Contemplative Bible Reading

Genesis 12:1-3 (New International Version 2010)

¹ The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

The last phrase in verse 3 is short, easy to overlook, yet significant.

I believe in what some people call the big picture or the big story view of the Bible. At least I think I do; I am not certain as to what all these entail. Anyways, I believe that God created this planet to be a place where God and mankind would live together in a perfect relationship.

Mankind messed it up. ooops

Therefore, God created a plan to restore the perfect relationship with mankind. God picked a man to start His plan. That man was Abram or Abraham. God worked through Abraham and his small family to restore the perfect relationship. The working of God took what seems like an eternity to me, but probably isn’t much time for God. God’s plan seems awfully complicated, with far too many twists and turns and fits and starts, but that shows the limits of my imagination and my little mind.

If I stand back far enough and smooth the details, the plan does look pretty simple. God chose Abraham and built a family for Abraham. That family became a nation that one day brought God’s Son into the world. The Son sacrificed himself to clean away the mess that mankind had made – the mess of rebellion.

Now I come to the part of the plan that I don’t quite understand because I don’t see it clearly yet. God will live here again with mankind in a perfect relationship.

All this is predicted in the few, simple words

and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.