创世记

Meditative Reflection
God Works in Mysterious Ways

After Abraham took Hagar as his second wife, there was a period of silence of 13 years before God appeared again to him. It must have been a period of spiritual dryness or desert for Abraham. On that one hand, he knew God is a faithful God in whom he trusted; on the other hand, he knew that the taking of Hagar as his second wife, as much as it was arranged by Sarah, was a faithless act. This period of silence must have been long and unbearable for those who love God, Abraham should not be any different.

Then God chose to break His silence after thirteen years. One would think that in order to convict Abraham of his folly, God would discipline him with some kind of misfortune, or at least, bring him words of rebuke. Surprisingly, God’s reappearance was marked by an even greater blessing — the giving of a new name to him.

In essence, Abraham’s name had been changed when he received his call to leave his homeland, and as be obeyed out of faith, in chapter 12. His act of faith was in response to God’s promise of making him a great nation and a channel of blessing to all peoples on earth (Gen. 12:2-3). This is the meaning of his new name, Abraham. But with an actual name change, God has made this promise irrevocable.

One would think that such a gracious act should have followed some remarkable act of faith by Abraham, so that it would be a sign of delight or reward from God. However, the opposite was true. It followed the commission of one of the most horrible mistakes of Abraham. This is how gracious our God is. Unlike our human fathers, our Heavenly Father often deals with our follies with added grace. Yes, a disciplinary action would have left a scar in Abraham’s life to remind him of his mistake. But, an act of grace will leave in the hearts of those who love the Lord, like Abraham, an even deeper knowledge of how gracious, forgiving and loving our Heavenly Father is.

Yes, discipline will induce a holy fear (which might be necessary at times), but grace is meant lead to a loving obedience.

Meditative Reflection
The God of All Peoples

The name of Abraham clearly conveys the message that God intends to bless all peoples on earth, and Abraham is only the instrument.

We all know that the descendants of Ishmael, who are the Arabs, have become historically the enemies of Israel for thousands of years until even today. The fact that most of the people in the Arab countries are Muslims and are in general, hostile to both Jews and Christians, has caused us to view them with fear and suspicion. But, do we know that, in obedience to the command of God, “Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day”? (Gen. 17:26)

God makes it clear that, “Any uncircumcised male (in Abraham’s household) who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Gen. 17:14). The fact that Abraham circumcised Ishmael confirmed that he was not cut off from his people, and that he was part of the covenant. Yes, in God’s providence, the blessing through Abraham would continue through the line of Isaac, but anyone within Abraham’s household would be blessed as well, if he was circumcised as mandated by God.

Of course, as Paul explains in Romans 4:9-12, the true spiritual descendants of Abraham are those whose hearts and not their flesh are circumcised. So, if anyone, be it a Jew, an Arab or any Gentile, would repent and believe in Jesus Christ, they would become the People of God as his or her heart is circumcised. This spiritual truth was made plain already, through the circumcision of Ishmael.

For that matter, anyone, be it a Jew, an Arab or any nominal Christian, whose heart is not circumcised, he or she remains outside of the covenant of God.

Meditative Reflection
God Makes No Mistakes

As we reflect on this very first affirmation by God in the Bible that “Is anything too hard for the Lord”, I invite you to meditate on the lyrics of the following song written by Watchman Nee:

He makes no mistakes, for He is God

He’ll never, He delights in grace.

He’ll never, because He has promised.

With a God like Him, whom should I fear.

Is there any mountain you can’t scale?

Is there any deep water you can’t swim over?

Our God specializes

In things impossible!

He makes iron float on water;

He splits the sea into dry land.

He makes the sun stay in the sky;

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

He sets the ocean’s boundary with soft sand;

Roaring waves cannot trespass.

He is your God, for you

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

His loving heart knows your troubles

He has promised to care for you;

Our God is full of compassion

Toward His helpless people.

Our God cannot deny Himself

He cannot forget His promises;

All His promises are in Christ

They are all Yes, Yes and Yes.

Our God cannot be unfaithful

His gracious covenant stands forever;

He will honor His promises

In answer to our cry of faith.

By faith, in joy we shall sing:

He makes no mistakes, He has promised;

He’ll never, He delights in grace.

He’ll never, for He is God!

Meditative Reflection
Interceding for Our City

I am not sure about the city in which you live. Chances are it is not unlike San Francisco or Vancouver. The increase in immorality, crime, drug and godlessness is alarming. Even worse is that it has degenerated from immorality into amorality. Immoral people, while continuing with their evil deeds, know that they are wrong, and there is at least a sense of guilt. But amoral people do not have a sense of right or wrong. While they do as they please, they do not have a sense of guilt. In fact, they take pride in their immorality. In both cities that I have just mentioned, homosexual behavior is a case in point. That’s why they call it “gay pride”.

