Pastoral Letter 107
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Finally, after three weeks of torrential rain, the sun is shining, and we hope that this record-breaking rainfall is over. Thousands of people have lost homes and property in NSW and Qld. Many lives were lost too. Let us continue to pray for them with our brothers and sisters, seeking God’s help and having hope for better days to come.
We are grateful that we’ve been able to safely worship together and hope not to have another wave of Covid spread in a new variant. Masks are not mandatory, but please feel free to wear one if you would prefer. We hope and pray that we will keep on worshiping together for the rest of the year.
If you will not be able to join us on Sundays, you can worship with us at home.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let us know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.
Here are some more prayer points for this week:
- Pray for all those who are still suffering in the aftermath of the devastating floods of Queensland and NSW.
- Pray for those who have lost loved ones, homes and property.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray for the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and those who are suffering, hoping that the situation will deescalate soon.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
Promise of Provision
Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-7 and 22:1-18
Today’s scripture takes place after Abram won a great victory. He defeated the kings and was fearful that these kings would later come back and take revenge on him. After these things occurred, the Word of the Lord came to Abram to give him encouragement. Although Abram had restored the goods taken in the battle to the owners, he was still uncertain as to what would happen in the future. Chapter 15 opens by saying, “After this, the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.”
This was a divine communication with Abram, which came in a vision and the Lord told him three things.
These three things were important promises to him as he continued on toward the future.
These promises also apply to us today as believers and we need those promises as we continue our journey of faith.
Let’s see what we can learn from this scripture.
1. Do Not Be Afraid
God saw Abram’s fears after defeating the king. He saw the anxieties that came to him even after a great victory. All was well, but what if they took revenge on him. There may have been all kinds of thoughts running through his mind at this time. He may have felt depressed as well as afraid. He may have wondered what to do next. How do we react many times about situations that come up in our lives? Even achievements and successes bring about a variety of new fears and anxieties. We might move to a new location and wonder if we will make new friends. We might be fearful about our health, our finances, or any number of things. How does fear get to us? It may come upon us when you are not quite prepared for it, even after a great victory or mountain-top experience.
God spoke to Abram first of all by saying, “Don’t be afraid.” Throughout scripture people were told this, and this same promise applies to us today. Too often we forget, and we get ourselves worked up almost in a state of panic.
“Don’t be afraid. Fear not” are words we all need to hear, as we face difficult situations in our lives. Some of us may be fearful these days. Allow God to calm our fears as He did Abram’s. “Don’t be afraid“, He says.
In Psalm 34:4 David said: “I sought the Lord: and he answered me, and he delivered me from all my fears.”
Today we serve the same God who Abram served, and we must also claim this promise that God will calm our fears and deliver us from them. Let’s ask Him to calm our fears.
2. I Am Your Shield
Early in His dealings with Abram the Lord also said: “I am your shield.” Faith had brought Abram into the realm of danger. The devil opposed him, working through enemies and circumstances. Yet Abram was told not to be afraid because the Lord was his “shield.” Shields were for the day of the battle and the time of danger. The shield is what absorbs the shock of the spear and sword. It repels the flaming arrows and brings safety to the one being attacked. Abram understood this language better than we do today, but we are familiar with shields in the modern age, too.
It’s like the shield on our computer for protection against viruses.
A bullet proof vest for law enforcement officers.
Sunscreen to protect against harmful ultraviolet rays.
God has provided a personal shield for us. Ephesians 6:16 says to “take up the shield of faith,” but in this scripture in Genesis, He was not referring to the shield of faith. It was the Lord Himself who declared: “I am your shield.”
Frequent references are made about the Lord being a shield.
Psalm 33:20 says: “We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.”
Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield: my heart trusts in Him and I am helped.”
If the Lord is our shield as He was Abram’s and David’s. What does this mean to us? It means that the devil can’t get to us unless he goes through the Lord. Unless the Lord permits it as he did with Job.
The most significant example of this divine shield is Jesus. He took the impact of Satan’s attacks with all the power of darkness and absorbed the shock. The sins of the world were placed upon him to such an extent that he was “made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God” (II Cor. 5:21). The wrath of God against sin fell on Him. In the judgment of sin, He was our “Shield.”
Abram had this promise of the Lord being his shield from anything that would try to come against him. We can claim this promise for ourselves today also.
