Abe & Me

 July 18, 2022

Quite often when I sit down to read my Bible, it seems as if my brain has left my body. I read the words, but it seems as if God has ceased speaking to me. My best guess is that the problem is on my end, but I don’t like it one bit. 

I’ve been reading in Genesis, where our Story begins. It’s amazing how the book starts out, “In the beginning, God…” and ends with “in a coffin in Egypt.” The first 11 chapters cover thousands of years, if not more. They set the stage for the man called “the Father of Monotheism,” namely Abraham. Somehow, he recognized God speaking to him, and acted upon what he heard, pulling up stakes in Mesopotamia and traveling along the Fertile Crescent to Palestine and Egypt. 

I read today about how he foisted his wife off on Pharaoh, saying she was his sister, out of fear that Pharaoh would kill him and take her for himself if he knew she was Abram’s wife. Not a very auspicious start for one of whom it would be said that he “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” I read the story again, but today, it was just words. I won’t give up; tomorrow my heart may be more receptive, and I know the Scriptures continue to shape me whether they move me or not. I am a child of that story, and if in all Abraham’s imperfection, God still chose him, there is hope for me.