A Life of Worship - Abraham Part 2

Abram continues his journey to Caanan, and having been thrown out of Egypt by the Pharaoh following a misunderstanding about what exact relation Sarai was to Abram, he returned to a place where he had camped before. "and there he worshiped the Lord again." (Gen 13 v 4)
After a while a dispute broke out between Abram and Lot as the land could not support the number of people they had with them. Abram resolved the conflict in a very wise and godly manner. He allowed Lot to choose the land he wanted to keep.
I find this very interesting as it shows how close Abram was to God. Had Abram not been trusting God with everything then surely he would have done the very human thing of choosing the land he wanted for himself first or even fighting with Lot to keep the land he desired. Instead, he allowed Lot to choose and God rewarded him by again promising that all the land he could see to the North, South, East and West would belong to him and his descendants. (at this point I always wonder whether Abram thought God was pulling his leg, as he had no descendants and as such who would the land belong to?)
Abram responds in his usual manner: "...he built another altar to the Lord" (Gen 13 v 18)

The story continues with Abram saving Lot from the invaders of Sodom, where Lot was living at the time. Having defeated the invaders and rescued Lot, the king of Sodom offered Abram all the treasures he had recovered which rightfully belonged to Sodom. Abram refused the treasures, essentially stating that he would not want anyone to think that it was Sodom, not God, who had made him wealthy.

Some time later, Abram is talking to God, asking him what good are all the blessings if he has no son to inherit them. This is the point at which God puts the point across bluntly "...you will have a son of your own who will be your heir." (Gen 15 v 4) Again, had I been Abram at the time I would probably have said (or at least thought) "yeah right, I'll believe that when I see it!". Abram didn't. The next verse very simply says: "And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith."

How often do we find it easier to doubt the Lord than to simply believe in His promises? It can be very easy to simply remember the times of hardship and forget the times of harvest. It can be so easy to attribute bad circumstances to God and good circumstances to ourselves or simple coincidence. Abram shows that whatever circumstances we are in, God is with us. He will not leave us and His promises are reliable, therefore all we have to do is believe.

A Life of Worship - Abraham Part 1.

Abraham truly did live a life of worship. Looking through the book of Genesis, it amazes me what Abraham does in the name of the Lord. Equally amazing is the amount of time he spends worshipping Him.

Abraham, (formerly known as Abram, which, incidently, means exalted father, an ironic name given the fact that his wife could not have children and as such he had not fathered any children) was marriedto Sarai and at the beggining of the story they are living in Haran, which is North of the River Euphrates and North East of the Mediterranean Sea.

At the very start of Genesis Chapter 12, the Lord says to Abram: "“Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

At the time, Abram was 75 years old, and although in those days people lived for a fairly long time, (his father, Terah, was 205 when he died) he was no spring chicken!

In this situation I am fairly certain what my immediate response would be. I'd probably say something like:

"But Lord, I'm 75, I'm settled, my wife and I are happy here, we have a living, we have a house with a garden and a great view. I'm glad you want to bless me, but to be honest, I'm not too bothered about everyone else being blessed through me. I'd rather just stay here. Thanks for the offer though, I'm sure you'll find someone much better than me to carry out your plan for you!"

As I said, that would be my immediate response, although I'd like to think that that is not quite what I'd actually say!

Thankfully, Abram doesn't say no, instead he upped sticks with his wife, his nephew Lot and his servants, taking all his wealth with him and headed for Canaan, the land the Lord had promised him. The story then describes how Abraham basically carries out his journey breaking it up with pit stops simply to worship the Lord. Gen 12 v 7 says, after Abram has arrived at Shechem, which is currently inhabited by Caananites, "... The Lord said: “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord..."

So he stopped in the middle of land inhabited by foreigners and stopped to worship the Lord, praising him for his promise.

Gen 12 v 8 shows Abram a little further along his journey, to the South of verse 7 having set up camp in the hill country. "There he built an altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord".

Abram could not survive spiritually without regularly renewing his love and loyalty to God. Gen 12 v 9 says simply that Abram continued traveling south by stages towards the Negev.

One can only assume, in light of the previous two verses that at the end of each stage, and probably along the way, he was worshipping the Lord.

The question is now is this: In light of Abram's example, how often are we stopping to worship the Lord? Do we only stop on Sunday mornings and forget about Him for the rest of the week? Or are we genuinely worshiping Him throughout each day, stopping to thank Him for the little things as well as the big things? As we'll find out next time, Abram never stopped worshiping the Lord, no matter how hard the trials that came his way. He lived a life holy (sic) dedicated to God.

There is no greater challenge.

There is no greater joy.