For years and years Abram’s story has been one of those ‘pay attention to me’ stories. There is something about the realness of Abram. He is an incredible mixture of incredible trust in God –leaving his home to follow the Lord- and lack of trust in God –asking Sari to say she was his sister in order to save his skin.
This trust mixed with lack of trust in God is so human. I battle with it every day. My lack of trust in God probably is as deep as Abram’s but my trust in God has never reached the heights of Abram. This is probably why I resonate with Abram. He is real to me.
Another reason I perk up when I come to Abram’s account is found in verse 2-3. God’s promise to Abram is astounding!
"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
I stare at all of the ‘I’s’ and marvel at all that God will do! God puts His name and therefore His reputation on the line in these promises to Abram.
God also shows His heart and this is where I paused to ponder and marvel this morning. I found myself staring at the final blessing, then shifting my gaze and thoughts outside my picture windows into the world and then I’d come back to the text.
I will bless those who bless you … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
As a son in God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ, I am a faith-descendant of Abraham’s. What am I doing to see that the blessings I have received from God, through faith in Jesus, are passed on to all peoples on earth?
God’s desire is to bless all peoples. How am I availing myself to God to be a tool in His hand, to accomplish His desire, to bless all peoples?
I have been wondering lately about what more I could be doing to spread God’s blessing throughout the world…
Lord, I am a jumbled mess of trust and lack of trust. You know that all too well. Yet within me, Lord, is a yearning to extend Your name and to see Your blessing reach all peoples. Speak with me, Lord, show me, tell me what I should be doing. Lord, I know, too, that You will probably have to tell me more than once because I am such a mixture of trust and lack of trust. Forgive me when lack of trust wins out over trust. Strengthen me to live more and more trustfully. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen
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