Read Genesis 12:1-4a. In the verses leading up to the story of Abram’s call, we have a record of Abram’s genealogy. There is no indication why, in this family’s long history, God chose Abram to receive this covenant of blessing. It is almost as if this promise of God reaches back through history and forward through the ages, as, in Abram, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed (vs. 3)”.
Where Abram’s father had stopped partway through the journey to Canaan (Gen. 11:31-32), God called Abram to complete it. Abram was to leave his home and his kindred and set out for the land of blessing. And the promise? “I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.” It would not be an easy journey, but Abram trusted in the promise.
Have you ever felt called to take a big step in faith? What sacrifices did that step mean for you and the people you loved? What promises did the opportunity hold? What reservations did you have? What was the outcome?
In prayer, consider how God might be calling you into the unknown.
Read Psalm 121. This is my favorite psalm. There are many powerful images. We can see someone traveling the desert, threats all around, and looking to the hills for help. We have known those sleepless nights when worries or anxieties have our minds racing through worst case scenarios. We have felt exposed when a secret shame or a point of vulnerability comes to light.
But hear the promises imbedded in these verses: Your help comes from the Lord, the very maker of heaven and earth. The Lord never sleeps so that you can. The Lord will offer shade when the spotlight on your faults is too bright. “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore (vs. 7-8).”
Which of these images are especially powerful to you now? What situation in your life has you looking for help, tossing in the night, or fearing exposure? Offer this situation to God in prayer, asking for an assurance of God’s presence and help.
Read Romans 4:1-5, 13-17. In this passage, we read of righteousness and justification as the outcome of faith. In vs. 5, we read that God, “justifies the ungodly.” In this, we find the promise that we don’t have to get it right, get ourselves together, or get our ducks in a row before God offers us salvation and grace. God invites us into relationship and renewal even while we are a mess, beginning a new work within us, sometimes before we are aware that something needs to change. We may feel like we have little to offer, but hear the promise in vs. 17: [God] calls into existence the things that do not exist. God calls into existence the strength, the courage, the patience, the will for good, the hope for a better future…whatever you feel you lack to live a fully reconciled life of gratitude, generosity, and compassion.
What areas of your life are still a work in progress? How do you see God continuing to work on you, in you, and through you?
Today, confess your “ungodly” thoughts or behaviors, and find assurance in God’s promise of reckoning your faith as righteousness.
Read John 3:1-17. John 3:16 is one of the best-known verses of the bible. It seems to me the next verse is just as important in identifying God’s intention in sending Jesus. Jesus was sent as an expression of God’s love for the world, as God’s desire to reconcile the world to God’s self. And contrary to those who would portray God as vengeful, full of judgement, and ready to condemn, these verses tell us that God loves us, wants us to have everlasting life, and wants to save us from the full and final consequence of our sin. What amazing grace!
When you think of being ‘born from above’, what comes to mind? What would that look like in your daily conversations and activities? What practices might be helpful in shifting your focus from earthly things to heavenly things?
Today, offer a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s great love shown through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.