Well, hello, everyone, and welcome back. This is our daily devotional for Thursday, November 21st, 2024, and I am delighted to have this time with you. I hope that it finds you doing very well. We're making our way, y'all. Yesterday, we made our way through pretty much the middle section of Genesis chapter 21, and that's what we do, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Chapter 21 can really be broken into three segments. You have the birth of Isaac, then you have the business of Hagar and Ishmael. That's what we covered yesterday, y'all. And as I said yesterday, don't read that middle section of chapter 21 from verse 8 to verse 21 as regulative for how you deal with marital conflict or anything like that. You want to know what this section is all about? It's all about God keeping his promises. It's also all about God cleaning up messes. our mess in particular. And I should have said this yesterday. I've referenced this in the past, but I need to say it today. We have a tendency when we read things like this, you know, where this is the consequences on display of Abraham making really terrible decisions. Yes, Sarah had a hand in it. She's the one that suggested in the first place, but the buck stops with Abraham. Husbands, fathers, y'all, that's how this works, okay? And wives, mothers, tell them that, right? But nevertheless, y'all, it's really easy to talk smack about Abraham and say, this is Abraham. I mean, God just came and met with him smoking fire pot. Don't go lift his eyes. How can Abraham be so dumb, right? What's wrong with this guy? Doesn't he know? Yeah, he knows. He knows. Look, the problem when it comes to sin for us is usually not knowing. It's exceedingly rare when we violate God's law, especially in such a grandiose way that Abraham did. But it's exceedingly rare that we rebel against God, that we violate God's law, that we leave undone what we should do because of a lack of knowledge. Y'all, there's a reason why you can go to the deepest, darkest jungle of the Amazon, and they know that it's not right to kill each other to take one another's possessions, okay? Romans 1 elsewhere talks about God's law, to a certain extent, being written upon hearts, okay? And that's not the full understanding of the gospel, but it is morality, okay? So knowing, the old idea, you know, chew NBC, the more you know. You remember the little star coming across the screen, right? in the infomercials, the idea that if you know better, you'll do better, that's only true to a certain extent, because when it comes to sin and rebelling against God and just really messing up, it's not that we don't know, it's that we don't care. I mean, Abraham knew better, he just didn't care. And what we saw yesterday is an example of God cleaning up a mess. And let me tell you something, he cleans up your messes too. If you're wondering when he's going to clean up your mess, I can't tell you that. The fact is, is that life is full of consequences. And maybe it is in this lifetime that he cleans up the mess that you are facing. Maybe it is in eternity, but that in itself should be a comfort to us, you know? that one day, whatever it is, even if it's just you being dead wrong and you messed up, and as a result, life as you know it is gonna be changed forever. All that happens, it really does, it happens. But take comfort in the fact that God still works, that God still keeps his promises, and that is if you're trusting in Jesus, Philippians 1, he who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion. At the last day, you will stand. Doesn't mean that it's not going to be difficult until that last day, but that last day is coming. And it comes a lot quicker than we think sometimes. God is sovereign, he's in control, and so there's a message for us in Genesis 21 as well. Now, there's also something fascinating that happens at the end of Genesis chapter 21, and it's kind of like a bookend. You have the beginning of chapter 21 and the whole thing with laughter, and then you have the middle section, which is kind of, as we said yesterday, not a good look for Abraham, and some say not a good look for God until we see the deeper issues at hand there. And it's kind of that way with the end of chapter 21, with this little story that we read today that people look at and they say, oh, I wonder why that's in there. What's the importance of that? Why did that even go in there? Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Did Abraham do something that he shouldn't do? What gives? Well, let's pray, and then we'll read, and then we'll find out. But let's go to the Lord now. Our Father, we thank you for this time that you have given to us, and we thank you that as we've talked about already, you're sovereign. Father, you are in control. We don't have to worry about the future because we know you. That being said, sometimes we face consequences. Ease our hearts and our minds and assure us of your promise to finish the good work that you begin. And along the way, in your mercy, be gracious to us. As the psalmist said, if you should count of iniquities, who could stand? You do not treat us as our sins deserve, and we are so grateful for that. But Father, please work in our hearts that we wouldn't rebel against you. As it relates to today, please