AN UNKNOWN CONTINUITY - PART 1
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: Genesis 12:1-2
At creation, God pronounced His blessings on man. In Genesis 1:28 He said, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:”
After the flood of Noah’s days, God reiterated His blessings on Noah and his household. Genesis 9:1 says, “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”
As much as we read this, the first real encounter or manifestation of the blessings of God was with Abraham, whom the Bible describes as the friend of God. It was in and through Abraham that God made manifest the operations of His blessing on man.
If we want to see how God’s blessing operates, what it accomplishes, or what it means for a man to be blessed, all we need to do is understudy the life of father Abraham.
Abraham came into the limelight in Scripture when the Bible began to describe families after God had confused the languages of men at Babel. Genesis 11:9 says, “Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
Just after this event, Genesis 11:10 says, “These are the generations of Shem:”
This begins the descriptions of the root from which Abraham came. Genesis 11:24-27 says, “And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.”
I’m sure you might be wondering why I am so interested in these details about father Abraham’s roots. Well, you will soon discover in a short while, why the Holy Spirit decided to give a full account of the genealogy of Abraham’s life the way He did.
A Shift in Pattern
What we first notice about Abraham’s family is a shift in the pattern of childbearing.
Take a look at all the people the Holy Spirit mentions ahead of Terah, Abraham’s father. Beginning from Arphaxad, the very first son of Shem, you will notice that every man began to have children before the age of forty. Some had children at age twenty-nine, others at thirty, some at thirty-five, but none lived to forty without children.
Please pay attention to these verses in the eleventh chapter of Genesis:
12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
You will notice in the above verses that the highest age any male lived before producing children was thirty-five. None of them seemed to struggle to produce children before this age. The men all had children in their youth. In fact, Abraham’s grandfather, Nahor, had Terah, when he was just twenty-nine.
This pattern, however, changed just before Abraham was born. Something came in that was going to pave the way for the manifestation or the operations of the blessing of God. Genesis 11:26 says, “And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” The pattern of having children at a younger age ended with Terah. He lived seventy years before he had Abram.
We can’t say for sure why Terah had this delay - if it was his fault or that of his wife, but we sure know that something was beginning to set in – delay in childbearing.
Genesis 11:29-30 says, “And Abram and Nahor took them wives: But Sarai was barren; she had no child.” What began as a delay in having children with Abraham’s father ended with barrenness in Abraham’s family.
Things had changed.
Terah was seventy when he had Abraham, but at the time God called Abraham, he was already seventy-five and had no child. Notice how God put an end to that family line by Himself, to usher in a fresh seed that would be the beginning of another generation of specially- blessed people on the earth.
Here’s what I want you to understand about the blessing of God: When God wants to single your life out for His blessing, He separates you from the accomplishments of everyone else completely. He begins something new with you; – something no one else around you ever achieved.
Maybe you are saying, “Everyone in my family has a job, except me. Everyone in my family is married, except me. Everyone in my family has built a house, except me.”
It is possible for God to single you out specially for the uncommon manifestations of His blessing without your knowledge. If you go back to Abraham’s time, you can guess what the people would have been saying to him:
“Ahh…this childlessness of your family is strange, Abraham. Every man in our family bears children long before age forty. In fact, your father was the first to bear a child late. There must be something wrong with your family that you need to look into.”
People would have told Abraham all sorts of things, without knowing what God’s plan for his life was.
Listen! People should not be quick to judge you because you haven’t gotten married; they don’t know God’s plan for your life. People should not be quick to tell you how awkward your situation is, when they don’t know how God packaged your destiny.
God knew that He was going to call Abraham from among his brethren. He had it all planned out. He knew that He was going to give Abraham an extraordinary child, and through him raise a different breed of people that will walk in His blessing all their days on earth.
He needed to prepare both Abraham and his wife concerning this. He needed to make the child come in such a special way that they would know it wasn’t just a normal conception but a miraculous one – a blessing. That way, He would fulfill His plans for the entire world through Abraham.
While others may have been concerned for Abraham and his wife, God had already declared the end from the beginning.
