Stunted Experience
Genesis 15:6 “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Observation: The Lord in verse 1 had come to Abram to assure him that “I…am your very great reward.” Abram’s response was to ask how that was possible since Abram had no heir. When God...
Tears in the Driveway
Genesis 12:1 “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’” Observation: The family into which Abram was born had already done one leaving. Genesis 11:31 says that Abram’s father Terah...
To Bed Without Supper
Genesis 11:2 “…they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.” Observation: This is how the story of the tower of Babel is introduced. The previous verse reveals that the whole world had one language and a common speech. This is reasonable, given that the setting is...
A Prospering Portfolio
Genesis 12:16 “Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.” Observation: God had supernaturally led Abram to migrate to Canaan with his entire household. As famine there became severe, Abram decided on his own to...
Magazine Aisle
Genesis 14:13 “…he was living in Sodom.” Observation: Abram and his nephew Lot had come to an amicable parting once it was apparent that their holdings were too vast for them to live near one another. Large herds needed expansive lands, so Lot had chosen to occupy the...
Short Accounts
Genesis 9:22 “Ham…saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.” Observation: Genesis 9:19 states that from Noah’s three sons “came the people who were scattered across the earth.” Along with their wives, each had experienced God’s deliverance through...
The Cyclone
Genesis 8:1a “But God remembered Noah…” Observation: Preceding verses have described the effects of the flood: every living thing on the earth perished, along with all mankind. “Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died (Gen. 7:22) Then...
Cutting Corners
Genesis 14:23 “I will accept nothing belonging to you.” Observation: Abram had just returned from defeating a group of allied kings who had earlier routed the king of Sodom. In the original battle, the allied kings had taken captive Abram’s nephew Lot along with his...
Chasing Vultures
Genesis 15:12 “As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness fell over him.” Observation: Earlier in the day the Lord had told Abram in a vision that He would be Abram’s “shield and very great reward.” (v. 1) Then God assured...
Weather Report
Genesis 7:11b, 12 “…all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” Observation: Noah and his sons had worked faithfully on the ark for decades, doing “all that the...
