Growing up, I remember strangers coming up to me and saying, “Oh, you’re Marjane’s daughter” or “You’re Bill Feinberg’s daughter.” One day, when I was around 10 or 11, I remember someone approaching my mom and saying, “Oh, you’re Margaret’s mom.”
It was a subtle but significant shift.
From that day forward it wasn’t just me being known in relationship to my mom but my mom being known in relationship with me. We were two separate people connected through a familial relationship.
That sense of being known in the context of a relationship to someone else appears in our everyday conversation. Whether you’re so and so’s teacher, or so and so’s student, or boss or employee, or spouse or boyfriend, there’s this connection, a bond, a tie that we acknowledge.
This doesn’t just take place in our modern world but it’s been happening for thousands of years. And not just between people. But also between people… and God!
Not only can you and I say that we follow God but that we are children of God. Our identity is directly linked to God. But it goes deeper than that since God also identifies with us. God reveals himself in relationship to his people.
One of the most profound moments of this in the Old Testament is found in Exodus 3. In front of a burning bush, God reveals himself to Moses as “the God of Abraham.”
Abraham’s story reminds us that no matter where we are, even if we’re living in the land of Ur, a place representative of serving false gods, a place marked by loss, pain, and poor choices, that God in his love is pursuing us there. There is no place, no latitude, no longitude, no height or depth, which is above or below the reach of God’s love. Whenever we see the phrase “God of Abraham” in Scripture we need to let it serve as a reminder that God pursues us. [Tweet this]
When we see the words “God of Abraham,” we need to be reminded of the provision of God. No, God’s provision is not always in our timing or through the delivery mechanism we expect, but God is the source of all provision. Though we may be tempted to take matters into our own hands, and on several occasions Abraham did, God wants to provide for us and asks us to trust him.
Serving the God of Abraham is an invitation to live a life of faith, to embrace the fullness of love that God has for you. [Tweet this] Every journey of faith is paved with uncertainty and lined with the unknown. Whether that’s Abraham, yours or mine, but what comfort we find in knowing that just as God was faithful to Abraham, God is true to you and I.
This week we’re diving into Genesis 12-23:
- Watch Session Three (The Pursuit, the Promise, the Provision) on the Pursuing God’s Love DVD (14 minutes) and begin working through the homework.
- Read Genesis 12-23.
FOR DISCUSSION: Answer the following questions as a comment to this blog post. Feel free to ask questions, reply to others’ comments, and post prayer requests.
- Check out the images on hubblesite.org. In what ways does nature display the invisible attributes of God?
- Abraham and Sarah live on the promises of God. Spend some time reflecting on the promises God has made to you through Scripture. What kinds of promises are you waiting for God to fulfill in your own life?
LINK UP. Click HERE to link up your blog post on what God is revealing to you in His Word.
Join next week as we begin Session 4: When Love Goes Right and When Love Goes Wrong (Genesis 24-27). Click here to subscribe to the RSS feed and receive each day’s post in your inbox each morning.
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Pursuing God’s Love: Stories from the Book of Genesis Online Bible Study LINKS:
Session One: MONDAY | THURSDAY
Session Two: MONDAY | THURSDAY
Session Three: MONDAY
Session Four: THURSDAY
Session Five: MONDAY | THURSDAY
Session Six: MONDAY | THURSDAY
What a joy to serve the God of Abraham. Thanks for the powerful insights, Margaret. And God’s continued blessings as you serve Him in love.
Amen, Cheryl! I loved to be reminded of his wholehearted pursuit of me. So grateful.
I have a prayer request. My mom and I have had a troubled relationship since I was a teen, which started about 40 years ago. Really. She has been saving up my offenses ever since, as well as those of my children. For the past 15 years I have been prayerfully reaching out to her, hoping for reconciliation. Yesterday I stopped in to pick up the iPad I bought her to facilitate communication. I was told that she had no desire to communicate with me and it was “too little, too late.” She just wanted to rehash my offenses that I have either apologized for already or that are confabulations. All this time I thought that she shared my desire to reconcile, but now I know that her goal is to keep me from ever being a part of her life. Really I’m not as bad as she tries to make me seem. I was a pretty normal teen-aged girl. She has not forgiven me for that or my children for being children. She has stored up the times they didn’t come running to hug her or played catch instead of sitting in the house and “visiting.” It’s just so sad. And here’s the thing. I’m her only child and my children her only grandchildren. Right now I feel like a raw wound and would like to stop bleeding. I also do not want to become bitter toward her. And someday I’d like her to recognize what she’s missing.
Elisa, Praying for God’s grace, peace, and joy to saturate you. Praying for reconciliation in your relationship with your mom and peace and patience in the midst of it. I’m so sorry to hear about that difficult relationship. Hug to you, Margaret
Thank you. She and her husband were so ugly to me yesterday.
When I read the promises God has made in scripture, I never feel that they are for me. For some reason they do not feel personal to me, just very broad or general to all His followers.
When I read in the study that God replaced everything Abraham lost, I thought of Job and then I thought of Naomi. I want God to replace the baby I lost, but I don’t believe that is a promise He has made to me. And He doesn’t replace everything someone has lost, like Naomi for example.