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Gen. 12
When we walk with God, the way things are now is not how they will be. We see this in Abram’s story. When God came to Abram, he was 75 years old and childless, and the land God took him to was filled with Canaanites. Yet God told him, “I will make you a great nation” (Gen. 12:2a), and, “To your descendants I will give this land.” (Gen. 12:7a). I’m sure Abram couldn’t even begin to fathom the ‘how’ in that promise! Even so, Abram continued to walk, while not flawlessly, overall faithfully with God. God, then, did the impossible for Abram so that He could do the impossible for us. We don’t have to see the ‘how’ to know that God can – and will – conform us to His promise.
Matt. 11
I was wondering about Jesus’ analogy comparing the people of His generation to children in the marketplace. I did a brief search on it, but I still can’t say it’s completely clear to me. It seems, however, to have something to do with misplaced expectations, as does most of this chapter. The best I can figure, the first group of children in the analogy wanted the other group to conform to their expectations. When the second group did not comply, the first group complained, as if the other children had done something wrong. So perhaps Jesus was trying to tell the people that their unmet expectations were not His and John’s failures.
Neh. 1
Nehemiah gave an interesting description of God. He called Him, “the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Neh. 1:5b). What I see in that statement is the acknowledgment that the people, not God, were responsible for their exile. God never broke nor abandoned His covenant with the people, even though they did. God’s blessings were always for those who kept His commandments. The really neat thing I see, though, is that God went even further to preserve His covenant and lovingkindness. He removed our efforts from the equation. We still need the desire to keep His commands, of course. But it is He who preserves a right relationship with those who desire Him.