Genesis 12: Family of Faith

Key Verse
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
 
Meditation
Through faith in Jesus, Christians are children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7) and apart of God’s forever family that is His Church. Today’s reading reveals that this family’s fountainhead flows from God’s election and is sustained by the power of God’s promise and commitment to His purpose.
 
In contrast to those building the tower of Babel for their own namesake (11:4), God chose Abram so God’s own name would be made great. Though Sarai was barren (11:30), God promised that through Abram’s family all other families of the earth would be blessed (vv. 1-3).
 
Abram was not chosen for his moral uprightness. In fear, he lied to Pharaoh to protect himself, placing Sarai in harm’s way and jeopardizing God’s promise (vv. 10-20). God protected both. God’s sovereign grace, not human performance, is the ground from which His promise grows.
 
God’s promised blessing to Abram to bless all the families of the earth is ultimately realize in Jesus. If you are in Christ, you too are “heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). Jesus’ finished work redeems fractured families by creating a new family of faith focused on Him (Mark 3:31-35), the Church as a foretaste of the New Heavens and New Earth.
 
The fullness of God’s forever family will be revealed when peoples from every tribe, tongue, and nation gather around the throne of Jesus, in celebration of His great salvation (Revelation 7:9-10). Until that day, God’s grace remains the ground on which we walk forward in faith, rejoicing in the family of God and trusting the power of His promise and His covenant commitment to His purpose.
 
Today’s Reading
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What jumps out to you from today’s reading, especially in regards to God’s promise and His plan?
 
-Why is it significant that God remains faithful to His promise and plan even when Abram lies and puts his wife in harms way? 
 
-Do you prioritize your family of faith in Christ? Why or why not?
 
-How does the work of Jesus redefine family, not only in teaching us to love but forming us with His plan, promise, and purpose?
 
Key Verse
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”