God doesn’t always tells us His plans. This devotional reading looks at God’s thought process in whether to tell Abraham about His plans or not.
Nuggets
- Abraham walked with them a bit when they started on their way, allowing God to tell Abraham His plans.
- Sometimes, God shares His plans with us, though not always.
- God chose to reveal the plan to Abraham because He did honor him.
- Because God had honored Abraham, he inherited a great responsibility toward his family.
Abraham had been host to God and two angels. As they are leaving, God wrestles with Himself whether He should share His plans with him.
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Devotions in the Abraham the Patriarch series
Leaving the Hospitality
“Then the men got up from their meal and looked out toward Sodom. As they left, Abraham went with them to send them on their way. ‘Should I hide my plan from Abraham?’ the Lord asked. ‘For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him’” (Gen. 18: 16-18 NLT)
Abraham walked with them a bit when they started on their way, allowing God to tell Abraham His plans.
It looks like God is debating with Himself on whether or not He should say anything to Abraham. No, God isn’t undecided.
I think God was just allowing us to know why He was starting this conversation.
Hide my Plan
Sometimes, God shares His plans with us, though not always.
Sovereign God has plans for each of us. “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29: 11 NLT).
But God does not always tell us everything. “The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions” (Deut. 29: 29 NLT).
We see this affirmed in Revelation. “The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions” (Rev. 10: 4 NLT).
Don’t read over this. Abraham had never asked God why He was there. He wasn’t trying to get a glimpse into God’s secret plans.
True, God had already given Abraham the timeline for his plan. The promised son would come in a year.
No, I don’t think Abraham didn’t ask because he didn’t care. I think that he knew God would tell him if it was his business to know.
Look what Candlish said. He wrote,
“Nor in this pleading does Abraham arrogate anything to himself. He has boldness and access, with confidence, by the faith of Jesus. He has liberty to converse with God as a friend, to give utterance to his feelings and desires before Him, to represent his own case and the case of every one for whom he cares; and not for himself only, but for others, yea, indeed for all, to invoke the name of Him whose memorial to all generations is this: “The Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6, 7).”
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I read that to mean that Abraham knew that anyone who had the faith he did had the same access.
We know we have this same access. We call it seeking God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Non-believers search for God.
Disciples seek Him.
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17)
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3)
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16)
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11)
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2)
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11)
You know, those elements are missing one thing. I don’t talk about the need to worship God.
We access God through worshiping Him. If we can’t worship Him, are we really truly seeking Him?
Leale said that this communication with God is a privilege of our friendship with Him. True – if we aren’t His friend, we can’t communicate with Him.
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We keep saying that is isn’t about religion. It is about relationship. We have to communicate to have a relationship.
Honor Already Granted to Abraham
God chose to reveal the plan to Abraham because He did honor him.
God didn’t have to revel His plan to Abraham. He chose to do so.
The reason God chose to tell Abraham His plans was that He had plans for Abraham.
- Abraham’s descendants will become a strong nation.
- Through him, all the world will be blessed.
- He will instruct his children to follow God.
Fuller reminded us that God had a special interest in the nation of which the Abraham would be the father. That is why He wanted to talk with His friend about His plans.
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Everything God has out in His Word is there for a reason – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Inclusion doesn’t mean God is approving of the actions. In fact, it is probably the opposite. God can also just be showing us the condition of mankind.
Another head-scratching verse is when God said He was “… going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know” (Gen. 18: 21 NLT).
God is all-seeing. He knows.
I read this to say that God was giving them a chance to repent.
Aren’t we like that? We want to know how far we can go before we can’t get away with it anymore.
We shade it to make it look like we are trying to stay obedient. Really, we just want to know how much sin we can keep.
God Had Plans for Abraham
“I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised’” (Gen. 18: 19 NLT)
Because God had honored Abraham, he inherited a great responsibility toward his family.
Ooo, baby. Abraham did have a great responsibility. Let’s look at what the Hebrew says.
“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall be shomer [guard] over the Derech Hashem [the Way of God], to do tzedakah [charity, righteousness] and mishpat [judgment, justice, ordinance, legal right]; that Hashem may bring upon Avraham that which He hath spoken [promised] of him” (Gen. 18: 9 OJB).
God knows Abraham. It isn’t about having head-knowledge about Him. God knew Abraham’s heart and that His belief and love of God was at the heart-level.
Does it seem strange that God said, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him …” (Gen. 18: 9 OJB). It shouldn’t.
Hastings had a slightly different definition of knew. He argued it wasn’t only Abraham’s knowledge, but it was also God’s approval of his conduct.
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God knows Abraham will witness to his descendants. Bedtime stories, celebrations, everyday conversations – this was how he would command/direction his descendants about Who God is and what He wants from us.
We do know that in some prior cultures, the father was an authoritarian. No, Abraham isn’t taking away his descendants’ free will. He was fulfilling his responsibility as a parent and as a child of God.
