Day 5 - Promises

Sarah and Abraham
Israel My Glory

2024 Read the Bible in a Year

January 5, 2024

Readings for Today: Genesis 12:1 - 14:24

Day 5 - Promises

Prayer:

Creator God,

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which will have the potential to turn a life around.

Make us bearers of this kindness all our days.

In the holy name of Jesus,

Amen

By Leo Buscaglia as posted on Facebook’s Clergy Coaching Network posting.

Background & Reflections:

We find ourselves at the beginning of one of the greatest stories ever told … God coming to Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah to build a great blessing and the gift of land.

God starts by asking Abram to go to a new place and promises blessing. God promises (Gen 12:1-3) that God will make him a great nation, make Abram’s name great, and this action will bless every family on earth.

The second promise is that God will give Abram's descendants Canaan.

There is a weird story of Abram lying to Pharaoh.

David Carr states in his NOAB5 notes,

“Putting Sarah in jeopardy to protect himself, Abraham appears not to trust the promise of protection. … this story of 

descent into Egypt because of famine and rescue through plagues anticipates many aspects of the later narrative about Israel’s descent into Egypt and exodus from it (Gen 45-Ex 14).”

Along with Abram’s move to Canaan is nephew Lot and Abram allows him to choose a parcel of land Lot seems to take the best one and leaves Abram.

God’s third promise to Abram is to give Abram the land and create an extraordinary number of descendants.

Abram encounters a priest of God (Melchizedek) who receives a blessing from him and a tithe of everything he owns as Abram recognizes all blessings come from God.

In any calling from God that you take action upon, it will be a blessing to you and the people you come in contact with. Answering God’s calling for you is on God’s time schedule and not yours. Sometimes you will not see its fulfillment until you look back on it and notice what God has done. Know that God is always with you every step of the way.

Question of the Day:

What is God calling you to do?
Are you going to do it?

Tomorrow's Readings: Genesis 15:1-17:27

2024 Read the Bible in a Year is a featured Bible Study to inspire spirituality. This plan has been used on The Bible in Time blog site in the past and now includes new material and reflections.

By Dave Eitland. Free for faith community use. Thanks, Katheryn for the editorial help. This was published on January 15, 2024, in Oregon, USA.