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Genesis 24:7: Sure of God’s guidance

^“7 ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, “To your offspring^[a] I will give this land”– he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.” NIV UK

‘’The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out…he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there’’ (7).

We end this particular working week with a brief and simple thought: you can be sure of the reality of God’s guidance in the great choices of life – if you look to Him. In fact, there may be times when you are not consciously trusting Him at all, but He is still guiding your footsteps. But the Bible is filled with promises of God’s goodness in this area, to those put their confidence in Him. We are like travellers across an unknown sea, and we need a Pilot; we require a Captain. God will be this to us. Let us be sure of it. I believe we can be as confident as Abraham was when he made this affirmative statement to his servant.  This morning, I saw a clip from Archbishop John Sentamu on ‘Facebook’. He said that when he wakes up in the night, he takes it that the Holy Spirit wants to share something with him, and often in the quiet listening he finds answers to perplexing problems.

This reminds me of the wonderful words, spoken by God Himself, in Psalm 32:8: ‘’I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go: I will counsel you and watch over you.’’ I seem to remember that one translation says something like, ‘I will guide you with my eye open you.’ Now there’s a thought to take into the week-end!

PRAYER: Thank you that ‘Somebody bigger than you or I’ watches over our days, our nights, and all our movements.  (Do you need guidance regarding any decisions today? Seek the Lord, remembering His lovely Word)

Genesis 24:5-9: Don’t go back!

^“5 The servant asked him, ‘What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?’ ⁶ ‘Make sure that you do not take my son back there,’ Abraham said. ⁷ ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, “To your offspring^[a] I will give this land”– he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. ⁸ If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.’ ⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.” NIV UK

Christian parents don’t want their children to marry a ‘Canaanite.’ Our desire is for them to find a wife or husband among the people of God. We understand something of the spiritual dangers involved with being unequally yoked, and the difficulty, and even misery, it can lead to when the first flush of love has worn off. That said, we can’t control our adult children; only try to guide them. If they do move in that direction, all is not lost. They are still in the orbit of our prayers, and held in the arms of God’s gracious care. Don’t despair mum or dad, if your heart is breaking today over some beloved prodigal. As long as you have breath you will love them, and you can pray for them, and those prayers will count.

But Jesus said. ‘’No-one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God’’ (Luke 9:62). Marrying an unbeliever, when you are a Christian, is a step in a back- ward direction; it is going into reverse gear. Abraham was adamant: ‘’Make sure that you do not take my son back there…Only do not take my son back there…’’ (6a, 8b). He knew that God had brought him ‘’out’’ (7), and there could be no going back. Every believer should take this to heart. There are many ways in which we can return to the old life, but we should consider those doors barred and bolted, and never try to break through them. Even if we still love the Lord, we are likely to have bitter regrets.

PRAYER: You might like to pray today for someone you know who has married a person who does not share their Christian faith, and they are finding life a struggle. That is not always the case, of course, but it so often is.

Genesis 24:1-4: Stewardship

“Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. ² He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, ‘Put your hand under my thigh. ³ I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, ⁴ but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.’” NIV UK

‘’…the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had’’ (2).

Like Abraham’s servant in this marvellous story, we are stewards. The property we have is God’s property. We have the privilege of managing it under His authority. But all that we have is never really ours. It is always His. This is how we must learn to think about it; and ask Him to guide us in the use of it.

As we get older, I believe we begin to see more clearly how tenuous a link we have with our possessions. At least, we do if we allow ourselves to. If we really think about it, we know that someone else will soon live in that house; inherit those possessions. More than ever, this helps to impress upon our hearts that none of the ‘stuff’ is ours. It never was. But it is our privilege to wisely and faithfully manage the goods of our Master. May He be pleased with what we do.

Genesis 23:3-20: Respect.

^“3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, ⁴ ‘I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so that I can bury my dead.’ ⁵ The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶ ‘Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.’ ⁷ Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸ He said to them, ‘If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf ⁹ so that he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.’¹⁰ Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. ¹¹ ‘No, my lord,’ he said. ‘Listen to me; I give  you the field, and I give^[c] you the cave that is in it. I give  it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.’¹² Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land ¹³ and he said to Ephron in their hearing, ‘Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so that I can bury my dead there.’¹⁴ Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵ ‘Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels  of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.’¹⁶ Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.¹⁷ So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre – both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field – was legally made over ¹⁸ to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. ¹⁹ Afterwards Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ So the field and the cave in it were legally made over to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.” NIV UK

‘’Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land…Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land…’’ (7 and 12).

As ‘’aliens and strangers in the world’’ (1 Peter 2:11), we should treat the people of the world with the greatest respect. Their beliefs, ways and customs will inevitably differ from ours, but it doesn’t meant that we can be discourteous towards them. Much influence for good may be had by handling people well.

Verses 17-20 cause me to reflect on the New Testament truth that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a ‘’deposit.’’ He is the ‘downpayment’, the ‘first instalment’ of our inheritance. He is the ‘guarantee’ of what is to come. Tom Hale makes the point that with the purchase of this field, Abraham gained, we might say, a ‘toehold’ in the promised land. The final possession of the land was still some 500 years away.

This particular cave was to be the final resting place of Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah and Jacob.

‘Death is an ever constant reminder that the world is not our home. We rise up from before our dead to confess that we are only strangers and sojourner on the earth. Though the whole country, by God’s deed and gift, belonged to Abraham, it had not as yet been made over, hence the necessity for this deliberate purchase with all the stately formalities of the leisured East. Abraham’s insistence on buying this grave, and the care with which the negotiations were pursued, show that he realised that his descendants would come again into that land and possess it. It was as though he felt that he and Sarah should lie there awaiting the return of their children and their children’s children. See also Gen.49:29,30. In the same way, the graves of martyrs and of missionaries who have fallen at the post of duty are the silent outposts that hold those lands for Christ…’ F.B Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.23.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that your promises are sure, and we can count on you to bring them to pass in your own good time.

