December 28

GENESIS 21

²² At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. ²³ Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.”²⁵ When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, ²⁶ Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” ²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. ²⁸ Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. ²⁹ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” ³⁰ He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore that place was called Beersheba,because there both of them swore an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines. – Genesis 21:22-34

GENESIS 21 TREATY IN BEERSHEBA

In this account, we witness once again the integrity of Abraham. When Abimelech and his commander Phicol wanted Abraham to swear to them that he wouldn’`t deal falsely with them, Abraham had to confront the claim of one of Abimelech’s servants who tried to seize it. Abraham prepared seven sheep to offer to Abimelech so that he can swear to Abraham that he will honor that the well was dug by Abraham himself and that it must not be taken away from him. Abimelech and Phicol responded and made a covenant with Abraham to acknowledge that the well was dug by him. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree and called this well Beersheba meaning “watering place” or “well of underground water.”

In Genesis 26, Isaac dug this well again and built an altar in Beersheba. In Genesis 28 & 46, Jacob stopped at Beersheba before he entered the promised land. In 1 King 19:3, it was in Beersheba that the prophet Elijah found refuge when he was being chased to be killed by Jezebel. This well is a significant place for God’s people.

REFLECTION

• Why are treaties very important when dealing with boundaries and ownership?

December 26

GENESIS 21

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.¹⁰ So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. ¹³ And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. – Genesis 21:8-14

GENESIS 21 ABRAHAM SENT HAGAR & ISHMAEL AWAY

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

Abraham celebrated Isaac’s coming and had a great feast when he was weaned

At this time Sarah asked Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away

Sarah didn’t want to share the heirship of Isaac with Ishmael

Though Abraham was displeased, God told him to follow Sarah’s wish.

When morning came, Abraham got up and took bread and water

He placed it on Hagar’s shoulder along with the child and sent her away

Abraham trusted and obeyed God though it was painful for him

Hagar and Ishmael left and wandered in Beersheba’s wilderness.

We see another manifestation of Abraham’s faithfulness and obedience to the Lord. It must have been difficult for him to let go of his oldest son Ishmael, but it was more important for him to please the Lord and obey him. It must have been God’s plan to have Sarah sent them so that God’s covenantal promise will be fulfilled in Isaac and not shared with Ishmael. God honored Sarah’s decision to let Hagar and Ishmael go. He wouldn’t have allowed it if it wasn’t in his plan.

REFLECTION

• Why did God allow Hagar and Ishmael to be sent out in the wilderness?

December 25

MATTHEW 1

²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ²³ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). ²⁴ When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, ²⁵ but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

                                                                   – Matthew 1:20-25

MATTHEW 1 GOD WITH US IN JESUS

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

Mary was engaged to Joseph when she conceived by the Holy Spirit

Joseph was going to quietly leave her because he never touched her

But an angel of the Lord appeared to her in a dream to take Mary as his wife

He told Joseph that this was the fulfillment of the prophecy for a Savior.

The angel declared to him that the Son will be named Jesus

And he will be Immanuel, meaning God with us

So, Joseph obeyed as he was instructed after he woke up

He took Mary as his wife and she gave birth to the Savior.

It must have been confusing for Joseph to discover that Mary was bearing a child when he had never touched her yet. Like Sarah’s miracle child with Isaac, Mary’s pregnancy was also God’s doing. Sarah giving birth in her nineties was a miracle, and so is Mary’s virgin birth. This was all in God’s plan for saving mankind. The coming of the Savior had to be from a pure and undefiled way.

What a gift for the whole humanity Jesus was. Because we cannot save ourselves from our sinful nature, God provided the way for us to be cleansed from sin.  He gave his only begotten Son Jesus to come in the form of a human so that he can do for us what we can never do for ourselves. He cleansed us from sin.

REFLECTION

• What can we do to prepare our hearts to receive the gift of God in Jesus?

December 24

GENESIS 21

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. ² And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. ⁴ And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” – Genesis 21:1-7

GENESIS 21 THE BIRTH OF ISAAC

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

When the Lord visited Sarah, he was to fulfill his promise

So, Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in her nineties

Isaac was born when Abraham was a hundred years old

The Lord God made the impossible possible by giving them Isaac.

The birth of Abraham’s son Isaac is the start of God’s promise

A covenant between Abraham and God for man’s rescue

Abraham’s lineage will bring forth the promised Savior

God did what man isn’t able to do, He gave his Son to save us.

The birth of Isaac is a clear manifestation of the beginnings of salvation history. After the fall of Adam and Eve, we hear the account of man’s inability to resist sin and wickedness. Time and time again, humans have fallen into sin. The Lord God never failed to provide all the ways that man can follow his Spirit and walk the path he planned for humans. Yet, mankind proved to be very weak and carnal.

The Lord God designed a plan so that man will be able to fight his sinful nature and bring forth deliverance through the seed of Abraham. Because Abraham believed, it was counted as righteousness for him. Even though he is still sinful in nature, God chose to make a covenant promise with him. Isaac’s birth marks the beginning of the covenant promise God made after he destroyed mankind during the flood.

