Day 4

In the story of the tower of Babel, the people get together to try and build a tower to make themselves known. I thought it was interesting how in chapter 11, verse 5, "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower..." The Lord came down... Was He not present with them all the time? Or was it different in the Old Testament times?

I think one of the coolest blessings God can give is the one given to Abram in chapter 12 verse 2 and 3, "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

This kinda makes me wonder who else God has granted this blessing to, those who bless will be blessed and those who curse will be cursed. It makes me think a little before being mean towards someone. By cursing them, I may be cursed...Whoa!

The passage in Chronicles gives us the genealogy of how we get to Abram/Abraham. This is again done in only a few verses.

Chapter 14 verses 17 through 24 are titled Abram Blessed By Melchizedek. Lot and all of his possessions were just taken by a king that was in a battle with Sodom where Lot was living. After Abram heard this, he went after Lot and this king. Abram "divided [the king's] forces against [the king] and defeated them...Then brought back all the possessions...and Lot." Abram not only got all of Lot's things back, but also everything from this king!

Melchizedek is noted as the priest of God Most High and also the King of Salem. He blessed Abram for what he had done, then something interesting happened. Abram gave Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High, "a tenth of everything." I believe this is the first place in the bible where a tithe is recorded. That is really interesting to hear that tithing was also already happening in Genesis. This may be where the 10% for tithing came from!

Tithing is one area where I need to trust and have faith. We are not in any financial trouble, however, we do not have a lot of excess either. I have an easy time tithing when we are doing well that month, but when money is tight, that is one of the first places where I cut back. I know this is not right, and this is where I need to work on. This is also part of the reason why I am doing this study. I need to see that God will take care of me when I fully rely on Him. I know I should not need to see. Faith should be enough, but that is where I fall short in my faith. My faith is weak...I am weak.