Genesis 14:19-20 “He blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." He gave him a tenth of all.”

We are all students, or have been students. We all know about the tightness of finances, the weight of our expected duty to perform well, to always come through - to get that one assignment done, that research paper turned in. We all understand these pressures, and often times we forget to include God in it.

Abram and Lot, uncle and nephew, had split up. Lot had chosen the richer seeming plains of Sodom and Gomorra while Abram had went the other direction, into Canaan. God had then told Abram that everywhere Abram walked in this land, it would belong to his descendants (Gen 13:17). The pressure was already rising for Abram. His descendants? He did not even have children. At this point, one of his servants was his heir! Then came the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and Goiim. These kings decided to pillage, plunder, and loot Sodom and Gomorra. During this attack, they took Lot and all his belongings, his wife, and his children.

Abram seemed to be under even worse pressure. Now he had to go rescue his nephew. Abram without thought of the odds against him led out his group of armed men, his servants and trained men. They split up in the night and attacked. In the confusion they managed to drive away the kings and rescue all the plunder, loot, and Lot. Abram trusted God to protect him. Then Abram worshiped God.

Melchizedek, King and Priest of the Most High blessed Abram and Abram did what? Abram tithed all the plunder. No not to Melchizedek the king, but to God through his royal Priest, Melchizedek. Abram tithed, not just his belongings, Not just Lot’s belonging, but everything. Abram tithed out of his stress, out of his wealth, out of his gain, and out of his loss.

We as students, we as workers, we as children of God, do we share our lives with Him? Do we give not only of our wealth, of our money, but also of our pain, of our toil? Do we give Him at least a tithe of our papers, of our research, of our duties?

Abram the man (and not the patriarch) did. Can we?

Gen 12:11 “And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:

Gen 12:12 “ and it will come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.

Gen 12:13 “Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.”

Continuing the journey with Abram we come to this point. Abram was a man of faith, a man who followed God, so why this? Why did he suddenly stop trusting God? Maybe, it is as Albert Barnes thinks. Abram had been walking with God from Ur to Haran, and from Haran onwards, but now he and Sarai were continuing onwards in the perceived path. They are moving without God’s advice. They may have been trying to fulfil God’s plan, without seeking God and on their own.

Abram, would be afraid. Abram was only a man, only someone who today might be any dapper old man on a street corner. Abram would be the man who moved in next door yesterday. Abram is worried about his reception in Egypt. The Egyptians spoke a different language, had a different culture, and were ruled arbitrarily by one man. So to protect his own neck (and here Abram is conceited because Abam knows now that God has a use for him, he must stay alive at all costs) Abram risks his wife’s chastity and his own honor.

Why are we told this story of Abram’s doubt? Of his conceitedness? Abram was just another person whom God used. There was nothing special about Abram. God chose him for a purpose just like God has chosen each one of us for a purpose.

Abram was worried about his life when he entered Egypt, and so he did what he thought would save it. He resorted to deception. He forgot to approach the throne of God, just like we all do at times. How do we act when we forget to approach the throne of God about anything? We become confused. We second guess ourselves, we no longer feel assured about our direction. We can become worried and stressed out. We might even make decisions that we think are the best ways, but God is not involved in the decision process.

Whenever there is a decision to be made, no matter how large or small, we should advance to the feet of our Father who is in Heaven, Earth, and in the most extreme niches of the universe. We should ask him for advice before we do anything.

Lord, I come before you today a humbled man. My decisions and ability to make them are nothing. What I decide without you never seems to be quite what I really wanted it to be. I ask that you remind me every day to handover my burdens of choice and decisions to you.

Gen 12:1 “Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee:”

Imagine that you live in a country where the religion is whatever you find. Imagine that there is a god for everything. Imagine now that you have grown up worshiping all the gods in the area. Now, imagine that one night after your father just died, you hear a voice speaking to you, telling you to do something. Would you do it?

Abram did. When God spoke to him, Abram knew immediately that it was the voice of some deity. Without apparent question, what did Abram do? He packed up his house and left. He followed the voice that spoke. In Hebrews chapter 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Abram, not knowing at the time that he was following the order’s of Elohim, went ahead and followed the orders. Later on, he made the commitment to follow God, later on he decided to fully worship ONE deity, the Almighty. Yet Abram still had to take that first step, and it was accounted to him as faith.

That first step, that unknowing step is hard to take. We as people can try to rationalize it out. We can wonder and debate about the call, yet we cannot deny His call. Some, like Jonah hear the call and try to run. Some like Isaiah hear the call and say “send me” Some just try and ignore the call altogether and pretend it never happened, in the end, these people merely hurt themselves. Like lot’s wife - instead of looking forward and trusting God - they look back to reminisce, to whimper, to complain, to desire what they were called from.

Do not let yourself be troubled, Do not let yourself be afraid. God knows what He is doing. He would not call you to go or do something that He will not go with you, or do with you. God has a purpose in everything that He does. Let Him guide the way, even if it is only for a few steps. Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”

Psalms 1:1-2

Today I must ask your forgiveness, It probably will not be the last time either. I was in too much of a hurry and too busy yesterday getting ready for the beginning of this new semester to post this. How much time does it take? How much effort is it to copy/paste an already written devotion into a text box? I humbly come before you and request your forgiveness.

Today's devotional is by FB Meyers, a baptist pastor from England in the early part of last century. Well known as a Godly man, he published a daily devotional that is still used today (at least by me this year). This is his devotional for sunday, the 7th of January.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Psalms 1:1-2 "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful: but his delight is in the law of the Lord."

OUR LORD lived inside the City of Blessedness, and in Matthew 5:1-12 He reveals to all men the eight gates by which that City may be entered. For myself, I cannot go in by the Gate of Poverty of spirit, for I am not humble enough; nor by the Gate of the Mourners, for I am not grieved enough for my own sins or the sins of others; nor by the Gate of the Meek, for I often resent injury; nor by the Gates of Mercy, or Purity, or Peace. But I may claim to enter by the fourth Gate, for I Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness. And as I go in, I find myself inside the City, and in the company of all holy souls that have entered by the other gates. For in the Heavenly City, to enter by any gate is equivalent to having entered by all; and one grace which is inwrought by the Holy Spirit will ultimately lead on to all the rest.

What is Blessedness? According to our Lord's teaching, it is a condition or state of heart. Outward circumstances are not mentioned, unless it be reproach and persecution, as though they were matters of indifference. Blessedness is altogether independent of our outward lot, whether prosperous or perplexed, rich or poor. Blessedness begins and ends with a contented recognition of the Royalty of Christ's Kingdom; in the power of seeing the good in everything, and so inheriting the earth; in being satisfied, in obtaining mercy, in seeing God and being called His sons and daughters. Is it not worth while to strive to enter in at these wide-open doors? And if you can say that you really do yearn after better things, hungering and thirsting for more likeness to Christ, and more fitness for His Kingdom; if that desire really represents the purpose of your life, you may account yourself as being already admitted within the Gates of the Blessed Life.

We must not suppose that Our Lord allocated the award of Blessedness to the possessors of certain attributes with an arbitrary and royal prerogative. He simply declared what was true in the very nature of things. To be true, pure, merciful, and meek, is to have in your possession the seed-germs of the harvest of Blessedness. If you turn from this wonderful enumeration of Christian qualities to Galatians 5:22, you will find all of them set forth in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. May He work in us and through us a well-balanced and full-orbed Christian character.

PRAYER

“Lord, take my lips, and speak through them; take my mind, and think through it; take my heart, and set it on fire. AMEN.”