Jojo Agot's Blog

Meditations on Genesis 12 and 13.

Abram deceived the Egyptians by telling them that Sarai was his sister. Sarai agreed, falling into the same sin of deception. So was Lot.

The lie continued on until they were found out. Pharaoh sharply rebuked Abram for this deception. Any person worth his salt would be humiliated with such rebuke. How is it that the heathen king had more sense than the believer?

Let this be an object lesson for all of us not to put our trust in the ways of this world. This is how sinners try to get out of sticky situations. They use deception and half truths to save their necks. Abram thought that would work for him. How wrong he was. [Read more...]

To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. –Genesis 4:26

Prior to Enosh’s birth, the recorded lineage was that of Cain’s. In just a few verses, we saw the quick corruption of the human heart, resulting into two murders in the family. Human kind was degenerating very quickly. What was Adam and Eve’s seemingly simple culinary blunder was now becoming more sinister.

But the moment Enosh was born, something good happened. People began calling upon the name of the Lord. While world history was turning dark, a streak of light appeared. A new generation of children feared the Lord. Grace was at work, setting aside a lineage of God-fearing men who will one day give rise to the Messiah.

To fully appreciate the message of this post, DO NOT SKIP THE BIBLE VERSES, Genesis 12:2, 4, 10.

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing…

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy- five years old when he departed from Haran…

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

Don’t you just love the interesting progression of this saga: God promised to bless Abram, Abram obeyed, and there was severe famine!

To our modern minds, this sounds very discouraging. We almost always expect that we get something out of our obedience, much like a sign up bonus when you get a tempting job offer.

What people often forget is that Abram’s story was just getting started. (Well, actually, he did not get a conclusion even after he breathed his last.) There is so much more to the Abrahamic saga that we are yet to see. The famine was just a bump in the road that one day will give rise to the coming of the Messiah and the salvation of countless peoples of the earth.

Don’t be so quick to dismiss God’s promises just because you are going through a dry spell. He didn’t promise a sign up bonus, His plan is infinitely better than that.