Prompt: Abraham, stars, sky, by Larry Elmore, by Justin Gerard

In the Shorter Catechism, we are told that man has been created originally to live a life that is oriented towards God. This means that his marriage, family, work, vocation, leisure, and whatever activities he does were all meant to give honor to his Creator.

If man is a creature of God, everyone is called to such a kind of life. However, there are many things in this life that distract us from such a focus. They could be our ambitions, people, problems, and a host of other reasons. The most difficult obstacle in living a life that pleases God is a self-centered life.

In Genesis 15, we see Abraham entering a different stage in his calling. From famine, prosperity, and war, the word of the Lord came to him summoning him to focus his life on God. In this article, I just want to share with you the characteristics of a life that pleases God.

A life that pleases God views him as the ultimate reality.

The dominant worldview today is that this world is impersonal. There is no grand purpose for individual life except the one that you make for your own.

In contrast to this worldview, the Bible teaches that this world is a personal one governed by divine will. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has an all-embracing plan for all people that He made, and central to this plan is the role of the church.

In our time, the idea of the existence of a powerful God with a definite plan for the world is considered superstitious, baseless, and if not, insane. They asked how can you believe such foolish things in the face of existing reality such as rampant poverty, undeserved prosperity, and increasing violence throughout the world. For many, poverty, prosperity, and war are ultimate realities.

The Bible shows us a different picture: God is the ultimate reality. We see this in the life story of Abraham. He experienced the threat of poverty through famine (Genesis 12:10-20). He also experienced prosperity (Genesis 13) and war (Genesis 14). But for him, God is the ultimate reality (Genesis 15:1).

God spoke to Abraham in a vision:

Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.

By this word, God was telling Abraham that there was no reason for him to be afraid if God was the focus of his life. Instead, God expected Abraham to live in courage believing that God was his protection and reward.

Israel during Moses' time faced so many earth-shaking events. The day they left Egypt, and the Egyptian army ran after them, they were terrified and cried in fear. But Moses the man of God said the same thing to the people of Israel:

Do not be afraid. . . . The Lord will fight for you . . . ." (Exodus 14;13-14).

The same thing with us today. What makes you afraid? Does economic crisis make you afraid? How about the bankruptcy of your company and the threat of unemployment? How about if business is not going well? How about social unrest and the threat of war? Do all these things make you fearful?

God has given us the same word that He gave to Abraham and Moses' generation:

Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

And therefore we ought to say with confidence:

The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid (Hebrews 13:6).

Remember this: if you live a life that pleases God, He will be the ultimate reality in your life. And since He is the ultimate reality, there is nothing for you to fear for he is your shield and your reward. God as the "shield" is more powerful and secure than any strongest human shield.

A life that pleases God is a life of faith.

As far as the present situation of Abraham at that time was concerned, he was both childless and landless. However, despite his childlessness, he believed in the promise of God that his offspring would be as numerous as the number of stars in the heavens. And so God credited such faith to him as righteousness.

God considered Abraham righteous because of his faith. This shows that faith overcomes present reality. This also shows that a man who lives a God-centered life is living a life of faith.

We read in the Old Testament that the generation of Moses was not able to enter the Promised Land because of unbelief. They never experienced rest in the Promised Land because they failed to believe what God told them. They thought that their departure from Egypt was a mistake. They also thought that they and their children would die in the wilderness. They all died in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb and their children. What made the difference was faith in God's word.

Amid many challenges that you are facing today, your choice is between living by sight or living by faith. There are difficult situations in life that based on human perspective are beyond human remedy. Such was the case of Abraham. He was old and his wife was barren. But based on faith, no difficult situation is beyond the power of God's hand.

In which situation in your life that you need the miracle of God? Is it in your marriage? Is it your family's finances? Is it related to your job or business? Or whatever it is, do you believe that God can make a change?

Finally, a life that pleases God is based on His covenant.

Besides being childless, Abraham was landless. Here we see the role of God's covenant that gave Abraham the guarantee of possessing the land.

The Lord told Abraham:

I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.

Abraham asked:

O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?

Here God answered Abraham's question by way of covenant. He commanded Abraham to bring a heifer, a goat, and a ram along with a dove and a young pigeon. And so Abram brought all of these to God and cut them in two. After doing this, as the sun was setting and Abraham fell into deep sleep, God spoke to him. God mentioned to Abraham the future of the nation that would come out of him. Included in that future were enslavement and mistreatment for 400 years, the punishment of Egypt, the coming out of Israel out of Egypt with great possessions, the departure of Abraham from this life in peace, and the time of the full maturity of the sin of the Amorites. Through this record, we see the sovereignty of God both in Israel's history and world history.

We see several components in this covenant:

• It was God who initiated this covenant.

• The two parties involved were God and Abraham.

• The act of cutting the animals was a demonstration of the cost of breaking the terms of the covenant, death.

By asking Abraham to cut them, God gave Abraham the assurance that God would fulfill his promise to Abraham in the pain of death.

Throughout the journey of Israel in the wilderness, the offering of sacrifices in the Tabernacle continued. This reminded Israel of God's covenant with them. Reading the prophecy concerning the future of Israel, we see the seriousness of the unbelief of Moses' generation. Hundreds of years before all these events would take place, God had already foretold all of them in advance. This truth should have taught Moses' generation to live their lives based on what God told them in his covenant. Instead, they had chosen to ignore the covenant of God and followed the desires of their stubborn hearts.

In the New Testament, Jesus fulfilled the covenant of God. Jesus did this by giving up his life on the cross to redeem us from sin. This shows that all the promises made by God in the Old Testament find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus' work of redemption.

In Hebrews 8:10-12, we find at least three things about the superiority of the new covenant in Christ:

• First, God said that he will put his laws into our minds and write them upon our hearts.

• Second, he also said that he will imbue us from the least unto the greatest with the knowledge of God.

• And finally, that God will forgive all our wickedness and will remember our sins no more.

Conclusion

Abraham traveled through different stages in his life. He experienced famine, prosperity, and war, but he did not allow them to distract him from his focus in life. For Abraham, life is all about God.

Likewise, through the example of Abraham, we are admonished by God to live a life that pleases Him - a life that views Him as the ultimate reality, a life of faith, and a life based on His covenant.

Grace and peace!