Responsibilities

Bible readings for the day: Genesis 20-21

Abraham's attitude is not always responsible, in particular often seek safety in the face of danger or conflict which eventually led to a bitter fruit, that he should expel Hagar, his mistress, and Ismail, own son (21:10-14).

As the head of household, Abraham should not simply follow her advice to take Hagar as a young wife, because it reflects the distrust of the ability of God fulfilled His promise to give Abraham descendants. Because Abraham did not dare to take responsibility in decision-making, not surprising that Abraham's confusion when his wife asked him to drive his young wife. If Abraham took responsibility as head of household who makes decisions, dilemmas (two difficult choices) of selecting a young wife or an old wives would not have happened.

In the structure of the Christian family, the husband is the head of the stairs that should lead in decision-making and should lead the whole family to follow the will of God. Although the husband and wife must work together in educating children, the responsibility remains in the hands of husbands. Wife is a companion to help her husband so her husband could carry out their responsibilities. If the husband is not responsible, the wife will occupy the position of the husband, and the decisions taken by the wife will be heavily influenced by an unstable feeling. If a wife wants her husband to carry out their responsibilities properly, he should always give support and encouragement to her husband.

Colossians 3:18
"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord."

Boundaries of Faith

Bible readings for the day: Genesis 18

Abraham failed to ask for forgiveness for the city of Sodom because he did not dare to come out of the limits of his faith. If Abraham dared to ask for forgiveness on the understanding that God is full of grace, may God give forgiveness.

When God tells his plan to punish the city of Sodom, Abraham begged forgiveness on the basis of the righteous in the city. Unfortunately, Abraham allegations about the existence of the righteous in the city wrong. Abraham request rejected by God because the request is based on the supposition that do not match reality, namely that ten people were not really there in the city of Sodom was. Supposition ten righteous is the faith of Abraham limits based on rational considerations. Should limit our faith is not determined by rational considerations, but by the grace of God. We ask not because we deserve to receive what we ask for, but we ask for on the understanding that God is full of grace.

What is limiting your faith. If you're sick and prayed for God to heal, if you set limits on who can and diseases that can not be healed by God? Does God only can cure the common cold? Does God also can cure cancer, kidney, heart, bird flu and swine flu? Does God can help in financial trouble? Does God understands and can provide a solution to the problem of life friend? Does God live only help when we've considered good by God? Does your faith is limited?

Ephesians 3:20
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."

The Importance of Keeping the Faith

Bible readings for the day: Genesis 16-17

Faith is absolutely necessary to hold the promise of God who sometimes seemed absurd. Doubt makes Abraham's hard to refuse when his wife suggested that he take Hagar as a concubine. A moment of faith can bring off the painful effects.

Sara who had menopausal difficult to keep believing that she would get pregnant and bear children for Abraham. Therefore, Sarah suggested that Abraham take Hagar as a concubine. Abraham's willingness to follow the advice of Sara is an ironic thing to remember that in the previous chapter, Abraham believed God's promise that he himself would have descendants (15:5-6).

To understand this story objectively, be aware that the events as God reaffirms his promise to give offspring to Abraham and Hagar when Sara offers to be taken as a young wife who is an interval of perhaps about 10 years. Even though Abraham and Sarah seems to believe God's promise of their descendants, they are not too sure that this promise will be fulfilled through the womb of Sara. They do not think that the idea took Hagar as a young wife with a very bad effect, namely competition and conflict between old wife and a young wife (16:4-6; 21:9-14). Later, their descendants developed into the nations warring in Palestine today.

Sad side of the story of Abraham's family, reminds us that faith in God's promises must be maintained in the long run, not just one or two years, but for life. Removing the faith can bring painful consequences!

James 1:2-3
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

Trusting God

Bible readings for the day: Genesis 12-13

Abraham was willing to obey God's command to leave his country and his extended family because he believed that God always meant well and would preserve his life. If we do not believe in God, for even simple commands we will be hard to obey.

The displacement of Abraham from his family environment is important to remember that Abraham most likely come from the moon gods. Even so, Abraham did not follow the practice of idolatry. The influence of the worship of the god of the moon visible from the action of stealing Rachel terafim (small-sized statue of the god, so easy to take) belonged to his father (31:19). Given such a family context, not surprising that God wants Abraham to leave his family environment.

Imagine the difficulties and risks that must be faced by Abraham in following God's command. Abraham was a rich man who had many possessions (13:6) and many servants. Maid who can afford to go to war alone amounted to 318 people (14:14). According to the size of that era, it is clear that he could be classified as a conglomerate. Imagine also how much the journey that must be taken by Abraham and his party given the distance from Haran into Jerusalem is about 890 km. Remember also that the transportation was generally used as a vehicle and camel road conditions at that time was much worse than now. Therefore, following God's command to move from Haran to the land of Palestine is a very hard struggle, so that the necessary faith to believe and obey God's command. [P]

Hebrews 11:8
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."

Genesis at a Glance

Genesis is a book that is very important! Without the book of Genesis, we are not going to understand how the heavens and the earth and all its contents can be formed. Without the book of Genesis, we can not understand the true concept of the family. Without the book of Genesis, we can not understand why there is sin and suffering in this world. Without the book of Genesis, we will not be there to understand why so many languages in the world. Without the book of Genesis, we will not be able to understand the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still going on until now.

Although this book is a book of "Genesis", does not mean that this book only deals with the occurrence of events (creation of) the heavens the earth and everything in it, because it only discussed the creation of events in the first 2 chapters of Genesis. English titles for the book of Genesis, the genesis, comes from the Greek geneseos used to translate the Hebrew word in the Bible tôledôt into the Greek Old Testament. Tôledôt word that means "source" or "origin". In the Indonesian Bibles, the word translated as "history". (2:4; 6:9), "offspring" (10:1, 32; 11:10, 27; 25:12; 36:1,9), "list of descendants" (5:1), "birth order" (25:13), and "history of descendants" (25:19; 37:2). According to tradition, the word is the title of tôledôt parts of Genesis. There are also experts who think the old covenant that it refers to tôledôt owner's name written records whose records are used as reference by the author of the book of Genesis.

From the historical point of view, the book of Genesis can be divided into two major parts, namely the history of mankind as a whole, ranging from the creation event to event formed the languages of human causes spread to every corner of the earth (chapters 1-11), and the early history of the Israel starting with Abraham summoned to leave the family and headed to the Land of Canaan until the emigration of the Israelites into Egypt in order to stay alive in the famine (chapters 12-50). In the first part, an important figure covered are Adam and Eve and Noah. In the second part, discussed the important figure is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, who is the ancestral fathers of Israel.