The Blessing of God's Plans

The Blessing of God’s Plan for Us.
Genesis 13-16
“Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
Obtaining God's blessing is not based on our merit but His grace.  This is a message that runs repeatedly throughout the Scriptures.   When we obey God and trust His plan for our life, He pours His blessings upon us.  Conversely, when we doubt God and attempt to live our life by our plans and wisdom, it will inevitably result in disaster and spiritual bankruptcy.

In chapter 12, God promised Abraham that He would bless Abraham and make him into a great nation.  Having received the promise, Abraham followed God’s commands, left his home country of Ur (modern-day Iraq), and traveled to Canaan.  However, in chapter 13, Abraham’s faith is tested.  The flocks and herds of Abraham and his uncle Lot had become so great that the land could no longer support them both, and they needed it divided and to go on their separate ways. Abraham is now confronted with a choice.  Does he trust in the timing of God’s plan, or does he take possession of the land by his actions?  Based on the promise of God, Abraham could have easily demanded that he had the right to the fertile plains even though God had not yet told him specifically what the promised land would include.  In other words, by asserting his favored position, he could use human means to obtain the promise.  Instead of doing so, Abraham trusted in God’s promise to give him the land that God promised.  Lot, on the other hand, used this opportunity to his advantage.  Instead of trusting in God’s blessing, he trusted in his desire to obtain the best of the land.  The result was that his decision threatened his whole existence, and he would be confronted with the loss of everything.

Having trusted God’s promise and timing in chapter 14, in chapter 16, Abraham likewise reverted to trusting in his abilities. After receiving the promise of a descendent, Abraham became impatient, and instead of trusting in God’s timing and plan, he took matters into his hand and sought to obtain a descendent by human wisdom.  Because he lacked trust in God’s promise that he would have a descendent, he sought to use a commonly accepted practice in the Ancient Near East by using a surrogate to obtain an heir.  In both occasions (i.e, lots choice and Abraham’s use of a surrogate), the decision to seek God’s blessing by trusting in their own control of the circumstances resulted in disaster.  Lot was taken captive in war, and the child born of Hagar, Ishmael (from whom the Arabs would descend), would become a bitter enemy of Israel that continues to this day.

Every day, we face the same decision that confronted both Lot and Abraham: Will we trust in God’s plan and timing, or will we trust in our ability to obtain a blessing?  We often make our plans and then ask God to bless them rather than surrender our plans to God and trust in His outcomes.  The autobiography of God centers on the blessings that come when we stop trusting in our plans and abilities and surrender to God’s plans for our life.  The sage in Proverbs 3:5- 6 reminds us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  In other words, instead of seeking our agenda and asking God’s blessing, we need to prayerfully seek God’s agenda and surrender our plans to Him so that He dictates the future.  Faith is not just believing in God; faith is trusting in God’s plan for our life and seeking to obey him.  Throughout the Bible, we discover that when people act in faith and obedience, the outcome is always a blessing.  When people refuse to obey God and strike out on their own, it always results in disaster.   As you begin each day, do not ask God to bless your day; ask him to direct and govern your day so that you do his will, and in the end, you will discover the blessing of His perfect plan.