Valentine's Day is a perfect day to talk about God's love. The song, One Thing Remains has hit home with me so vividly lately. In that no matter what I do or how I think I've failed Jesus or how far I might stray in my thinking, his love will always be there pulling for me to do the right thing. I will forever be surrounded by it. I can't tell you how freeing and comforting the realization of that is.
My heart breaks for all those who run from God. Who don't want anything to do with him. But that isn't something new for God to deal with, is it? Think about man before the flood, and after the flood. Remember the tower of Babel? Apparently man is habitually running away from God's love and then establishing his own idols and gods.
In reading A Visual Guide to Bible Events I realized how much God loved man even when he'd turned away from him. Did you ever think it was love that caused God to move Abraham away from family and friends? You may not think so, but I do.
I mean it's confusing in some aspects because he moved Abraham from one area where there was fresh water and plenty of land filled with green pastures to another area that wasn't. This new place was a narrow land bridge connecting the two larger areas of the fertile crescent. And, by narrow, I mean you couldn't spread out. If you go too far to the east, you hit the desert. If you go too far west, you hit the ocean. But there was a reason he picked this place.
People, merchants mainly, traveled through that area all the time. And when they did they would come across a nomad named Abraham who loved God in Heaven. While initially they may not have thought much about him they began to see the provision of God. In the narrowest fertile area Abraham's wealth increased. His flocks multiplied. He became a father twice in his old age, and one of those sons came from his ninety-year-old wife. Who ever heard of such a thing?
Can't you just hear it? The God of Abraham blesses him. Provides for him in that place. Oh yes, the word got out; reminding the people of the Mighty God in Heaven. They could no longer ignore him. And as time passed and the nation of Abraham grew, people from all over the civilized world came to know about the love God has for the Hebrew nation, and for man.
I've never thought of this concept, Lill. Thank you for pointing it out. Of course, we know God does nothing without a plan for our futures, and we know His plan was to bless Abraham and his offspring, but I never thought about the location He took him.
ReplyDeleteGreat insight! Thank you!