Journeys of Faith

Introduction

Genesis Genesis 12:1–13:18—Journeys of Faith

“Often God’s will for our lives is revealed gradually, and the most difficult part of obedience can be waiting.”

Bill T. Arnold

The Bifocals of Faith

Peter Marshall, one of the greatest chaplains of the Senate wrote this powerful prayer:

Genesis I. Introduction: The Bifocals of Faith

God of our fathers and our God, give us the faith to believe in the ultimate triumph of righteousness, no matter how dark and uncertain are the skies of today.

We pray for the bifocals of faith—that see the despair and the need of the hour but also see, further on, the patience of our God working out his plan in the world he has made.

So help Your servants to interpret for our time the meaning of the motto inscribed on our coins. Make our faith honest by helping us this day to do one thing because Thou hast said, “Do it,” or to abstain because Thou hast said, “Thou shalt not.”

How can we say we believe in Thee, or even want to believe in Thee, when we do not anything Thou doest tell us? May our faith be seen in our works. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I love this concept of the bifocals of faith it takes a God centered perspective to take the steps of faith that God asks of us. It takes a different view of the world to build an ark. It takes a different view of the world to leave your friends and family beyond and go to a new place. And yet that's exactly the perspective that Abraham had. My family enjoyed watching another episode of the chosen series this week. And in this week we had the conversation that Jesus had with nicodemus. In that conversation Jesus talks about being led by the spirit and how different that is. Abraham and Noah were both led by God's spirit willing to take leaps of faith following God. That's a big examine their journey this week let's take this as a challenge to ourselves to walk by faith. To see how God's asking us to leap to see how God's asking us to follow to see how God's asking us to live by faith.

Journeys of Faith

The journey to Canaan

Genesis 12:1–9 ESV

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. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 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. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

You know I'm interested in reality that I haven't thought about before was that God called Abraham to go to the land of Canaan before his family actually settled in haran. We see this in acts chapter seven.

Acts 7:2 ESV

2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

When you look at Abraham you see a man that God called out of an area that had centuries of cultural traditions and history and God wanted to call him out of that area into a new place in his life and a new place for his family to settle and for God to build them up.

Abraham truly was a man that God called to step out in faith. As Hebrews reminds us

Hebrews 11:8 ESV

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

What I love is that whenever God calls us to sacrifice he almost always promises us blessing for our willingness to sacrifice. And this is especially so true in the story of Abraham.

Genesis 12:2–3 ESV

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.”

Let’s spell out what God said here

1. I will make you into a great nation.

2. I will bless you.

3. I will make your name great.

4. You will be a blessing.

5. I will bless those who bless you.

6. Whoever curses you I will curse.

7. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Kenneth O. Gangel and Stephen J. Bramer, Genesis, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 200

Throughout genesis and into the rest of the Bible we see this theme of blessing. You see this theme of God blessing and working through his people. I love how one where their captures this principle of God blessing and providing with this quote.

Genesis (A. Journey to Canaan (12:1–9))

“God never places burdens on His people’s shoulders without giving them power to respond. God’s biddings are His enablings” (Thomas, Genesis, 116).

Genesis 12:4–5 ESV

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

Now at this point in the story we don't know whether Lott continued with Abraham because he had some sense of abraham's mission given to him by God or that Abraham was playing the part of a surrogate father for a lot one way or another lot left with Abraham. It's fascinating when Abraham set out on this journey we know that he was around 75 years old which for him was middle age he was also an extraordinarily wealthy man because of all the possessions he had to move whenever we see him moving locations in the text. But regardless of the wealth he had accumulated he demonstrated A persistent willingness to obey God's commands and go where God led him that's a sobering truth for us today when we can so easily be distracted by wealth a challenge for us to always be willing to say yes to God.

Genesis 12:6–7 ESV

6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 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.

Geography is always an important in the story of Abraham and in these verses we start to see the beginning of the Pagan opposition that would come to this new faith the Abram was bringing with him coming into the lamb you see this area this tree is mentioned multiple other times throughout the Bible as a famous shrine to paganism. God's call to worship him only caused Abraham to stand out like a sore thumb. And yet Abram builds his altar to God at the site of this great shrine.

Genesis 12:7–8 ESV

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. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Abraham continued on and stayed and a couple other places on his way to the land of Canaan building altars to God to honor God as he went.

So, why Canaan? Aside from it simply being the place where God lead Abram.

Genesis A. Journey to Canaan (12:1–9)

It was a land in association with the rest of the world of its day; it was the land bridge connecting the world of that day, namely: Asia Minor and the Hittite Empire, Mesopotamia and the Babylonian and Sumerian civilizations, and Egypt. To get from one to the other, you had to go through Canaan (LaSor, 23).

