God came to Abraham. God made the covenant with Abraham. God took the initiative. It was God’s idea. It’s all laid out in Genesis 17.
We don’t see much about Abraham. He gave his tithe to Melchizedek. He let Lot pick the land. He didn’t take any spoils when he rescued Lot. He seems like an honorable guy.
He seems to have known that God is God and he wasn’t. But otherwise, he lived his life and was quite wealthy.
I don’t see him seeking God out, asking for the covenant, wanting God to see him.
Instead, God sought him out, designed and gave the covenant, and saw him.
What does this mean for me, for us as believers? I talk about seeking God, pressing in, forsaking self and the world. There are scriptures to back me up in all this.
But here, with Abraham, I see God pursuing Abraham.
Did Abraham do more seeking of God than we’re shown? I think we would see that if he had.
Instead, I see God doing the seeking. Here I see Him singling out, picking one, coming to him.
God’s still small voice spoke.
What did Abraham do?
He said yes. He laughed, yet he said ok. He didn’t try to make it happen. He trusted, had faith, entertained angels. He received.
God revealed Himself. God offered a promise. God initiated a covenant.
Abraham said yes.
I think this passage isn’t so much about me seeking or drawing near, or us as believers doing the seeking. There are those passages elsewhere in scripture. Everything about God and our relationships with Him can’t be covered in a single passage. Right?
I think this passage is about God providing a way, God offering. And it’s about our receiving — by faith.
Will I receive? Will I say yes when God speaks, when He comes to me, when He seeks me? He seeks each of us. And I believe that happens in very profound ways for each of us, in His timing, when He wills.
Abraham is our father (Genesis 17). And as his heirs, we should do what he did (John 8:39; Galatians 3:29). Will I? Will I say yes?
Yes, Lord. I say yes.
