Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
Have you ever been tested by God? A challenge to handle. A decision to make. An obstacle to navigate. The test stood before you like a great mountain. Why do these tests even come into our lives? Isn’t life with Jesus supposed to be all smooth sailing?
Today, in our study of Genesis, we come to a great test. Let’s see what we can learn and apply.
Someone has said that God is seldom early. He is never late. He is always right on time. By human standards, God was late with the birth of a son to Abraham and Sarah. After all, they were both well past the child-bearing age. But God does not always set his clock to correspond to our digital watches. In today’s passage, proving that nothing is impossible with God, the son of promise was born.
For years, Lori and I have had three ongoing prayer requests for our children. Now, we pray the same things for our grandchildren. First, we pray that each one would have a deep faith in Jesus that results in their lives honoring him. Second, we pray for good friends who will sharpen their faith. Finally, we pray for their future spouses and families to carry the good news into the next generation. Faith, friends, and family—those three components have been the basis of our prayers. In today’s passage, we see why these three areas are so important.
Have you ever been spiritually stalled? A little lethargic? You feel like there’s just not much gas in the spiritual tank? Maybe it’s due to your lack of spiritual discipline. Maybe you are disappointed in God. Maybe you feel God hasn’t kept his promises to you. Maybe you have had to come to grips with the emotions of an unfulfilled lifelong dream. Today’s passage in Genesis 18 reminds us that God is on our side. He never forgets his promises. His timing is…his timing. And he will accomplish what he sets out to do.
Think back to a time in your life when God showed up in a big way. There was something you needed, and he delivered. You knew then and know now that your situation was beyond you. You were totally dependent on God. In Scripture, God uses those times as markers to remind us that he is at work in our lives. Today, we see how God instructs Abram to mark his people by grace.
Do you ever get tired of waiting on God? Waiting for a job that isn’t materializing. Waiting for recovery from an illness. Waiting for marriage with no prospect in sight. Waiting for a prodigal child to come back home. You’ve spent plenty of time in prayer crying out to God, but you are stalled.
To this point in our study of Genesis, God has made three covenants with his people: the covenant of Eden, the covenant with Adam, and the covenant with Noah, indicated by a rainbow in the sky. Today, we will consider another covenant called the covenant with Abraham or the Abrahamic covenant.
Today we are going to consider Genesis 13-14, where Moses provides an account of Abram rescuing his nephew Lot. I will summarize that story and focus on a very interesting encounter that Abram had with a priest and king named Melchizedek.
God’s call on Abram was radical. He was to leave everything familiar—his country, his extended family, and his father’s house. God’s call was a call of faith. God simply told Abram to go to “the land that I will show you.”
Today we will end the second section, with the account of God dealing with man’s pride. But before we get there, let’s wrap up Noah’s story. We know that after the flood, two truths continue. First, man is born in God’s image. Second, sin remains fixed in the human heart. After the flood, God said, “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21).
As you begin to understand that God is writing his story in you, one thing you will learn is that God always keeps his promises. Whatever he says, he will do. Sometimes God’s promises are given in the form of a covenant—an agreement between God and man.
There are two key threads of truth that run throughout the book of Genesis. The first thread is the powerful Person of God; the second thread is God’s personal and powerful work in our lives. Actually, these threads run from Genesis to Revelation. That’s why understanding Genesis is essential to understanding the entire Bible and essential to understanding how God is writing his story in you.