The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 6 July 2024 – A Covenant Of Blessing
TOPIC: A Covenant Of Blessing
READ: Genesis 12: 1-20 (NKJV)
- Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.
- I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
- I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
- So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram [was] seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
- Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
- Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites [were] then in the land.
- Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
- And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent [with] Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
- So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
- Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine [was] severe in the land.
- And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you [are] a woman of beautiful countenance.
- “Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This [is] his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
- “Please say you [are] my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
- So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she [was] very beautiful.
- The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
- He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
- But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
- And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What [is] this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she [was] your wife?
- “Why did you say, ‘She [is] my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take [her] and go your way.”
- So Pharaoh commanded [his] men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
THE MESSAGE:
At the age of 75, Abram left Haran by faith to the Promised Land. The command to leave his native land, his ancestral family and father’s house had come earlier (v.1, Acts 7: 2).
The command in verse 2 is followed by profound promises in verses 2-3. God would bless him, make his name great, and make him a great nation! He would be a blessing, and people would be blessed for blessing him, and cursed for cursing him.
In addition, “All the families of the earth shall be blessed” through him. On arrival in Canaan, God appeared to him again, and he responded in adoration (vv.7,8). Indeed, in most cases, Abram built an altar to the Lord everywhere he lived for a while (Gen 13:4,18; 22:9).
We too should habitually worship God everywhere we dwell. In the words of 2 Peter 1: 4, the promises to Abraham are great and precious. The severe famine that hit the land after Abraham’s arrival forced him to move to Egypt, where he told a lie to save his life (vv.10-13).
Could not the same God who forced Pharaoh to release his wife (vv.17-19) save him from the problem he anticipated in vv.12-13? Are you a member of Abraham’s family? If not, call on Jesus now.
PRAYER: Thank you Lord for making me a partaker of Abraham’s blessings.
