Wed.’s Devo - The Beginning of God's Family

Read: Genesis 11:1-13:4; Matthew 5:1-26; Psalm 5:1-12; Proverbs 1:24-28 All the earth spoke the language of Noah since they all came from him. Ham’s line had gone to the land of Babylonia and settled them. They began to build bricks for stone which was clay hardened in the fire. They used slime or bitumen for cement. All of these elements represent hell. They wanted to build a great city with a great pyramid and be infamous on the earth. God came down to inspect what they were doing and knew it was being done for evil purposes. They were literally building a portal to heaven for Satan’s benefit. God came up with a plan to stop them. He confused their language so they couldn’t agree. God knew that the power of agreement is very strong. They ended up scattering all over the world and stopped their building of the city. The city became known as Babel which means “confusion”. Shem’s family became the Jewish nation that Abraham came from. “Shem” means “a name” and God put his name on their family. Terah was a descendent of Shem who had three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran had a son named Lot. They lived in Ur of the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans worshipped fire. One day Terah took Abram and Abram’s wife Sarai and his grand son Lot and moved away and was headed for Canaan. He stopped short in Haran and stayed there until Terah died. God spoke to Abram to continue his father’s plan to go to Canaan. God had told Shem that he would rule over Canaan and God wanted Abraham to begin that process. When Abram got to Canaan, God told Abram again that he would give him that land. Abram built an altar and dedicated it to the Lord. Abram continued through the land and built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord. A famine struck the land of Canaan forcing Abram to go to Egypt. There he was tested. He told his beautiful wife, Sarai to tell the Pharaoh of Egypt that she was his sister so he wouldn’t be killed. Sarai did and was taken into the harem of the Pharaoh who compensated Abram richly. God protected Sarai and sent a plague on the Egyptians. They figured out that the famine was because they had taken Abram’s wife. Pharaoh gave Sarai back to Abram and sent them from his country. Abram left with all his possessions. Abram was rich in livestock and gold and silver. Abram went back to the second altar he had set up and worshipped the Lord there. It was between Bethel and Ai. In Matthew Jesus preached that the blessed are those who are poor and realize they need God, those who mourn, who are humble, who hunger and thirst for justice, those who are merciful and work for peace. He also blesses those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. A reward is waiting in heaven for all who are persecuted on this earth. Jesus calls his followers the salt of the earth. “Salt” means “prudence’. We must stay innocent and pure to be useful on the earth. He also tells us that we are the light of the world so we need to not hide but let our light shine on the earth. Jesus came to fulfill all scripture and everything the prophets foretold. Obeying God’s law is important. It is the law of the Kingdom. Jesus took the law and explained that it was not just something you did but a law to your heart. For example, you can murder people with your mouth which is just as damaging as if you actually killed them. Even being angry with someone and calling them names can put you in danger of the fires of hell. When we have aught against our neighbor we need to be reconciled with them before we can approach God with a gift of our hearts. In other words, our relationships with others reflect our relationship with the Lord. It is better to settle our differences out of court than to let the courts decide our fate. Lord, thank you that you are our adversary and our peace. You enable us to be the salt of the earth because You are in us. You enable us to be the light of the world because it is your light in us. May we reflect you today.