REFLECTION

• How is Isaac’s birth significant in salvation history and not Ishmael’s?

December 23

GENESIS 20

¹⁴ Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of allwho are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. ¹⁸ For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. – Genesis 20:14-17

GENESIS 20 WHEN ABRAHAM PRAYED FOR ABIMELECH

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

To protect Sarah from being touched by Abimelech, he became sick

God also caused the women in Abimelech’s household to become barren

But Abimelech heeded the warning of God and gave back Sarah to Abraham

He also gave him sheep and oxen, much wealth and many servants.

After Abimelech rebuked Abraham, he prayed for the king to be healed

And God answered his prayer and healed King Abimelech

The Lord God also opened the closed wombs of their women

This is how God faithfully protected Sarah from being taken.

What a faithful God we witness in this account when Abraham prayed for Abimelech to be healed! He responded right away even though he could have punished Abraham for lying to the king of Gerar. I think it also was a revelation for Abraham to see how he can fail in keeping his faith constantly strong and trusting God more despite his fears.

We watch how Abimelech got healed including the women in his household whose wombs were closed by God earlier and now, the curse was lifted. The account cannot stress more clearly how important prayers are. Abraham interceded for Abimelech and God granted that prayer right away.

REFLECTION

• How could this incident have gone wrong if Abimelech didn’t follow God’s warning not to touch Sarah and if Abraham didn’t intercede with prayers?

December 22

GENESIS 20

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ ¹² Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³ And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” – Genesis 20:8-13

GENESIS 20 ABIMELECH REBUKES ABRAHAM

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

When God warned Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham

Abimelech followed God’s warning and told all his servants

The household of Abimelech were scared of what might happen

So, Abimelech rebuked Abraham for his lie about Sarah.

Instead of asking for forgiveness to Abimelech for his sin

He continued to justify his lying about Sarah as his sister

What things we do as humans to hide from our sinfulness!

Though he believed God, Abraham was still a sinner like all of us.

We get another glimpse of Abraham’s humanity and sinfulness in this second time that he uses Sarah as a shield to protect himself from being harmed. Once again, instead of submitting and surrendering his fears to God and letting God be his shield, he fell into the sin of lying once again. Abimelech, who is a pagan knew the consequence of adultery. What an irony to see Abraham who was a man of faith forgetting the importance of doing what is right just so he can protect himself and Abimelech confronting a man of faith.

REFLECTION

• What is Abraham’s weakness as shown in this similar incident in Egypt?

December 20

GENESIS 19

³⁰ Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.³⁴ The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. – Genesis 19:30-38

GENESIS 19 AFTERMATH OF LOT’S DAUGHTERS’ INCEST

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

After losing his wife during Sodom’s destruction

Lot and his daughters went up to Zoar and lived in the hills

Maybe they feared that if they went out, they too would perish

So, they hid and lived in the cave and were isolated from the world.

As time passed by, the two daughters became desperate to have children

They thought that there were no other men except their father

They conceived a plan: to bear their own children so they can repopulate

Since Lot was the only man they saw, they got him drunk & slept with him.

In verses 4-8 in this same chapter, we witness Lot trying to appease the men to lay off their hands on the two guests he had. Lot volunteered his own daughters to be their sexual object instead of his visitors. I thought that didn’t sound right. In these following verses Lot was the one who was sexually abused by his own daughters because of their desire to have their urges met. They became desperate when they were isolated in the cave and targeted their own father to fulfill that need. It is appalling what they did and I think that this is still an offshoot of the curse on the Sodomites, who were all perverts.

REFLECTION

·       What was the result of their incestuous relationships as mentioned in v.37-38?

December 19

GENESIS 19

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹ So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. – Genesis 19:23-29

GENESIS 19 THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM & GOMORRAH

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

When Lot had reached Zoar, a neighboring area, and God saw he was safe

The Lord rained sulfur and fire from out of heaven over Sodom & Gomorrah

All that was left in the cities, including all that grew on the ground was wiped out

The Lord God was so angry at the wickedness and evil that lurked there.

Then God remembered Abraham and his nephew Lot, so he pulled him out

He honored his covenant promise with Abraham and saved his beloved Lot

As Lot, his wife and daughters were fleeing those damned cities

His wife looked back at the destruction and turned into a pillar of salt.

It must have been tragic for Lot to witness his wife turned into salt. Even though there were no specific details as with regards to his reaction, I am sure he grieved losing her. She didn’t follow the instruction not to look back and that made her lose her life. There’s always a consequence to disobedience.

In this account, we witness the wrath of God over sin and evil and yet we also see his mercy on those whom he made a covenant promise with. God is faithful to keep his word and to hear Abraham’s request to save the righteous in those wicked cities. The Lord kept his word and snatched Lot and his family out of that place.

REFLECTION

• Share a time in your life that you suffered the consequence of disobedience.