Abraham Laughed

Genesis 17: 15-17

“15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Abraham was 99 years old.  The idea that he and Sarah would conceive and raise a child was beyond his understanding.  But by now he knew that God kept his promises and that this would happen.

This promise, however, seemed too wonderful.  Abraham was overcome.   He did not know how to react, except to laugh and say, in effect, can this really be happening?  Can Sarah and I really be raising a child in nine months?

When we come to know God, to really know Him, we will realize how wonderful a miracle it is that God speaks to us, hears our prayers, answers our prayers, leads us, guides us, is concerned with us, and loves us.

God’s love is faithful and steadfast.

And sometimes it seems too good to be true.

But it is.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

A Great Name: Part 6

Genesis 17:1-8

“1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding, and I will be their God.”

God gave Abram a new name.  Abraham means “father of many” and was to be a reminder of God’s promise, of the covenant that existed between Abraham and God.

It was also a reminder that all of the things Abraham had and would have, everything he had accomplished and would accomplish was because of God.  

Abraham’s life was to be a monument to God’s promise, a monument to honor God.

Our lives as Christians are to be a reflection of Christ in the world.  Our monument is not to be a lavish church building, but a humble life of faith, love and obedience to the teachings of Christ.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

A Great Name: Part 5

Genesis 15: 1-6

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4 But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5 He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

Abram now had material wealth and land.  But he still had no children, no heirs.  God told him not to worry, that Abram’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Sometimes, trusting God is the easiest thing we can do.  At other times it is the hardest.  But in all situations, we are to trust God, trust His word, trust His presence and trust His love.

In Abram’s case, he was not getting any younger and neither was Sarai.  God’s promise seemed impossible.  Yet,  Abram believed the Lord.

And God declared him a righteous man.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

A Great Name: Part 4

Genesis 13: 14-18

“14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.”

Through a series of events, God caused Abram to accumulate great material wealth in the form of livestock, silver and gold.  And now, in the scripture above, we read that He gave Abram land; land as far as he could see in any direction.

Under the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, he set up his tent. And there he built an altar where he worshiped God.

Although he was rich in material things and owned vast acres of land…

Abram knew that his most valuable possession was his faith.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

A Great Name: Part 3

 Genesis 12: 4-9

“4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot and all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”

 

Abram left Haran as God asked him to do and traveled to the land of Canaan, pausing at the oak of Moreh.  

Tradition has it that this was a Canaanite sacred place.  Abraham not only camped there but he erected an altar to the one true God.

God appeared to Abram at this place where Canaanite worship had taken place.  God promised to give this land over to Abram’s offspring.

In a foreign land, in a place of idol worship, in a place of danger and insecurity, Abram remembered God.

And he built, not a tower to himself, 

but an altar to God.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

A Great Name: Part 2

 Genesis 12:1-3

“1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God promised Abram a great name.  This name would only be given as a result of great faith, great obedience, great service, great persistence and great sacrifice.

God would give Abram a great name so that he would be an example of God to others; so that others could know God through him.

The greatness of Abram’s name would flow through and because of God working in the life of Abram.

The great height of the Tower of Babel was a reflection of the corruption and the pride of the people of Babel.  

The greatness of Abram’s name was a reflection of the greatness of God.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

A Great Name: Part 1

 Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” 5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

The people of Babel wanted to make a name for themselves.  They wanted earthly fame and the material things that fame brought to them.  So they built a tower that was unlike anything humans had ever built; taller than any other building.  

The tower they built was a monument to themselves; something that would stand for eternity and everyone who saw it would be awed by their achievement.  

And their name that they so coveted would not stand for goodness, or kindness, or love or anything Godly.  It would stand for pride.  Their brick and mortar tower was  a monument to their pride.

The people of Babel poured their energy and time and talents into self-glorification.

And God was forgotten.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

A Rainbow in the Sky

Genesis 8:13-19

“13 In the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked and saw that the face of the ground was drying. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.”

Noah, his family, and the animals on board the ark survived the flood.  The waters receded and the earth became dry.  Try to imagine, if you can, the silence that surrounded them.

I am sure that they were excited to leave the ark, but also I imagine that there was a sense of fear and dread of what they would find.  After all, entire cities were wiped away and populations of people had died.  Did they have survivors’ remorse?  Did they, in some way, feel responsible for this great tragedy?

They were surrounded by death, yet also by rebirth.  With the receding of the flood, and the release of the people and animals from the ark, the earth was reborn.

God’s covenant with Noah began.  

A rainbow shown in the sky.

The first day of a new world had begun.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

God’s Persistent Presence

 Genesis 6: 11-22

“11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”

Humanity had become corrupt. And this corruption had spread even to the earth. So, God determined to destroy all of humanity as well as the earth.  The only exception to this destruction was Noah and his family, and the animals that God sent into the ark.

Noah was faced with the daunting task of building a huge ark exactly to the specifications that God had given him. Once that was done, he was to collect two of every living thing and put them onto the ark.

Scholars estimate that it took Noah somewhere between 75-100 years to build the ark.  We are not told if Noah had ever built even a small boat, but even assuming that he had, I am sure he had never built anything like the ark.  

And I am certain that Noah was not familiar with the care and maintenance of all of the animals that were going to show up on his doorstep once the ark was complete. 

But, God is a personal God.  He is involved.  He does not call us into a task and then abandon us.  He continues to lead us and guide us in the task to which He called us.  

Noah had the help of the greatest boat builder and zoologist of all time.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Noah Persisted

Genesis 6: 5-8

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.”

I wonder what Noah must have felt and experienced as the only righteous man on earth; the only man who still followed the path of God.  In a world full of wickedness, what was it like to be the only believer?

I am sure Noah’s neighbors thought he was strange.   I am sure they laughed at his odd religious habits.  I am sure they thought his prayers to God were useless and his worship frivolous and not relevant.

Nevertheless, Noah persisted in his love for and devotion to God. 

Noah’s persistence is a lesson for all Christians today, in this modern world.  The church is struggling and there are fewer believers, but, as Noah knew, God is still present, God is still the same God of creation, and

God continues to offer us His love and His salvation.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)