Week 2: Day 5  

Genesis 12:10-13:18

Key Text  

“‘Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.’” Genesis 13:17                                                                                                           

Abram Prospers and Is Promised the Land of Canaan   

Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t only use perfect people? As a matter of fact, the more we read the great drama of the Bible, the more we see that God specifically uses the foolish, the weak, and the despised (1 Cor. 1:27-28). Abraham has been chosen to receive God’s favor in the form of a child, a land, and a blessing. However, up to this point in the story he has received none of those things. He is supposed to be walking by faith, but he keeps taking matters into his own hands. He foolishly devises a scheme to keep himself out of harm’s way even at the cost of putting his wife in the middle of trouble (12:11-13). It’s a faithless act of shameless self-protection.

God could’ve easily wiped the slate clean at that point. He could’ve easily concluded that Abraham was not worthy to be the “father of many nations,” but he doesn’t. Instead, he spares Abraham and Sarah from the wrath of Pharaoh and takes him to get his first glimpse of the promised land (13:14-17). God uses severely flawed people. The genealogies of Jesus are filled with them. And that’s really good news for you and me.

Casey McCall, email message to the editor, September 17, 2015.

Connection with Newer Testament  

1 Corinthians 1:27-28; Matthew 19:29

For the Kids

Help your children understand that they don’t have to be the best at something to be used by God. Remind them that Moses couldn’t speak well, but God used him to speak in front of the most prominent person in the nation: Pharaoh. Emphasize that when we aren’t good at something, or when we make mistakes and fail, God is still able to use us for his glory.

Prayer Prompts  

  1. Praise God that he saves severely flawed people, like us, and uses us for his glory in his kingdom.
  2. In Christ, we’ve received a promise greater than a plot of land in the Middle East. We’ve received the fullness of what that strip of land along the Mediterranean represents: eternal life in the presence of God. Praise God for blessing us with such rich promises in Christ.