Getting Something Right from Something Wrong
There are so many ways we learn things. Learning from others’ mistakes is something we all wish we did more of! Experience is the best teacher. Practice makes perfect. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Watch someone do it, be guided in it, then do it yourself. Study it, practice it, know it. So many ways we learn things. And, sometimes, we learn something right, even when we are being taught all wrong.
One of the more famous scriptures in the Gospels is Matthew’s recounting of the Great Commission where Jesus said (in the King James!), “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost… and, lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world.” Very early in my Christian life, I remember being so impressed with a speaker who, elaborating on this text, pointed out that, (insert haughty preacher voice here), “No ‘go’, no ‘lo’!”
No go, no lo. According to this gentleman, if we “go” into all the world as evangelists, then God promises to “lo!” be with us always. Hence, if we don’t “go” sharing the Word, God will not “lo”, He will not be with us. The cutesy connection between “go” and “lo”, however, is simply anti-Gospel. In the Gospel, God comes to us out of His grace and mercy. He claims us as His own, and is with us, simply because. Because, why? Just because. That, my dear friends, is true grace. And, tying His presence with us to our “going” or not, is pure anti-Christian. It is, simply, wrong.
Having said all that, as clearly as I can, I personally learned something right from all that wrong. I learned the lesson of Abram from way back in Genesis. Abram was called by God to be His follower, His servant in the world (Genesis 12). This is one of the turning points in redemptive history—when we write the history of God’s work of redemption, this moment in Genesis gets special notice. Why? Because God called Abram to “go”, and in doing so, God called Abram to be a blessing to the entire world—“Go… and I will bless you… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).
We could easily make the mistake on one hand that Abram’s blessing is because he goes when God tells him to. But that is all wrong—the blessing comes from God’s hand, not Abram’s faithfulness. On the other hand, we could make the mistake that God’s blessing is for Abram. But that’s not right either—God blesses Abram so that he might be a blessing to others. God desires to bless us, but that is not all. Our blessings come so that we might bless. The Lord’s purposes are for the multiplication of His praise and goodness, not simply so we might hoard His goodness all to ourselves.
Abram’s experience in Genesis 3:1-3 is a challenge to us all—for in some ways, we all experience the same thing: God’s voice saying, “Go! I am with you! The blessing I have given you, be to others.” And, that’s the right that I learned from the wrong so long ago. The presence and blessing of God (“lo!”) does not come because we “go”; but it is true that in our “going”, God’s blessings flow out to so, so many.
As you prepare for worship this week, read Genesis 12:1-3.
1. Look back into Genesis 11, notice that there is a direct
connection from Noah to Abram. Given God’s promises to and through Noah, what
does this imply about Abram?
2. How is God’s call to Abram totally different than His
interactions with individuals prior to chapter 12?
3. Why does God call Abram to “go”? Was it simply to move
him physically from one spot to another? Notice that the “going” involved a
“departing from” as well.
4. How did your calling to follow Jesus involve a calling
from something? Could you have done the one without the other?
5. In verse 1, God shows Abram where to go. What does that
imply about where God is in relation to where Abram is? Once again, what does
that mean about God’s presence with you?
6. What does “making a great nation” look like for Abram?
7. What might the blessings look like that God is giving to Abram? How have you experienced these same blessings?