guide us now by your Holy Spirit so that we would see exactly what you would have us to see, the deeper significance here of what we find in your word. And we pray it all in Christ's name, amen. All right, so Genesis chapter 21, we're picking up at verse 22. It says, at that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his forces, said to Abraham, now pause, what time are we talking about? He's talking about the fact that just prior to this, we have this tale of Abraham sending away Hagar with Ishmael, and then, remember Ishmael's name? Ishmael means God hears him. God heard his cries of distress in the wilderness, promise given. But it's after Isaac has been weaned, things are really starting to progress for Abraham and Sarah. They're growing in wealth and territory, all of these different things. But what we read is, verse 22, Genesis 21, verse 22. At that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his forces, said to Abraham, God is with you in everything you do. All right, time out. Y'all, this is one of those verses that has been misused. Okay, in particular, it's been misused by Joel Osteen and those of his ilk that preach something called the prosperity gospels, that by virtue of your Christianity, you will find yourself mysteriously favored, right? And you'll be magnetic and just good things are gonna start happening to you, but you gotta believe and the best way to show you believe is to trust God and the best way to trust God is with your money and you might as well give your money to me because I represent him. I can't do the smile thing, my teeth aren't wide enough, I smoke too much pipes and cigars. But nevertheless, I mean, that's the line. The idea that you will be prosperous if you just give me your money, ultimately, is what it comes to. Or you don't have to give me your money, just buy this book, this new series, or if you want to support this ministry and show God you really trust him. That's what they do. And they quote verses like this. Now, we need to realize something. That it is true what is written here. When Abimelech, and remember who Abimelech is, he's the guy that took Sarah to be his wife and then the plague befell his household and all this kind of stuff sent Abraham on his way. Abimelech has the commander of his forces, and he's the king of Gerar. Okay, remember that whole deal with Sodom, king of Sodom, all that kind of stuff. He's the king of Gerar, and he recognizes. He says, hey, listen, God is with you in everything you do. Y'all, that is not some sort of statement that if you're trusting God the way you should, then you should be driving a BMW instead of a whatever it is that you drive. Maybe you do drive a BMW, right? It doesn't matter. The point is, don't buy into this garbage out here that quotes stuff like Genesis 21. God is with you in everything that you do. Y'all, God being with you in everything that you do often does not look like prosperity. I'm gonna say that again. God being with you in everything that you do often does not look like prosperity. God being with you in everything that you do often looks like difficulty. Because y'all, that means you're doing what the Lord wants you to do and the devil's attacking you for it, okay? If prosperity is a sign of genuine faith, then God's got some explaining to do to a whole lot of his people who have been very faithful. In fact, read Hebrews chapter 11. It talks about the fact that the world wasn't worthy of the people that were sawed in half and persecuted. Read John 15. Jesus said, hey, if they do this to me, don't think of yourself more highly than you should. They're gonna do it to you too. Genesis 21 is not a justification of the prosperity gospel. Instead, what we find is the faithfulness of God. and the particular promise that God gave to Abraham. Don't forget, God promised to do these things for Abraham, to increase his nation, to give him these things. He doesn't promise that to you and me. Now, does he make us prosperous? I heard recently that to be in the top 1% worldwide when it comes to finances, when it comes to wealth, you need to make $32,000 a year, and you're in the top 1% around the world. People live in abject poverty, okay? Worse than we could imagine. Diamond mines in Zaire and in other places pay children with literally a bucket of dirt that they can go home and try to find something in that they can sell. I mean, that's life, okay? We don't begin to understand poverty here like they do in other terrible areas of the world. But all of that being said, this promise that God gave to Abraham of increasing his flocks and herds, that's a specific promise to a specific person. God promises us those same things in glory, in heaven, Jesus, in fact, tells you to invest in that sort of prosperity, but not to do so here where moth and rust destroy and where the thief breaks in and steals and kills. No. Store up for yourself treasures in heaven, and we will get that prosperity, but not in this lifetime usually. Usually in this lifetime, we face trouble and difficulty because of Jesus Christ. Because we love him and we follow him, and we face difficulty because of that. And y'all, that's the thing that leads us to store up treasures in heaven. So, you know, it works out, but... Don't listen to this