Genesis 20-22
First Use of "Worship" in the Bible
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Psalm 5:1-4 Do You Watch for the Answers?
Consider My Meditation
1Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning. 2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray. 3 O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
Application
Bring your To-Do list before God every morning. Instead of a check, put a cross next to the item you did with a Power Assist. Or keep a journal or prayer list so you can develop a track record of God's faithfulness.
Prayer
My King, here are my plans and requests for the day, anything You want to change? OK, I'll be on the lookout for how You're going to answer. Amen.
Proverbs 2:1-6 Wisdom is Not an Accident
The Benefits of Wisdom
1 My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
Application
A good way to store up the commands is to memorize them. When was the last time you memorized a verse?
Prayer
God who formed the world by Your word, I will treasure everything You've said. Amen.
Genesis 20-22 The First Use of "Worship" in the Bible
[Skip ahead below to Genesis 22 for a BIG chapter on Worship if you're short on time.]
Genesis 20 More Righteous than Abraham and Sarah
Abraham, Sarah and Abimelech
1 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” 8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” 14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18 For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.Application
Fearing man more than God leads to foolish actions.
Prayer
God Who Intervenes, may I fear You more than anyone or anything on earth. Amen.
Genesis 21 Laughing and Weeping and Swearing
The Birth of Isaac
1 The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” 8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.Sarah Turns against Hagar
9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.The Covenant at Beersheba
22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.Application
Make a break with anything that will mess up your blessing; make friends so others seek God through you.
Prayer
Everlasting God, I praise You for being so faithful to keep Your promises. May I keep the ones I've made to You. Amen.
Genesis 22 Worship is Response to Revelation
The Offering of Isaac
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.The Sacrifice Averted
11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” 15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.Nahor's Sons
20 Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 (Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.Application
How are you at Responding to God's Revelation? Did you score well on any tests lately?
Prayer
O God of tests and double blessings, unite my ambitions to fear Your name above all in this world, and show that You are Worthy of all glory, by my unreserved, mind, heart and soul obedience. Amen.
Digging Deeper
Genesis 21:9 Paul uses this passage in Galatians 4:21ff to argue against NT believers succumbing to Jewish pressure, and submitting themselves to the ceremonial requirements of the Jewish law (e.g., Galatians 3:10; Galatians 5:2). He sets up an analogy: Hagar, a slave has offspring according to the flesh, and represents the law (through Ishmael there is no eternal inheritance); Sarah, a freewoman, has offspring according to the promise (through which comes the eternal inheritance).
The promise of heirship/inheritance comes from God, through Sarah's offspring, (Isaac, and eventually the freedom Christ offers), not through the bondage of the flesh (desire for the temporal), represented by Hagar, and keeping the external law to get one's value from men.
Galatians 5:1 Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage....13 For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
Genesis 22:5 I love this verse, not only for the insight it gives into worship and blessing but because of the little words at the end of the verse. “We will come back.” On the three day journey, Abe reckoned the resurrection, even though there was no such thing in history. How did he do it? Hebrews 11 gives a little insight into his thinking.
Hebrews 11:17 "By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son;18 even he to whom it was said, "In Isaac will your seed be called;" 19 concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead."
Abe knew two things:
- God told him he'd have grandkids through Isaac.
- God told him to sacrifice Isaac (as in kill and burn totally).
How do those two pieces of Revelation harmonize? "Well," reasoned Abe (Greek=logizomai to think, reckon, reason, from which we get “logic”), “if God said I'd get grandkids from Isaac, then Isaac needs to have kids. He can't do that if he's gone up in smoke. But God also said send him up in smoke. So, God's gonna have to give him back to me, somehow.”
The fact that God had “supernaturally” given Isaac to Abe in the first place might have made it a little easier, but still, it's impressive reasoning, born out of his faith in God's promises. Faith is not a “leap in the dark,” but a “step into the light of God's Revelation.”
God in a nutshell: He intervenes on behalf of His people and His plan, while still letting people reap the consequences of their actions; He is Worthy of all that we hold dear; He doubly blesses those who give Him their all.
Us in a nutshell: Not omniscient, but capable of passing God's tests; responsible to respond to Revelation and rewarded for doing so, enhancing God's reputation (glorifying Him); capable of reasonable faith in what God has revealed.
Where to go for more
Truthbase.net
Worship in Truth or Tradition
Keep the Faith (Why folks lose their faith at college)
Faith Use It or Lose It
Faith Actuates God's Promises (Two Parts- second link is a little fussy)
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