The Birth of a Nation
"Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.' So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him." Genesis 12:7 RSV
Abram had left his hometown of Ur when he was seventy-five years old. He left with his wife Sari and his nephew, Lot. Abram left Ur at an age when most of us would rather sit in a rocking chair on the front porch. When Abram got to Shechem - many miles from Ur - the Lord promised Abram that his descendants would occupy the land. Abram was seventy-five years old. His wife Sari was well beyond her child-bearing years and yet, God promised Abram descendants. So what did Abram do? Did he rush back to Sari to make sure the prophecy came to pass? No, he built and altar to the Lord and prayed.
"And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples." Matthew 9:10 RSV We see in this passage that Jesus sat with the tax collectors and other sinners for a meal. We can assume that he was not just feeding their bodies, but also their souls. Jesus was witnessing to them. So what did Jesus do after he had planted the seed of salvation to those tax collectors and other sinners? He went.
Did you know that there are 53 passages in the New Testatment for the words, "Jesus went".
After every healing, every testimony, every exorcism, Jesus went. After Jesus preached to the crowds, he went. Just as Abram prayed to the Lord after the promise of descendants, Jesus retired from his testimony to pray for the seed he had just planted.
Jesus did not force feed the Word to the people. He did not stay to see if the seed took root. He planted and went on knowing that the germination of the seed was in God's hands - not man's.
Abram had left his hometown of Ur when he was seventy-five years old. He left with his wife Sari and his nephew, Lot. Abram left Ur at an age when most of us would rather sit in a rocking chair on the front porch. When Abram got to Shechem - many miles from Ur - the Lord promised Abram that his descendants would occupy the land. Abram was seventy-five years old. His wife Sari was well beyond her child-bearing years and yet, God promised Abram descendants. So what did Abram do? Did he rush back to Sari to make sure the prophecy came to pass? No, he built and altar to the Lord and prayed.
"And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples." Matthew 9:10 RSV We see in this passage that Jesus sat with the tax collectors and other sinners for a meal. We can assume that he was not just feeding their bodies, but also their souls. Jesus was witnessing to them. So what did Jesus do after he had planted the seed of salvation to those tax collectors and other sinners? He went.
Did you know that there are 53 passages in the New Testatment for the words, "Jesus went".
After every healing, every testimony, every exorcism, Jesus went. After Jesus preached to the crowds, he went. Just as Abram prayed to the Lord after the promise of descendants, Jesus retired from his testimony to pray for the seed he had just planted.
Jesus did not force feed the Word to the people. He did not stay to see if the seed took root. He planted and went on knowing that the germination of the seed was in God's hands - not man's.
posted by Hepzibah The Watchman | 7:08 AM
2 Comments:
I "stumbled" upon your blog and enjoyed the posts I've read. Keep up your work for God! :)
Thank you Janna - I pray that God will bless you, indeed.
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