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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Gen. 12
I feel like I will forever be confused by Abram’s time in Egypt in this chapter. He left Canaan, where God had sent him, seemingly on his own. That is, there is no indication that God told him to go or that He sought God regarding the famine. He then deceived the Egyptian officials, putting his wife in an awkward and potentially dangerous position to save his own skin. None of this seems like God trusting behavior to me. Yet there is no indication that Abram did anything wrong in all of this. In fact, God blessed Abram greatly, seemingly because of these actions. What gives?
The only thing I can put together in all of this is that it is a good example of how we all have gone our own way, yet God chooses to bless us in and through that until He brings us back into His presence. In fact, I was thinking just recently that redemption doesn’t just mean fixing something or saving it from destruction. No, it is much more than that. It means making something new; giving value to something broken and worthless. Even more than that, it means using that very brokenness to create value and worth. It’s much like the Japanese art of kintsugi. This is a technique of putting broken pottery back together with gold, making the piece more exquisite than it was in its original form. That’s redemption. So I’m thinking perhaps this story of Abram in Egypt is a story of redemption.
Gen. 13-14
I see a lot of the human condition in Lot. I get the impression that he chose what looked like the best land for himself. We all know that looks can be deceiving, however, and in the end God destroyed this choice land because of the evil in it. That all made me think of how Jesus often spoke of our choice to receive our reward now or to wait for God’s reward in heaven. Lot chose the reward that didn’t last.
I also notice that when lot first separated from Abram to settle in this choice land, he, “set up his tent near Sodom.” (Gen. 13:12b). By the time King Chedorlaomer and his allies attacked the area, however, Lot was living in Sodom. That makes me think of how we, when we choose to go our own way, chasing after our rewards on earth, tend to gravitate toward sin. That is what humanity did from the very beginning. And that is why we, like Lot, need rescue.
Gen. 15
Contrast Abram in this chapter with Lot in the previous chapters. Lot received his reward of choice land. Abraham, on the other hand, received only a promise of a very great reward. Not only did he remain a foreigner in the land, but his descendants would likewise remain foreigners and suffer much before they received their promised land.
It’s the same for us. We, too, are descendants of Abraham, as laid out in the New Testament. Thus, we, too, will suffer much before we receive our promised reward. Of course, we can choose to go our own way and receive our reward now. But such a reward will never last and will ultimately lead us into trouble. Far better, then, to do as Abram did. He chose to believe in the promise. And God gave him assurance of that promise with a one-sided covenant, essentially saying that Abram was sure to receive his reward because God alone would provide it. That is the same assurance we have in God’s covenant of grace through Jesus Christ.