Do you see God’s grace? By entering into a covenant with us – and making solemn promises, and giving visible signs, God is bending over backwards to us to prove his trustworthiness and goodness.
He gives us his peace by His Spirit, to be displayed in our hearts, and in the Church.
God, in his tender mercy, is a God who sees.
As you see the confirmations God gave Abram, you can humbly thank God, that he himself has confirmed, by his own power, by his own promise, by his own covenant – He is committed to deliver his blessings to you.
Jesus has been made our priest forever, to purify us for worship, and to pronounce the Father’s blessing on us for the fight of faith.
Don’t be enticed by Egypt. Don’t settle for Sodom. But let life’s various tests and temptations deepen your resolve to trust God. He’s at work to refine your faith, and to strengthen you for good in the years ahead.
This section of history vividly demonstrates how God saves his people: He graciously calls his people out of sin, into his blessing, into faith, and into worship.
For people who aren’t mindful of God, loving him and trusting him, but who are instead living for fleshly intimacy, for false idols, for furious individualism, and for futile indulgences – people who practice such things will be cut off from the kingdom.
You can give, because you have a God who gives.
Contentment should make us godly, wholesome people. Paul suggests as much 1 Timothy 6:6 – “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Godliness and contentment go together.