Genesis
12 – God’s Presence
Other
than Adam and Abraham, God did not appear to anyone else throughout Genesis 1 –
11. There are strong personalities
throughout the rest of Genesis. First,
there was Abraham the man of Faith.
Isaac the beloved son, Jacob the chosen and chastened son and Joseph and
his suffering and glory.
Today
our focus is on Abram who was chosen by God.
He is one of the greatest men who lived on this earth. More people have heard of Abraham than any
President, movie star or Athlete. One of
his attributes was that he was a generous man.
He gave his nephew, Lot the choice of land. When he dealt with the Kings of Sodom and
Gomorrah, he told them he would not take the booty, not one bit because his
focus was on God. “Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Romans 4:3. God appeared to Abram seven times. God also tested Abram four times and he
failed at all of them. Even we fall at
times, but like Abraham we get up and start over again. Even though, Abram had bumps in the road, God
kept his promises to Abraham. First of
which, God promised him the land.
Secondly, God will make of him a great nation and bless him and make his
name great. Lastly, God promised to
bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. God made good his
promises but had a contingency with the first one. He told them that they could not have the
land if they were disobedient to them.
Today they are away from Him and are having trouble in Israel. The day will come when God puts the people
back in the land of Israel. They have a
long way to go, but they will have it on God’s terms and in God’s appointed
time.
In
the light of God’s promises, Abram obeyed God and left his home, his business
and the society of Ur, while not knowing where he was going. His first fall was
taking his nephew with him. He was to
leave his kindred and his father’s house.
God never appeared to Abraham again until he entered the land of
Canaan. The Canaanites were barbarians
and heathens. Because there was a famine,
Abraham left the land that God gave him.
That was Abraham’s second mistake.
God did not tell him to do that.
Abram traveled to Egypt and God did not appear to him while he was
there.
When
we are in opposition to God, it may feel like He left us, when in reality we
left God. God is always there, just as
with Abram waiting for us to return to Him.
When we are obedient, we then can feel His presence in our life.
In
these chapters Abraham is called Abram until later in the book.
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