Wednesday 18 May 2011

Perpetual Motion

There seems to be quite a common theme with the events in Genesis. Abraham and his descendents never seem to get things right. There's this pattern of God reminding them of the covenant he made to Abraham, they make some sort of testament to it (usually a pile of stones), then they go and mess up.

One person I felt quite sorry for was Abimelek. In Genesis 20, Abraham lied to him and said that his wife, Sarah, was his sister. Fortunately, God prevented Abimelek and his people from mistakenly taking her to be their wife so they were spared from any punishment as a result. Abimelek ended up giving Sarah gifts for any offence that may have been caused, despite the fact that it was Abraham who was in the wrong. It seemed Abimelek was more willing to act in a way that honoured God than Abraham, despite the fact that he did not have God's promises as Abraham did.

Abraham's actions were the result of a mistaken attitude towards God and fear as a result. Abraham thought that the region of Gerer was not a God-fearing place and therefore his life was in danger. He then lied to protect himself, got himself in a sticky situation and had to be baled out by God. He had no reason to fear though, God had constantly told Abraham that he would be protected and that he would prosper. Abraham didn't seem to take this too seriously at times and got into a lot of trouble.

This scene is repeated again and again. God gives his promise and then the person (be it Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...) falls short, forgetting what God had just told them. It's the same story again and again: a perpetual motion of God bringing his people to him, them going astray and God bringing them to him once again.

Quick Questions
  1. Are you a forgetful person?
  2. Do you sometimes fail to remember God's promises to you?

1 comment:

  1. Reasonable post.

    1- Yes, depends, sometimes very forgetful usually when it comes to things I need to do, but remember random phone numbers and conversations etc.

    2- Promises specifically to me I don't generally forget, promises to everyone, including me, yes I think I do probably forget them, but then there are rather a lot...

    ReplyDelete

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