Genesis 12 and 13 begin the story of Abraham. It has always amazed me that God had only to make a promise to Abram and he did whatever God told him to do. In this case God tells Abram to leave his home and most of his extended family and go to a land that God will show him. God didn’t say, “Go to Canaan.” God simply says I’ll tell you when you get there. God does promise blessings for obedience, but that’s all. And Abram goes. He apparently asks his family if they want to go along because his nephew Lot accompanies him but otherwise it is just Abram and his wife Sarai and all of their servants and possessions. Picking up a household and moving seem daunting to us but we have to remember that people in those days were semi nomadic and could pick up and go quicker. Nonetheless, it was probably quite an ordeal.

When they get to Canaan God tells him that this is the land his offspring will own. Abram moves throughout that land and in each place he builds an altar to the Lord. There are many societies that use piles of rocks to identify special places. These altars were as much a landmark as they were a place to thank God for bringing them this far.  

There was a famine in the land where Abram was settling. While it doesn’t say specifically, it appears that Abram makes a decision on his own without consulting with God. This is the first of several unfortunate decisions Abram makes in his life. He decides to go to Egypt to live during the famine. Fearing for his own safety he has Sarai say that she is his sister and allows the pharaoh to make her one of his wives. God is not pleased and afflicts the pharaoh with plagues. He promptly lets Abram, Sarai and their entourage leave.

Many of us have an easy time trusting God when things are going well for us. We believe that we are open to His leading and will go wherever He says we should go. But when things start to get difficult we begin to take things into our own hands. We try to “help” God and often make things worse. Just like Adam and Eve, and now Abram, we struggle with believing that God can be completely in control and always do what is best for us. We seem to think that we have a better handle on the way our lives should go, because, after all, we have our best interests at heart, as though God does not. We fail to see that God understands the big picture and how each small event leads to the next or to the one that is far down the road. As we take things into our own hands and use our own rationality, or should I say rationalization, we make short-sighted choices that often complicate things. But God is still involved and will work things out together for our good. Even if in the short term it may cause us pain.

God doesn’t give up on Abram. Finally, Abram and Lot divvy up the land and they settle down. God repeats His promise to Abram that his descendants will be many.  

Matthew 5 is a mammoth chapter, jammed packed with much more than can be covered in this blog. This chapter begins The Sermon on the Mount since Jesus when up a mountainside to teach. In this set of teachings Jesus challenges the common understanding of the law (Torah) and exhorts his followers to go a step or more further. He highlights love over judgment and sacrifice over self-preservation.  

The first 12 verses are traditionally called “The Beatitudes” after the Latin word for blessed or happy.  The interesting thing about these verses is that most of the situations described would not be considered ones that would make one happy or feel blessed: feeling poor spiritually, mourning, being meek, needing to show mercy, being tempted to do wrong things, being in an argument or battle, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, being persecuted, and reviled. Jesus is telling us that pursuing these things when the temptation is to do otherwise will lead to eternal blessings from God. When we find ourselves in challenging situations and choose the right path God is on our side.

We are to live our lives of faith boldly and not to shy away from trouble. We are also to live our lives at a higher standard than the rest of the world. It is not enough to live the way everyone else lives. We must hold ourselves accountable; remain steady and patient; love when we want to hate; work things out when we want to give up; make things right even if we are the ones who have been wronged and especially when we have been wrong ourselves; bear with those who frustrate, hurt and even hate us; and stand up for what we believe.

Love is to be our guide and stay. It causes us to be able to do all of these things for those we love, yes, but more importantly for our enemies and those who would do us harm. This is not taking a position of weakness. It is standing for what is right in God’s eyes. It is difficult, but god will bless us.

I do not believe it means putting ourselves in danger, though. It is possible to do each of these things for the betterment of those we encounter without causing ourselves harm, unless for some reason God is calling you into harm’s way for justice and righteousness.

The final injunction in this chapter is to be perfect even as God is perfect. This does not mean be without fault or flaw, although that is how perfect God is. The term perfect signifies completeness or wholeness. In other words don’t let the situations described break you. Trust that your heavenly Father can hold you together. Rely and lean on Him, and look for the blessing.