The Journey to Egypt

Genesis 12:10–13 ESV

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

At first glance it seems odd that Abraham continued on from the land of Canaan to Egypt. Of course we see in the text that there was a famine throughout the land. We know that Abraham was called to the land of Canaan but we also know that Egypt was known as the bread basket of the world at that time. The Nile river wound its way through a massive chunk of Africa and fertilized Egypt regularly by flooding which meant that when most of the rest of the world was suffering A famine or a drought Egypt very likely still had crops that they could grow thanks to the flooding.

In fact, Egyptian flooding and the reliability of the Nile river flooding every year is two reasons why the pyramids were viable to construct. Here's what I mean :) Egypt had a massive river which made transportation of supplies very doable. And when the river flooded it made it easier to get blocks and supplies further inland by boat. That aided with many of the construction projects. That aided with the construction of the great pyramids and temples. But what's also interesting is the kind of planting that the Egyptians were able to do was simpler than anywhere else. All they had to do was go out and push the seeds into the mud after the flood and they would grow. They didn't have to fight to till the ground or clear the ground they just planted the ground.

So the reason the pyramids were able to be built was you have an entire Egyptian population that had to vacate large swaths of ground every year due to the flooding. You had a whole lot of people with not a lot to do. You could feed them because the crops were reliable and you could keep them busy with massive projects. But the most likely reason that Abram continued down to Egypt was simply that they had a reliable source of food.

Many commentators have wrestled with whether Abraham was right to travel down to Egypt. I mean God called him to move to the land of Canaan why did he leave? But when you pay attention to how the Bible truths Abraham the Bible doesn't fault Abraham for continuing on to Egypt. It only faults him when he tries to deceive the pharaoh in Egypt

So what's going on with this whole deception? Of course we know that Sarah actually was Abrams half sister so he conveyed 1/2 truth to the Egyptians. Most likely that maneuvering the Abram was doing was related to the fact that in enemy territory a husband could be killed to acquire his wife but hey brother would be the person that would be negotiated with to marry a sister. Abram wanted to maneuver himself into a position where he had time to react.

Genesis 12:14–16 ESV

14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

Of course Abram didn't count on sarai getting approached by the one man in Egypt who didn't need to ask for permission. Carol didn't need to negotiate with a brother.

Genesis 12:17–20 ESV

17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

It's a powerful reality that the sin of Abram brought God's judgment on pharaoh's house but God was able to overcome abraham's sin forgive him and send him back to the land. Abram offended his hosts and was kicked out of Egypt but he learned a lesson about trust in God. If only he would learn the same lesson about the value of telling the truth.

Journey to Bethel

Genesis 13:1–7 ESV

1 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. 2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. 5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, 7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

Bethel literally means “House of God.”

We see the incredible wealth that Abram had accumulated and we see the wisdom Abram had learned.

Journey to Hebron

Genesis 13:8–18 ESV

8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. 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.

Lot chose based on appearances…not because he was choosing the sin of Soddom and Gomorrah.

God essentially tells Abram he will own all the land of Canaan....including what lot had already chosen.

Romans 11:26–29 ESV

26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Genesis 13:18 ESV

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.

Here Abram makes his final move at least for now to Hebron. God had promised Abraham so much. But if you stop and think what did Abraham know that the future would hold? What sacrifices would he have to make what would happen with this family? Abraham didn't know any of those things he simply was asked to trust God and obey God and believe God and he did.

Conclusion

A few thoughts on this passage.

Genesis Principles

God seeks human beings, and he initiates the call to relationship with him.

• God’s call doesn’t make us immune to difficult situations and tests.

• Lying may seem successful for a while, but it will eventually bring embarrassment and disaster.

• Persons who are confident they belong to God don’t have to prove their worth by being greedy and grasping.

Trafalgar Square

Genesis (IV. Life Application: Trafalgar Square)

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square, named in honor of Admiral Horatio Nelson, commemorates the victory of the British fleet at Trafalgar on the southern coast of Spain. The great naval battle was won on October 21, 1805. It gave England undisputed control of the sea, although Nelson was killed during the battle.

The backdrop was the British war against Napoleon Bonaparte, who tried to draw the fleet away to the West Indies so his armies could invade England. But Napoleon’s admiral, Villeneuve, decided on his own to attack the British fleet in concert with a combined French and Spanish fleet. This seemed a good strategy, since his ships outnumbered Nelson’s 33 to 27.

But Nelson’s ships cut through the line and destroyed or captured over half the French and Spanish ships without losing a British ship in the process. That battle gave rise to one of those interesting stories that come out of military lore. Nelson came on deck and found two British officers quarreling. He grabbed them by their shoulders, turned them around to face the French fleet, and shouted, “Gentlemen, there are your enemies!”

Abram spent a lot of time in his early years learning who his friends and enemies were. Lot could not be categorized in either camp since he was a relative with whom Abram had to deal. Nevertheless, a quarrel between them could have pulled Abram out of God’s design for the land and the covenant. He would face more enemies along the way, but Abram had learned the important fact that God was his friend.

Remember in your life, God is your friend. Turn to Him for wisdom each and every day.