RTW January 4
Avoid Avoiding
That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
Genesis 11:9
My Takeaways
Something Old
What am I supposed to be doing?
What am I doing to avoid doing what I am supposed to be doing?
Do I dance around obedience?
Genesis 11:9 I can obey or not obey, but God will get His way. He told them to scatter. They didn’t scatter. He made sure they scattered.
The Lord confused their language. The Lord will confuse our plans to accomplish His. God’s plans are perfect, not confusing. The confusion comes when we don’t obey. We don’t obey because we
- Don’t know the outcome.
- Don’t like the outcome.
- Don’t like the plan.
Something New
There was a son named Haran and a place named Haran.
Something to Do
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My takeaways and questions to go deeper with.
11:6,7
“Look!” He said, “come, let’s go down”. God was clearly not alone, He was speaking to who was with Him (the Trinity?)
I wonder what these people looked like after being alive for hundreds s d hundreds of years?
Noah died when he was 950 years old.
Adam died when he was 930.
Gen 12:7
“God appeared to Abraham”.
Did Abraham actually visibly see God?
13:8
“Let’s not allow this conflict to come between us, after all we are close relatives.”
There is much wisdom and maturity in this verse. I want to remind myself of this and obey when conflicts arise in my own family, whether extended or with my husband and children. Will I hold a grudge and be grumpy in conflicts or will I obey God and use this verse to remember his command to love one another and our neighbors as ourselves?
Loved your insights! The conflict with abram and lot and their working it out stood out to me also!
I love your comments and questions. I ask Holy Spirit a lot of questions when reading as well. I can’t wait for all the answers!
There is so much today, it’s hard to narrow it down to a couple of things, but here are my takeaways:
They stopped at Haran AND SETTLED THERE. Haran = “crossroads”; “place of decision”. When I come to a crisis of belief, what will I choose?
Also, some times God calls us to leave the familiar (12:1,2)…..what does that look like for me today??
Like Noah, Abram obeyed God immediately and without doubt (12:4). God knew these men had a heart of faith to step out and do what he asked of them. Is my heart full of faith or fear and doubt? I want to be ready to hear from God and obey immediately like these men.
Gen13:8-9 stood out to me. Abram and Lot worked through their conflict and abram deferred to Lot and let him pick his preference to keep peace. Good example of working through conflicts with family and others and being willing to compromise for the relationships to continue. God blessed abram richly…I can trust Him to do the same whenever I follow His way. Whatever I might give up to keep the peace he can more than supply for me.
Gen 14:17-24 has always being a little confusing to me. I’m going to try to take time today to research and read some commentaries on these verses to better understand it.
In verses 17 through 20 in chapter 14 I read about Melchizedek. This too has always confused me. I definitely would like to get others opinions on this – Who was Melchizedek? The reason I ask this question is due to Hebrews Chapter 7 – read it and you will understand why it is well worth the read at this point in our Genesis journey. Hebrews 7 seems to be saying that Jesus is “like” or “in the order” of Melchizedek – but not quite saying Jesus is Melchizedek. I think currently that Melchizedek was a very great priest – but I don’t believe he was Jesus Christ preincarnate. I read there are 4 basic theories on who Melchizedek is – 1. simply a king of Salem and Abram was showing him respect, 2. Melchizedek was a standard title for the kings of Salem. 3. He was a “type of Christ” and he illustrates a lesson about Christ. or 4. He was Jesus preincarnate in a temporary body form. Please share what you find in your research today with the rest of us. I would be very interested in hearing your take.
Melchizedek was King of Salem (peace) as Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He was also a priest of the Lord Most High. Later in Jewish culture, kings were forbidden to be priests and vice versa. Jesus is the only other King who is also our High Priest. He was of the order of Melchizedek because He is priest and king.
My Something to Do for today:
Remember that God will bless me according to His will and His plan even when it appears from the world’s standard that someone else got the better deal. I’m thinking of Lot choosing the better looking land but Abraham still got God’s blessing. My focus is to be on God and His plan for my life and resist comparing myself and my situation with others.
Something Old
Genesis 11:31 says they “left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But they stopped INSTEAD at the village of Haran and settled there.” Who told them to go? Did Terah decide himself? Why did they not continue on to Canaan?
Genesis 9:27 lets us know that the family line (of Shem) was nomadic (tent dwellers). So it would be natural for them to move about. Canaan was a fertile and profitable trade route and was a logical choice. Some suggestions as to why they “settled” for Haran were that Terah may well have been a worshiper of the moon god….very prevalent in Ur and also in Haran. He may have simply decided to stay in his familiar and sinful “comfort zone”. (Easy to do!)
Something New
Abram and Sarai lied because of fear. They allowed their fear of man to supersede their trust in God’s care. And it seemed so simple and practical, but what a mess. Their choice impacted a lot of people in a lot of ways.
Something To Do
Trust God. “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” (Proverbs 29:25)
I find it interesting how many times Canaan is mentioned in scripture, over 150 times. The Canaanites were a forceful wicked idolatrous people descended from Noah’s grandson Canaan, who was a son of Ham which we learned through our studies.
Absolute truth Wendy regarding obedience, we see the results in Noah’s disobedience affecting Ham, his grandson “Canaan” the Canaanite’s throughout history. Disobedience leads to rebellion and stubbornness in 1 Samuel 15:23, the sin of witchcraft. The enemy thrives on our disobedience. Satan disobeyed God.
Throughout Scripture, God is pretty clear about the responsibility He places in the hands of parents. None is more clear than Deuteronomy 6:6-7: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”.