Mon.’s Devo - The Making of Nations

Read: Genesis 20:1-22:24; Matthew 7:15-29; Psalm 9:1-12:Proverbs 2:16-22 It is easy to want to judge Abraham for his foolish decisions but we are watching how God teaches and grooms his leaders. Abraham didn’t have a written law about God. He learned about him through his life experiences and today we see him learning how to have faith in God and how much he had grown in that faith. Abraham feared the nations he traveled in so he had told Sarah to tell everyone she was his sister so his life would be spared. It sounds very chauvinistic to us but if something happened to him, Sarah wouldn’t stand a chance. Sarah was taken into Abimelech’s harem and both Sarah and Abraham had to be tested by God. God did come to their rescue in such a powerful way. He put the fear into Abimelech and he gave Abraham back his wife with a sharp rebuke and gave him 1,000 pieces of silver compensation. Abraham prayed for Abimelech’s family to not be barren and what he prayed for them came true for Sarah as well. She became pregnant with Isaac. Abraham was 100 years old and circumcised Isaac when he was 8 days old. Hagar and Ishmael made fun of Isaac and Sarah had had enough. She insisted that they leave. This made Abraham sad, but he did as Sarah wanted. God assured him that this was the right decision and promised Abraham that Ishmael would also make a nation of his descendants of Ishmael because he was his blood. Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away with food and water. They wandered in the wilderness until the water was gone. Hagar prepared her mind to die. God spoke to her and told her not to be afraid because he was going to make a great nation from Ishmael’s descendants. He showed Hagar a well full of water. Ishmael became a skilled archer and lived in the wilderness of Pagan. His mother arranged for him to marry an Egyptian woman. Abimelech came to pay a visit to Abraham and to make a covenant with their peoples. Abraham got back the well in Beersheba in the covnenant. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba Years later, Abraham was tested again. He was to take Isaac to a mountain that God would pick out and sacrifice him to the Lord. Abraham immediately obeyed. Isaac was a teen-ager by now. He questioned why there was no lamb but soon found out he was the lamb. He, like Jesus laid down his life willingly on he altar because he so trusted his father. God called out to Abraham and stopped him with his knife in the air. He told Abraham that he had passed the test and showed him a ram in the thicket that he could sacrifice in Isaac’s place. Abraham anted the place Yahweh-Yireh which means “the Lord will provide”. God promised Abraham that he would bless him and multiply his descendants beyond number. They would conquer the cities of their enemies and through his descendants, all the earth will be blessed. All of this was because Abraham obeyed him. Abraham got news that his brother Nahor had had eight sons from his wife Milcah and four others from his concubine, Reumah. One of his sons was Nahor who would have a daughter named Rebekah. She would become the wife of Isaac. Jesus told us how to recognize a false prophet. It was not like in the Old Testament where the litmus test was whether his prophecy came true. The litmus test now was the fruit of the prophet - his actions. Many will not be exposed until the judgment day. Lord, may we welcome our testing because we know that testing makes us stronger.