Genesis 23:1-3: Moving on

“Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. ² She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. ³ Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites.He said,” NIV UK

‘’Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife…’’

Christians do not grieve like other people who don’t share the same hope. Paul writes along these lines in his first letter to the church at Thessalonica. But they do grieve. It is painful indeed to lose a loved one – especially a spouse. Abraham and Sarah had shared so much together during their long marriage; not least in the second half of their lives after leaving Ur. They had raised a son to maturity long after many people are in the grave. Losing Sarah must have been a bitter pill to swallow.

But it is true that life goes on. Sooner or later (and there is no specified time anyone can put on this) everyone has to move on too. Your loved one’s life on earth is over; yours isn’t. There is still work to be done. God has a plan for you.

A bereavement will bring you to tears, but it doesn’t have to bring you to a full stop. By the grace of God you can live again.

Genesis 23:1-2: Not immunised

“Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. ² She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. ” NIV UK

Believers may experience remarkable miracles during their life-times, but they have to die. In a fallen world like this is, we all have an appointment to keep with the grave. Christianity is not an immunisation against dying. People would want conversion for the wrong reason if it was. However, it does supply a glorious hope in the face of death. Death is not the end. The parting is temporary.

But we are not inoculated against dying. Nor are we vaccinated against the experience of bereavement, loss and pain. Shortly after the death of my first wife, I took my daughter and her friend to a theme park for the day. While they enjoyed the rides, I made my way around the beautiful gardens of the estate. It was a warm, sunny day, and it felt good to be alive. But in the fresh experience of a loss which came ‘out of the blue’, I just saw couples everywhere. I remember sitting on a bench and thinking, ‘But one day, this kind of loss is going to happen to everyone you see holding hands, walking side by side.’ It wasn’t that I wished it on anyone, but the realisation dawned on me that marriage truly is only for a finite amount of time. It is: ‘Till death us do part.’ And death steals up, and parts people. You might be Abraham, but you’re not immune.

The Bible never promises immunity from death, but if we trust in Jesus, ‘’the good shepherd’’ (John 10:14), we can assert: ‘’Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me’’ (Psalm 23:4).

So, when Sarah died, we are quite sure that the Lord shepherded her ‘’through the darkest valley’’ (as Psalm 23:4a) can read; and ‘’Surely’’ His ‘’goodness and love’’ followed Abraham all through the remainder of his days on earth, until he finally found himself also ‘’in the house of the LORD forever.’’

 I can’t promise any believer the absence of trouble. I have no authority to say such a thing. But I can assure you, on the solid basis of Scripture, of the presence of God amidst earth’s darkest nights.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord for the comfort you give, which is very real, and can in turn be shared with others ( see 2 Corinthians 1: 3ff).

 Genesis 22:13-24: The substitute

^“13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’ ¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, ‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.’ ¹⁹ Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.²⁰ Some time later Abraham was told, ‘Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), ²² Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.’ ²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.”

‘’He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son’’ (13b).

At the heart of the Bible story we encounter the vital doctrine of ‘substitutionary atonement.’ It says, not simply that Jesus died, but that He died ‘’instead of’’ all of us. It was foreshadowed way back in this story of God providing a ‘’ram’’ to die in Isaac’s place. This ram died as a substitute, it is believed, in the same place where Jesus would die centuries later. A gospel song puts it like this:

‘I should have been crucified; I should have suffered and died.

I should have hung on the cross in disgrace,

But Jesus, God’s Son, took my place.’

 Genesis 22:9-12: Offering up your ‘Isaac’

^“9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. ¹² ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’ ” NIV UK

Although there were many things Abraham did not know for certain, He could be sure that God was in this (9). The Lord doesn’t promise to answer all our questions, but He does expect our complete obedience.  Warren Wiersbe comments: ‘Abraham loved his son, but he loved God more…If the gift becomes more important than the Giver, it becomes an idol.’

I remember being at ‘Spring Harvest’ – a Christian holiday week – many years ago. These were the days when it was held at ‘Pontins’, Prestatyn. One morning, the Bible teacher spoke so clearly and powerfully about this passage. He said God asked Abraham for Isaac. But He didn’t really want Isaac, He wanted Abraham. When it was obvious that Abraham was God’s man absolutely, He gave Isaac back. The speaker talked about how we often have the same experience when we ‘offer up our Isaac’s’.

God is totally trustworthy. You don’t have to understand all He is doing to put your hand in His. He will not let you down.

 Genesis 22:6-8: God’s provision.

^“6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’ ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ ⁸ Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together.” NIV UK

The name ‘’Moriah’’ (vs 2: Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah) means ‘The Lord will provide’ (see also 9, 14).

Again, the gospel resonance continues. We are reminded of the cross being placed on Jesus (6). Also, there is no record of protest on the part of Isaac. It seems he submitted to his father’s will. The unity between father and son is reflected in the words of verses 6b and 8b: ‘’…the two of them went on together.’’ This is a distant echo of the oneness between God the Father and God the Son that we are going to witness in the gospels.

The ultimate provision of ‘’the lamb for the burnt offering’’ (8) would come centuries later. John the Baptist announced it when he said of Jesus: ‘’Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’’ (John 1:29; see also v.36). Christ is not just a lamb; He is the Lamb. That is why He can take away sin, and not just cover it. In this wonderful story in Genesis, we see a foreshadowing of the central act of salvation. Isn’t it wonderful how the whole Bible hangs together?