God Begins to Build a Nation (Gen. 11:27-32)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/05/2006

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God begins to build a nation

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 11:27-32

            Message of the verse:  “27  Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot.  28  Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.  29  Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.  30  Sarai was barren; she had no child.  31  Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.  32  The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.”

           

            The 11^th chapter of Genesis begins with man doing his own thing and trying to start his own religion at the tower of Babel. At the end of the 11^th chapter it can be seen that God begins to build a nation, a nation which will come from a man named Abram, which means exalted father, and Abram’s wife Sarai who is barren.  Paul wrote in one of his letters (I think 1 Corth.), that God uses the weak things and Paul also wrote in 2Cor. 12 that God had told him that “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”  I believe that God will use the weak things of man in order that His power may be seen, and that all of the glory will go to Him, which is where is should go.  At any rate God will begin the nation in which the Redeemer will come out of by performing a miracle, and that miracle will be giving Abram and Sarai a child when humanly speaking it was impossible.

           

            This 11^th chapter talks about Abram’s family and after the death of Abram’s brother Haran his family left and their nation and were heading to Canaan to live, but the reason for them going there is not made clear, and at any rate they did not get all of the way to Canaan, but stopped at Haran and the reason for stopping there is unclear. 

The map on the next page shows the travels of Abram and his family.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It seems to me that when I try and do things on my own, and by that I mean not trusting the Lord to direct my path but directing my own path that I will get in trouble.  When I am humbly seeking the path that God has for me to go, realizing that, as Paul wrote “I am weak,” that God will use me. 

The Word of God has been convicting to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust the Lord to take care of my IBS problem as I drive over to the Cleveland Clinic today.