By Ryne Brewer
Have you ever found something you enjoy so much (perhaps something like the Chocolate Xtreme Blizzard Treat with chocolate soft serve and added cookie dough from Dairy Queen) that when someone asks you for a bit, you get that pit in your stomach? It’s because you know this ice cream is so good that if you share it, it’ll be gone in no time. So you reluctantly share it, or you stingily keep it all for yourself. Not you? Maybe just me?
Well the Scripture reading for today does not carry that type of feeling. There isn’t this tension in the heart of God like what we might have over sharing our favorite ice cream. God gives His blessing to Abraham without reservation so that Abraham would bless without reservation. But what is the metaphorical ice cream of God’s blessing?
As we consider the context of Genesis 12, the blessing over Abraham is the very presence of God. Three times over two verses God says, “I will,” while giving Abraham His promise. God would make his name great (v.2); He would bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him (v.3).
We’ve seen this before—in Genesis 1–3, Adam and Eve were given God’s heart through His presence and promise, only to distrust, dishonor, and disregard their duty to bless the world. And Abraham, too, was given the very heart of God through His presence and promise. The rest of His story includes times where He reluctantly shared or even failed to receive the blessing of God.
A story like Abraham’s reminds us that God isn’t stingy with His blessing; we are stingy to share. We fail to trust God’s heart for us. Because of sin we, like Abraham, live by the lie of scarcity. We disbelieve the magnitude of God’s heart to bless us with His presence and promise then in turn deny others the very blessing God wants for them through us.
But there’s good news of hope this Advent season for stingy, scarcity-driven people like Abraham, you, and me. The heart of God to bless the world is carried out without reservation through Jesus, who in every way, walked in the presence and promise of God and without reservation, forfeited his blessing from God. Jesus came so that those who were cursed by sin and living in scarcity would experience the overwhelmingly abundant heart of God for all of those who believe in Him.
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