Genesis 20-23, Matthew 6:1-18

Okay, let’s get this out early again today. I have lots to do. We see Abraham do it again. He lies and Sarah goes along with it. I want to deal with an issue here. Many people say that Sarah is not at fault because she submits to her husband by lying. I disagree with that. We are all responsible to not sin. We can’t blame our sin on someone else. If they sin, that doesn’t mean we should follow suit. In terms of submitting to your husband, this does not include sinning to submit to him. We think that submission to our parents or husband takes precedence. When I was a child I did this. In my marriage, I did it a lot. That doesn’t relieve me of guilt. We have to submit to our husbands and parents unless it crosses God. God and his will comes first.
I also love that God preserves Abimalech. We see that God was feared in this country. Abimelech would have sinned if God had not helped him avoid it and then spoke to him. We forget that God doesn’t want us to sin, he always gives us an out. We only need to step out and take it.
Sarah shows us another negative example in this reading. She is not loving towards Ishmael at all. She sees Ishmael teasing the baby and immediately wants him gone. She has contempt for he and his mother. That was not lawful at the time, and I can understand her hurt was still there, but she needed to forgive. Abraham saw the same, and regardless of who the mother was, Ishmael was his son. Yet, God commanded him to do it, so he did. I cried as I read this passage. I can’t imagine the pain that Abraham felt at sending away his son, not knowing what would happen. He had to completely trust in God’s word that he would bless them. This was part of the consequences for not trusting that God would give him a son through Sarah. Ishmael could not be present there in order for the promise to be completely fulfilled, so he was sent away. Yet God did not abandon them. He provided for them when they most needed it, and Ishmael was also to become a great nation.
There is another section where I cry through the whole thing. It never affected me until I became a parent, but now it just tears me apart. I am not sure I could have the faith that Abraham did. I guess if God spoke to me directly and said that Dean would become a nation I might be able to muster that kind of faith. It is just amazing to me that Abraham didn’t even bargain with God. He just did as he was told even though the outcome seemed unimaginable. Abraham was willing to give up the thing that meant most to him just to obey and please God. What is the thing that you value most? Is it a thing, a person or an activity? Are you willing to give it all up just to be faithful to God? These are questions we have to ask ourselves. Abraham’s story is not about sacrificing his son, it is about putting God first. Do you put God first, or do you merely pay him lip service? Issac had that same faith in not only God, but in his father. Pastor Rich had an amazing sermon on this a few months ago. I really encourage you to go listen to it. http://sermons.fbch.org/2009/11/15/the-tests-we-all-face/
In light of all the negotiating going on in congress lately, I really thought chapter 23 was interesting. Abraham and Ephron negotiated in front of the entire community. This would be so that their conduct would be noted and that agreements would have witnesses. I wish we could go back to this. A person’s character and intentions come out when they are negotiating. This sort of practice keeps us honest. If you have nothing to hide, transparency is no big deal. It is when you are trying to cheat someone, deal dishonestly or hide something that you need to negotiate in private. Especially away from those that it involves. On a nicer note, this is the first parcel of the promised land that Abraham acquired.
Now, We move onto Matthew. I love this section. I think that it is one of the hardest concepts to get. People run around doing good all the time for themselves. They do it to make themselves feel good, better, or more important. They do it because they think they owe someone something, they want to give back. We hear all the time of people who give a bunch of money to charity, especially those that have a lot of money to begin with. I appreciate the good that Bill Gates does, but what else is he supposed to spend his money on? He already has most anything a person could want. I am more impressed by people who don’t really have a lot of money and still manage to help a lot of people. They don’t get headlines, they don’t get kudos. They just know that they are doing what Jesus would do. My girlfriend Erika adopted a needy family this year. She sneak attacked when she did it. She told me that was the most fun part, trying to figure out how to leave a 6ft Christmas tree on someone’s doorstep and not get caught! Lol I hope that I have this attitude when helping others. I pray that it comes naturally to me and that I do it in an unassuming way.
Now, as far as the model prayer goes. This is NOT the Lord’s prayer. This is not the prayer that Jesus himself prayed. It is an answer to a question. The disciples asked how we should pray. Jesus gave us a formula. I just picked up a book at the Rescue Mission store yesterday by Hank Hannegraf about this subject but I didn’t get a chance to read it last night. I will try to read it today and blog again on that.
I hope that you guys are hanging in there and that we’ll have more participators soon. Not that I don’t love the ones we have! Lol Have a great day everyone.
Tomorrow’s Reading is Genesis 24-26 and Matthew 6:19-34.