Struggled to wake up today, but finally did it, and decided to start he "day" with what I learnt in church. To start with praising God. And by altering my habits. No LoL for today. And if it can last, tomorrow as well :) Tomorrow I will got to uni to study! And then reward myself with a hungry jacks lunch :D
And today's QT is also an extension of yesterday's awesome sermon by Rudy. And I found his name, it's Eliezer!
Anyway, Genesis 15 was right, dunno why I didn't see it last night, but here goes. Chapter 15 opens with the famous saying:
1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward."
And today I discovered a little more why God said that! Key words are "After this", or in some other translations, "After these things" or "Some time later", key point it is happens after what happened in chapter 14, so I simply read what happened in 14. And it was the rescue of Lot, plus the tithe to Melchizedek, and the refusal to take plunder from the King of Sodom.
I am your shield could probably mean that God was reassuring Abram that He was with him, even in the rescue of Lot, which was a pretty great feat. And also, after refusing to share in the bounty and take the offer of the King of Sodom, he may have been a bit ticked off, so God's reassuring him, "I am your shield". And it's also for the future, where God's people will get into all sorts of trouble, He was their shield when they bothered to look to Him.
And that God Himself was the reward, or God would reward Him greatly, either way, Abram was going to be blessed greatly. So what was the blessing?
3And Abram continued, Look, You have given me no child; and [a servant] born in my house is my heir.
4And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This man shall not be your heir, but he who shall come from your own body shall be your heir.
It was what Abram had wanted all along, a son, an heir! And yup, the servant born would be Eliezer. And instead of material wealth that God blessed Abram with first, He promised Him that He would have something he truly wanted, a son! And where did this come from? I believe it's the principle of the tithe.
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying,
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
20 And blessed be God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Yup, Abram gave the tithe in 14, and "After these things", God made the covenant that he would have a son. So it is true that when we seek God's kingdom and His righteousness first, He will add all things unto us.
Yup, that's the principle for today :)