Good Afternoon everyone! I write today from the lovely Camp Tadmor outside of Sweet Home, Oregon. It is a typical Oregon Spring day. And by that I mean that it pretty much has all four (and sometimes 5 or 6) seasons rolled up into the span of about an hour. Good times.
But fortunately this place has wi-fi so I am able to add another chapter to the Whole Dang Thing. Hooray!
So we begin Genesis 12 and the story of Abram and Sarai.
God: 6, Abram: 1
Why does God just bless people? What’s his deal anyway? For seemingly no reason at all (other than the fact that he wants all the families of the earth to be blessed. Whatever!) he just blesses Abram. The deal feels a bit lopsided if you ask me. Here are the things God is going to do:
- Show Abram where he is to go
- Make Abram into a great nation
- Bless Abram (I guess it is important to note that Abram is blessed to be a blessing to others)
- Bless the people who bless Abram
- Curse the people who curse Abram
- Give Abram’s descendants the land of Canaan
And just so we are fair. Here is what Abram has to do:
- Go
What?! There is nothing about living well or doing all the right things. He just has to go. It’s like God is just going to do all this because, well, because he’s just going to do all this! That’s crazy! So what does this tell us about God?
And then come the words that changed everything:
So Abram went.
"So where are we going again?" "Yeah, about that . . ."
And the Moral of The Story Is . . . ?
Often when I approach Scripture I look for the morals. As if each chapter is a nice fable with a pithy little lesson attached to it. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the next story of Abram and Sarai.
Disclaimer: There is SO much to say about it and I simply don’t have the space to write it all. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.
Abram wants to save his own skin. God made a promise and now that promise seems threatened by Pharaoh. Follow the logic with me won’t you?
- Sarai is hott
- The Egyptians will notice this and will want to take her to be a part of the royal harem.
- To do this, they will most likely kill Abram. Nothing personal.
- But if they think she is Abram’s sister they will negotiate with Abram.
- Abram thinks this is a good idea because he will end up alive, even if his wife becomes a concubine in Pharaoh’s harem. Seems like a fair trade.
- Everything Abram guesses will happen happens.
- Abram gets a gift card to Pharaoh’s department store and goes to town!
- God punishes the Egyptians for doing this to Abram and Sarai
- Abram and Sarai get away and get to keep all their stuff.
So the moral of the story is?
Don’t even try to make one. It isn’t there. The only thing I can see is that, like with the flood, God will do what he says he is going to do. He said he would make Abram a great nation and he is going to do it. He will also take care of the means by which the blessing happens. Abram doesn’t have to take matters into his own hands. Oh, and God seems committed to Sarai being a part of it as well. She doesn’t get left to the side like trash. Nice.
This is hopefully the most bullet points I will ever put in a post.
The Whole Dang Thing 
I think you hit the nail on the head as far as the big point of this chapter goes. It reminds me of Jesus calling His disciples. He simply says “follow me” or in this case “go.” In both cases it seems like God tests the trust of the person He’s calling. Abram was asked to leave behind his friends and standing in the town, whatever it may have been. The disciples were asked to leave their nets, which is pretty much their whole life. In doing this, they’re showing that they believe God is more important than the things they leave behind.
Also, Stephan tells this story to the high priest in Acts 7. It’s been a while since I’ve read it though, so I don’t remember the story surrounding it.
The whole story is His story.all we have to do is to leave all and follow or is it join the grand plan
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