MAY 20, 2023
Topic: OBEDIENCE BUILDS INTIMACY WITH GOD
Text: Gen12: 1 – 9
Memory Verse: “So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him; and Abram was Seventy and Five years old when he departed out of Haran.” Gen. 1: 24
In order to build intimacy with God, it is good to learn from the lives of those who had been close to Him. Today, we will look at the life of Abraham and learn from him the source of his closeness to God.
Abraham was very close to God so much so that God said “… shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do, …” Gen. 18:17. He communed with God as two friends do.
God told Abram to leave his people in the land of Ur of the Chaldees, to go to an unknown place, that God would show him. Abram didn’t argue but packed his family and his belongings and departed to the unknown place. Gen. 2:4
Abram was prompt to obey every instruction that God gave him without any complaints. When God told him to make a sacrifice in Gen.15:9, he immediately did and waited patiently by the sacrifice, driving away birds from it, until God spoke to him in a deep sleep.
When God told him to change his name from Abram which means Father, to Abraham that is Father of Nations, even when he was childless and he obeyed.
At the age of ninety-nine, when God told Abram to circumcise himself and his whole household, he obeyed.
He was obedient to God, even to the point of being ready to sacrifice his only son. God loves obedience and draws close to an obedient person. No wonder he said as we studied yesterday, “If you are willing and obedient you will eat the good of the land” Isa.1:19
Prayer:
O Lord, I thank you for your Word today, I desire to be close to you. I pray that you help me to be obedient to every instruction of yours in Jesus’ name. Amen