What I want you to see in all this, is that God didn’t begin His plan for Abraham when He called him to leave his country. He started this long before He called him to move.
Beloved, I want you to know that you are not a product of your family. You are not a product of your college system. You are not a product of the environment where you grew up. You are a product of eternity past.
God decided your destiny before He sent you to planet earth. Nothing, not even the devil, can change in time what God has perfected in eternity.
2 Timothy 1:9 says, “Who hath…called us …before the world began,…” You were called of God to accomplish His purpose, not when your parents got married, but before the world began.
The blessing of God on your life cannot be contested by anything or anyone. Only God understands everything going on with your life per time. No other person does. Only He can predict the next outcome of your life. No other person can.
God Divinely created a system through Abraham, that would establish the nature, character, and propagation of His blessing. But the same blessing showed up as a problem in disguise – barrenness.
Beloved, be careful! Not every problem has come to overwhelm you. Some challenges are secret elevators for your life. Don’t be so much in a hurry to tell everyone your problem and throw a pity party. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
In case everyone in your class graduated from college and you were delayed for reasons you don’t understand, God says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10). In case you have been married for years, but can’t understand why you haven’t had children, be still.
Whatever the situation you find yourself, be still. You may just be another candidate for heavenly manifestation.
Everyone in Abraham’s family had children before age forty, but we have never read or heard about their children. Abraham had a child at an old age and the entire world has heard and read about that one child and all his descendants.
When God has marked you out for His blessing, the results are extraordinary. When His blessings begin to show forth in your life, you become the center of attention. Even the people who reached where you were going before you, somehow begin to fade into insignificance;. Oh, it has happened innumerable times.
Abraham didn’t know that his childlessness was God’s blessing loading. You too may never know that whatever you’re going through right now may be God’s blessing loading. Don’t be quick to give praises to the devil. Celebrate God. He doesn’t make mistakes. Celebrate His faithfulness. Celebrate His blessings, and soon everyone else will be celebrating with you.
BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE
At creation, God pronounced His blessings on man. In Genesis 1:28 He said, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:”
After the flood of Noah’s days, God reiterated His blessings on Noah and his household. Genesis 9:1 says, “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”
As much as we read this, the first real encounter or manifestation of the blessings of God was with Abraham, whom the Bible describes as the friend of God. It was in and through Abraham that God made manifest the operations of His blessing on man.
If we want to see how God’s blessing operates, what it accomplishes, or what it means for a man to be blessed, all we need to do is understudy the life of father Abraham.
Abraham came into the limelight in Scripture when the Bible began to describe families after God had confused the languages of men at Babel. Genesis 11:9 says, “Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
Just after this event, Genesis 11:10 says, “These are the generations of Shem:”
This begins the descriptions of the root from which Abraham came. Genesis 11:24-27 says, “And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.”
I’m sure you might be wondering why I am so interested in these details about father Abraham’s roots. Well, you will soon discover in a short while, why the Holy Spirit decided to give a full account of the genealogy of Abraham’s life the way He did.
A Shift in Pattern
What we first notice about Abraham’s family is a shift in the pattern of childbearing.
Take a look at all the people the Holy Spirit mentions ahead of Terah, Abraham’s father. Beginning from Arphaxad, the very first son of Shem, you will notice that every man began to have children before the age of forty. Some had children at age twenty-nine, others at thirty, some at thirty-five, but none lived to forty without children.
Please pay attention to these verses in the eleventh chapter of Genesis:
12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
You will notice in the above verses that the highest age any male lived before producing children was thirty-five. None of them seemed to struggle to produce children before this age. The men all had children in their youth. In fact, Abraham’s grandfather, Nahor, had Terah, when he was just twenty-nine.
This pattern, however, changed just before Abraham was born. Something came in that was going to pave the way for the manifestation or the operations of the blessing of God. Genesis 11:26 says, “And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” The pattern of having children at a younger age ended with Terah. He lived seventy years before he had Abram.