garbage that's out there that misuses passages like this. But God did bless Abraham. There's no question about that. So they say, God is with you in everything that you do. Verse 23. Now, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you. Abraham said, I swear it. Now, he's going to deal with some business after this. Abraham is a shrewd businessman, right? There's a reason he's the father of the Jewish people. And again, I'm part Jewish, so I can say what I want to about that. And don't you dare call me a racist. Y'all, it's absolutely true. But Abraham's a shrewd businessman, so he's got to deal with some business here in just a second. But why is this in there? I alluded to this before we read. It's this odd little thing. People say, well, is it good for him to make a treaty with this guy? I mean, he's the king of Gerar. As we're going to see in a minute, he's coming from the Philistines. You know, Philistines caused a lot of problems later on. What about this? Was it even a good thing? Y'all, it's a good thing for the precedent that it sets. At first glance, we read this and we're like, what's going on here? But you want to know what's really going on here? It's important. It's important even for today. Now, I don't want to get into the political stuff and the political claims, and by no means am I a Zionist, okay? If you hang around here, you know, okay? I will tell you if they rebuild the temple today in Jerusalem, I'll ask you, okay, great, what's going to be in there? It's not going to be a holy of holies. They can call it that, but God's presence isn't going to fill it because we know from Corinthians that we're the temple. Okay. And so, you know, preaching through revelation showing that a lot of this imagery and stuff is just that it's pointing to the church, not that. So I'm not a Zionist, but y'all something is revealed here. And that is that a Canaanite, a resident of the land, in fact, a King of Canaan comes to Abraham and he recognizes something. Again, I'll read it. God is with you in everything you do. Now, swear to me here before your God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Y'all, the reason that this is in here is that you have a king of Canaan coming to Abraham long before the conquest. Abraham and Sarah have Isaac, Isaac has Jacob and Esau, Jacob has the 12 tribes, they go into slavery in Egypt, they come out, Moses leads them to the promised, excuse me, I had to sneeze, Moses leads them to the promised land, okay, and then you have the conquest of Canaan where they start dealing with the Philistines and all these different people. But long before that, you have a king of Canaan coming to Abraham and saying, hey, listen, it's clear to me that God's with you. So I want you to swear to me something. I want you to swear to me that you will deal rightly with me, with my children, and the key is, and my descendants. You know, the precedent that is being set here is the claim, the right, the recognition that God was giving the promised land to Abraham and his descendants forever. Remember, we're those descendants, new heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem, right? But in the temporary right now, this idea of, oh, no, no, no, it just came in and came in. Thousands of years ago, God gave that property. He gave that physical plot of land. Does that have crossover to today? Yes, it does. Does that mean the world is going to recognize it? No, it doesn't. And I don't want to get into prophecy or anything like that, but this is important because of the precedent that it sets, that the king of Canaan and kings of Canaan would go on to recognize Abraham being there, go on to recognize the fact that God was going to bless him. And so he wants this covenant, this treaty with Abraham, not only for himself, but for his descendants forever. Now, this shows us a couple of things, right? As we will go on, we will see that indeed, Abraham does make this treaty, and it points us to the idea of what Israel was always supposed to be, and that is that Israel was also always supposed to be a blessing to the world around it. What were the promise of God in Genesis 12 and in Genesis 15 and elsewhere? Kings are going to come from you and the whole world is going to be blessed. This is a sign also showing that Israel could make peace with surrounding peoples. Admittedly, there were some that God said, you need to wipe them out. Wipe them off the face of the earth because they're going to corrupt you. But that wasn't everybody that was there. And later on, we do see peace. Think about some of the people that show up. What about Rahab? Okay, Boaz's mother in the line of Jesus. She was a resident of Jericho. They could make peace. They didn't have to destroy everybody. They had to destroy some. They didn't have to destroy everyone. God told them to make peace and to be a blessing. Remember what Jesus said when he cleansed the temple? My Father's house is to be a house of prayer for all peoples. It was never supposed to be about ethnic Judaism alone. Think about in David's time, you had Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba's husband. Okay, Bathsheba herself, but Uriah the Hittite, he's a Hittite. What's he doing in David's army? Well, he converted. This is pointing forward to the