Sermon # 8 - Rebuild The Altars Series

We read in Genesis 21:22, At that time Abimelech went with Phicol, the commander of his army, and said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do. (GNB)

Here we find that Abimelech a king from a foreign nation came to meet with Abraham. In general when a king wants to meet someone, he will summon them to his palace, and a king will never go seeking audience with someone.

What did King Abimelech see in Abraham that he went seeking after him?

If we can understand why this was so, our days of seeking will be done with, and others will come seeking after us. Those in authority will come looking to us. Whenever we want to accomplish something think about the number of people we have to run to in order to get the job done.

In Abraham’s case a king from another nation came to Abraham and spoke to him. As I meditated on this I got some insights as to why this happened. Abimelech noted that Abraham had everything in abundance. This astonished king Abimelech. Abraham seemed like a nomad, but his life was overflowing with bounty, though he had no land to call his own. It was obvious that Abraham was not an ordinary person like anyone else. Abraham dug wells and immediately they were filled with water. His herds of cattle increased tremendously. When there was a problem in his family, Abraham did not fight for his rights, but gave up what was his willingly. Abraham fought with kings and overpowered them. Though he was hundred years old God was able to have a son at that age.

All of this must have confused king Abimelech who could not comprehend the life of Abraham. King Abimelech must have seen many people, but it seemed that he had seen none like Abraham. No wonder Abimelech came seeking after Abraham even though he was a king. This was why Abimelech gave this testimony about Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.”

When people look at us they too must be perplexed at all that God is doing in our lives. The testimony that Abraham received is the one that each one of us should receive too that God is with us in everything we do.

Abimelech makes a treaty with Abraham

We also read in Genesis 21:23, “So make a promise to me here before God. Promise that you will be fair with me and with my children. Promise that you will be kind to me and this country where you have lived. Promise that you will be as kind to me as I have been to you." (ERV)

King Abimelech who was a king of the foreign nation understood that he should be at peace with a man like Abraham since he not only thought of himself, but also about the generations to come. I tend to think that Abimelech must have spent a lot of time thinking about Abraham while Abraham thought only about God. Abimelech knew that God was with Abraham, and that God blessed Abraham.

What made Abraham so special?

There is another English translation that reads this way, "No matter what you do, God is on your side.” This was the reason why Abimelech came to make peace with Abraham.

We read in Genesis 12:7, The LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "This is the country that I am going to give to your descendants." Then Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (GNB)

Also we read in Genesis 12:6, Abram traveled through the land until he came to the sacred tree of Moreh, the holy place at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were still living in the land.) (GNB)

As Abraham travelled though the land and came to the holy place at Shechem, the Lord promised Abraham that he would give him the land to be his own. Notice how Abraham did not ask God for the land, but the Lord promised Abraham that he would give him the land.

When God gives no man can stop it, and when God gives no man can question it. There is something strange that happening on social media. While there is a war in the middle-east, there are lots of people who are freely sharing their opinions on this. As some support one group there are those who support the other group, and there is much debate about who is right, and who is wrong. The problem is many of them don’t know history or politics, and yet freely share their opinions because it is in their power to do so.

Let me share an example to help us understand this point. Two people are neighbors, and one of them out of spite decides to dump all of his garbage in his neighbor’s garden. The other person wakes up early in the morning to find the garbage in his yard, and in anger and retaliation decides to dump it back into the neighbor’s yard. If the one who initiated the trouble took a video of his neighbor throwing back the trash into his yard and circulated it, you can imagine what kind of wrong message will be circulated. These are days when we should be cautious about all the news that is shared with us. Everything we see and hear should not be taken as is.