Abram

Whenever I read through Genesis, I am always slightly lost when we get post-Noah and everything breaks up between his sons. Usually I just skip trying to understand that part and move right on to Abram. Today as I was reading, however, it all clicked (which shouldn’t be surprising since it’s a fairly simple breakdown when you actually look at it.

So we have Noah. He has three sons (Ham, Shem, and Japheth). Ham did a bad thing by not protecting his drunken, naked father and so he was cursed. Out of Ham comes Canaan, so Canaan was cursed and called the lowest of slaves. His descendants were made subject to the descendants of the good brothers (Shem and Japheth). So then, we learn in Genesis 11 that Abram came out of the line of Shem. That all being said, in Genesis 12 we start following the story of Abram as God calls him to pack up and head to a mystery land where they will be blessed and those who curse them will be cursed. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

The first thing that stands out to me when Abraham is called is that even though the Lord specifically tells him to leave his country, people and father’s household to venture off towards some unspecified land, the scriptures later report that within that deal Abram was still allowed to bring those closest to him along with. He brought his wife, his nephew, all their stuff, and the people they had acquired.

Lately I have had church plants on the mind since I am taking a church planting class. One of my biggest fears with a church plant, or even venturing out in any ministry is the idea that I will lose everything I have been blessed with to do it. There are so many scriptures like this throughout the Old Testament and the Gospels that tell us to leave everything we have and everyone we care about. At the same time, we know we serve a relational God who gives us family obligations and healthy relationships to keep us persevering in our faith and ministry. I have always had trouble reconciling these two seemingly competing thoughts. The more I study and understand, however, the more certain I am that while certain seasons of life mean change and that certain people come and in and out of the picture in our lives, the constants are far less bleak than we imagine.

When venturing out into a new ministry, we should have the support of those we love. We should have our immediate family, or surrogate families to stand in with us and keep us strong. We should never neglect the ministry of our family or our spouse for the ministry within or outside of the church. We must remember verses like when Jesus tells Legion to not leave and follow Jesus on foot, but to go back to his family and begin his ministry with those who were intentionally placed around him. Ministry may not have to be as complicated or programmatic as we try to make it.

The next thing in my study of Abram that stood out strongly was that they headed to Canaan. Just 2 chapters previous we are told that this is the cursed place. It is the lowest of the low. We as Christians are called to bring back to the Lord that which was lost. We are in the ministry of reconciliation. This means getting our hands “dirty.” It means that we go where we are needed, not where we are superfluous. It means that we reclaim that which is the Lords, which has taken unfounded authority against God. He has given us the authority to reclaim lost things.

Most Christians in the ministry (whether full-time or unofficially) have experienced at some point the deep desire and need to serve God with their lives. However, from the time we get involved we become so distracted with measuring success and maintaining ministry programs that we lose sight of the greater picture. We forget that God doesn’t limit his work to the confines of our line of sight. This was the next thing that stood out to me when reading about Abram. In Genesis 12:7 the scriptures say, “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’” God is working on a multigenerational basis. The promise that the land will be inherited and won over for the Lord was given not to Abram personally, but to his greater influence. We need to remember as ministers of the Kingdom of God that we will never see the full success of our service to the Lord because God’s promises don’t have the same timeline as our own life.

I find it quite encouraging to realize that while my work may seem miniscule, someone I affect could be the one who sees the greater blessing. It is encouraging that it doesn’t all depend on me. I am glad that God works on a greater scale than things I can accomplish for myself. But it brings all the more necessity to my own faithfulness so that I can play my part and have an impact that will multiply through the generations.