The Feed Mill

Today’s Bible Reading: Genesis 20-23

Today’s Devotional: Genesis 20:1-6

Surely I thought the fear of God is not in this place.

Genesis 20:1 Abraham journeyed…

This is something that stayed constant in Abraham’s perspective. No matted how many times he failed he was counted as righteous. Because:

1. Abraham kept an eternal focus on God’s will and plan.

2. Abraham because he kept an eternal focus, he would grow spiritually and eventually made fewer decisions based on his immediate circumstances. Instead Abraham’s decisions in his circumstances became based on God’s Word and God’s character that God revealed to Abraham through those personal encounters with His Word.

Genesis 20:2 – We see a king named Abimelech comes on the scene. A powerful king who hadn’t received God’s covenant.

Genesis 20:2 Abraham feared Abimelech because Genesis 20:11 – Abraham thought the fear of God wasn’t in Gerar.

Abraham assumed the willing obedience of another to the will of God, and his response perhaps from Abraham sharing with him from his own lips of the greatness of God. Because Abraham was chosen and not Abimelech, right?

Genesis 20:3a – We see Abraham got it wrong, because Abraham had assumed only it was him who feared or would fear the Lord.

The Lord quite possibly wanted to work through Abraham and his testimony to reach a king and an entire kingdom, and to bless Abimelech. But Abraham chose not to share because of fear and his own pride that others wouldn’t fear the Lord.

Instead what Abraham didn’t fear was the spiritual consequences that could have come on Abimelech, because Abraham didn’t share of who God is.

Genesis 20:3b – We see God’s sanctity of marriage, because marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church Ephesians 5:22-23. I encourage you to look at the teaching from the book of Ephesians and Ephesians 5 as well.

Genesis 20:6 – Even if Abraham wouldn’t tell of God’s greatness, God would still show himself to Abimelech, but it wasn’t the way God desired it. And Abimelech still had a choice, God had made the first move and Abimelech still had to make a choice of how to respond to God.

God desires to make Himself known to all mankind, there are some who the Lord may reveal Himself to mightily through visions or dreams but that isn’t the normal standard of how God works on revealing Himself. God has chosen that by the revelation of His Word that we come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, which is accompanied by the feet of those who take it. Abraham displayed his frailty and weakness by fearing Abimelech instead of trusting God. This is all too common I know even with us today, our trust in God sometimes feels frail and tender. But take hope because the Lord knows of our weaknesses and He has decided to place His Hope for all of mankind in the world we live in today inside of us, the Church, just as God did with Abraham. God has placed a treasure inside of us, we are like earthen vessels 2 Corinthians 4:7, and inside of these earthen vessels there are many things which can be carried. A vessel gives the notion that something is to be carried in it until the owner decides to pour it out.

I would like to encourage you to allow the Lord to be the one who fills us with Himself, then allow the Lord to carry us where He pleases and knows best, and to pour us out. How many things, last year, did you have fill you up? How many of those things when they were poured out, brought some pretty bad results? Why don’t we look to allow the Lord to be our source of pouring in through His Word, and not the culture around us this year, as well as let Him decide when to pour us out on a culture that so desperately needs Grace and Peace only He can offer.