LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, September 3, 2024

As we look at the life of Abram and learn some great lessons on faith, we discover in the last portion of the twelfth chapter of Genesis that Abram had made a terrible mistake and done something by physical sight rather than spiritual faith. He saw a famine in the land, and how it would affect him, and he made a fleshly decision to move to Egypt. Along the way and while he was there one bad decision led to another and he got himself and his wife into serious trouble. His walk of faith quickly became a walk of sight and bad judgment. Whenever we walk by our sight we have only our wisdom to trust, and that inevitably leads to bad decisions and trouble because our wisdom is so limited, and our judgment is so flawed. It is only when we walk by faith in God’s wisdom that we experience the provisions that God promises.

At the end of his time in Egypt, Abram made a wise decision of faith.Genesis 13:1says, “So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.”

Notice the words at the beginning of this passage. “So Abram went up”. No greater words of encouragement can be found than these, for after a failure God provides a way to go up again. There is always a way back to the Promised Land of God’s blessing. The road back begins with humble honesty. Abram had to finally admit to Pharaoh what he had done, and when he did, he was sent on his way back to the land of blessing. Besides that, his honesty allowed him to keep all that he had acquired while he was there. Be careful here – don’t let Satan misuse this story to lead us into thinking that we can gain personal prosperity under false pretenses and then at the end admit the truth and keep all the gain. That would be arrogantly presumptuous of God’s holy character and justice. But in this case, God showed us that even in our moments of bad judgment and faithless decision-making, God is merciful and working to restore us to the land of blessing and accomplish His purpose in and through us. It all goes back to what we talked about yesterday – the original vision. God has not withdrawn it. We may have walked away from it, but God is working to complete the purpose in us to which we were called, and that means He helps us to go up again after we have gone down the wrong path.

What past failures and fears have led you down the wrong path and kept you from the land of blessing? Maybe you are still on that path and need to be humbly honest and repent and go up again on God’s path of faith. Maybe it is a path you took some time ago, but its effects have lingered on into today and hold you in a sort of faith-bondage. Maybe today is the day you step out in faith and go up again to accomplish God’s original vision for your life.

Mark this day on your calendar and write these words in your journal – “Today I went up from _____________ to _______________. (Fill in the blanks with where you have been and where God has called you, respectively.) Make this the day that is commemorated in your spiritual journey as the day you returned to a walk of faith.

Pastor John