Lace Up Your Running Shoes Genesis 12
Lace Up Your Running Shoes
Have you ever bought a new pair of running shoes on or close to January 1st? Chances are that you have.Have you joined a gym, started a diet or bought an exercise DVD. Did you set your alarm for 5AM, and actually get up a couple of times?
Good intentions are one thing, but continued determination is what gets results. It's no different in our spiritual lives. We have no lack of resources: podcasts, Bibles, sermons, Bible studies, and a million other ways to find out what God has to say. We don't need more information, we need to lace up our shoes, hit the road and start doing what we know.
Abraham used his running shoes and God counted it to him as righteousness.
Abram didn't have a church small group that he attended weekly. He didn't even have an accountability partner, apart from God. He didn't go to Sunday School, or listen to a Bible podcast. Abram had a heart dedicated to God. He was willing to stand alone in place where everyone around him worshipped idols.
Abram did what he knew was right, even though it seemed crazy. He picked up his family and all his possessions and chose a nomadic lifestyle, because God told him to go. So be inspired; do what you know is right, don't grumble about what your church isn't doing for you; Don't complain because the sermon isn't right, or the teaching doesn't suit your style. The question to ask as yourself, as you look in the mirror is "am I doing what I already know?"
Abraham wasn't chosen because of his degree in theology, he was chosen because he put his faith into action. He laced up his shoes and got moving.
Cool Tidbits from Genesis 12
- In the 3000 years from Adam to Abraham the focus has narrowed considerably. We began on the entire world and now focus on one man, Abraham.
- Abraham is 75 years old when he is called to be the father of the chosen people.
- The primary god of worship at this time was the moon god nana.
- This helps give us a better picture of Abraham, or Abram as he is called at this time, and why God chose him.
- Abram worshiped the one true God, and chose to be different that the culture around him.
- Ur, where Abram lived was one of the most important capitols of Sumerian civilization.
- Today it would be found in modern day Iraq.
- Now we have a foundation to begin our next section of scripture.
- We are going to stop here. There is a lot to chew on in this small section.
- God didn't reveal the promised land until after Abraham obeyed in verse 6 of chapter 12.
Hebrews 11:1-16
New International Version (NIV)
Faith in Action
11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
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. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Digging Deeper:
Below you will see an excerpt from the bible.ca archaeological website.
| "Sîn, moon god of Semitic origin, worshiped in ancient Middle Eastern religions. One of the principal deities in the Babylonian and Assyrian pantheons, he was lord of the calendar and of wisdom. The chief centers of his worship were at Harran and at Ur, where he was known as Nanna." (encyclopedia.com, Sîn) The tower of Babal in Gen 10 may in fact have been a Ziggurat. | The ziggurat of Ur. , and the of the moon god Sîn who is seen being carried in procession to the temple called the "Hill of Heaven". Above is actual drawing at the British Museum in London. |
| Nanna was worshipped in the ziggurat of Ur. There was also a smaller temple for Ningal the moon goddess. Nanna was worshipped both by a High Priestes and priests. Great Kings throughout history from Sargon 2600 BC to Nabonidus 550 BC had their daughters officiate as high-priestess of Nanna at Ur. The tradition begins with the first dynasties of Ur around 3400 BC and continued through to the fall of Ur around the time of Nabonidus, a period of some 3000 years. As we shall see this tradition continued for another 1700 years at Harran and still underlies the Islam of today. |
Harran, City of the Moon God
At the Northernmost end of the Sumerian empire the city of Harran likewise had the Moon Deity as patron God, under the name of Sin. From about 2000 BC to 1200 AD Harran continued an evolving tradition of Moon God worship. Harran is the place of Abraham's family and ancestors and the centre of many of the early events of genesis, including the naming of Israel. As described by Ezekiel 27:23, Harran along with Sheba and other cities were traders 'in blue clothes and broidered work, in chests of rich apparel , bound with cords and made of cedar.'he primary God being worshiped at this time is nana, the mood god.
Link to Genesis 12
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