What Abraham was to pass on to his family was the things that qualified him for being the father of nations. Emmons said that Abraham would be expected to dedicate, instruct, and restrain his children.
- Knowledge
- Piety
- Virtue
- Authority
- Fidelity
- Diligence
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Why is family government so important? It is one way in which God’s Gospel is spread from generation to generation. Neglecting to do so makes them disobedient to God.
- “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it” (Prov. 22: 6 NLT).
- “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord” (Eph. 6: 4 NLT).
- “And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up” (Deut. 6: 6-7 NLT).
Nothing is more important than keeping the Way of God.
Melvill told us what this is at stake here. He wrote,
“Such an expression seems to imply that there is no tendency in children to walk in the right way. They have to be dealt with in the way of command — as though, if left to themselves, the almost certainty is that they will walk in the wrong.”
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That brings up an important occurrence more times than not. Grandparents went to church faithfully and took Parents. But Parents rebelled and left the Church. So, they never took Children to introduce them to God.
Grandparents tried to keep the Way of God. Parents and Children will be judged on Judgment Day. Their eternity is at risk if not assured.
Making the Connections #1
Just as we know there are plans that we need to follow, we also have to know that there are consequences for those that do not follow the plans.
No, it isn’t every day that suffer rains from the skies and destroys two cities. However, meteorological events do happen — tornadoes, hurricanes, floods.
How would we know the why behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah if God hadn’t told Abraham?
Making the Connections #2
Leale made an interesting comment. He wrote, “Abraham was not only a saint, but also a representative man, through whom God intended to convey great blessings to mankind.”
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My first thought was, “Huh.” But then I thought about it.
“I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12: 2-3 NLT).
I think I would have used a different word than representative. I would use foundation, instead.
A representative means that we would look like Abraham. We do physically, but do we all spiritually? Some, yes; some, no.
I say foundation because we should want to look like Abraham and have a faith like his.
Thinking through this, maybe both are correct. Abraham is the foundation, but we should want to be like him, making him our representative.
Making the Connections #3
The Congregational Pulpit is right. God has revealed to us some of His secrets.
- We know Jesus will return.
- We know the world as we know it will end. This planet is scheduled for destruction.
- We know all will be judged and rewarded or punished accordingly.
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Making the Connections #4
Yes, parents can teach their children the Way of God. Why doesn’t it stick?
Melvill addressed that. He wrote,
“When you come to think on what right training is, a system of example as well as of precept, you must assuredly see how likely it is that the best training has been defective — that even parents who have taken most pains have failed in thoroughly educating their children for God; and of course it is vain to urge that the Divine promise has not been accomplished, so long as there could be doubt as to whether the condition on which it is made has been rigidly complied with.”
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Pastor Steve and I had this conversation the other day. We are called to witness to people. It is up to God to save them.
Oh, yeah. We would love to be able to make the decision for them – but we can’t. They must decide on their own to follow God’s Way.
All we can do is be obedient to the tasks God has for us.
Making the Connections #5
We have to remember that, at this point, the chosen son wasn’t born, but the first-born son had been. Ishmael would have just enter his teenage years.
Abraham would also have servants and slaves to whom to witness. We don’t know how many this entailed, but we do know he was wealthy.
This could be a significant number of people. They would have been under Abraham’s care.
That makes it even more important for us to be an example and witness for God.
Making the Connections #6
It just hit me that there is only one other altar that Abraham builds after this point. It was the one to sacrifice Isaac.
But then, Abraham stayed put at Mamre, where he had built his third of the fourth altars.
- Shechem: Abram built his first altar upon entering the land of Canaan (Gen. 12: 7).
- Bethel: He constructed an altar between Bethel and Ai as a place of worship (Ge. 13: 3).
- Hebron: Abram built an altar in the region of Mamre, near Hebron (Gen. 13: 18).
- Mount Moriah: Abraham prepared an altar for the sacrifice of Isaac, demonstrating his faith (Gen 22: 9).
In other words, Abraham didn’t have to build more.
That doesn’t mean Abraham didn’t pray with and intercede for his family. That is one of the main ways he would have introduced his God to his family.
Abraham wanted his family to have what he had. Benson told us what that was. He wrote,
“Family-blessings arise from family religion; — temperance, frugality, industry, discretion — peace, quietness, love, harmony — the [favor], protection, and care of God; His direction and aid — all necessaries (Psalm 37:25; Matthew 6:33) — prosperity, as far as will be good for us, and our families.”
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How Do We Apply This?
- Be friends with God so He will open up to us about His plans.
- Be different from the world.
- Pray for others to become God’s friends.
- Always do that which God requires of us.
- Worship as a family.
- Ensure our house, habits, associates, pursuits, and recreations show the Way of God.
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Father God. Lord, may we have faith like Abraham’s where You would feel confident in sharing Your plans with us. Help us watch and wait when You don’t. Amen.
What do you think?
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