Abram, Lot, and Melchizedek
2009-04-07

Please pray for Stephanie (I know you already are!). Her mother currently has her at the ER at HEB hospital. It's not a life-threatening situation at all, but Steph had a psych appt this afternoon, and she has been in severe pain all day, with a "huge headache" to boot. The psych actually said that we should probably go ahead and go to the ER just to get someone to take a good look at her. So that's where they are. Also, they are taking her off of Zoloft and putting her back on Welbutrin. Sigh.

We need House!



Here's today's prayer for the President from the Praying Through the First 100 Days site.

For help and guidance from God for Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke as he concerns himself with the well-being of our nation�s business community

Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.
�Proverbs 1:5

Awesome God, we come with words of praise on our lips and songs of gratitude in our hearts today, thanking You for the marvelous ways You gift Your people to serve You. You give generously without reservation to Your children, and we praise You for this today. So many skills and gifts You put in people, Lord! How You glorify Yourself in this. We praise You for it.

This day we hold before You our nation�s Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, as he has stepped up to serve the needs of our country�s business community. We ask You to turn his heart to seek direction from You every day, Lord, and as he seeks, we pray that You will provide him with great wisdom and insight. Bless him and his family as they adjust to this new position for him, and may they be drawn to You together regularly. These things we ask in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, amen.



Psalm for Today: 29:1-8

29:1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

"It is a diabolical science, however, which fixes our contemplations on the works of nature, and turns them away from God. If any one who wished to know a man and should take no notice of his face, but should fix his eyes only on the points of his nails, his folly might justly be derided. But far greater is the folly of those philosophers, who, out of mediate and proximate causes, weave themselves veils, lest they should be compelled to acknowledge the hand of God, which manifestly displays itself in his works."

(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms



Tabletalk Magazine

"The Fruit of the Spirit"
Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The reading points out that the usage of the word "fruit" in this passage is singular. This is not a list of various "fruits" of the Spirit which one might have only a few of. The point is that, if one is Spirit-filled, one will possess the entirety of the fruit of the Spirit. None of them is optional. "John Calvin comments that only those who bear all of the fruit, to one degree or another, prove themselves to be in Christ." Ouch! Most commentators agree that it is significant that love is placed at the top of the list, giving evidence that love is the root of all the other fruit.

It is also significant that the list includes joy. "Theology must always end in doxology--the joyful praise of our Creator; otherwise, we have not truly studied the things of God."

Amen!



Today's Journal Reading: Genesis 12-14; Psalm 5

In Genesis 12, God leads Abram through Canaan, and reveals to him that this land will be where his descendants will live. But they don't stop there. They go on down to Egypt, where Abram begins what turns out to be a disturbing trend of lying to country leaders and saying that the wife is the sister. This happans again, in someone else's story. This shows an amazing lack of faith, but to Abram's credit, he hasn't seen God really at work, just yet.

In Genesis 13, Lot and Abram separate. Abram lets Lot choose first, and Lot chooses the area of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Jordan valley was "well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord." (Verse 10) We'll see how that worked out for him. Let me just say here, that Lot shouldn't even have been with Abram in the first place. It was a direct disobedience to God's command which was to, "Go down from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you." (12:1) There was no provision there for taking said kindred along with.

So in chapter 14 we see the first piece of the result of this disobedience. Abram has to go rescue Lot when a bunch of kings make war against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. S & G lost and everything got carried off, including Abram's nephew, Lot. Fortunately, there was one survivor who got away and ran and told Abram what had happened. He got a bunch of men together (318), and went after them. By God's grace he won and brought everything back to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now comes this really strange encounter with a guy named Melchizedek. 14:18 says, "And Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem?) brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)" He blessed Abram and Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And that's it. He is never heard from again (until the writer of Hebrews talks about him).

I have met people who believe that Melchizedek was actually Jesus. I'm not sure about that. I don't think Hebrews indicates that. But he was definitely someone very special. The Reformation Study Bible notes says that he was a "type" of Christ.

Anyway, after this, the king of Sodom tried to give Abram some rewards, but Abram turned it down, saying he did not want him to be able to say that he had made Abram rich. He took nothing beyond what his men had consumed.

In this adventurous tale, I believe there are some important lessons. First of all, our eyes can deceive us into making bad decisions. Lot looked down and saw the lush valley and decided to go live there. We aren't through with that story yet. But it was clearly not a good choice.

Another is, when God says leave your family, it's a good idea to leave your family!! Don't take liberties with God's directives! It always causes trouble. Later on, we will see Abraham doing this and causing a struggle that still goes on in the "Promised Land" to this day!

Finally, God's riches and blessings are sufficient for us. We need no blessings from men. Abram rightly chose the blessings of Melchizedek and turned down the rewards of the king of Sodom. It is wonderful to be able to boast that "the Lord made me rich."



Father, I pray that you help me to heed the things that I have seen in your Word today. I thank you for stories such as this, that illustrate important life principles for us. May I rely more on your Word and the faith that you have placed within me than on what my eyes see. Especially during this stressful time in our lives! And if I hear you telling me to do something, give me the wisdom to do it completely, but without trying to add anything to it to "help" you. Finally, let me never seek the blessings or rewards of men. Let me live only to please and serve you, Father!

And, Lord, I ask for help with Stephanie. I pray that the doctors in the ER can find something that will give her some relief. And us some relief, as well.



Psalm 5 begins this way:

Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.
O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

We are certainly "groaning" right now, as we pray to God for answers. And as we seek those answers, I am prayerful that I can follow the principles that I got out of God's Word today.

I will also be watching to see if I'm displaying the fruit of the Spirit today.

Grace and peace, friends!



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