SUNDAY 30th
Genesis 12:1-9
NIV (vv2-3) – ‘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. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
ESV (vv2-3) – ‘For 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. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
These few verses of Scripture have been key verses in my life for as long as I can remember. The key word that I would use to sum them up is ‘obedience.’ What we see in Abram is a complete contrast to what we see with Adam. While the one disobeyed, the other obeyed. Adams disobedience led to the curse of sin; Abrams obedience led to blessing.
Abrams obedience to the call of God and to the command of God to ‘go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you’ (v1) is pivotal in the plan of redemption, for in verses 2-3 it continues, ‘For 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. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ It is as an ongoing result of Abrams obedience that we today can rejoice in knowing Jesus as our Saviour, Abrams obedience led a few thousand years later to the obedience of another man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who said in the garden, ‘. . . not my will, but your will be done.’
As I have said these verses have always been a key in my own life, as they taught me from an early age the importance of obedience toward the will of God. Obedience should be key to the life of every believer, even at the times when what God may be calling us to do goes against what we may want to do, or should I say when what we want to do goes against what God wants us to do. Although it may cost us, obedience will always lead to blessing. Many have heeded the voice of God and responded in sacrificial ways in particular those who have served in the realm of overseas mission, often time going into hostile or difficult territory, but if God has called and commissioned then obedience will lead to blessing.
Abram didn’t always have it easy, sometimes he even failed by doing things his own way, but ultimately because he obeyed the initial call to leave and to go, it was an important piece in the puzzle that led to the momentous event a few thousand years later when the Christ Child was born, and through whose death and triumphant resurrection the nations of the world have been blessed. Fast forward to Revelation 5:9 and we read ‘And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’ A fulfilment of the promise to Abram – ‘and in you all the families (or nations) of the earth shall be blessed.
What is the Lord asking you to do?