Skip to main content

Out of small beginnings, great blessing can come ...

Following Abram's rash action of fathering a child, Ishmael, by his maidservant, Hagar, we see, in Genesis 17, God's determination to bless him and to make him a blessing to many people. God will not be put off by our objections (Genesis 17:15-19). To such objections, He gives this answer: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14). Despite God's plan to send blessing, there are still many hindrances: the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were such hindrances to God's purpose: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous" (Genesis 18:20). Time and again, God held back His judgment. Still, the sin continued, and the judgment was coming. Even in the face of judgment, we must take great encouragement from the patience of God - "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it" (Genesis 18:32). God is looking for the remnant of faith. Out of such small beginnings, great blessing can come. Only a few were found faithful. They did not seem to be very significant. It was through this small band of faithful people that God carried forward His plan of salvation.
God's plan of salvation reaches its fulfilment in our Saviour, Jesus Christ. In His teaching, as in the teaching of Genesis 17-18, there is both salvation and judgment. Some will be saved. Many will be lost (Matthew 7:13-14,21-23). If we are to be saved, we must follow the wisdom of the Proverbs - "Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching" (Proverbs 1:8). Above all, we must follow the "Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing", the living Word - our Lord Jesus Christ. Satan is seeking to destroy us - "let’s swallow them alive, like the grave" (Proverbs 1:12). To "go along with" those who do not honour the Lord Jesus Christ is to "rush into sin" (Proverbs 1:15-16). To live by faith in Christ is "to be kept by the power of God for full salvation" (1 Peter 1:5).
(One Year Bible -  Day 8: Genesis 17:1-18:33; Matthew 6:25-7:23; Proverbs 1:8-19)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Let Us Pray For More Of God's Blessing.

What God did for His people, Israel, was very great. There is a striking contrast between their slavery in Egypt and their abundance in the promised land. God had multiplied His blessing upon them, just as Jesus did when He turned water into wine (John 2:1-11). If the blessing is to be maintained and increased, we must honour the Lord. We must cry to Him for blessing: "Hear my prayer, O God, listen to the words of my mouth." We must call upon Him with faith: "Surely God is my help; the Lord is the One who sustains me" (Psalm 54:2,4).

God’s Blessing .

“The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake” (Genesis 39:5). God’s blessing overflows. We go back to Genesis 39:2 – “the Lord was with Joseph.” God was blessing Joseph – and His blessing overflowed to others.

Reaching out with the Good News of Jesus Christ

‘Reconciled’ to God through Christ, we have received ‘the ministry of reconciliation.’ Saved by Him, we are to ‘work with Him.’ We are ‘not to accept the grace of God in vain’ by living for ourselves. We are to be ‘ambassadors for Christ.’ We must proclaim the urgent message of salvation - ‘now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.’ We must call men and women to respond to God’s message of salvation: ‘Be reconciled to God’ (2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2). If we are to be effective ‘ambassadors for Christ’, we must dedicate our lives to Him: ‘Let us cleanse ourselves… and make holiness perfect in the fear of God’(2 Corinthians 7:1). Without this heartfelt commitment to godly living, we cannot really serve the Lord at all. Our wrong lives will drown out our ‘right’ words. We need true lives as well as ‘true’ words.