YHWH promised Abraham he would bless all nations through him and his offspring, but he also made it clear in Abraham’s own life, that for any of us to be a personal blessing to people in fulfillment of that promise, it is hugely important that we believe in YHWH making us that blessing.
Which YHWH demonstrated by showing what happened when Abraham didn’t believe that. Like the mess of things Abraham made in Genesis 12, for instance, when he trusted in his own ingenuity to save his life by palming off his wife as his sister. And in so doing he made a lot of other people’s lives miserable (17). He was hardly being “a blessing” to people while in that state of mind, then, was he?
But something else had been dawning in his mind at the same time, because soon after YHWH had promised “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (3), Abraham “built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord” (8). He was beginning to realize already, then, that he was going to need a close connection with YHWH.
In this new life of his, therefore, there were three things going on in his head that were becoming very real to him: first of all, the staggering promise YHWH had given him, and his own part in it. Secondly, the embarrassing realization that he was still human and subject to making a right hash of things. But thirdly, “discovering” (as Romans 4:1 phrases it) the vital importance of calling on a very personal God for help.
Belief in all three is what enabled Abraham to become a blessing to people in his own life, as his part in the blessing of all nations. And in our own experience it’s the same. First of all, it dawns on us that YHWH is still fulfilling his staggering promise to bless all nations, by making us now a blessing to people. And we’ll witness the importance of our belief in him doing that in us, in the obvious blessing effect we have on people.
But, secondly, it’s also believing that we’re still very much human too, because in discovering that YHWH is ever patient and forgiving with our frailties, it too has a blessing effect on other people as YHWH enables us to be ever patient and forgiving with their frailties as well.
And thirdly, it’s also believing that in our upsets with people, YHWH is right there to help us when we call on him, so we can still be a blessing to people in those situations as well. Which includes believing in “YHWH’s care for those we hurt”….(next blog)
