Questions:
12.
a.
They saw the blessings, Peace, God’s presence, Abraham’s prayer life
b.
prayer leads to God’s continuous presence leads to peace leads to blessings
13.
a.
Swore not to deal falsely, show kindness, swore oath together, gave 7 ewe lambs in settlement of disagreement
b.
show fairness, honesty, let my word be true, show honor to God in all
My Daily Journal:
I’m reading a book called God Forsaken by Dinesh D’Souza. I’m not very far into it, yet, but one of the things that struck me in the first chapter was the argument by athiest and non-believers that we’ve all heard before: “How could I possibly believe in a god who would __________?”
This stuck with me throughout our study this week. God’s position should be the head. He should be in the lead, in the forefront. But how often in my life do I act like Abraham and Sarah and ask God to perform janitorial duties and clean up my messes? Then when those messes get so large and convoluted, people blame God that He isn’t cleaning them up fast enough to suit their thinking.
It is good that he was able to settle in this region for a while and concentrate on raising his son. It is hard on a family to be traveling and relocating all the time. But, by relying on his own wit and wisdom, Abraham not only put that at risk but he put the ability to father a child at risk. It is hard to have a child with your wife if she is living in another man’s palace as his wife.
It was just convicting to me of looking at those areas where I run ahead of God and then pray for Him to bail me out of a mess I made. Not only because of the pain that causes me and those I love but also because of the message others see in those messes and how that reflects on their heart for God.
Side Note: What’s with the 7 lambs? In order to have a lasting relationship with Abimilech, Abraham had to reach the understanding that it could not just be about me, me, me. It also had to be about “ewe”. (sorry, couldn’t resist!) (I published this earlier on the wrong day, but it belongs with this day’s lesson.
The Notes are Good 