fact that Israel couldn't make peace with the surrounding peoples. Would they do it well? No. Would the Philistines be an absolute thorn in their side eventually? Yes, but y'all, what's pointed to here is something so much deeper than that, and that is the blessing that God's people were to be. Now, what does that have to do with ethnic Judaism today? Nothing, nothing. It does show that peace can be had with them, but y'all, bigger than them, we're the descendants of Abraham. Read Galatians, okay? Abraham is our father. They were supposed to be a blessing. What does that say about you and me? says that we're supposed to be a blessing, too, to other peoples, that we can make peace. But y'all, in making peace and being a blessing, the greatest blessing we can bestow is not temporary humanitarian aid, it's not stuff, it's not money. The greatest blessing that we can be is by being the salt and light of the world that reflect in Christ's light that we're commanded to do and to be, to share the beauty of Christ. That's how we're a blessing. Now, getting back to Abraham, here is a precedent to set, and it's an important one. Be salt and light, okay? Continuing on, let's deal with the business aspect. We can knock this out really quick. So Abraham said, I swear it, verse 24, verse 25. Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized. Y'all realize that wells were incredibly important for a man who had lifestyle. They're on the cusp of the Beersheba Desert, all this kind of stuff. All sorts of problems there, weather-wise, water-wise. Remember, that's why Abraham and Lot separated, because of their holdings, their flocks, their herdsmen trying to provide. And so he complains about this well that Abimelech's servants had seized. But Abimelech said, I don't know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today. Side note, do you hear a tinge of fear with Abimelech? You know, as soon as he found out this business about Sarah being Abraham's wife, he's like, hey, why would you do this to me? This isn't right. Why would you do this to me? Why wouldn't you just tell me the truth? Abimelech is one that fears the Lord. Does that mean that he's a follower? I don't know, I don't think so, but we see the fear of the Lord in him and the fear of Abraham in him. Remember God came to him in a dream and said, hey, listen, the only reason that I haven't killed you and everybody you know is because you did this with clean hands, but you gotta go to Abraham and you gotta make this right, okay? Don't sin, deal with Abraham, he's a prophet. So Abimelech is very concerned about that. And it's almost like he's saying, why didn't you tell me? Almost out of fear, like why didn't you give me the chance to fix this before it's a problem, okay? Verse 27, so Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty. Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, and Abimelech asked Abraham, what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves? He replied, accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well. Again, wells were very important. This is a testimony aspect. Verse 31, so that place was called Beersheba because the two men swore an oath there. Now Beersheba is interesting. That name itself, it can mean two things. It can mean the well of oath, right? Or the well of the vow, the well of the oath, because they made a treaty there, made an oath there. It can also mean the well of the seven. Remember we talked about this in Revelation on Sunday morning not too long ago, the usage of the number seven signifying completeness, fullness, truth. It can mean both, but nevertheless, that's what it's called, Beersheba. Verse 32, after the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his forces, returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of Jehovah, the eternal God. And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. Y'all, what do we find here at the very end? We find that Abraham is back on the up. His life story is one of ups and downs, twists and turns. But at the end of it, after God has cleaned up messes, you see Abraham calling on the name of the Lord. This is also why we see that Abraham is the man of faith. Abraham's not the man of faith because he's always perfect, because he always did what was right. Abraham is the man of faith because he called on the Lord. Let that be a lesson to us as well, a final application, if you will. Y'all, we're not gonna be perfect. If we could be perfect, God wouldn't have sent Jesus. We're not gonna be perfect, but we can turn to the Lord. Let me encourage you to do that. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this time that you've given to us, for the teaching of your word, for its beauty, its simplicity, also for what it points to. And Father, we do pray that we would take to heart your command and the privilege to be those who advance the cause of Christ. to make peace with the world around us through the Prince of Peace. So please, work in our hearts to that end. And I pray it all in Christ's name. Amen. Well, I'd like to thank you all for being a part of this time. Lord willing, we'll be back tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Until then, I hope you have a fantastic Thursday or whatever day it happens to be. Take care.