God’s Passion for His Glory

Have you ever overreacted before? Have you ever responded vastly out of proportion to the supposed threat in front of you? We've all had a piece of fuzz land on our arm that we thought was a spider. We've all been startled by the most innocuous things. Just this past week, I was alone working on the sound system deep in thought when I suddenly heard Keith's voice. I don't know why I made such a screechy, guttural sound in response, but it was out of proportion! We always feel a bit humbled by such an experience. 

What's worse is overreacting to something and thinking that it is what saved us from harm. There are people feeling safe only because they've washed their hands in the last ten minutes. There are people feeling secure in their work because they belittle their employees. Feeling secure in their parenting because of their harsh treatment of their children. Feeling like their marriage will only work because one is having an emotional affair online. Feeling confident because they got their morning drink in. Relaxed, because they got their fix. People will talk about needing an outlet, needing the help of some sin in order to stay sane, to stay ahead, and it works! For a while. 

This is what we see with Abram. Abram is terrified of interacting with the kings of the earth. The situation that we see Abram in happens twice in his life (once here and again in chapter 20). Twice he is presented with a situation that God has explicitly addressed. All the nations will be blessed or cursed based on how they respond to Abram. Abram has no need to fear these countries. One has to wonder how many times Abram needs to drastically affect other people's lives before he decides to trust God. One wonders how many times we need to learn the same lesson. 

Today we are going to look at two points: God is faithful to His glory even when you are faithless, and Sin never makes you safer; God's mercy does.