Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Genesis 12-15
Boy, what a shift of gears from our 12 day journey through the Book of Job. There is so much to consider in Job, that I found it difficult to get my mind to move on.
Nonetheless, journey we must to complete our task in the allotted 365 days.
Here too, in our daily reading, there is much to consider. I again found myself shocked at Abram's cuckold-like behavior with Egypt's Pharaoh, and I greatly desire to understand more of this man Melchizedek.
But, me thinks, God is present is our story, and that certainly bears our prime consideration.
It is most interesting to me that God steps into history here, and chooses a man to build His people. In that last chapter we saw God scattering the nations (Tower of Babel), and now here, many generations later, we find God stepping back into the picture, and choosing to build his own nation from the womb of a barren woman.
It is also interesting that Abram, just like we are today, was an alien in strange lands wandering about while God prepared the promised land for his people.
It is also important to understand that even today, God is still choosing his people, preparing a place for them, and we await the great blessing that began all the way back here with Abram.
We are going to behold every kind of imaginable sin as we travel through the pages of the Old Testament. We are going to see constant struggle as God's chosen people wrestle with their fallen natures, come under the holy wrath of God, God's persistent mercy, and his unshakable plan to build his people.
Through our whole journey, if we pay close attention, and force the big picture to remain in front of us, we will begin to see God's plan of redemption take place before our eyes. God did not leave us in the Garden of Eden to remain dead in our sins. He has a plan.
God will build a people, and he will be their God.
It is with unspeakable joy that we, those chosen by God, are included to be His.
Program Note: I have removed most of the references to the ESV Study Bible from this series. Although I will personally be using the ESV Study Bible, I don't want people to think they must possess this particular Bible to join us in our journey. Why not invite a friend to join us today!