We can’t say for sure why Terah had this delay - if it was his fault or that of his wife, but we sure know that something was beginning to set in – delay in childbearing.
Genesis 11:29-30 says, “And Abram and Nahor took them wives: But Sarai was barren; she had no child.” What began as a delay in having children with Abraham’s father ended with barrenness in Abraham’s family.
Things had changed.
Terah was seventy when he had Abraham, but at the time God called Abraham, he was already seventy-five and had no child. Notice how God put an end to that family line by Himself, to usher in a fresh seed that would be the beginning of another generation of specially- blessed people on the earth.
Here’s what I want you to understand about the blessing of God: When God wants to single your life out for His blessing, He separates you from the accomplishments of everyone else completely. He begins something new with you; – something no one else around you ever achieved.
Maybe you are saying, “Everyone in my family has a job, except me. Everyone in my family is married, except me. Everyone in my family has built a house, except me.”
It is possible for God to single you out specially for the uncommon manifestations of His blessing without your knowledge. If you go back to Abraham’s time, you can guess what the people would have been saying to him:
“Ahh…this childlessness of your family is strange, Abraham. Every man in our family bears children long before age forty. In fact, your father was the first to bear a child late. There must be something wrong with your family that you need to look into.”
People would have told Abraham all sorts of things, without knowing what God’s plan for his life was.
Listen! People should not be quick to judge you because you haven’t gotten married; they don’t know God’s plan for your life. People should not be quick to tell you how awkward your situation is, when they don’t know how God packaged your destiny.
God knew that He was going to call Abraham from among his brethren. He had it all planned out. He knew that He was going to give Abraham an extraordinary child, and through him raise a different breed of people that will walk in His blessing all their days on earth.
He needed to prepare both Abraham and his wife concerning this. He needed to make the child come in such a special way that they would know it wasn’t just a normal conception but a miraculous one – a blessing. That way, He would fulfill His plans for the entire world through Abraham.
While others may have been concerned for Abraham and his wife, God had already declared the end from the beginning.
What I want you to see in all this, is that God didn’t begin His plan for Abraham when He called him to leave his country. He started this long before He called him to move.
Beloved, I want you to know that you are not a product of your family. You are not a product of your college system. You are not a product of the environment where you grew up. You are a product of eternity past.
God decided your destiny before He sent you to planet earth. Nothing, not even the devil, can change in time what God has perfected in eternity.
2 Timothy 1:9 says, “Who hath…called us …before the world began,…” You were called of God to accomplish His purpose, not when your parents got married, but before the world began.
The blessing of God on your life cannot be contested by anything or anyone. Only God understands everything going on with your life per time. No other person does. Only He can predict the next outcome of your life. No other person can.
God Divinely created a system through Abraham, that would establish the nature, character, and propagation of His blessing. But the same blessing showed up as a problem in disguise – barrenness.
Beloved, be careful! Not every problem has come to overwhelm you. Some challenges are secret elevators for your life. Don’t be so much in a hurry to tell everyone your problem and throw a pity party. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
In case everyone in your class graduated from college and you were delayed for reasons you don’t understand, God says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10). In case you have been married for years, but can’t understand why you haven’t had children, be still.
Whatever the situation you find yourself, be still. You may just be another candidate for heavenly manifestation.
Everyone in Abraham’s family had children before age forty, but we have never read or heard about their children. Abraham had a child at an old age and the entire world has heard and read about that one child and all his descendants.
When God has marked you out for His blessing, the results are extraordinary. When His blessings begin to show forth in your life, you become the center of attention. Even the people who reached where you were going before you, somehow begin to fade into insignificance;. Oh, it has happened innumerable times.
Abraham didn’t know that his childlessness was God’s blessing loading. You too may never know that whatever you’re going through right now may be God’s blessing loading. Don’t be quick to give praises to the devil. Celebrate God. He doesn’t make mistakes. Celebrate His faithfulness. Celebrate His blessings, and soon everyone else will be celebrating with you.
BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE
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IDONGESIT
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Mar 21, 2022 07:12PM
I love this book.BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE
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