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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, July 2, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Story of Abraham [10] Bible Verse:Genesis 15:1-6 (ESV) "After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness." Message:
Abram has a dialogue with God. Consistent with His earlier promises, God reveals more of his plan to Abram, for the earlier promises of a multitude of offspring who will inherit Canaan has left a question unresolved. Abram and Sarai, who are probably over 40 years old by modern reckoning, are childless; they cannot even imagine having children at this point in their lives.
So Abram asks God how much of a reward can he get, since he has no offspring. His statement that, without children, his estate will pass to a person in his household, seems very odd to us now, with our advanced rules of inheritance; in the tv series Downton Abbey, set in Edwardian England, Earl Grantham (who has no son) must scour the country to find a third cousin he barely knows, to inherit a great estate.
Jacob Wrestling Angel|Rembrandt
Yet again, we are reminded how ancient the story of Abraham is. He is as much a minor tribal chieftain as paterfamilias. His household is a primitive political unit — we know he has 318 men trained to fight. With women, children, the elderly and men unfit to fight, his estate would exceed 1,000 people. So really, he rules over a village-size pastoral community. It makes sense that a trusted senior member of the community would become the leader, rather than some distant blood relative (such as his nephew Lot) with no ties to the community.
If you cannot quite understand the last sentence of today’s Scripture, you are not alone. Jewish and Christian scholars have debated its meaning for thousands of years without reaching a verdict as to who counted what to whom “as righteousness.” The idea that Abraham is judging God, and that he takes God’s promise as evidence that God is righteous, simply does not fit the rest of the story.
It is entirely possible that the sentence means “God gave credit to Abraham for Abraham’s belief that God could accomplish the seemingly impossible.” A modern editor would clarify this, but the text is ancient.
Or the term translated “credited as righteousness” might be a lost meaning. It could mean something like “demonstrated God’s righteousness”; that is, Abram might have seen this as a demonstration of righteousness.
Meditation : Prayer : Finally, may I go forth filled with the joy and confidence of your Spirit; and may everything I do this day, in word or deed, be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.....Amen |
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