Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 17 before reading the devotional below.

It’s hard for us to conceive of the longer lifespans of those in the early Old Testament, but at age 99 Abram is just getting started. God changes his name to Abraham, which shifts the meaning of his name from “exalted father” to “father of many.” Interesting how all the way along, Abram has been carrying a father identity despite his lack of children. God now expands Abram’s identity to demonstrate his plans and promises.

For his promise, God has one demand: a piece of flesh from every male. Why would God want such a thing? It’s actually similar to other symbolic and cultural rituals in which a servant would be marked to show allegiance to their master. It also sets up a clear demand for blood as a payment for sin. Circumcision is also a pretty quick way to tell the difference between friends and enemies in battle.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God’s promises are better than you think.

When God continues to tell Abraham that he will bless him with many descendants, Abraham is still stuck on that promise being fulfilled through Ishmael. He never figured out (after 13 years) that God was still sticking to the original plan and he wasn’t going to fulfill his promises through Abraham’s sinful efforts. Sarai (now renamed Sarah) is not going to be left out here — God has blessings for her in perhaps the most significant never-too-late story in the Bible. Even though they lived longer back then, even Abraham is surprised at a 90-year-old woman having a baby. God’s promises will always exceed our expectations, so whatever your imagination can create is just a fraction of all that God has for you.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 16 before reading the devotional below.

Have you ever tried to give God a little help in delivering what he has promised to you? I often like to remind myself that God is not advertising for a fourth member of the Trinity… As we’ve discussed, God invites us to participate with him in his plans. But we have to make sure we just do our part and don’t try to meddle with God’s part.

In today’s chapter, Sarai starts feeling badly that she’s in the way of God’s promise to Abram. Generally, I don’t recommend making decisions out of guilt. We see the result: she suggests to Abram that he have a child with her servant, Hagar. Abram punts on his responsibility (as did Adam in Genesis 3) and doesn’t bother thinking it through. No shock, Sarai is pretty upset when the whole thing actually goes down. Also no shock, God cares about the situation and defends the victim.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God is always on the side of the oppressed.

Lots of people struggle with understanding God. That’s good, because if you don’t struggle with understanding God, your “god” is too small. However, one thing is quite clear because we see it in the Bible over and over: God sides with victims. He had no real reason to care about Hagar. He was busy building a nation for himself through Abram and looking 400 years into the future. We know from later instructions that God forbids adultery. If he’s building a nation for himself, it’s not going to be that way. He sends Hagar back, but with a promise of her own: “I will give you more descendants than you can count.” Sound familiar? Yup, it’s the same exact thing he said to Abram. If you’ve been victimized, God sees you, he hears you, he cares, and he’s going to turn things around for you in the end. He’s on your side.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 15 before reading the devotional below.

God’s promises keep coming as he continues to tell Abram that he will protect his family and reward Abram with greatness. There’s a critical sentence in verse 6: “And Abram believed the Lord…” God is still reassuring him that a great nation will come from his descendants, yet Abram still has no children. He doesn’t see how it’s all possible, but yet he believes God’s promises.

Then God shows up in a symbol and a dream, revealing that his plans are well-thought out. He’s making chess moves 400 years into the future, and it’s really too much for Abram to comprehend. His relationship with God is such that he is leaning into God’s promises rather than running away. He is choosing to trust.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God doesn’t just see the big picture, he sees the whole picture.

God makes the impossible possible because he’s not limited by the things that limit you. He’s playing things out today for 400 years from now, or for 1,000 years after that. Our tunnel-vision and our focus on ourselves causes us to fear and doubt, but God knows exactly what he is doing. If you don’t see how it’s all going to work, God does. Trust him.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 14 before reading the devotional below.

Today we begin to grasp the breadth of the nations that have developed in Abram’s era. It’s amazing to see how civilizations and armies have been established, and we certainly don’t get all the historical details here. Remember, the Bible corresponds with history but is not meant to be a complete history book. We are tracing the history of the Jewish people which is captured here.

An important name appears in this chapter and again in Psalm 110 and Hebrews 7: Melchizedek. We don’t know much about him other than the fact that he was a king and a priest. Abram acknowledged him as such by giving him a tenth of everything he had, establishing the concept of a tithe. Recall that God has promised to use Abram to build a great nation for himself. This early foreshadowing of a mediator between mankind and God is central to the concept of Jesus as Messiah.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God is our source of victory.

Melchizedek gave Abram a blessing on behalf of God, a powerful statement of God’s provision and victory. Abram honored God with an offering. This exchange could not be direct because — as we know from Genesis 3 — sin had created a barrier between people and God. Melchizedek is the first biblical example of a mediator between a person and God, thus making him the ultimate example before Jesus of how people could offer sacrifices to God. We know that God had talked to Noah and to Abram, but the concept of a covenant (promise) and a sacrificial system is introduced here. This system will serve throughout the entire Old Testament as a symbol of the reality that we can never sacrifice enough to overcome our sin.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 13 before reading the devotional below.

If only all family disputes could be settled as easily as the one in today’s chapter between Abram and his nephew, Lot. Funny how when you are rich, there’s more to fight about. Turns out the herdsmen weren’t getting along, trying to keep Abram’s flocks and Lot’s separate. Ultimately, they needed more space and they moved to different areas.

This map shows the land that we know as modern-day Israel. Lot moved down towards Zoar, in the area of Sodom and Gomorrah (spoiler alert: those cities don’t last much longer). Abram went up towards Hebron and Mamre, just below Bethlehem. God made a promise to Abram to give him all the land around him — as far as the eye could see.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God loves to share his wealth.

God was interested in blessing Abram, and raising up a special nation from his descendants. Today we know them as the Jewish people. God loves to bless his children and give them good gifts. It’s interesting that wars are still being fought over these lands, and this chapter in the Bible is one reason why. For thousands of years, the Jewish people have believed that God himself gave them the land and it is rightfully theirs. Other people groups (some of whom were there even before Abram) disagree. Regardless of how you might view that politically, you can see God’s desire to build a nation for himself and bless Abram in order to do it.