What an interesting chapter! It starts out with Abram receiving God’s call while he was living in Haran. The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” He didn’t even know where God was leading him, but he packed everything up and he went. What faith! What courage! What amazing trust!
The chapter ends with Abram in Egypt because of a famine, asking Sarai to tell everyone she was his sister because he was afraid someone would see how beautiful she was and kill him to take her. So he solves the dilemma by putting Sarai in harms way, allowing her to be taken to Pharaoh to be his wife, and risking her purity. What cowardice! What lack of faith! What amazing betrayal!
Can you relate to Abram?
One day your faith is strong, and you are ready. “Here am I, Lord! Send me!” You feel confident in God’s promises and strong in His Word. You stand strong as a witness for the Lord. You sensed that the Lord was calling you, and you followed! You reached out a loving hand to have mercy on someone in need. You shared Jesus’ forgiveness with someone. You forgave an enemy. What faith! What courage! What amazing trust!
The next day you feel fearful. You start blaming others for your problems (after all, they are sinners!). You throw a co-worker under the bus to make yourself look good. You gossip and hurt someone’s reputation. You see the need of a friend and decide you’re too busy to help. You start focusing more and more on what you want instead of what God wants. What cowardice! What lack of faith! What amazing betrayal!
Oh, and when I said “day” in the previous two paragraphs, what I really meant, if you’re like me, that every day, every moment, swings between living as a faith-filled Child of God and a selfish sin-filled Child of Man. It’s frustrating. It’s confusing. It makes us want to give up! But we are not the first people to experience this tension between being a Child of God and being a Child of Man. Abram went between faith and fear. St. Paul wrote in Romans 7:15-17, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the Law, that it is good. So now it is no long I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” In v. 24, he says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
Abram’s life serves as a witness to us. The Saints of Old were not saints because they were so wonderful and faithful. They were saints because God had mercy on them and they lived in His grace. We their daring deeds portrayed in Scripture, but we also their failures, humiliation and humanity. Why? Because they were just like us; walking by faith, stumbling, and relying on God’s mercy.
Romans 7:25 responds to the question of who will save us. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Live in the forgiveness Jesus won for you on the cross. Dare the deeds of faith, and rely on God.
Father in Heaven, you are merciful and therefore you are praised! I get frustrated because I don’t live like I should. Forgive me, and help my life to display your mercy to others for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
The chapter ends with Abram in Egypt because of a famine, asking Sarai to tell everyone she was his sister because he was afraid someone would see how beautiful she was and kill him to take her. So he solves the dilemma by putting Sarai in harms way, allowing her to be taken to Pharaoh to be his wife, and risking her purity. What cowardice! What lack of faith! What amazing betrayal!
Can you relate to Abram?
One day your faith is strong, and you are ready. “Here am I, Lord! Send me!” You feel confident in God’s promises and strong in His Word. You stand strong as a witness for the Lord. You sensed that the Lord was calling you, and you followed! You reached out a loving hand to have mercy on someone in need. You shared Jesus’ forgiveness with someone. You forgave an enemy. What faith! What courage! What amazing trust!
The next day you feel fearful. You start blaming others for your problems (after all, they are sinners!). You throw a co-worker under the bus to make yourself look good. You gossip and hurt someone’s reputation. You see the need of a friend and decide you’re too busy to help. You start focusing more and more on what you want instead of what God wants. What cowardice! What lack of faith! What amazing betrayal!
Oh, and when I said “day” in the previous two paragraphs, what I really meant, if you’re like me, that every day, every moment, swings between living as a faith-filled Child of God and a selfish sin-filled Child of Man. It’s frustrating. It’s confusing. It makes us want to give up! But we are not the first people to experience this tension between being a Child of God and being a Child of Man. Abram went between faith and fear. St. Paul wrote in Romans 7:15-17, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the Law, that it is good. So now it is no long I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” In v. 24, he says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
Abram’s life serves as a witness to us. The Saints of Old were not saints because they were so wonderful and faithful. They were saints because God had mercy on them and they lived in His grace. We their daring deeds portrayed in Scripture, but we also their failures, humiliation and humanity. Why? Because they were just like us; walking by faith, stumbling, and relying on God’s mercy.
Romans 7:25 responds to the question of who will save us. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Live in the forgiveness Jesus won for you on the cross. Dare the deeds of faith, and rely on God.
Father in Heaven, you are merciful and therefore you are praised! I get frustrated because I don’t live like I should. Forgive me, and help my life to display your mercy to others for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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