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Saturday, December 4, 2010

Chapter 14 / 15 - God Helps Those Who Help Themselves? / The End of the Road (Genesis 24 and 25:1-18)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
(Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV)

We see in this week's lesson that Abraham sends his servant to the land of his father to find a wife for Isaac. From the text, we do not see that he had any revelation from God in this matter, but notice that Abraham nevertheless trusts that God will provide:

"The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there."
(Genesis 24:7 ESV)

Abraham's faith had grown from the self-reliance we saw in his attempt to fulfill the promise of God through Ishmael in Genesis 16 and 17, to unflinching obedience towards God in his willingness to offer Isaac upon the altar in Genesis 22. In this chapter, notice from the passage above--and from the servant's responses throughout the remainder of the chapter--the dependency upon God's providence and acknowledgement of God's faithfulness:

"And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.""
(Genesis 24:12 ESV)

"The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.”"
(Genesis 24:26-27 ESV)

When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the LORD.
(Genesis 24:52 ESV)

And in Genesis 25:1-18 we see the end of Abraham's life. God had been faithful to keep the promise he made to Abraham of providing him a son through whom God would bless the nations. Abraham would not live to see the complete outworking of that promise, but he died at "a good old age" and was buried in the land of the promise with his wife, Sarah.

In Christ, we are the offspring of Abraham, heirs of the promise. (Galatians 3:29) But like Abraham, we are living in the gap between what God has promised to ultimately bring about and the realization of that promise. Note what the author of Hebrews says regarding the Old Testament saints:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
(Hebrews 11:13-15; Hebrews 11:16 ESV)

The road to the better country and to our Lord is not without toll. Christ paid the inestimable price on our behalf. But neither are we free to live our lives as we choose, according to our own plan and purpose. Having been declared citizens of Heaven, we must travel the straight path that comes only from acknowledging God, denying ourselves and following Christ, who will one day close the gap as history ends and eternity begins:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
(Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
(Revelation 22:1-5 ESV)