“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, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.” Genesis 13:3,4.
As we saw in our last lesson, Abram had journeyed to Egypt during a famine, and subsequently lied about his wife in order to save his own skin. Abram failed to fully rely upon the promises that God had made.
However, God has plans even for our failures, and we see from the passage above that Abram responded to his failure by going back where he began, and there he called upon the name of the Lord.
What do we do when we fail? How do we respond when we realize that we have not relied upon the promises of God? Do we understand that God will work through our circumstances--no matter how desperate the situation may seem, no matter how we may have botched it--to accomplish His purposes? He works all things together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). All means all. As a very dear and godly friend of mine says, “God is not on coffee break.”
Because of the great love of God, He has made us alive in Christ Jesus. We are His children, and as His children, we live by faith and not by sight. But our faith is not blind, it is well-attested by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. When we fail--and we will--we can "go back" and call upon the name of the Lord, resting assured in the fact of our salvation by grace through faith, which was purchased by the very wrath of the Father poured out on the Son, so that we would be forgiven and united to Christ.
“The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.”
--Psalm 37:23,24.
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