And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6

The old man struggled with God's promise. He was old. He was ancient. And God said he would have descendants that would become a great nation. And the old man thought to himself, "How can this ever come to be?" And God took him out on a clear starry night, and under the inky blackness of a vast expanse of countless stars, bid the old man lift his tired eyes to the heavens. "That is how numerous your descendants will be." And somehow, in the light of those stars a new star winked into existence in the old man's heart and he believed what God said. He embraced it and did not let go. He still did not understand it. But he believed.

And in that faith, God moved. He saw that Abram truly believed him. And God took the faith -- not compliance, not outward duty-- just the sheer audacity to think that God's promise as vast as the Milky Way would be true for him. And God placed that faith in the righteousness column of old Abram. And he became a righteous man in God's sight.

It is no different today. I look back at an impossible promise, that a Savior died for the sin of the world, that my sinfulness would be atoned for by a Roman crucifixion, and somehow, there sparked in my heart the faith to believe that good news. And in that moment, I was credited all the righteousness of the Son of God. I was made holy. I was a man of faith at only seven years of age, though not spectacular like Abram, still... redeemed by the decree of God to count faith as righteousness.

From Herdsman to Hero.

14    When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15    He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

Genesis 14:14-15

Lot is a study in spiritual decline, while Abram is a study in God’s blessing on obedience. Lot has moved from living as a herdsman outside of Sodom to living in the town with the reputation as the original “Sin City”. When the politics of the day lead to war and Sodom is besieged and quickly captured, in the custom of the day Lot and his family are led away along with all the spoils of war. And Abram shows that he has grown from a simple herdsman to a man expert in politics and military action.

Abram now has a household security retinue of 318 “trained men” who were evidently skilled in fighting matters. With his private army, Abram practices classic military strategy with success: He fights at night, splits his forces in what is doubtless a pincer move, and defeats the coalition of forces that raided Sodom. He then chases them off north of Canaan in order to remove the threat from the land. Not bad for an old shepherd!

Lot should have learned his lesson and gotten himself out of Sodom. Really this was his first rescue from the wicked town, but he did not even get the point. He went back to Sodom, to comfort, to commerce, and to compromise with the ways of sinful worldlings for the sake of convenience.

Abram went back to his tents, believing God’s promise and refusing to even take a coin in compensation from the princes of Sodom and the towns of the plain because he knew it was God who was going to keep blessing him and not the system around him. His faith grew as Lot’s continued to decline. No wonder Abram is such a shining example of faith to us in the New Testament. Paul singles him out in Romans 4 as the example of faith justifying us. Hebrews 11 makes much of the old patriarch who believed God more than trusting in wealth or power or prestige. And his simple faith brought him all three.

Great Marriage Advice for any guy...

The Don't Song.

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A place of worship

Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.

Genesis 13:18

I notice something interesting about Abram. Even though he was a nomadic herdsman, everywhere that he settled, he managed to make some sort of visible statement of his commitment to worship the Lord. In Bethel (Genesis 13:4) he built an altar. And here, as he settles a grazing rights dispute with his nephew, he settles in and quickly builds another altar. No matter where Abram was it was important that it be a place of worship.

There is an interesting contrast being made in the text between Abram and his nephew Lot. Abram allows the younger nephew to make the choice of land (an unusual situation), and Lot chooses a well-watered plain that points right at the city of Sodom. From there, it is easy for Lot to place his personal camp not far from the city where the text warns us an extraordinarily wicked culture existed. Lot made his choice of home a place of commerce first and foremost.

While Lot flirts with the enticements of worldly culture in the choice land, Abram faithfully builds an altar to worship the Lord in the place where it seems he might just eke out a living. And God rewards his faithfulness with blessing upon blessing. The immediate response by God is to re-iterate and expand the blessings of the covenant with Abram (Genesis 13:14-17), promising to give to him all the land around him (Canaan or modern day Israel) and promising him a throng of people as his descendents. God thus rewards faithful commitment to His glory.