READING: Genesis 12-15
Think about the joy you have when you talk with people you love. Your spouse shares words of love with you. Your preschooler just loves you and wants to hang out with you and talk. Your teenager unexpectedly wants to converse about life, or your adult child returns to you for advice. God has created us in such a way that simple conversations increase love, build trust, and strengthen relationships.
That shouldn’t surprise us, actually, since God is Himself a God who communicates with us. From the beginning, God simply spoke and things happened; light appeared when He commanded that there be light (Gen. 1:3). In today’s readings, I am again struck by the number of times the text says something like, “God said,” “God told him,” and “the word of the Lord came to him.” By my count, such a phrase occurs at least eleven times as God communicates particularly with Abram in these chapters.
Hear this amazing truth: the God who created the world communicates with the people He creates. At three different points in today’s reading, then, Abram makes the appropriate response to this relational God:
“So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.” (Gen. 12:7)
“He built an altar to Yahweh there, and he called on the name of Yahweh.” (Gen. 12:8)
“So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.” (Gen. 13:18)
God talks with us, and He expects us to respond in worship and obedience when He calls. Here’s my question today, though: knowing that we face a real enemy who seeks continually to deceive us, do I know God’s voice so well through His Word and His Spirit that I recognize the liar when he shows up?
Or, might I be easily deceived because I don’t the voice of Truth well enough? Sometimes the enemy wins simply because his voice is the only one we've heard consistently.
ACTION STEPS: To know God’s voice well today . . .
- Continue doing what you’re doing — read the Word and study it.
- Commit to memorizing one scripture verse this week. Drill the Word of God deeply into your heart as God speaks to you.
- When temptation comes, listen to God's voice calling you to Him for victory.
PRAYER: “God, we’re amazed that You speak to us. Especially for those of us who have easy access to Your Word, burden us to listen to Your voice through Your Word every day. Slow me down enough today to hear You.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Genesis 16-18