God Calls Abraham
Genesis 12-15
God Calls Abraham, Genesis 12-15. This section of Genesis covers God's Covenant with Abram, Abram and Lot separate, Abram rescues Lot, Abram is blessed by Melchizedek, and God promises Abram a son.
12:1 Now 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. 2 And I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a
blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I
will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. . . .
When they came to the land of Canaan . . . . 7 Then the Lord appeared to
Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built
there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Genesis 12:1-4a, 5b & 7, ESV
14
The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your
eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and
eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to
you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the
dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your
offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the
breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his
tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
Genesis 13:14-18, ESV
17
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot
and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord
made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this
land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the
Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites,
the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
Genesis 15:17-21, ESV
God Calls Abraham
Genesis 12-15
So much happens in these Genesis 12-15 that it is very difficult to summarize them into a daily devotional. In this section God Calls Abraham, which covers God's Covenant with Abram, Abram and Lot separate, Abram rescues Lot, Abram is blessed by Melchizedek, and God promises Abram a son.
The overwhelming theme
in each of these circumstances is God's Covenant with Abram as shown in
his blessing and protection of Abram. When Abram and Lot separate, God
blesses Abram with great herds and flocks; when Lot is captured, God
gives Abram victory over armies much larger than his, and when
Melchizedek blesses Abram we see that this reinforces the blessing given
to Abram by God.
In Genesis 12, God calls Abraham (Abram) to leave his land and his relatives
to go to a new land that God is preparing for him. Isn't it interesting
to note that, for the Christian today, we also are waiting for a land
that God is preparing for us? That land is an eternal land in heaven which we will occupy forever!
In Genesis 15, the chapter ends with God making the covenant with Abram following the custom of
making covenants in that culture. Did Abram ever doubt God's covenant?
The only struggle we see in Abram, later to become Abraham, is in the
promise God gives him of a son. But, Abraham never doubted God's
covenant with him regarding the promised land.
God
has blessed us by confirming this same covenant with true believers
today. As Christians, we are children of Abraham and are part of this
same covenant. God promised Abraham a physical land on earth; today God
promises a physical land to us as well. God will destroy the heavens and
earth as we know them and will make for us a new heaven and a new
earth, which will become our dwelling place for eternity.
Remember God's covenant with Abram and with you as a Christian, as you go about your duties of this day! Just as God Calls Abraham, so He calls every single child of His to serve Him all of the days of our lives here on this earth, and then forever with Him in heaven.
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