SCRIP-BITS

Genesis 12:2.   And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.
 
Ah mih people, once again the Lord has seen it fit to bless us with another glorious day of life on Planet Earth! Isn’t that wonderful? It sure is! And for that let’s give Him a loud shout of  ‘Thank You Lord, for being so good to us! We praise You and Bless Your Holy Name. Amen.’
 
And I won’t get into any long preamble today, (smile) because in this promise there’s a lot of scripture I want to share. Remember we’re currently dealing with the promises of God to man. And today’s promise is one of the greatest promises ever given by our omnipotent God to one of His creations. It’s His call to Abram.
 
Hear how it starts: ‘Now the Lord had said unto Abram (High Father), Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ (Gen.12:1-3)
 
Oh Friends, what a great promise for a move of obedience. The Lord called Abram to leave his father’s house in Haran to go out, only the Lord knew where.
 
However my fellow believers, it’s very important that we study, pay great attention to Abram’s behaviour, his great faith and fortitude, for as believers, the Lord’s constantly leading and guiding us to do things and go places that seem to have no basis in the reality of our situations. But like Abram, once we’re convinced the guidance and direction is of our God, then we need to make tracks and do it.
 
Now Abram had no way of knowing where the Lord was planning to take him, or what sort of life he was going to have. For heaven’s sake, he was already seventy-five years old, wealthy and quite settled in his ways. The only thing he lacked was a child, an heir from his own loins.
 
So why would he pull up stakes at that late stage of his life and head out with his whole family and his possessions on some nomadic journey that some unknown God told him to take eh?
 
On the face of it, the many negatives definitely outweighed the positives. In fact, judging from the outward aspects of the situation, there were no positives whatsoever. But despite all the negatives that seemed to colour the situation, something in Abram made him do it.
 
I guess the Lord filled that little reserved space in Abram’s soul with His Spirit. The same space that is reserved for God alone in all His human creations.
 
The promises were indeed enormous, but I don’t know if at seventy-five, with wealth and comfort to last my lifetime, I’d want to journey into the great unknown, just to father a great nation, or to make my name great.
 
Oh, I’d better shut up here yes, because knowing the Lord’s penchant for making one eat one’s words and for drama, at seventy five, He’ll just find some new mountain for me to climb. (smile)
 
‘So I’m sorry Lord. I take that back. That was just a slight aberration on my part. Please forgive me. I’ll go anywhere you send me, at any age. Thank You Lord for your mercy and forgiveness. In Jesus’ name I pray.’
 
Doh laugh nuh Friends, I’ve made that kind of mistake before, and paid dearly for it.
 
Anyway people, God also made other promises to Abram. When Abram and his nephew Lot separated – remember Lot went with him on the nomadic journey – because the land was too small for all their herds and people to live comfortably.
 
While Lot went toward the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord said to Abram: ‘Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed (descendants) for ever.
 
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.’ (Gen13:14-18)
 
The only problem though Friends, is that Abram was possibly eighty by then, and his wife Sarai around seventy, so where were these descendants like the dust of the earth going to come from eh? But that didn’t seem to bother Abram, he kept on believing in the Lord, having faith in His pronouncements.
 
Another key point here is how would we have reacted? Right now we know more about God and His strengths, purpose and plans than Abram ever dreamed about, but yet we still hem and haw when God directs us to do simple tasks in His Name.
 
Can you imagine if forty years ago, He’d told to me to pull up stakes in T&T and go to cold, rough, foreign Canada where I’d make a big name for myself, what would my reaction had been? I doubt I would have just done it. Though, for all you know, He might have purposely engineered the job frustration I felt in T&T, which eventually made me leave.
 
Like Abram, I was doing well, lacked for nothing in the Government’s job, except job satisfaction, with all the foolish politics being played in higher places hampering the work I was hired to do. And since my mother was already in Canada, I figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to get here.
 
But it hasn’t been easy, and the job satisfaction hasn’t really been any better. At least in T&T we don’t pretend to have this great work ethic, as they do in Canada. In T&T I would certainly have had a much easier and possibly more successful life.
 
So Friends, please be careful of what you wish for, of the frustration you find in what you have or do, because in many cases, what you rush off to, is much worse than what you left behind.
 
Anyway my brethren, with those words of wisdom, we’ll close for today. I have to chuckle because I never planned to get into my situation, but the Spirit just brought it to mind, and it just seemed to fit naturally. In any case I couldn’t have got in all the scriptures I wanted today, so God willing, tomorrow we’ll continue looking at Abram and all the promises God made him.
 
Till then, please let’s listen closely to whatever God is saying to us, and obey His dictates, because He knows the plans He has for us, ‘thoughts of peace, and not evil (calamity), to give you an expected end (a future and a hope). (Jer.29:11) That’s a divine promise, so please let’s be wise and heed it. Much LOVE!
 
…our omnipotent God…has NEVER…and WILL NEVER renege on a promise…since He can do whatever He promises…