Three Wayfarers...the Wayfarer 4/6/16

Three Wayfarers
 4/6/16

"And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar."
(Genesis 20:1)

After Sodom  and Gomorrah were destroyed, along with much of the plain of Mamre, where Abraham had located, he made the move away from that evil area that had been an abomination to God, progressing ever farther toward the promise that was to be given.

He did not question the necessity of the move, did not mourn what had been left behind as did Lot's wife, did not question purpose behind that necessity to move on to meet that promise.

"And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimilech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto  thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;"

(Genesis 26:1-3)

The time came when, once again, necessity dictated that a move out of an evil place, honoring false Gods, and idols, was required to meet the promise that had been given.

That move was commanded by God, to a specific place, and away from a specific place in order to preserve the purity and quality of worship to be given in return for the blessing that was both given and promised.

Each move led to a betterment of God's chosen people, and precipitated any proclivity to seek out the false blessings that were touted by those sojourned among.

Each move moved these chosen closer to God and the perfection of his will for those chosen.

"And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Revekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padaranaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;

And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;

And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;

Then went Easau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth to be his wife.

And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed:

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

(Genesis 28:5-14)

Two very different people, these twins born of Isaac, one and only one destined to be a wayfarer to claim the promise that had been given to their patriarch... One chose to honor his father and mother and be the wayfarer that he must be to be obedient to both them and God, the other seeking comfort and blessing from another source altogether, one that could not succeed in pleasing God who had given both blessing and promise.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all three were wayfarers making their way through a wilderness, through the temptations offered by strangers honoring a strange god, maintaining faith in the ONE TRUE GOD and the promise made to them, through which all nations were indeed blessed through the birth of Christ Jesus from among their seed, without whom there was and is no promise, but with whom all promise is fulfilled, perfection attained, and life given. Through the seed of these wayfarers we are privileged to  have been given the promise and certainty of the WAY the TRUTH, and the LIFE, that is the only means to the blessing offered by God the Father.. that of eternal life!

I close once more, simple sinner saved by grace only though faith in that same promise given by Christ himself, soldier and warrior, clinging closely to both that promise and the admonition given by my Lord to take that promise still farther into the wilderness enroute to the receipt of the reward at the end of the journey of this wayfarer.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Amen and Amen.
the Wayfarer