3. Your Great Reward
The third thing God told Abram was “I am your very great reward”. You will notice in Gen. 14:23 that Abram said of the king of Sodom, “I will accept nothing belonging to you, so you will never be able to say, “I made Abram rich.’” God is telling him in this promise in vs. 1, “I am your great reward.” I will see to it that you have your reward. You do not have to depend on the people of God but depend on the God of the people. God is saying to Him, “I am your sufficiency. I will take care of your needs as you go along.” He is saying, “I am not only your rewarder but your reward.” This reward was considered to be a reward of faith. He had the assurance that God’s promise would be fulfilled far beyond expectations.
Today we may wonder how God can keep us from being fearful when we face certain situations, how can He keep the attacks of Satan from getting through to us and how can He see to it that we receive from God what we need.
The promises of God were there for Abram. What did Abram do to receive the promises that God laid out before him and how do we receive them today?
Verse 6 gives us the answer. “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” We must receive by faith. Simply believe what God says. Can we do this today?
Have you ever been promised or given something and later have been asked to give it back?
That’s the kind of reaction I had when I first read these passages. What kind of a God would do that? Promises you something, gives you after a long wait, and somehow later He asks you to give it back.
Most of us tend to avoid such passages because they are confusing and disturbing. But we often gain a deeper understanding of who God is and of His relationship to us by reading these passages.
As we look at this passage more carefully, I think we will make such a discovery.
God asked Abram to leave Haran and go to Canaan. Then He made a promise to bless him, make him into a nation and make his name great. Abram waited several years for God to fulfil His promise. Abram was 75 when God made that promise. He left his home and family and moved to a strange place because God had told him to do so. And he waited for God’s promise to come true. He waited. And he waited.
What joy Abram had when God had made this wonderful promise, that not only would they have a child, but that their descendants would become a great nation.
When God appeared to Abram again, Abram spoke with anguish in his voice and said: “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me, since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?“
If we have been in Abram’s shoes probably our first instinct would be to question the promise made: “Lord, You promised you would give me: a job or money or success, or such and such blessings … but where is it?”
Abram dared to voice his frustration and his doubt to God. He asked very pointedly: “How can I know that you’re going to fulfil your promise?”
God made a Covenant with Abram and blessed him.
But strangely, after fulfilling His promise to Abram and giving him a son, He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about”.
After so many years Abraham was finally blessed with a son, and now the same God who gave the son asked Abraham to make him a sacrifice. Imagine yourself praying and asking God for something for many years and God gives what you have asked and then He wants it back. How would you react to such a request? You would probably get angry and reject Him. But we see that Abraham, the righteous man obeyed God and followed His instructions carefully. In this desperate situation Isaac asked him: “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” He answered: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering”.
I remember many years ago when I finished my pastoral visit to our Church in Alexandria, Egypt, the old pastor drove me to the train station to catch the train to Cairo. As we were arriving to the station, I told the pastor: “I hope we can find a parking spot near the station”. He said: “Don’t worry God will provide, as he did on the mountain of Moriah” and he repeated “God will provide”. When we arrived at entrance of the station there was an empty spot of free parking. His words resonated with me and reflected the importance of the passage even in everyday life.
But the task given to Abraham was a difficult one; it was not just looking for a parking spot or enjoyable sightseeing on the mountaintop but to sacrifice his only son, who was promised to him after so many years to secure descendants and make a nation. With great pain in his heart, Abraham went through the ordeal and built the altar, arranged the wood, bound his son, laid him on the altar and took the knife to slay him. Something impossible and unimaginable to do as a father. But he was willing to obey God; the God of love, the god of promise and the God of deliverance; a God who had made a covenant with him.
Because Abraham was willing and ready to sacrifice his son and he obeyed, God blessed him and sealed the Covenant with a solemn word of affirmation.
So, what does all this mean to us? God made a covenant with Abraham that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars, and that he would give those descendants the land of Canaan.
We are forgiven and we belong to God, our King and our Father. As Paul says in Philippians: “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!”
By the Covenant Promise that God made with Abraham many years ago, which was sealed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are assured that God is with us always. He looks over us watching with His protective eyes, promises us eternal joy and life, which is possible through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
God has made a promise, has sealed a deal, and has made a Covenant with us. He only expects from us to be faithful and to keep His commandments to secure our heavenly blessings.
Amen!