As we read the story of Lot and Sodom, we understand that this is nothing new. However, how Abraham responded to God’s impending judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah of their sins is markedly different from most of us. While the righteous heart of Lot grieved over the sins of his city (2 Pet. 2:8), Abraham did more than that — he interceded on behalf of the city, not once, not twice but six times.

When God finished sharing his impending judgment on Sodom with Abraham, the Bible says, “but the Lord remained standing before Abraham.” (Gen. 18:22, Masoretic text) Why did He stand there? What was He waiting for?

The Bible makes clear that God does not delight in punishing even the wicked (Ezek. 18:23), He was waiting for someone to intercede on their behalf. Abraham did not disappoint God, “Then, Abraham approached Him…” (Gen. 18:23). He knew the heart of God.

Meditative Reflection
The Puzzling Issue of Homosexuality

The Bible describes the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah as “great and grievous” (Gen. 18:20). Some Evangelicals defend that their judgment by God has nothing to do with their homosexual behavior, but their violence. But, the story itself is plain for all to see.

But what about the claim that scientific research has now confirmed that homosexuality biologically is determined at birth; that homosexual persons are as psychologically healthy as heterosexuals; that there is a genetic component to sexual orientation, and that science has established that sexual orientation cannot change?

Stanton L. Jones, the provost and professor of psychology at Wheaton College, has written an extensive essay on the above in which he points out “representative samples of homosexual persons are difficult to gather…because homosexuality is a statistically uncommon phenomenon” with 1.8% (of adults in the United States, Canada and Europe) being bisexual men and women, 1.1% being gay men, and 0.6% being lesbians. This infrequency makes it hard to find participants for research studies, leading researchers to study easy-to-access group of persons…” Jones concludes in his essay that, “The contributions of science to this area, however, remain sketchy, limited and puzzling.”

For a full version of his article, you can visit www.christianethics.org.

Meditative Reflection
Doom’s Day

I have no idea what Lot had told his sons-in-law apart from, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

Did he appear to be a religious zealot to them? Had he cautioned them against the immorality of the city? Did he live a life that was set apart for the Lord? We do not really know the answers. I suspect even if Lot did, with the sinful culture of the city, it would not be surprising that his sons-in-law or for that matter, any of the Sodomites would have taken his words as a joke, because this is exactly the case with the people of our age.

When Christians take the Lord’s return seriously, the world regards us as fundamentalists or religious zealots. However, some of these people find the Mayan’s doom’s day prediction far more interesting or even credible. At the same time, movies that fantasize about Doom’s Day often become a box-office hit. Somehow, people do not take Doom’s Day necessarily as a joke, but they would take the Christian End-time belief as a joke. While they find the Mayan’s prediction mythically curious, and the movie’s Doom’s Day speculations credible because they realize the self-destructive power of human beings, they disregard the biblical End-time prophecy, because it is foretold by the Bible.

Why do they take this Biblical message so negatively? Because the message of the End-time is one of accountability and God’s judgment. The world takes the Mayan’s doom’s day with curiosity and light-heartedness; it takes the movies’ doom’s day scenarios with seriousness which echoes all kinds of global effort to promote world peace and environmental protection to avoid the possibility of its happening; but the message of the End-time is one of certainty and the only way to prepare for it is repentance and belief in the One whose return is imminent.

Meditative Reflection
Salt and Light?

The life of Lot is the story of a believer who thinks he can love God and the world at the same time.

Lot had followed his uncle, Abraham, all the way from Ur. He shared part of his journey of faith. Abraham must have told him and his household about his continued encounters with God, how God called him and the promise He had made to him. Lot also witnessed how God blessed Abraham and made him wealthy. He also shared in his great wealth too. Peter also testified that Lot was a righteous person. (2 Pet. 2:8) His grieving over the sins of Sodom proved that he exhibited godly character as well.

Yet, his heart leaned toward the world. As a nephew in the ancient Oriental culture, he did not defer the right to choose to his uncle and dared to take the more prosperous land from him instead. But the most attractive part of the land seemed to be the Paris of Palestine of the time, the city of Sodom. He saw it, he moved near to it, and eventually he lived in it, fully aware of its immorality and its potential influence on his family and himself. His great wealth in Sodom probably earned him a seat at the city’s gate, but it also caused him the life of his wife. Her looking back against the command of the angels and Lot’s initial hesitation to leave indicated their love of the city and their wealth tied to the city. The immoral deeds of the two daughters finally showed that, instead of influencing the city with his godliness, he and his family were influenced by the city instead.

If the Apostle John were alive then, he could have told Lot ― “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 Jn. 2:15)