2012-05-25
Good Morning Dear Ones,
remember that last week I wrote about how the very same stories that we read about in the Bible were told in the tents at night to Jewish boys or that they acted them out to help pass the time as they watched flocks of sheep during the day. That is how a young David knew the story of Abraham’s controversy with the Philistine king, Abimelech of Gerar. Abraham had dug a well, and Abimelech’s servants had seized it [GN 21: 25]. Earlier, Abraham had sworn to Abimelech that he would not deal falsely with him, and Abimelech had acknowledged that he knew God was with Abraham. Abraham asserted that he had dug the well and gave Abimelech some cattle and seven sheep [ewe lambs] in the formation of a treaty between them (27, 30). The well was released into Abraham’s hands. Later that place was called Beersheba (31), which means “the well of the oath” or “the well of the seven.” It was also an agreement that the land given was not to be usurped from Jewish hands. GN 21: 33, “Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and there he called upon the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.” He had cut a covenant [karath beryah in Hebrew] with Abimelech. And yes, God was a party to it. It’s ironic that in David’s time much later, the Jews and Philistines fought a long, hard war over this land. Today, the land is the SW coastal area of modern Israel.
later, Abimelech made a covenant with Isaac too. There was a famine in the land, and Isaac went to Abimelech. The Lord appeared to Isaac and told him to not go down to Egypt but to live in the land where He tells him to live. God said, in GN 26: 3-6, “Stay in this land for awhile, and I will be with you and bless you. For you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father, Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My requirements, my commands, My decrees, and My laws. So Isaac stayed in Gerar.” Abimelech protected both Isaac and his wife, Rebekah. When Isaac planted crops, he reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord had blessed him (12). Later, Abimelech asked Isaac to move, because his family had become too powerful. Isaac moved to the Valley of Gerar and reopened the wells dug in his father’s time, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death (17-18). After several quarrels with Philistine herdsmen, Isaac finally settled in a place he named Rehoboth (which means broad, open spaces) and later in Beersheba, where God confirmed the same covenant with Isaac that He had with Abraham (22-25). Isaac built an altar there to God.
came to Beersheba with Phicol, the commander of his forces, and Ahuzzarth, his personal advisor. Isaac asked him why he came there, and once again Abimelech acknowledged God’s presence with Isaac, just as he had with Abraham. Abimelech said, in GN 26: 28-29, “Let us make a treaty with you that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you always in peace. And now you are blessed by the Lord.” They swore an oath before God, feasted, and the Philistines left in peace (31). Oddly enough, Abimelech and his men understood the importance of cutting a covenant before the Lord. It’s a shame that mankind often doesn’t learn from the events of their history.
later, David and Jonathan, did understand how important covenants before God really are [1 SAM 18: 1-5]. The key question is why have we not learned the same lesson? There are too many uncommitted relationships which have led to wars and the breakdown of the family unit, for example, in today’s world. David and Jonathan knew that peace and security comes with making godly covenants. But what about us? Do we understand it? As you read through this message and the one last week, you can go back an underline or circle all the assurances that come from making covenants that are righteous and godly. If we are not sure, we can appeal to God any time to guide us in making the decisions necessary.
look at some of the passages or verses in God’s word that show prayer helps us make decisions. PS 119: 10-12, “With my whole heart have I sought You: let me not wander from Your commandments. I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You. Praise be to You, O Lord, teach me Your decrees.” PS 32: 8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” COL 4: 2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” PS 143: 8, “Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul.” Here’s one I love; PS 111:10, “The way to become wise is to have reverence for the Lord. He gives sound judgment to all who obey His commands. He is to be praised forever.” Now here are some of Christ’s words on the subject. MT 21: 22, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” MK 9 tells the story of how Christ healed a boy possessed by an evil spirit. This is mentioned here, because of what is suggested as the power of prayer in MK 9: 29, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” Let me end with another favorite assurance that comes out of a covenant relationship with the Lord. PS 116: 1, “I love the Lord, because He hears my prayers and answers them.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before You to offer You praise and thanks for leading us to establish a covenant relationship with You. We are truly blessed by the godly covenants we agree to be in with You and with others. We ask You to guide us as a part of this prayer and in accordance with the Scriptures above to the making of wise covenants which honor You and of which You are a part. This means that we want to please and honor You by the decisions we make in our lifetimes. We may make covenants to purchase land and homes, establish marriages that include You and are lived out in accordance with Your word. EPH 5: 22-23,25 comes to mind. “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior…Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” In addition, You ask us to be financially responsible and not greedy with our assets, but to share the excess beyond our needs with those less fortunate. All of these decisions should be in keeping with Your Law and Your teaching, and we ask Your continuing guidance. Our Lord Jesus, Who gave His life on the cross, so that we could be saved, made the ultimate atoning sacrifice [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Our heartfelt thanks to You for making our salvation possible through His Atonement. We now know, through the Holy Spirit that He lives, and is an integral Part of our covenant relationship, both vertically and horizontally. Dearest Lord, we ask these things in the holy and mighty name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK:The Holy Spirit leads me to take up the subject of circumcision in further revealing covenant assurances. One of my wishes is that we do learn from the history of the Jewish people and our practices of the past what kind of assurances God gives us in our covenant relationship with Him. While today’s Christians don’t practice circumcision of male infants for religious reasons, we can make that choice for health reasons. In this country many Christians do ask for their male infants to be circumcised. We’ll leave this subject for next week’s devotion. Instead, we need to understand from the wealth of verses and passages given to us in the Scriptures, is that our God commands His human covenant partners to take this relationship with serious attention to obedience to Him and faithfulness. In exchange, we are given protection, through Christ’s Atonement, from spiritual death. Even more real to us is the guidance, compassion, fellowship, healing, and so many other blessings we have from an active two-way relationship with our Lord. There will be a day when our many questions will be answered, and in the meanwhile, He has a right to expect us to have faith in Him. We simply need to look back in our history, both personally and corporately, to see the love He always has for us. This week, I urge each one reading this devotion to look at the blessings God has brought into your lives. Our God deserves nothing more than our eternal praise, thanks, honor, glory, and devotion. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS24: 15