As Many as Dust

Welcome. Today we continue our study of Genesis and the Psalms. May God bless our study, our reflection, our prayers, and our application in holy living.

Read Psalm 13

This psalm is a cry of desperation. "Oh God, I am overwhelmed! I am suffering! I am attacked by the Evil One! Enemies surround me! They rejoice at my demise, and I am being destroyed!" David was suffering spiritual and physical peril. We maybe don't often suffer physical danger because of God's gracious protection (though sometimes we suffer terribly from sickness, pain, or loss), but we most definitely suffer spiritually. It is OK to complain to the Lord! This complaint psalm is a good example of that. And more than that, this complaint psalm gives us words! Sometimes we don't know what to pray. God himself gives us words acceptable and pleasing to him that we can use. And maybe those words are stronger than ones we would dare to use on our own without permission. This is another blessing of God. He helps us in our distress to pray strongly, faithfully, trustingly.

Some words of a hymn will help our meditation today:

O God, forsake me not! Your gracious presence lend me;
Lord, lead Your helpless child; Your Holy Spirit send me
That I my course may run. O be my light, my lot,
My staff, my rock, my shield - O God, forsake me not!

O God, forsake me not! Lord, hear my supplication!
In ev'ry evil hour, Help me resist temptation;
And when the prince of hell My conscience seeks to blot,
Be then not far from me - O God, forsake me not!

(LSB 731:1,3; Public Domain)

Read Genesis 13

Today Lot makes a choice based on his eyes alone. He chooses the rich, fertile valley of the Jordan river. But he is on the edge of wickedness, in the shadow of evil! Moses (who writes Genesis) doesn't even yet hint at the danger that awaits Lot, but we who know Scripture see it coming.

Abram, on the other hand, received the land that perhaps didn't look as fertile, but was actually the Promised Land of Canaan. God instructs him to look north, south, east, and west, and to walk to and fro in the land and see what God would give him and his descendants.

What descendants? God elaborates on his promise that Abram would be a "great nation." He paints a picture to Abram (father of no one at this point) of what that nation would look like: people as numerous as the dust of the earth! Abram must truly walk by faith, and not by sight. By sight his land was less impressive than Lot's. By sight, his line was dried up and dead. But by faith, Abram holds the promise, and all the blessings included in it.

Abram eventually settles in Hebron. There, years later, Sarah would die, and so would their son Isaac.

Yes, we will see that a son will be born. Not to get ahead of ourselves - but God will keep his promise to Abram. He will have a descendant. He will be made a great nation.

And from that nation a Son will be born, and the government would be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). This is not Isaac. This is Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

No, I know we are not that far in Scripture yet, but I can't help but jump to the Good News! The promise is true! And though Abram has to wait (and will not see the fulfillment in his earthly life) he believes that through him all families of the earth will be blessed. What faith!

Ask Yourself:

What am I waiting to receive from God? Deliverance? Help? Comfort?

Do I cry out to Him, trusting that he hears and helps? Do I complain to everyone else except God?

Do I judge people, places, and events in my life by my eyes alone? Are my eyes (and my perceptions) always reliable?

Pray:

Lord Jesus, who by Your incarnation was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, graciously remember us who are yet walking in this vale of tears and who must enter Your kingdom through many tribulations. As You have promised to be with Your own and to support them to the end, grant us Your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of joy and of peace, to comfort our hearts and the hearts of all Your afflicted Christians with Your everlasting comfort. Amen.

Study with me tomorrow,

Pastor Jon

Soli Deo Gloria!